Toledo, and the final night!

Our final day in Spain (not counting the VERY exciting process of returning to the US wth the help of an...ahem..."interesting" check-in procedure in the Madrid airport) saw us travel to the medieval museum-city of Toledo, about 45 minutes from Madrid by train.

The day began with breakfast in one of my favorite little spots near the Puerta del Sol, where many of the students thought they were ordering toast with ham and cheese, and would up with a plateful of food so big, they packed half of breakfast away for a snack.

So...much...jamón.

Then off to the Atocha train station and off to Toledo! Toledo, known as Toletum back in the day (and by "back in the day, I mean around the year ONE) is a fortified city, built on a high hill, surrounded by walls, and wrapped by a river running through a deep ravine. One only needs to stand on the medieval bridge to see why someone thought "hey, this might be a good place to stop and build a city".

https://www.touristtube.com/u201247/The-St-Martin-Bridge-in-Toledo-Spain-with-its-Beautiful-Tajo-River-Flowing-Directly-Below-1418053812919.JPG

Toledo houses, in addition to medieval-looking. winding streets, the second largest cathedral in Spain (toledo is the headquarters of the Catholic church in Spain) and lots and lots and lots of work by the Greek-Spanish painter "El Greco" (so-called because "Domenikos Teotopopuli" is a mouthful in Spanish). We visited the cathedral, the church of Santo Tomé (to see El Greco's masterpiece El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz), and wandered the streets of Toledo. There were many swords. And gelato.

Then back to Madrid for our final dinner. In typical Spanish style, dinner began at 9:45 and lasted almost two hours!

Dear parents and other visitors to this site: It has been a terrific pleasure to travel with your kids. This group moved well together, played together, learned together, and made this Gould Academy teacher very proud. Please ask for the stories, as there are many. Thank you for participating in this exchange trip, and we now look forward to the upcoming visit from the students from Juan de Lanuza in October!!

Hasta luego,

-Doug