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Toledo

— Half an hour or so by train from Madrid's Atocha station, Toledo is readily accessible to visitors yet remains happily aloof from overdevelopment.”

Toledo: Puerta del Reloj

The city retains much of its ancient character, thanks in no small part to its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In common with the other great cities of old al-Andalus Toledo has a long history of coexistence marked by distinct ruling periods.

Muslims were here. Jews were here. Catholics were here. Catholics are still here. Toledo is modern Spain’s capital of Catholicism, a jumble of ancient houses clinging together like prayer boxes on top of a hill carved by a tight meander of the Tajo river.

Crenellated battlements surround the city, a fading, golden girdle that still protects against the breaches of invasion and overdevelopment.

Inside the walls, all is quiet. Starchy food smells escape from ornate, wooden shutters. Unfamiliar liquids escape the heat, running between the paving stones and into odourous drains. A closed knife shop. A closed marzipan shop. Another close knife shop, exactly like the one before.

Inside the cathedral, leaving behind the crass crowds. No cameras, no filming, no smoking, no dogs, no mobile telephones. No common objects in this magnificent edifice built by the sacrifices of common people. The vestments and mitres of generations of bishops, hermetically sealed in chapelled cabinets. Their portraits – some more successful than others – are panel painted in another chapel.

Breathe easier outside. Play hide and seek with the bright sun. Breathe in and slip into the close, narrow alleys. Breathe out in the broad plazas. Coming, ready or not.

Walking in Toledo

Larger map of this route

Using the train station as a start and finish point, the map covers most of Toledo’s points of interest, some of which are marked for reference.