TOLEDO has the reputation of being one of Spains greatest cities and the setting is breathtaking. If you're an El Greco
fan, you'd be mad to miss this city. In a landscape of abrasive desolation, Toledo sits on a rocky mound isolated on three sides by a looping gorge of the Río Tajo. Every available inch of this outcrop has been built upon: churches, synagogues, mosques and houses are heaped upon one another in a haphazard spiral which the cobbled lanes infiltrate as best they can. To see Toledo at its best, you'll need to stay at least a night: a day-trip will leave you hard pressed to see everything. More importantly, in the evening with the crowds gone and the city lit up by floodlights - resembling one of El Greco's moonlit paintings - Toledo is a different place entirely. Toledo also hosts one of the most extravagant celebrations of Corpus Christi in the country, with street processions and all the works. Other local festivals take place on May 25 and August 15 and 20.
The City
The street layout and labelling in Toledo can be confusing, but the old core is so small that you'll soon find your way around; part of the city's charm is that it's a place to wander and absorb, so don't overdose on "sights" if you can avoid it. You shouldn't leave without seeing at least the El Grecos, the cathedral, the synagogues and Alcázar, but give it all time and you may stumble upon things not listed in this or any other guide. Enter any inviting doorway and you may find stunning patios, rooms and ceilings, often of Mudéjar workmanship
General orientation is pretty straightforward in Toledo, with the compact old city looped by the Tajo, and the new quarters across the bridges. Getting to the city , too, is easy, with nine trains per day (fewer on Sat & Sun) from Madrid Atocha (6.30am-8.30pm; 1hr 15min), plus buses every thirty minutes from the Estación Sur (6.30am-10pm; 1hr 15min).
Toledo's train station , a marvellous 1919 mock-Mudéjar creation, is some way out on the Paseo de la Rosa, a beautiful twenty-minute walk - take the left-hand fork off the dual carriageway and cross the Puente de Alcántara - or a bus ride (#5 or #6) to the heart of town. The bus station is on Avenida de Castilla la Mancha in the modern, lower part of the city; buses run frequently to Plaza de Zocódover, though if you take short cuts through the barrio at the bottom of the hill just inside the walls, it's a mere ten minutes to the Puerta Nueva de Bisagra.
If you're driving - and from Madrid there's little point if you're not going on elsewhere - be aware that parking in Toledo is a problem: the only 24-hour car park is on Paseo del Miradero, below the Plaza de Zocódover, and it's expensive (¬11 per day). If your hotel hasn't got its own parking facilities (and with creeping pedestrianization, this is increasingly likely), leave your car outside the city walls at, say, Paseo de Merchán; remember that the city tow-truck is very active.
Google Map of toledo
