October is here and it means autumn!! The weather has been very pleasant in Madrid. Have been walking around the house for my daily morning-walk of 45 minutes and the temperature is normally around 15 to 18 degrees celcius at 10 in the morning. Some of the trees have changed colors too.
Well..this is the final part our Toledo Trip posts. We went to Toledo in July and now it is October already. How time flies...*sigh* and continuing from Toledo Trip Part 5.
After our lunch at Cristo de la Luz Restaurant, we walked up the hill from the restaurant and saw some restaurants with high reviews from Trip Advisor. After following the crowds, we came to Plaza Zocodover; where the bus number 5 dropped us off at in the morning.
In the above picture, on the right side with the white terraza is where McDonalds is.
We walked straight up and on the right side of the above picture is Santo Tomé; famous bakery for Mazapan.
After checking out the beautiful laid out mazapan from the glass window, we decided to sit down at the pavement rest our tired feet and do people watching. Saw so many youngsters at the plaza perhaps spending their school vacation with their friends.
While sitting at the pavement, the City Sightseeing Toledo bus passed us by. It costs 15 euro per adult and you may check the route here.
It was pretty hot now at half past three in the afternoon. We decided it was time to find a place for prayer. Although we found the Cristo de La Luz Mosque but it is now a museum and can no longer be used to perform prayer inside. How sad..but the earth is His and we can worship Allah everywhere. Not to worry...^^
From Plaza Zocodover, we headed down the hill and found Plaza Miradero. We can see a part of the breathtaking view of Toledo from here.
Right next to Plaza Miradero, there is a stretch of long escalators down the hill and the first iconic spot we saw is this building. Then we went down the escalators and we found the parking lot under the building.
From the parking lot, we ventured out to a main road with pretty sidewalks as the above picture and our main aim was the Alcantara Gate.
'This is one of the most important parts of the military area, in the East wall.
It is of Arabic origin, as is shown by its doubled structure, although it was rebuilt in Christian times. The opening is of a horseshoe arch and is flanked by two square towers with lateral arrow slits. Its structure has been preserved until now because of being walled up from the XVI Century until 1911.
The space between the door and the bridge forms a closed square with two other side doors'. - from Toledo Turismo
The river is called Rio Tajo. I wish that the river can be as clean as those in Japan.
The view of Alcázar of Toledo from Rio Tajo.
Finally we found a nice spot to pray Zuhr and Asr! We did tayammum and taking turns to perform the prayer.
This signboard is just next to our praying spot and after this we actually walked back to Toledo train station for about fifteen minutes.
Remember the cute kid we met in Cristo de la luz Mosque? He sat right next to us in the returning train to Madrid. What a small world! I spelled him my name at the mosque but in the train, he called me 'Maria'! Well...I don't mind. ^^
Final view of Toledo. IMO, Toledo is a nice 5~6 hours getaway from Madrid. Till then~~