Hm, long time, no blog. I'd like to say it was because I was incredibly busy immersing myself in the awesomeness of Madrid, and it's true - I was. However, laziness was the reason why I haven't written in a while and I can already forsee this problem can only get worse as my trip progresses.
Let's move on though, because 'Daytrippin'' is the title of this blog and that is what it is about. Since arriving in Spain I have discovered a not-so-secret love for daytrips. Not entirely sure why, although I am sure it has something to do with the surge of excitement I have everytime I travel on one of those fast European trains. I seem to get such joy from being on a fast train, that this part of my trip to Toledo on Saturday was actually the best bit. But maybe that has more to do with the fact that Toledo was a HUGE disappointment. Talk about overrated. Toledo is an ancient-looking town that deals a lot in El Greco artwork and swords. That is basically what I gathered from the four hours I spent there. I haven't really regretted anything on this journey so far (not even eating a Personal Pan Pizza in the dirtiest Pizza Hut in existence or eating a European 'breakfast cake' [an explanation of that will appear in a later blog]) but I regret forking out 7 euros to enter the Cathedral at Toledo. It was cold and scary and you weren't allowed to take photos, which normally wouldn't have bothered me because there wasn't anything in there that I wanted to photograph, but the atmosphere in there was so chilling that I almost felt like I needed to record a farewell message to my parents.
After the Cathedral things got better, as I went to a smaller, friendlier church and I could climb to the top to get a view of all of Toledo. There was other stuff in Toledo, but I'm getting bored just writing about it, so I can only imagine how bad it would be for the reader.
Moving on to last daytrip - Segovia. It was brilliant! Couldn't recommend it enough, as it is a stunning place without too much of that touristy crap that Toledo had. The town of Segovia and it's Aqueduct are World Heritage listed sites. This Aqueduct was amazing, it blew my mind to touching something that was built by the Romans in the 8th Century.
The town also has this amazing building called the Alcazar, which has been many things over the years, like a military training college and a royal palace. I read that apparently this building inspired the design of the Disney castle and when you see the turrets it makes sense.
The only downside to my trip to Segovia was that I had to take a bus and not a train. Good news is that even though it is costing me an enormous amount, I am taking the fast AVE train from Madrid to Malaga tomorrow. Can't wait!
