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Woke up in Toledo.....what a cool city.
It is built like a huge fortress....I'm staying at the heart of it it would appear right across the street. The hotel I am in is full of knights in armour and really kinda cool Small rooms but nice and cheap.....45 Euro...LOL. Amazing. Can't believe how cheap the hotels have been...gas not so but the hotels have been.
So I want to explore Toledo a bit but need to return the bike today...so I have till noon to get out of the room so I hose off and put some street cloths on to wander around. Find a lil restaurant and have some breaky. First stop the Alcazar. Its a museum.
So I wandered in...and they took me cameras...sigh. Well the story is this place was a hold out for Franco in the civil war. They were under siege and one of his Officers said they would hold. Eventually Franco's relief forces showed up and the place was trashed.....after severe artillery barrages. But they held out. It was apparently the turning point of the war. So they rebuilt it...around the ruins of the old one. When you go in...yup it was blowwwwweeedddd up bad....seems they just rebuilt the building around the wrecked and ran a broom around the place. Kinda wild looking. But the rest of the building is all museum...all about Spanish history.....and yup there is a lot...I only had an hour so had to run around....all sorts of relics amazing.....I had to get out and I got lost trying to exit...but finally spit out near the lockers where they had me bag.
So trotted out the door and went for a quick walk around the area and its pretty impressive. But had to get out of my room so went back and loaded up. Exited the building and then drove around the city...this is where it got interesting LOL.
The streets are so narrow and steep and slippery and the maps are crazy....I just would point in a direction and hope I could figure it out...so I climb up this old road....and of course there are cars an people all around everywhere, its a busy place lot of tourists too.
I hit a T-intersection...really narrow had to pick a direction...went right...it was so narrow .... started to go for about 20 feet and it became a gentle descending hill that you couldn't quite see the road ahead much...hit a drop...weird.....then another one...and I am not going too fast....so I stop and really stretch me neck...s***...Im on a stairway...frig...can't back up ... and no way to turn around....
Ahhh well tally hoo I said...ka thump ka thump ka thump....and the steps got closer and closer so it was getting a bit hair raising..soon my feet wouldn't be able to touch the ground and I would have to commit to a fast rough ride.......and the hill got steeper...wasn't sure I could pull this off....and now the locals start to walk by looking at the dumb ass trying to pull off a James Bond move.
Stopped .... assessed.... hit the gas....and slowly descended the stairs in an RT...LOL was I ever glad when I hit the last one....if they get any closer and steeper together I was hooped..and would have had to punch it and hope the suspension held out..... I'm sure I'm on a few other blog posts....least I do provide entertainment...LOL. When I hit the road below I had to stop I was laughing so hard....couldn't believe I pulled that off...this is not a GS.....
So I continued wandering the streets and found the old Cathedral and a cafe..time to sit...so another amazing Cappuccino in the shadow of an ancient building...wow...tones of tourist starting to mill about...so time to head to Madrid I figure.....sighhhhhh
I'm only 60 k away and getting out of the old Jewish quarter was a challenge....but I made it finally and it was an easy freeway ride into Madrid so I figured I would just head into the city center and park it for a while and wander about.
Found a cool area of plazas and walking streets...and found a lil cafe. cervaisa and potata brava time...and watched the various hookers strut there stuff. Kinda diff....kids around....moms dads and hookers....bit bizarre.
So all good things must come to an end...I wandered over to the shop to drop the bike off and Diego met me. Told him about the pannier...and no big deal...so I unloaded and packed the stuff into the suitcases....crap they were heavy. He then dragged me to the nearest bar and commenced to grill me on me adventure. He was pretty impressed I pulled it off. He was only disappointed I didn't make it to Granada...he went on and on about the restaurant he recommended there and said I really missed out .... sighhhhhhhhhh
I covered a lot of turf apparently..5000 km..so while chatting I booked a hotel right near the airport online...and Diego offered me a lift. So he dropped me and it was actually pretty late....good thing cause there was no way I could drive the Mahou beer really hit me. Great guy!
Got me room....small but nice...needed to step outside to change me mind....but it was time to figure out where things go and pack it up...my phone bonged....wahhhhhh hoooo I got upgraded on the Munich Toronto leg....there is a god! So with a few struggles I managed to fit everything into the cases ..... barely.... I learned some stuff I didn't need at least for the next one.
Time to hit the hay. Need to get up at 5 sighhhhh big travel day.....
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