Island Hopping 2024: Travel Day, Salamanca to Toledo, A well deserved drink

 A travel tip to myself is to schedule more time in Salamanca.  The must-see  sights of the city can be knocked out in one busy day, but then I would want to spend several relaxing days just appreciating the slower pace of the town, joining the evening paseo and, of course, enjoying the tapas culture.

The drive from Salamanca to Toledo unfolded like a canvas of changing landscapes.  The cattle land around Salamanca evolved into lush green fields and then into rolling green fields.  This farmland finally gave way to the craggy mountains which in turn yielded to the panoramic views of the Tagus River and perched on the highest hill stood Toledo.  It was really quite striking.

This is cattle country and this bull used to be the advertisement for a liquor.  

To put it to scale, note our car parked beneath the tail.

Mountains

 

  We're in La Mancha now. The only windmills that Cervantes'

 Don Quixote can tilt at now create electricity.

More rugged terrain

                                                Looking across the valley at Toledo

In business and travel the final mile is always the hardest.  The drive from Salamanca to the gates of Toledo could not have been more pleasant.  The drive from the gates of Toledo to our AirBnB could not have been more intense.  We found ourselves driving down impossibly narrow and winding roads with sometimes less than six inches of clearance on either side.  We were following our GPS and hoping for the best.  All is well that ends well and I am sitting in our Toledo house posting this entry.

A very nice feature to this house, which is embedded deep in the old city is that it is only a few minutes walk to a good tapas bar with a fun bartender.  After raising a glass to ourselves at the bar, we headed to a bakery (panaderia) and picked up some bread and crumpets for tomorrow morning’s breakfast.

Our favorite Toledano Bartender