Shopping Day in Toledo

Continuing the Spain Trip story...

From Cuenca we drove to Toledo, which was another 3 hours of driving. Toledo is a Spanish city that is well known for its three cultures where Christians, Jews and Arabs settled there since a long time ago and therefore there are many historical and cultural things to see there. In fact, it is a UNESCO's World Heritage Site because of the mix of cultures and historical monuments.

Ok, so we had those many things to see and do in Toledo but we ended up only went to the Cathedral. We spent quite a while inside the Cathedral immersing ourselves with the history of the church, the rooms and of course, the paintings. Toledo Cathedral has quite an extensive painting works by El Greco, Lucas Jordan, and many others in the sacristy room. Too bad, photo taking is not allowed in this church.

I was very tired myself after driving for 3 hours. There were so many roads under constructions that I had to drive fast and slow, fast and slow on the highway. I'm not a driver person. To me, driving takes up a lot of energy because I have to use my full concentration when I'm driving. So, when in the Cathedral, I was resting and kind of half asleep for a bit.

After the Cathedral, we walked down the twisting cobblestoned lanes of this medieval old town. And without any planning, we suddenly were in a rush doing present shopping. My sister who we would meet the next day was having her birthday in a few days and we had yet got her anything. So we were busy in and out the shops in the old town until dinner time. I bought her a Damascene bangle and my friend bought her the matching necklace. They were handcrafted by the shop owner (search 'Damascene' in Wikipedia and you will find the clear explanation). It's a beautiful craft and Toledo is the place for this. I like it a lot that I bought a Damascene necklace for myself too. Another items that I noticed were sold in many shops in Toledo are swords. Apparently, Toledo is famous for its swords although they are not my kind of souvenir.

At dinner time, we went to a restaurant, Adolfo Coleccion, which was recommended by a travel book that my friend borrowed from a library. We only had a few tapas as we found the food there was quite pricey. The waiter recommended us to try Menchego cheese. He said this was the best cheese in the world. He also recommended us a very, very nice cava (Spanish sparkling wine) which when asked he said the price was only €12 a bottle. I have to say we had a very good time enjoying the nice food and cava there. I also have to agree that the Menchego cheese IS the best cheese in the world (I still buy it every now and then from the local supermarket here in London). And when the bill came, we were surprised that the cava was €40 instead of €12. And the waiter was nowhere to be found. But we just let it go and paid for it. I think it's probably the cava that made us let that go. We were still happy and even laughing about it on the way back to the hotel.

Although I didn't see much of Toledo, I really enjoyed the day we spent together there. There's just so much to see in this city and one day is definitely not enough. So Toledo is on my list of cities to come back to in the future.

I didn't take any photos when I was in Toledo as my camera was giving me a false message about flat battery and my battery charger was with my sister whom I was to meet the next day. The only photos I took in Toledo were the photos of the view of the city across the Tagus River. It was the next day and we were on the way to Avila. I couldn't stand not taking photos of the nice scenery. Then I saw that the message of flat battery was gone and my camera was perfectly fine. I didn't know why it was showing me the false message before. So most of the photos below were a mixture of photos taken by my friends: AW, JK and HM. Thanks guys!

The front gate of the Toledo Cathedral

A plate souvenir of Damascene handicraft being made

The lovely cava and food from Adolfo Coleccion, including the waiter who was missing in action at the end of our meal

This is the after effect coming out of Adolfo Coleccion - look how happy we were! 

The magnificent view from across Tagus river

Christmas Markets 2008

Since living in London, visiting christmas markets at christmas time has become a tradition for me. Last christmas (2007), I visited the christmas market in Nuremberg, Germany and this christmas, I went to Germany again for its another wonderful christmas markets - this time to Cologne, where I visited three of the six christmas markets the city offered.

But before I even started my trip to Cologne, I had been to a few other christmas markets without realising that it has become such a habit of mine to visit christmas markets during christmas time. I went to the Bath Christmas Market in the UK, Skansen Christmas Market in Stockholm, Sweden and Leuven Christmas Market in Belgium.

It's amazing what a christmas market can do for me. It gives me an excuse to get out there and embrace the cold weather (although I can't do more than an hour outside when the temperature is below 0 degree celsius). The cold winter weather, the warm mulled wine and the hot food, all combined creating a fantastic atmosphere to every christmas market. And not to forget the shopping spree if you are into traditional christmas cookies, decorations and traditional toys.

