Holy Toledo!!!

IES took us all to Toledo for a day trip about a month ago (I'm clearly not good at keeping this blog updated....).  It's considered the City of Three Cultures because of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities that coexisted in the city for centuries. We explored the tiny medieval streets, saw lots of art by El Greco, ate delicious marzipan, visited a sword factory.

We started out across the river, where we got a fabulous view of the city:

The Toledo Cathedral is considered one of the best in Spain. The outside is pretty standard, but inside was really cool. No photos were allowed inside, but we saw lots of artwork and artifacts, along with the ridiculously impressive architecture. Here are my attempts at getting a good photo of the cathedral at kind of awkward angles...

We saw two old synagogues - VERY rare in Spain. I think I heard there are only three historic synagogues left in Spain. It was really cool because five of us are taking a university class about Jewish culture in Spain. The second synagogue has Arabic influence because it was also temporarily a mosque.

We saw several churches - my favorite had this amazing courtyard in the center with palm trees!!

The old part of the city is surrounded by medieval walls:

Then we went to the sword factory! They made the swords for the Lord of the Rings movies! We had a ridiculous time playing with the swords (the ones we had access to weren't sharpened...)

And some fun photos... a marzipan castle!!!

Love this - the first ingredient listed is salt. That pretty much sums up Spanish cooking. Also, as you can see from the image, Toledo isn't exactly known for it's food. Our Spanish professor literally told us not to eat there because it's the worst food in Spain... except for the marzipan!

Just to show how touristy Toledo is - thank goodness we were there in November instead of summertime!