On tour

We have spent our first day with our tour group. We are the only Australians in the group, one girl is from Ukraine and everyone else is from US. Half the group are black women from Cleveland, Ohio who are members of a civil service sorority. They seem to have done a lot of travel together and are a feisty, vibrant humorous group. We had lunch with a couple of them yesterday and learned they had been involved in the civil rights protests in the 1960s including being jailed for participation.

We spent yesterday morning doing a city tour of Madrid which mostly took in different areas from what we had already seen and gave us a different sense of the city. We both like Madrid. It feels easy to get around, we have felt safe, it has beautiful stately architecture but also lots of interesting nooks and crannies. Love the plazas and small laneways.

We then visited the amazing Prado and focused on works by El Greco, Velasquez, Goya. Having the guide's explanation was helpful- for finding key works as well as for understanding some of them. I also got to see Fra Angelico's Annunciation which is beautiful.

In the afternoon we went to Toledo, an ancient town first settled by the Romans a couple of centuries BC the invaded by the Visigoths and then the Moors. It was the seat of Royal government until they moved it to Madrid. But it remains the religious capital of Catholic Spain.

The cathedral was built over 250 years and finished in the 1490s (I think 1493). Parts of the main altar were completed in the Baroque period - very elaborate. And an unusual and highly decorated window was constructed at the same time to light the baroque altar piece. A building constructed for the rich and powerful.

More beautiful (I thought) was the old Jewish synagogue, designed by Moorish architects, later used by Christians. Toledo is well worth a visit - historically interesting, striking location and quite beautiful.

The trip from Madrid to Toledo was fairly uninspiring. A long string of light industrial areas on the edge of Madrid. More villages near Toledo but they have a bare appearance. The poorer outer suburbs of Madrid are also depressing - brick apartment blocks festooned with washing and air conditioning units.

Madrid deserves a return visit!