We had our second tour with Beatriz today, a Full Day Madrid Tour featuring the Royal Palace and the Prado.

We started at the Westin Palace Hotel and slowly worked our way to the Royal Palace. I showed Beatriz the track of our tour on Monday and she used that to make sure we mostly saw different areas of the city, though we did return to Plaza del Sol and the Plaza Mayor today.

Madrid has many unusual sights atop its buildings, like this chariot on the BBVA building.

Beatriz told us that the Tio Pepe sign in Plaza del Sol used to be on the building now occupied by the Apple Store – Apple paid to move it to its current location!

Madrid street signs tell stories, like this one for the Calle de Arenal, showing workers digging up sand; the name of the street is literally “Sandy Street”.

We walked through the San Gimés neighborhood, and again we didn’t stop at the chocolateria. And we couldn’t visit the old bookstore because it was too early in the day.

I got a slightly different view of Plaza Mayor today.

There are many old stores in Madrid; here’s a clockmaker who’s been in business for 140 years.

The sign for the Calle de Toledo could almost have been one of the photos we took yesterday!

Beatriz took me to what she said was the best candy shop in the city, Carmelos Paco, so I could buy distinctive hard candies. I got away with only 350 grams of candy. It’s in the La Latina neighborhood, as is the Church of San Isidro, which I found very beautiful.

There are apartments just across from the church; instead of a blank wall, we got to see this.

We also visited the branch of the Madrid Museum near the church, which tells the story of the miracle of San Isidro and the well. He makes a guest appearance in person.

After a quick lunch at Casa Revuelta, we went to the Royal Palace, and Beatriz gave us a private tour. Photos are not permitted in most of the tour, which is through the Royal Apartment, but there were a few opportunities.

It had gotten seriously hot while we were in the palace, so we visited a nearby watering hole before catching a taxi to the Prado, where Beatriz took us on a tour showing us some of her favorite paintings and painters, including Bosch, Breugel, Titian, El Greco, Velasquez, and Goya.

No photos were allowed in the Prado, either, but I did get to take a picture of Goya’s statue from the front as we left.

I had hoped to visit El Retiro and find the statue of Lucifer, but the weather prevented us from going there!

Instead, we went back to the hotel to drop off our burdens, had dinner at Lamucca, and packed. Our plane tomorrow is at 8am, so we need to leave the hotel by 5am, hence this short entry with fewer links than usual.

Today we went to Toledo for a tour, booked, as usual, with Tours By Locals. Beatriz G. was our guide, and she’ll be guiding us again tomorrow in Madrid – so it’s a good thing we really liked her and learned a lot from her!

It’s also a good thing we scouted out the railroad station in advance, because we got to our meeting point a few minutes late anyway. We had plenty of time to go through security and board the train to Toledo.

The Toledo station was small but interesting; we saw the first of many beautiful windows and ceilings with geometric patterns (inspired by Islamic art).

The station also had a very unusual clock.

Beatriz called for a cab to take us into the city (the temperature was already well into the 80s) and we got our first glimpses of Toledo from the cab.

We stopped at a viewpoint to get better photos; there were at least half-a-dozen buses there doing the same thing!

The cab left us in the Plaza de Zocodover, which was being decorated for the Corpus Christi procession on Thursday.

The city had put up shades to cover the streets the procession will use. On Thursday, the area will be filled with thousands of people.

We started our walking tour by leaving the central area and walking on smaller, less-traveled streets. We took a quick look inside the Circulo del Arte, housed in the former Iglesia de San Vicente, a 13th Century Mudéjar church.

We continued walking through the city, enjoying the decorations and the occasional shade.

There are nuns making and selling cookies to support themselves here in Toledo, too.

We visited the Visigoth Museum, housed in another 13th Century Mudéjar church.

There was some stunning artwork still in place.

We left the Visigoths behind to walk the narrow streets leading to the Jewish Quarter.

And here we are!

We walked up a hill and Beatriz recognized a friend who invited us into his home! It was an unexpected opportunity to see a non-tourist part of Toledo.

We returned to the narrow streets – you have to like your neighbors to live so close!

There are two former synagogues in the Jewish Quarter; the first, the Synagogue of Santa Maria La Blanca, was converted into a church after the Expulsion of 1492, and later into a barracks. It is now a museum, owned by the Catholic Church.

Our second stop was the Synagogue of El Tránsito, now the Sephardi Museum. It also had a variety of uses after the Expulsion before becoming a museum early in the 20th Century.

The architecture shows a lot of the three religions which have shared Toledo over the years; there are Islamic windows, Arabic inscriptions, lots of Hebrew, and many reminders of the building’s use as a church.

Hebrew books and scrolls were on exhibit.

Outside, there was a wall with Ibn Ezra’s Ancient Graves inscribed in Hebrew and Spanish.

The synagogue has been partially restored – you can see an old Torah curtain where it once covered the ark, and an old drawing showing what the building looked like when it was in use.

Of course, it’s impossible to go to Toledo and not visit the Cathedral!

The interior is stunning.

The monstrance will be used during the Corpus Christi procession on Thursday.

The Islamic influence is here, too, in the geometric designs and the ever-present arches.

We went into the Chapter House, where the bishop and priests discuss matters of importance.

Beatriz said this sign means “what happens here stays here”.

The sacistry has amazing artworks. El Greco’s “The Disrobing of Christ” and Caravaggio’s “San Juan Batista” are only two.

We went back into the main sanctuary; I have far too many photos to post. I was amused by the carvings on the seats in the choir, like this mermaid. Beatriz said some of the carvings are NSFW, but she didn’t point any of those out.

We had to leave Toledo and return to Madrid; before we left, we visited what Beatriz said was the best marzipan shop in town, Santo Tomé, and picked up a few treats for later. They do amazing work with marzipan – this model of the Toledo School of Translators is in their front window.

Tomorrow, we explore the Royal Palace and the Prado with Beatriz. It should be a great day!