Saturday, August 8, 2026
Today we visited Toledo's historic quarter. Toledo is the oldest city in Spain, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its age, history and cultural heritage. Don Quixote passed through here on his route through Spain.
The city is a labyrinth of narrow cobblestone streets, surrounded by shops, private homes and churches. It used to be gated and guarded, but the entryways are now open.
Our local guide Elena took us on a walking tour through the area, up hills and down stairs and through skinny streets with cars.
There are obviously some traffic restrictions--this pole blocked the street but retracted into the ground when a car approached...I'm not sure how it's triggered, but an interesting way to control traffic that I haven't seen before.
At times you'd have to stand sideways to avoid being hit by a car!
The Jewish quarter of the city was marked with small tiles that designated the boundary area where the Jews lived and worshipped.
We went inside a synagogue from the 1300's,
We were able to view a famous el Greco painting in Santo Tome church. 
And then we visited Catedral Primada one of the main attractions in the area.
The cathedral will be celebrating it's 800th anniversary! It is a massive and quite magnificent structure, with altars and chapels everywhere. They still celebrate mass on the weekends. There are 11 organs and often there will be organ concerts inside. There is an impressive choir loft with two organs--I bet the acoustics are unbelievable.
There will be a huge celebration and parade on August 15, the Assumption. They will carry this statue and 400 lb. tabernacle through the streets.
The ceiling of the sacristy was a beautiful painted scene, and more paintings surrounded the room, many by el Greco.
The 800 year celebration will be a big deal. Preparations are already being made.
A return to the hotel after the tour called for a trip to the nearby Aldi's for water and cookies before we leave the area tomorrow!
...And a little about this tour and our group: Eclipse Traveler is a company that follows solar eclipses around the world, and is the company hosting this tour. The president and founder, Cengis Aras (from Turkey) is with us, along with two astronomers, David Eicher and Lou May, and and our local tour guide Rigo (who is actually Cuban, but lives in Spain now.)
Our group is made up of 38 people of various ages from all over the country. As you can imagine, it is an outgoing and interesting group. Here is a snapshot of some that we've met so far:
- John has been to 21 total solar eclipses around the world!! He is also retired director of the Challenger Space Camp program.
- Ellen is an anthropologist who once researched cocoa beans for making chocolate in Madagascar.
- Bob is a photographer from Cal Tech who worked for the jet propulsion laboratory and also sold a photo of the last eclipse to the Smithsonian
- Lori is a mechanical engineer who used to work for the Department of Defense and then worked for Mattel.
- Jim is a retired political strategist who has travelled around the world
- Lyn is a lawyer who worked on "deals" and has lived in London, Iraq and other places and can speak Russian.
- Steve used to be a tugboat captain on the east coast.
- Martha was a special ed teacher.
- Cecil is a painting contractor.
- Rachel is an ObGyn nurse
- Natalie is an attorney from California
- A brother and sister are here...the brother treated the sister to the trip as an 80th bday gift!
PS. It is very hot here, so I've been very happy with the personal Walmart fan I bought before we left!
Beautiful photos, Connie, and a great description of the sights you’ve visited! I love the listing of your travel mates and their backgrounds. What an interesting mix!
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