Madrid and Toledo

I have been catching up with some of the Diverbo people which has given me company when exploring. I met Richard ( from New York, retired) to explore the Pop Art exhibition at the Thyssen gallery. It was really interesting and well put together. There were several works by Andy Warhols, Roy Lichenstein, Peter Blake and Tom Wesselmann to name a few. We then went into the permanent collection to see a range of art from every century. This is one of the largest private collections so it is comprehensive. In the end I lost Richard and despite waiting an hour for him to appear I went back to my hotel. I then met Sandra and Catherine for dinner and Richard turned up and joined us. We tried to get into this fancy modern tapas bar but we had hit peak time so ended up in a little pop up restaurant in one of the plazas. 

Next day Sandra and I met Laurie and we explored this amazing, huge Flea market. The crush was unbelievable so I was hanging on to my purse tightly. I did buy some lovely fans and a rather fun sundress. Sandra and I split from Laurie and headed for El Cortes Engles, a department store like Myer. They have a system where you can claim your tax back if you are a foreigner, I signed up for that and went looking for a dress to wear to the wedding in Kent. Eventually I bought the first thing that caught my eye but not before I had tried on so many outfits. Now I need shoes but that is a nice problem. Sandra and I meet again in the gourmet terrace for wine and tapas. It is unbelievably busy. This is Sunday evening and the place is packed. I buy a snack for tea and head back to my hotel. This shopping is exhausting. 

I need to organise a flight or train to Malaga but that turns out to be fraught. The internet is down and I can't do the research or bookings. Budget hotels leave a bit to be desired sometimes.  I skype Tim and Mum. It was good to talk with Mum but the connection was not good which was frustrating. Technology is great when it works!

Monday I went to Toledo with Laurie and Richard. We met at the Plaza de Sol and caught the Metro ( I was glad of their knowledge about using the metro after my last attempt) to the bus station and all went smoothly so we arrived in Toledo about 12:00 and began to explore. It is a charming town with the usual winding streets. Toledo is famous for the evidence of three cultures who lived in harmony, 

Jews, Christians and Muslims for a long time. The synagogues have been changed into churches now and it has an amazing gothic Cathedral, and two Mosques that have also been converted. 

This was the mosque converted to a church.

We got lost pretty quickly but it didn't matter. The other two walked a bit slow for me so I had to keep checking I hadn't lost them. We saw all these chains on the church and went into this shop to ask about them. The shopkeeper/artisan told us the links are for remembering. Like leaving tokens at the alter of your favourite saint. He showed us how he beat the gold thread into the steel base of jewellery, plates etc. 

 This is the artist making the gold plates. It takes about 10 days to finish this sized plate.it is a steel base then fired so the gold sets in the patterns.

It was fascinating. I remembered Sandra had said how unique the work was and so I succumbed to a beautiful pair of earrings. The town had celebrated a saint on Sunday and was getting ready to celebrate Corpus Christi this coming weekend. The houses and buildings had banners hanging from windows and they were decorating the streets with wreaths of green vegetation and flowers. It takes four days to put up and four days to take down. The place looked so festive.Each night there are music concerts and of course on Friday a party. It is Spain after all!

I had tried to book a flight to Malaga this morning for Wednesday but I put my Spanish phone number and that caused a hitch.  Finally when I get home I find an email confirming the booking but with a tentative return. I am positive I only booked one way. I will sort it out at the airport. I will need to fly or train it from Malaga eventually.