TEFLees in Spain

Holy Toledo! Part I

Several weeks ago, thanks to the stellar planning of the TtMadrid Social Committee, seven of us were able to drag ourselves out of bed on a Saturday morning, run to the Renfe station, and make it safely aboard a train to Toledo. Hangovers aside, we were all excited to be taking our first mini-vacation, and to be leaving the hustle and bustle of the big city behind.

The train trip was a smooth ride through the barren wasteland desert surrounding Madrid, and although it only took twenty minutes, we were relieved to put an end to the vast stretches of sand and rubble. As we de-boarded however, it suddenly dawned on us: we have no idea what to do in Toledo! We scrambled to put our heads together and pool our collective knowledge. “Let’s see…Toledo was once the capital city of Spain…there’s a cathedral here of some importance…okay, anything else? Nope, that about wraps it up. Okay, let’s go!”

So off we went, wandering without a clue, winding our way up the narrow curvy roads, and asking every person in sight, “Donde esta la cathedral?” It took several attempts, but eventually we developed some sense of direction. The cathedral is somewhere, up hill. To celebrate this victory, we took an appropriate beer break at a dark, damp, and charming local bar.

With one beer down, and surely more to go, we shielded our eyes as we emerged back into the bright Spanish sunlight, and bravely began our climb in the “up” direction, in search of the cathedral. Eventually, after what seemed like thousands of cobbly steps later, we arrived at an old, stone building. The entrance was set with dozens of intricately carved, faded, and ancient engravings, so we figured that since we’re now at the top of the hill, this is probably it. Entrance aside though, it wasn’t too altogether cathedraly. Where are the spires? Or the gargoyles? Where are the crowds? This is what we came to Toledo for? This is it? Well, we thought, maybe it’s the inside that’s so spectacular. Perhaps it’s like a book…so in we went.

Upon entrance, it was immediately apparent that this was indeed not the cathedral, as we’d suspected. Instead, we’d wandered unknowingly into a strangely minimalist museum. The only blemishes to its sparkling white walls were paintings of all shapes and sizes – of gruesomely, graphically, dead, people! Everywhere we looked, on all sides, we were surrounded by horrible depictions of human suffering, rotting corpses, and chaos in general. It was enough to turn my stomach in somersaults, my face from white to green, and my heel towards the exit…so out we went.