Day 3 - May 23 Road trip day. Visits to Toledo and Cordoba, on the way to Seville

Friday morning came early for the choir. 8 am we were all loaded and sitting on the bus, ready to join the parking lot traffic on the Madrid highways. Quite a feat, considering that the breakfast room is tiny and doesn't hold us all at the same time, and the bus is parked outside of the pedestrian only area and requires a bit of a hike on cobblestones to get to it.

A huge thanks to the folks who grabbed extra suitcases and made multiple trips back and forth to speed up the process.

Our first stop of the day was the city of Toledo. Its strategic location on a steep hill, encircled on three sides by the Targus River, made it an easily defensible stronghold during Toledo's historical time as the capital of the kingdom. Lots of conflicting and overlapping influences from Christians, Muslims, and Jews over the centuries.

Most of the group walked up the steep steps to get to the center of town, while the various gimpy knees, bad hips, and stubbed toes took taxis.

We toured the cathedral and cloisters, including a little impromptu singing for some other surprised tourists, and then visited a Jewish synagogue built in Arabic style that is now a Christian church. Worlds collide! Sometimes peacefully, sometimes not…

We sang there too (duh).

A quick grab of some lunch, and then a whole series of escalators descending all the way down to the bottom of the hill Back on the bus for another couple of hours

We finally reached Cordoba, and did a walking tour through the historic area and visited the orange grove surrounding the Great Mosque, which is now a Christian church. Sadly, the building was closed by the time we reached it so will have to come back to see the interior some day.

Here we are casually strolling across a bridge built by the Romans in early first century BC.

More bus time to arrive at our new hotel in Seville and a late dinner. Long day, so much history! I hope we remember it all for the test