Travel to Segovia and Toledo Spain – Episode 337

Lily

Great view !!! 🙂

Kathy

I haven’t been to Segovia, but I did get to Toledo back in 2004 (by bus, the rail line was being converted to high speed at the time). I was in Spain earlier than I had planned as I was escaping the Eurocup tournament in Portugal, which put me in Toledo for the Corpus Christi celebrations. It turned out to be a great time to be in Toledo, not only for the procession on the most important day (the ninth Thursday after Easter), but the day before, when I had the cathedral essentially to myself. The cathedral was stunning, especially the choir stalls, one tier, wooden, with the Christians reconquering Spanish towns from the Muslims, one city per stall, two alabaster tiers with Old Testament figures, and a complete set of misericords. And the Treasury had some more of the town’s El Greco’s. The ten-foot high monstrance which is usually in the Treasury was the star of the procession.

The processional route was covered with strips of cloth against the sun, the road was strewn with thyme and rosemary, and the houses were decorated with banners, plaques and embroidered shawls. It seemed that all of Toledo was in the procession – girls in white dresses, young men in white surplices, women draped in black lace mantillas, men in the robes of various societies, nurses and nuns, marching bands and marching regiments. And the prelates, of course, in gorgeous embroidered copes, escorting the monstrance on a flower-bedecked float. But some of Toledo lined the parade route, breaking into applause when the monstrance appeared. Others filled reserved seats in Zocodover Square, where a second mini-service was conducted (mass at 10:00, procession begins at 11:00, finish up at the cathedral around 2:00). Besides the procession, some of the normally-closed, Arab-style private houses were open so that you could admire the inner courtyards.

So if you’re going to Toledo, try to go for the festival. I stayed at the Santa Isabel, which was convenient, comfortable and reasonable.

Daniel Sánchez

Hi!!

I am Dani from Madrid and first of all I want to thank Ralph for showing Spain to the world. I love the episode and I would like to add some suggestions:
– If you rent a car, you can go from Segovia to Toledo and stop in Avila (great wall – UNESCO site) and in “El Escorial” (impressive monastery from the 16th century)
– In Segovia you must taste its famous roasted pig (“cochinillo” in spanish).
– Toledo is one of the best places in Spain to taste marzipan.

Please let me update the info about Spain high speed trains that appears in the podcast (I work in this industry):
– Madrid Cordoba Sevilla or Malaga
– Madrid Zaragoza Barcelona
– Madrid Valencia
– Madrid Segovia Valladolid
– Madrid Toledo

Great episode Chris (as always), plase continue with this incredible work and thanks for sharing your travel passion with us.