Saturday 24 December 2011
It would be a bit of a drive to Toledo so we arose at 6:15 and took off less than an hour later. We knew the way there was no scenic wonder, Toledo and its neighbor Madrid being perched on a high plain known mostly for its chill in winter. But we were also advancing through Don Quixote country, and since we'd been reading the book aloud for a while it was interesting to see windmills and the rolling flat stretches that we could just picture the loony old dude riding across and spotting something in the distance that looked like wrongdoing needing redress.
We arrived at the Hilton Buenavista Toledo just before noon and the accommodating staff let us into the room in advance of the 2:00 PM check-in time. They also let us park the van in the corner of the front drive for the duration, with no charge. They were extremely cordial and helpful all around, with Theresa at the front desk using her good command of Ingles to throw all sorts of advice our way, about a hiking path, a bus that circled the outside of the city walls for a different view, what might be open on Christmas Eve and C. Day, midnight Mass options, etc. She also opened up the door to the 16th century palace that the hotel abuts, which had a dozen luxury rooms and suites that were part of the hotel, and we got to hang out in the lobby rooms that were filled with large paintings that we viewed from elegant chairs and desk sets.
Dian and Nicole withdrew to the room to enjoy its Hiltonness (fantastic bathroom!) while
Charles went for a hike towards town. He didn't say so but his mission, like a hunter head-of-household of old, was to find food for the family; we hadn't brought more than on-the-road supplies, and we sure didn't want to raid the room fridge or go for exorbitant room service or restaurant prices. As Charles walked and walked and kept walking he got very discouraged -- it was now approaching 4 on Christmas Eve, a day when it seemed everyone was closing at noon for
siesta with no intention of opening up again until the 26th. After cutting through residential areas and the downtown shopping district and finding
nada, he got all the way up to the old walled town and thought, if there's nothing open back there, there sure aren't going to be markets in the old area. But lo and behold, a Christmas miracle: he found not one but three places open within the first two blocks and stocked up on good cheese and meat and wine and even brought home half the kebob sandwich he had to buy for sustenance after that draining search. The family would not starve!
Back at the Hilton, Nicole and Dian were refreshed from showers and naps and had prepared tea and yoghurt-covered rice cakes. We then really made the room look like Christmas by mounting the pine boughs Claire and Bill so thoughtfully gave us (our tree) and decorating it with the very small ornaments we had fashioned from small pine corns we gathered and painted in Piegaro, Italy. We had a surprising quantity of wrapped gifts to spread around.
Dian's parents had sent a fantastic box of gifts that were thoughtful and useful, including a lot of yummy Trader Joe's items, like the Thai soup cup that became part of our exotic Christmas dinner in the room, added to the cheese, bread and meat slices Charles got in the old town, some great Czech beers brought from Valencia and various treats for dessert (dark chocolate, yay!). We got dressed and got on the computer to call Grandmother and Grandad, and were also able to speak to brother Tim and his wife Marta who were visiting San Pedro from their home in Memphis. We almost got to connect with Texas too as niece Amelia rang us up, but we had to text her holiday wishes because we had to finish up the call and catch our shuttle to town at 9:45 for midnight mass.
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| Marzipan and |
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| Marzipan and |
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| Marzipan |
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| Charles and Quixote |
We had fun exploring, wandering into a hotel lobby to be invited to look downstairs, where we found a medieval setup with long tables and high narrow chairs and several authentic suits of armor standing around. Good photo ops. Then into a shop or two and lots of window shopping, taking in huge displays and creations of marzipan (a Toledo specialty) -- like swords, lots of eels (??), shields, and a 4' x 6' castle -- and also nativity scenes (they have competitions there for the best ones), and lots of real swords and knives (also a Toledo thing). We went by the cathedral and couldn't find a way in, then two men standing nearby said it probably wouldn't open up until after 11:30 PM, So we wandered some more, to the nearby square where they had a large ice skating rink set up inside a clear tent, and finally up the hill a bit to find a tea shop open.