I enjoyed every moment of it and will definitely visit another christmas market come Christmas.

In this picture: the Christmas Market at Skansen.

Christmas Market at Skansen was located around the central square of this outdoor museum featuring the Swedish old town of the mid-19th century. The surroundings of the town really brought me back in time. The people were wearing traditional costumes of the era. The christmas market was very festive despite the wet weather. The music created a perfect atmosphere for people to participate in traditional dancing and it was fun too. The stalls were selling variety of hot food and drinks and other stuffs. I loved the glogg a lot. It's a Swedish type of mulled wine that has raisins and almonds in it. This is the sweetest mulled wine I've ever tried. The already perfect day was ended with carol singing for everyone to enjoy.

In this picture: Leuven Christmas Market in Belgium

Located at the town centre of Leuven, the christmas market was surprisingly quite big (I thought christmas markets outside Germany are usually smaller). The market was packed with people eating, drinking, shopping or simply just enjoying the whole thing. The kids were really happy with the many rides the market offered.

In this picture: Mark der Engel, Cologne

The Angel's Market is located at Neumarkt Square within the popular shopping areas of Cologne. This is Cologne's oldest Christmas market and some stalls were still there since early 70s. I liked the stalls. I think they were very beautifully designed. I also liked the star lights hanging on the trees. They shone magnificently when the night came.

In this picture: Christmas market at Cologne Cathedral

With the christmas tree at the middle of the market and the lights designed brilliantly hanging and coming out towards the stall, the Christmas market at Cologne Cathedral was beautifully lit. The atmosphere was unbelievable and the food was excellent too. It's a tradition to collect the Gluhwein mug and I collected one from this market. I think this is the most festive christmas market of all.

In this picture: Christmas market on the Alter Markt, Cologne

Located at the heart of the Altstadt (Old Town), the stalls were designed with timber giving the impression of traditional market. And on top of every stall was a crafted timber showing the theme of the stall. The traditional ginger cookies were the decoration of the trees around. There were many crafty items on sale here. I bought quite a few of christmas cake and cookies from this market as gifts for my friends.

Photos were taken by me and FH.

Cuenca Old Town, Spain

This is my last blog of the year and then I'll be off for Christmas holidays. Yipeee!

What I remember about Cuenca is it's a nice little town with very narrow streets where Casas Colgadas (Hanging Houses) is the main attraction to see there and the Cathedral has a beautiful facade.

I drove from Valencia to Cuenca. That was my first time driving in Europe and to me, it was on the wrong side of the road. I was driving OK until we reached the town. We used a GPS and were lost as the GPS brought us to a walk path to our hotel instead. We were lucky to find a restaurant with staffs who could speak English. So we asked for directions and the people there were very very helpful and friendly.

When we reached the old town, I thought the GPS brought us to a walk path again as the road was very narrow and I didn't dare to bring the car in (I found out later that people normally drive through these narrow streets). So we brought down our stuffs and I went to park the car. And Oh my God, the view from the car park was amazing as we were on the highest point of the hill and we could see the houses of the old town below us. It's just breathtakingly beautiful. I felt very peaceful there. I loved it straight away.

The old town of Cuenca was absolutely amazing. There were not many people around and I think that made it special. It seemed untouched and very original. I felt like we were back in the old times. We walked around the town and enjoyed everything about it. The Hanging Houses, which were said to be the most photographed houses in this town, was unbelievable. They are famous because they are literary hanging on the edge of the cliff. It's obvious that these houses are the symbol of Cuenca.

In short, Cuenca is a good place to relax and recuperate. The peaceful moments we’ve had combined with the beautiful scenery are perfect mix. It’s a remedy for tiredness and sore muscles. I think it’s a remedy for everything, really. It’s too bad we couldn’t stay longer as we were moving on to Toledo. To me, this is a city that I would definitely want to come back to again in the future.

The breathtaking view from the car park

From left to right, above and then below: The city square, the Cathedral, the Monastery and the bridge that connects the monastery to the town

The Hanging Houses, and the narrow and winding streets

Magical Night view of the Hanging Houses