How to fill a day in central Spain

[lethargic_man]

I am getting the sleeper train from Paris to Madrid when I go to Gibraltar for Pesach; it'll be my first time on a sleeper train. The concept strikes me as very Victorian...

Once I get there, I'll have a day and a half to fill and to get to Gibraltar before Pesach comes in. My mother suggested seeing Toledo, a city with a significant Jewish history. Does anyone here have recommendations as to what to see in Toledo and/or Madrid?

The RENFE (Spanish train company) web site gives me only two trains a day from Madrid to Algeciras; though Rail Europe says the timetable isn't released until sixty days beforehand, so maybe if I wait more trains will turn up (or the times will change). One of the two is too late for me; it arrives across the bay and the border from Gibraltar three minutes after candle-lighting; the other is early in the morning.

If that remains the case, I think I'll probably go back to Madrid and stay overnight there, since trains to Algeciras go from Madrid, not Toledo; but it's annoying that I can't pin down my arrangements until early in February...

Comments

[tea-cantata.livejournal.com]

Do please report back about the sleeper train; I'm considering using it this coming summer to go to Debconf and would like to know what I'm letting myself in for. It sounds like an interesting trip you're going to undertake.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I took a sleeper from Paris to Milan and back. It was fine, but the 3-person compartment coming back was nicer than the 6-person going out.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I've got a four-person compartment.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

That's probably better still - it's two stacks of two beds rather than either one or two stacks of three; so more headroom.

[liv]

Toledo is tiny, you can see everything there is to see in about 2 hours. Basically the Jewish bits are the Abulafia synagogue and the Santa Maria la Blanca (sp?) church which used to be a synagogue and then a mosque, neither of which you can miss. The Abulafia synagogue has a museum of Judaism in it, which is skippable in large part as it will tell you lots of elementary facts about what Judaism is, but you want to see the building itself and the bits that are specific to local Jewish history. There's also a house that is covered in spiky tiles which was built by a Jew who wanted it to be known as "the spiky house" instead of "the Jew's house", but that's a bit off the beaten track. Non-Jewish stuff in Toledo is beautiful central Spanish landscape, and a lot of the type of metalworking called damasquing, basically tracing very complicated patterns onto very hard metal, which is rather fascinating.

There's not a lot in Madrid itself. Some really fantastic art galleries, but you don't care for art galleries. Other than that you just want to do the obvious tourist circuit (there's a palace, I forget the details, but you can't really miss it), especially if you have little time there. The city itself is not especially attractive or architecturally interesting, mostly concrete and square, really. There are some cool bronzes dotted around, and nice city parks.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Toledo is tiny, you can see everything there is to see in about 2 hours.

Thanks; this was precisely the sort of information I was after.

Basically the Jewish bits are the Abulafia synagogue and the Santa Maria la Blanca (sp?) church which used to be a synagogue and then a mosque, neither of which you can miss.

Does the Santa Maria la Blanca church have dead people in it?

There's not a lot in Madrid itself.

I thought: it's not historic, but then I thought: it was selected as capital four hundred years ago—that still gives it more history than, say, almost anywhere in the New World.

Some really fantastic art galleries, but you don't care for art galleries.

Well, don't care much, or on my own, it would be better to say.

Other than that you just want to do the obvious tourist circuit (there's a palace, I forget the details, but you can't really miss it), especially if you have little time there.

Okay. Unless there's anywhere more interesting between there and the south you think should take preference.

[liv]

I can't remember if there are dead people in the Toledo church, I'm afraid. One of the main tourist sites in Madrid is the Plaza Mayor, the main central square, which has a huge Inquistion monument in the middle and was the site of executions of Jews and heretics. I don't know how you'll feel about visiting that, as it is outdoors and all, and the dead people aren't still there, having been burned. If you want to avoid it, you will need to make a specific effort to do so as it's kind of right there in the middle of the city.

Toledo is definitely the most interesting city within easy range of Madrid. One option rather than hanging out in the city might be to go to San Lorenzo de El Escorial, the palace of the Bourbon kings. It has a cathedral, and the crypt where all the past Spanish monarchs are buried, obviously full of dead people, but in spite of being named after a saint it is not itself a church, it's mostly a palace with gardens. Both more historically interesting and more beautiful to look at than Madrid itself.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Thanks again for the recommendation.

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

You need definitely a proper street map. The majority of Spanish people don't care about English. You are usually very good in finding your own way via map.