Toledo to Madrid

Driving into a city like Madrid to return a rental car is always a bit stressful. The rental car we have been driving for the last week or so is from a new company, OK Rental Cars. When we picked up the car they couldn’t really tell us where to return the car in Madrid. First we drove by their office near the Atocha train station. We saw nowhere to return the car there. Then we went to the place near the train station where we have returned every other car we have returned to Madrid, but OK Rental Car was nowhere to be seen. Then drove back to the office and Duke pulled into a handicapped space while I ran in to ask where to return the car. They gave me a paper with the address of a parking garage a few blocks away. We managed to find the garage, go down three levels in the garage and finally deliver the car. All of this was done through heavy Madrid traffic!! We survived!

We walked to our hotel and left our bags since the rooms wouldn’t be ready for a while. Then we found a lab that was doing Covid test and walked there. Roger and Gayle got there preflight Covid tests. We found a cafe to have beers and toast the fact that we had successfully completed all today’s must do tasks.

We made it to Madrid.

We decided to check out the Museum of Money but it wasn’t until we had walked another mile or so to get there and had been told that they were closed that we realized that today is Monday and most museums are closed on Mondays!

We stopped to rest and have coffee and then headed to the hotel because it was after two and the rooms should be ready.

Refueling

On the way back to the hotel we walked through Retiro Park. Today was the first really nice day we have had for a long time and the park was peaceful and beautiful.

Retiro Park

When we got back to the hotel, and got to our rooms, we had walked almost seven miles and we were ready for a rest. We played some cards and then about eight went out to find tapas for dinner. We started out with roasted peppers.

Tapas places
Roasted peppers

The next place we stopped was just perfect. It had a friendly Madrid tapas feel and our waitress was very friendly and helpful. We had the fried shark and it was fantastic.

Alhambra Tapas Bar
Fried fish
Alhambra, a wonderful Tapas bar to end this portion of our trip.

Roger and Gail fly home to tomorrow. We have had a wonderful couple of weeks with them.

Toledo Day 2

Toledo tuned out to be a wonderful place to spend two nights. The Parador here is great and Toledo itself is a fantastic place to explore. Sunday at 2am the clocks were turned forward an hour here. That meant we slept a bit later. We had an 8:30 breakfast reservation and had to rush a bit to make it.

Saturday when we walked into Toledo the first part of the walk was on a road with no sidewalks. It seemed a bit dangerous so Sunday we drove down to a vista point below the Parador, parked the car, and walked into Toledo from there.

The dangerous part of the walk yesterday
The path we took into Toledo today.

First we visited the Santa Cruz Museum. They had an excellent exhibit celebrating eight centuries since the birth of King Alfonso X. He reigned from 1252 until 1284 and was known as Alfonso the Wise.

The Santa Cruz museum
Alfonso X with scientists

Next we went to the Alcazar which houses the Army Museum. It in the enormous building you can see on the Toledo skyline. The museum gave a interesting overview of Spanish history. It is like the Smithsonian or the British Museum in that it isn’t possible to take it all in in one visit.

The Army Museum is the big building in the middle
Armor in the Army Museum

When I visit museums in European countries I often get a new perspective on US history. The museum had a series of displays about Spain’s contribution to the American war of independence. They highlighted the battle of Pensacola.

Battle of Pensacola
Description of the siege of Pensacola

After visiting the museums and getting lost in the labyrinthine streets of Toledo we walked back to the Parador. I think gin and tonic is the national drink of Spain. We had to have some before Roger and Gayle go home!

Pouring our gintonics

Later I made a video Duke’s review of our rental car. You can see it on YouTube here.

Monday we will drive to Madrid and turn in the rental car. Roger and Gayle fly home on Tuesday.

Chinchón to Toledo

After breakfast we went on a brief tour of the Parador of Chinchón. It was all in Spanish, but I managed to understand at least some of it.

This statue of Jesus is made entirely of ivory.

After the tour we packed up and headed to Toledo.

Getting ready to leave.

In Toledo we are staying at the Parador of Toledo. It is situated high on a hill overlooking Toledo from the opposite side of the Tajo River. As Duke was checking in the manager approached him to introduce herself and welcome us.

Toledo

We walked about 2.5 miles into Toledo.

Walking into Toledo

In Toledo we went to the Synagogue of Santa Maria La Blanca. It is no longer used as a synagogue but it’s architecture dates from the early 13th century when Toledo had a large Jewish population.

Synagogue of Santa Maria La Blanca

Next we went to the El Greco Museum. He lived in Toledo most of his life. His paintings from the 16th century were vibrant and very different from other works I’ve see from that time.

El Greco painting of one of the apostles.

Finally we went through the Sephardic Museum

Synagogue of El Tránsito which contains the Sephardic Museum.

We took a taxi back to the Parador, had our welcome drinks and played cards. For dinner we ate in the Parador restaurant. It was quite dark and candlelit with only a few electric lights on when we first sat down. We had to use our phone flashlights to see the menus. About half way through dinner the electricity came on, the dining room lights all came on, and many of the building in Toledo were lit up. We have no idea what the problem was.

The view from our room.

Manzanares to Chinchón

Before leaving Manzanares this morning we went into the center of town to a cell phone store to buy new charging plugs.

Manzanares

The drive north to Chinchón took almost two hours. As we arrived at the Parador we discovered they were shooting a movie or TV show right in front of the Parador. The scene being shot involved a bride arriving in a Cadillac, at the church, for her wedding. The costumes were elaborate and colorful. We walked through the bustle to the Parador and checked in, them spent some time watching all the activity.

I

The Bride
Getting ready to film
Waiting to film the arrival at the church.

The Chinchón Parador is built in a former convent. We had our welcome drinks and played some cards. Later we went out to explore Chinchón.

Chinchón Plaza Mayor
Chinchón Plaza Mayor with our Parador in the Background.

As we were walking to dinner the movie crew was packing up.

Movie crew in front of the church packing up

For dinner we went back to the Plaza Mayor and had an excellent meal at a restaurant called Restaurante la Balconada.

Duke’s suckling pig
My steak stuffed with foie.

Nerja to Jaén

The Parador in Nerja sits on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. It has a wonderful ocean view. It also has an elevator to take you down to the promenade along the beach. It was windy this morning but the temperature was pleasant so after breakfast we took the elevator down and went for a walk.

Walking down the path to the elevator.
The elevator from the promenade.
The surf.

Later we checked out of the Parador and drove almost two hours inland, past Granada to Jaén. Jaén has been an important strategic town for centuries. The castle has a commanding location overlooking the town. We toured the castle.

The castle of Jaén
Duke and Roger on top of one of the tours of the castle of Jaén

We went into central Jaén for dinner. We lucked out and got a parking place right in front of the restaurant. We had an excellent meal.

Our parking place in front of Tamesis
Duke’s pork with Roquefort spice
My prawns
My desert – a chocolate ball filled with white chocolate
Duke’s mousse with fresh fruit.