We just got back from an incredible few days in Spain...still feeling the jet lag, but I'm slowly getting back to my usual self.
Back in July, I found tickets to Madrid for $240 round trip out of JFK. We decided on early November since it's not a super busy time at work. I wasn't sure about the weather...research told me that it's usually rainy and windy, but I'm a firm believer that if you're dressed appropriately, there's no such thing as bad weather. The weather ended up being amazing...it was very windy and we had a few thunderstorms (which I love), but temps were generally in the high 60s and there were no crowds, so I was a happy camper :)
After a long day and night of travel (about 19 hours in total), we landed in Madrid at 7 am, promptly picked up our rental car and hit the road.
We tried something a little different this time around and just kind of flew by the seats of our pants. I had researched a couple of places that I thought would be interesting to see and then we knew that it was going to be rainy on the northwestern side of the country, so we just headed south and booked hotels online as we went. After visiting Europe in May with the camper van, we agreed that it would be nice just to explore in a smaller car and book rooms along the way. This was definitely the way to go and we encountered no issues...it was perfect.
After a brief pit stop at a gas station for cappuccinos and to freshen up a tad, our first stop was Toledo...a UNESCO site just about an hour outside of Madrid.
We bought a museum pass to get into all of the historic sites and ended up spending the entire day there. And, with it being October 31st, we had to hit up the Museum of Torture which was really fascinating. We had a late lunch at a little hole in the wall restaurant on a tiny side street in the ancient city...greeted by an older man who also took our order and cooked our meal for us. Looking over the vast menu, I realized that the food in Spain may be tricky for me and that maybe I wouldn't actually gain 10 pounds like I usually do in Europe. I ended up ordering stew with deer meatballs. It was...interesting.
Toledo actually reminded me a lot of a smaller version of Florence...complete with rolling hills of vineyards and olives all around.
Along the way, we walked through the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes and got our first taste of Moorish architecture...it was absolutely beautiful. Many of the Cathedrals in southern Spain were originally Mosques that were converted to churches, but still have tons of original detail.
As the sun set, we found a room with breakfast at a golf resort just outside of town for $40 and settled in for the night.
The following morning, we continued south to Cordoba. Along the way, we spotted some 16th century windmills and a castle ruin atop a mountain ridge and just had to check them out. They were originally built to grind grain and it turns out they are kind of famous from Don Quixote.
From there, our next stop was Cordoba. I'll write up another post for that one :)