Classes at UC3m happen to fall on Monday/Wednesday, Monday/Thursday, or Tuesday/Friday. When registering for classes, the courses I wanted to take happened to all fall on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This left Tuesday's and Friday's open for traveling and new experiences.
A group of us from USC have started to try out Travel Tuesday! It is a designated day once a week to explore somewhere new in Spain. The public transportation system is extremely easy to navigate here and with the student metro card we have, there's a lot of places that can be traveled to for free. The destination of our first "Travel Tuesday" was Toledo, a small medieval town about 45 minutes outside of Madrid, perfect for a day trip!
Arrival in Toledo
We arrived in Toledo around 12:30 PM. The town is essentially settled in a mountain top, so we ascended the hillside to reach the city center. It took us almost thirty minutes to do this because of a farmers protest that was taking place in the same pathway to the top we had intended to follow. While it was a slow-down in our plans, it was fascinating to witness a labor protest. These are a lot more common in Europe than the U.S, and it was the first I had seen since being here. Most of the people were not angrily protesting, but rather smiling and laughing as they marched through Toledo with their protest signs.
After finally reaching the top, we surveyed what we could of the Plaza de Zocodover amongst the crowds. Then, we settled for a quick lunch right by the famous statue of Cervantes.
Walking Tour Around the City
Following lunch, we walked down the Calle de Comercio. At one point this famous street intersects with the Calle de Toledo de Ohio (The Street of Toledo, Ohio) in homage to America's Toledo. We also paid to go to the top of a local church to see a view of the entire city, which was definitely worth it!
Going into the back streets of Toledo we went inside a famous steel crafting store and the famous Santo Tome bakery. We indulged in mazapan, a classic Toledo cookie, which was amazing. In addition to this, we explored the Jewish quarter, rich in history as Toledo was the first area in Spain where the Jewish settled in early times.
Finally, we explored the Puente de San Martin, a bridge dating back to the medieval ages. From here we caught the bus back to Madrid!
Takeaway
Once abroad, it is easy to let the opportunity to travel to new countries to consume your time. However, in a country like Spain, it is important to remember the historic cities just a little while away. In addition to Toledo, other day trips from Spain include El Escorial, Segovia, and Avila. I am really looking forward to learning more about Spain through cities outside of Madrid!