Holy Toledo!

We visited Toledo today. It used to be the capitol of Spain until el rey Fernando moved it to madrid to seperate the powers of church and parliament. It truly is a city worth being the center of attention. Driving in toward it truly looks like a picture that belongs on a postcard. The hillside is just lined with ancient building after ancient building and the whole view is topped with castles and towers and your looking out across the river which acts as a natural mote. The other side of the city is enclosed with walls that look so medieval. We got to go to the Church of St Juan de los Reyes and our tour guide told us that Fernando and Isabella had ordered its construction to signal the country being taken back over from the Moors and it took 70 years to build. On the front wall is all the shackles that were taken off the Christian prisoners that were freed from the Moors. She also pointed out the symbols of both the king and queen and all the places where both their initials had been placed to claim it as their project. i'm not sure I would've noticed these things on my own so I am really thankful to have a guide to explain everything. We also got to see the burial site inside the Cathedral of one of the towns mayors and the giant Greco painting over it. It is so incredible and pictures can't do justice to any of the beauty here. Walking around the corner to see the giant cathedral was so incredible. As soon as the spire came into view everyone stopped talking mid sentence and your could hear words of admiration and shock running through the group. I bet ya that this view is where the whole "holy Toledo" phrase originated. One thing that amazes me is that the portions for meals are much smaller here and very spread apart but they seem to tide you over for a long time. I've been getting really hungry about an hr before meal times but suffering through it. I've only broke into my granola bar stash once but it was during merienda (midday snack) so its still going with customs as i see it lol. I'm transitioning fairly well but I know my spanish still needs a lot of work. I'm so excited for tomorrow! We finally reach Sevilla and get presented to our host families. Ojalá que ellos son muy simpatico.