Continuing from the previous post of Toledo Trip Part 3..
What should we do next? As we had much time to spend wandering, DH suggested (after checking the map intently) that we walk around the wall of Toledo and at the same time able to check out most of the the main gates of Toledo too.
I am game!
I really do not mind walking around Toledo although my knee will suffer later at night. ^^
In front of the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes we saw a plaque stating all the important tourist spots in Toledo.
There are two mosques that we intent to visit No. 23 Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz and No.27 Mezquita de Tornerias but No.27 is closed (not sure if this is forever and ever). Both were former Moorish mosques in Toledo.
Walking down the slope in front of Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes, we saw a small artisan shop selling ceramics of Toledo. Again, I felt the urge to make a shopping haul. I enjoy appreciating this kind of stuff. 'Hecho en Toledo' means made in Toledo.
Check out these ceramic art from Meknes, Morocco. Gorgeous and so many similarities, right? The ceramics art of Toledo might be some remnants of aesthetic knowledge influenced by the historical co-existence (La Convivencia) of Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures in Toledo.
There are so many greenery part in this route and we just enjoyed the amazing weather and walked towards our first gate of Toledo - Puerta del Cambron.
Puerta del Cambron was also historically known as the gate of the Jews. This gate owes its name to the spiny buckthorn bushes all around it which are known in Spanish as cambroneras -Spain Info
It is built over the remains of a Visigoth gate, and the current structure is in the Renaissance style with a square floor plan. On the interior façade there is a statue of Santa Leocadia attributed to Berruguete. This is the only gate open to motor traffic. - Spain Info
Then we decided to go up along the narrow streets to stroll while appreciating the vestiges and buildings of a cultural past of social integration rather than following the route of the main road outside Puerta del Cambron.
Out of nowhere, we found a very long escalator which goes down and down and down some more which ends at a park where we could view the remnants of the wall of Toledo. Pretty long!
Here, I took my own sweet time to appreciate the wall of Toledo while DH used the public toilet at the park just outside the wall area.
Compared to the wall of Granada where we visited during the summer of 2014, Toledo's are much more well preserved and maintained.
His comment - the cleanest toilet so far he found in Toledo although he had to pay 50 centimos equivalent to about RM2.30 for 15 minutes.
From here on, we walked along the breathtaking view of gates of Toledo which is along the main road outside.
This Gate of Alfonso VI made my eyes watery. Sentimental feeling kicked in as the gate reminded me so much of a mosque's gate - the stark resemblance of Islamic art which we could not deny.
Honestly, when we walked around Toledo there are so many buildings which we thought could be mosques previously.
In a another thought, the gate resembles a horse shoe!
Another small gate. The pink Adelfa flowers are blooming gorgeously during the summer normally here in Spain and I bet the lady was fascinated by its beauty just like me. ^^
We finally reached the main entrance where the local bus number 5 passed through when we first arrived in Toledo in the morning. The picture above is Plaza la Virgen.
Here is the Bisagra Gate right after we passed through Plaza la Virgen. We saw a few tourist buses dropped off their passengers to snap a momento picture with this beautiful gate.
Meanwhile, check out the video below by Jorge Molina to know how beautifully breathtaking can this city with three names Toletum טולדו, Ṭulayá¹ulah طليطلة, and Toledo be during the summer of August and under the bright blue sky. Enjoy!