Segovia to Toledo, Spain …. the City of Three Cultures

 

September 21st to 24th, 2025

On the morning of September 21st, we packed up and prepared for the next leg of our road trip. Today’s drive would take about two and a half hours, covering roughly 145 kilometres as we left the province of Castile-La Mancha and entered the less-visited region of Extremadura. It was an easy drive, with light traffic, gently rolling terrain, although becoming hillier as we approached Toledo.

Once again, we were staying in an apartment in the Casco Antiguo, which meant the usual three-step routine: finding the apartment, unloading our luggage, and then finding parking. Check-in was at 13:00, and as it turned out, the entry code worked at exactly that time > not a minute before. Our apartment was located above the El Trébol Tapería, and being Sunday, the narrow lane below was crammed with a hungry horde of Spaniards. Stress levels rose as we parked Little Clio against a wall, emergency flashers on, and tried the code for the main door >>> success. We piled the luggage inside, but then Annie returned from the third floor, saying the code didn’t work. Hmm… not good. Calls to the host went unanswered,  mounting stress levels, until serendipity intervened: a quick-thinking cleaning lady noticed our dilemma, tried the code herself (no luck), then called someone and produced a pass fob. We were in! Sure enough, two fobs sat neatly on the table inside. With the crisis resolved, we hauled up the luggage and headed off to the free parking lot down the hill and across the Tagus River.

With Little Clio duly parked and with the stress level under control, we could now start the fun part to climb back up the hill to the apartment … nothing like a “bit” of a cardio workout to get you ready for some tapas and refreshments…

 

As we headed to the apartment, it became very clear that this truly is a town where every turn reveals a new treasure, and we had not yet begun!

After settling into the apartment and enjoying a well-earned siesta, we debated where to go for dinner. In the end, the decision was easy > if the lively crowd in the alley below was any indication, the Tapería El Trébol right beneath us was clearly the place to be.

 

It turned out to be the shortest walk to dinner ever, just a flight of stairs away, and well worth it. The food was tasty, the atmosphere lively, with both locals and tourists packed in around the picnic tables, chatting and laughing late into the evening.

The next two days went by in a flash as we set off, each day trying to take in the maximum of the sights and atmosphere of this special city. But first, a little bit of history to set the context:

Toledo, often called the “City of Three Cultures,” is one of Spain’s most captivating historic cities. Perched high above the Tagus River, it was first a Roman settlement before flourishing as the Visigothic capital in the 6th century. During the Middle Ages, it became a remarkable melting pot where Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived and worked side by side, leaving behind an extraordinary architectural and artistic legacy. The city’s narrow, winding streets reveal churches, mosques, and synagogues that still echo its multicultural past. In the 16th century, Toledo was Spain’s capital under Charles V and a major center of art, learning, and craftsmanship > home to the painter El Greco, whose visionary works captured its spiritual intensity. 

We began at the Mezquita y Ermita del Cristo de la Luz, a small 10th-century mosque that was later converted into a chapel…

A rather simple structure which has remained largely unchanged since originally constructed.

 

A pleasant garden and an overlook of Toledo:

San Juan de los Reyes Monastery was ordered to be built by the Catholic Monarchs in Toledo in gratitude for their victory at the Battle of Toro in 1476. It is considered to be a magnificent example of the Hispano-Flemish Gothic style. Who are we to argue…we  felt it was one of the nicest monasteries we have seen and  extremely tranquil:

The Monstrance pictured below was crafted by Enrique de Arfe, a silversmith of German descent, over a period of 7 years  (1515-23). It was commissioned by the Chapter of the Cathedral of Toledo to house the gold ostensorium that had belonged to Queen Isabella of Castile. A two-part creation, it stands 10ft tall with the 1st part made of silver and gold, while the older inner monstrance owned by Queen Isabella I is made of partially enamelled gold adorned with precious stones and pearls. The monstrance is paraded through the streets of Toledo for Eucharistic adoration during the Corpus Christi procession. Otherwise, as can be imagined, it sits behind bulletproof glass and is protected with a sophisticated security system:

 

Whenever I take pictures in a place of worship, whatever the faith I try to be respectful of both the people worshiping and those visiting…what pissies me off are the folks, very often asians who are totally oblivious to both >>> I stood and waited at least 5 minutes for this fool to finish posing his partner for a “selfie” to the point that he literally backed into me (no I did not move out of the way) ….arrgh!!

 

Recently, Toledo received a new “fountain” located in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento and conceived by the artist Cristina Iglesias, consisting of three sections “tres aquas”.It is supposed to represent the changing flow patterns of the river Tagus, which circles the city. According to the project’s website, the installation is meant to give the impression of an “ancient aquifer or subterranean channel that had recently been unearthed”…well I thought it looked weird or just plain old ugly (you see we do not find everything to be divine) and judging by the puzzled expressions on peoples faces, they were not impressed either…my bet is this will will not be around in the next hundred years or so…you be the judge???

 

 

In any event, we really enjoyed all aspects of Toledo, including several excellent meals, one at this rather homely restaurant, which served some wonderful homestyle regional dishes which the waitress convinced us to try despite our dithering…note the large cigarette machine…a veritable blast from the past (btw folks in Spain do love their cigarettes)…