travel & toledo.

spain series │ episode one

hey everyone :) welcome to something new & exciting — my spain series. travel with me to spain through seven posts, launching on tuesdays. i hope you can experience a bit of the beauty of spain & the wonder of travel as i go day-by-day through my trip. more pictures than words (click on the pictures to expand), i’m really excited to honor this opportunity as i share my adventure through my eyes, and of course, all my thoughts <3

we traveled for over twenty-four hours straight. don’t get me wrong, my family has road tripped for 26+ hours, but that was over two full days, not one. so this was a new experience for us all. we flew direct from chicago to madrid, so first we drove to chicago. the airport is about four hours from our house.

once we made it to o’hare, we took the shuttle into the airport from the parking lot. rachel and i were a little puzzled about why the airport is abbreviated “ord". now that i look it up, i’ve learned that (according to google) “ORD” is a nod to history, as the airport was originally orchard field airport in 1945. before it was selected to be the city’s new airport, it was a wartime aircraft assembly plant for ww2.

renamed in 1949 to chicago o’hare international airport to commemorate chicago’s naval aviator lieutenant commander edward h. o’hare, who received a medal of honor. so that’s something new i learned!

once we got through security (so confusing like always), and found our gate, rachel and i went on a walk around the terminal. i tried really hard to get as many steps as possible, since we were going to be sitting for the majority of the day in the car and on the plane.

finally, it was time to board! as this was my first international flight, i saw how the process for international flights is way longer than domestic flights (just in the united states). they have to check your passport multiple times, so my dad was super careful to have all eight of them on him at all times. we flew on iberia airlines, which is in spanish and english! that was something new :) they had their intro video in both languages. i could hear lots of languages on the flight and in the airport in general, which was so awesome.

the plane took off, i tried to sleep, & it was terrible. there’s not much else to say about the flight. it annoyed me so much because the flight home was so quiet and dark and empty (i could’ve claimed a whole empty row to myself). the overnight flight, (to madrid), was loud, the lights were way too bright, and we were sitting behind an extremely noisy family. ironic for sure. i managed to sleep for a few hours, thanks to my sleep mask.

if there was one thing that saved me this trip, it would be that sleep mask! it blocked out all the lights and screens, and i used it almost every day on the plane and in the car.

i saw a sunrise at one am, that was great. (not) i was a complete zombie the whole day after we got there & was very grateful i wasn’t the one driving or making major decisions. :)) once we finally got out of the airport, we drove to toledo.

the awesome history of toledo

once we got to toledo, we hiked up to the city in the 100 degree midday sun. the view of toledo is beautiful, though, even in the harsh sunlight. the castle, like most we visited in spain, was built on a hill by a river. the layers of the river, the cliff, the castle, the bridge, and then city surrounding… so incredible.

the castles in spain are something else. the history of each of them has so much depth. the cities, and additionally, the castles, have been passed from empire to empire, and have such rich influence from some of the most powerful eras in european and world history in general. the alcázar of toledo is no exception.

the city of toledo first began its history around the fifth century bc. settled by a group of jewish travelers. eventually, by 193 bc, the city was in the hands of the romans. when the romans withdrew, toledo became a center for the visigoths. in 711 ad, the moors, (muslim rulers) conquered the city. this was not accepted, however, and multiple rebellions occurred, fighting against the moorish rule.

in 1085, spanish christian leaders took the city, making toledo the first in the region to leave the rule of the moors. later on, a dark period of history arrived when jewish persecution began around 1370, lasting for over a hundred years. toledo was the capital of spain until madrid took its place. during the spanish civil war, the city’s citizens used the walls of the castle for protection and defense. the renaissance painter known as el greco, died in toledo in 1614.

so basically, toledo is pretty cool. just to imagine all the cultures and leaders who have added layers and layers to the city is something i’m still trying to wrap my head around.

toledo

my favorite part of toledo was the streets. the alleyways were endless and so charming! the combo of the houses, shops, and architecture makes a cultural collage. window boxes on apartment porches, sword shops, cobblestones, churches, and live music are just the beginning. toledo was the first look into the beauty of spanish cities.

we went to an armory museum which was so boring because 1) i don’t care about armor and 2) it’s all in spanish so why would i spend all my ~excess~ energy on trying to comprehend anything? :) i was feeling pretty awful at that point, so tired, hot, and my stomach was hurting, the usual. we walked around more, and the boys explored sword shops. i just sat on the side of the alley and people watched. i could’ve done that all day. people watching is so fun, & it’s another level when you’re traveling :).

before we left, we stopped at a little street market to grab some food. grocery shopping in another country is an experience. after, we walked out of the city and drove south to granada, which was over three hours of nothing. just kidding, i’m not sure exactly what we drove through because i was sleeping for most it. thank goodness for air conditioning in our rental van because it was crazy hot. we stopped at some random gas stations with sketchy bathrooms, but eventually we got to granada. and that, my friends, will be in next week’s post!

if you made it to the end, you’re a real one!

these posts are going to be super long, but that’s kinda the point :)

i hope you loved it!

see you next tuesday!

xo, kate <3