First Full Day in Europe- Toledo!

The day started off with breakfast at the Hotel Regina, which was absolutely amazing! They had complimentary mimosas for crying out loud! That was awesome :) also their selection of food left nothing to be desired. It was awesome and that hotel is awesome! (Props to my mom the travel agent :) who found it for me).
After that it was time to head on out to Toledo. The city of Toledo is absolutely beautiful. Of course, the entire thing is on a hill which meant a lot of walking. In all, my GPS told me that I had walked over 15 miles today.
Here are some pictures of the city :)

The first actual stop in Toledo that I went to was the Alcázar (see last two photos above). This place dominates the local landscape and is built on the top of the highest hill. Makes sense because it is a fort, right? Today it is a Museum that shows the history of the Spanish Army as well as the history of Toledo and the fort. Fun fact: they once had to use Harley Davidson motorcycles to keep the power going.

The next stop I made was at the Santa Cruz Museum. The highlight of the museum is by far the architecture. The museum, outside and in, was absolutely gorgeous. There were some amazing pieces of art inside, including some from the famous artist "El Greco".

Last, I went to my favorite place in the city: The Primate Cathedral of Toledo. I had no idea what to expect when I got there but when I walked in I was blown away. This may be the most beautiful cathedral that I have been in and I have been in many churches throughout Europe, including Notre Dame in Paris. I got there just in time to go take a look at the tower as well and go up and see the bells which was a cool experience :) I could have spent hours in there just relaxing and enjoying the Cathedral.

Finally, I did some shopping. No, I did not buy a sword like I originally planned (Sorry Sean, that also means I didn't get you a dagger) but I did get a gold embossed piece of art of Don Quijote that Toledo is famous for. None of the swords jumped out at me and it was going to cost 100 Euros to ship it to the US. After that it was time to head out so I took the train back to Madrid and picked up my luggage at the train station (where you can leave it for relatively cheap) and headed down to Seville where I am now :).