The first full day of our first ever trip to Spain. After a somewhat fraught trip from the UK we got up late and started to explore Toledo.
Our apartment is near to the river on the east side of the old town so we started there. Only a couple of minutes from the front door we found the historic Puente de Alcantara bridge with some spectacular views along the river. The only slight fly in the ointment was a truly appalling busker whose singing was concluded to be worse than Dad’s. People really shouldn’t be allowed to busk on historic monuments, at least without some sort of audition.
We then walked down to the river and along the bank. It was delightful with views of the bridge, some geese and even a lizard. Furthermore, there was almost no-one there.
Further along we passed the remains of two water mills, one clearly much smaller and older than the other, before walking back to our apartment for lunch and siesta.
Water mill ruins
In the afternoon we went to the Santa Cruz art museum which is almost next door to the apartment. Entrance was free and we later figured out that this was because much of the building was closed for refurbishment. However, there were still quite a few interesting exhibits including a number of El Greco’s (no doubt we will see plenty more during our stay) as well as more modern paintings, Roman mosaics, sculptures going back to the bronze age and 18th Century pottery.
Mosaic representing the four seasons
We rounded out the day by exploring part of the old town and identifying places we might visit tomorrow.