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| Dian, Sancho Panza, and Nicole |
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| Nicole and Quixote |
The name was "Alqahira", and it was a find - a Christmas present from Arabia. When we stepped in it was like a passage into another land. There was wonderful Middle Eastern music playing softly, fabulous inlaid furniture, hookahs, and holding the magic together was Fahti, the gracious proprietor who treated us like visiting royalty. Charles is strictly a coffee guy but Fahti convinced all of us to pull up a chair and have a fine tea, which he served with a flourish on a silver tray, and gifted us with sesame-covered cookies to accompany it. We chatted with him about his hometown Cairo, and the time passed quickly until we needed to get on to the cathedral for mass. At first we didn't realize "Alqahira" was also a restaurant with a limited but tempting menu, but when we did we quickly decided that was where we wanted to have our Christmas dinner, courtesy of a gift card we had just opened from family friend, Irene Thermos, back in San Pedro.
Toledo's main streets were a wonderland of lights
Dian and Nicole withdrew to the room to enjoy its Hiltonness (fantastic bathroom!) while 
Back at the Hilton, Nicole and Dian were refreshed from showers and naps and had prepared tea and yoghurt-covered rice cakes. We then really made the room look like Christmas by mounting the pine boughs Claire and Bill so thoughtfully gave us (our tree) and decorating it with the very small ornaments we had fashioned from small pine corns we gathered and painted in Piegaro, Italy. We had a surprising quantity of wrapped gifts to spread around.
The name was "Alqahira", and it was a find - a Christmas present from Arabia. When we stepped in it was like a passage into another land. There was wonderful Middle Eastern music playing softly, fabulous inlaid furniture, hookahs, and holding the magic together was Fahti, the gracious proprietor who treated us like visiting royalty. Charles is strictly a coffee guy but Fahti convinced all of us to pull up a chair and have a fine tea, which he served with a flourish on a silver tray, and gifted us with sesame-covered cookies to accompany it. We chatted with him about his hometown Cairo, and the time passed quickly until we needed to get on to the cathedral for mass. At first we didn't realize "Alqahira" was also a restaurant with a limited but tempting menu, but when we did we quickly decided that was where we wanted to have our Christmas dinner, courtesy of a gift card we had just opened from family friend, Irene Thermos, back in San Pedro.
We arrived at the Hilton Buenavista Toledo just before noon and the accommodating staff let us into the room in advance of the 2:00 PM check-in time. They also let us park the van in the corner of the front drive for the duration, with no charge. They were extremely cordial and helpful all around, with Theresa at the front desk using her good command of Ingles to throw all sorts of advice our way, about a hiking path, a bus that circled the outside of the city walls for a different view, what might be open on Christmas Eve and C. Day, midnight Mass options, etc. She also opened up the door to the 16th century palace that the hotel abuts, which had a dozen luxury rooms and suites that were part of the hotel, and we got to hang out in the lobby rooms that were filled with large paintings that we viewed from elegant chairs and desk sets.
Charles went for a hike towards town. He didn't say so but his mission, like a hunter head-of-household of old, was to find food for the family; we hadn't brought more than on-the-road supplies, and we sure didn't want to raid the room fridge or go for exorbitant room service or restaurant prices. As Charles walked and walked and kept walking he got very discouraged -- it was now approaching 4 on Christmas Eve, a day when it seemed everyone was closing at noon for siesta with no intention of opening up again until the 26th. After cutting through residential areas and the downtown shopping district and finding nada, he got all the way up to the old walled town and thought, if there's nothing open back there, there sure aren't going to be markets in the old area. But lo and behold, a Christmas miracle: he found not one but three places open within the first two blocks and stocked up on good cheese and meat and wine and even brought home half the kebob sandwich he had to buy for sustenance after that draining search. The family would not starve!
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