This was our first day trip, to Toledo. We visited the absolutely incredible Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo, the Alcázar, walked around town and through picturesque little streets, and then visited the Mezquita del Cristo de La Luz. Built in 999, this was a former mosque in Toledo, that existed during the city's Moorish period, then in 1186 it was given to the Knights of the Order of St. John who established it as the Chapel of the Holy Christ. It was one of many sites in the City where you could see different cultures meld together.
The Cathedral was beautiful beyond description -- it is one of three 13th century gothic cathedrals in Spain, and is considered by many to be the 'magnum opus' (according to wiki). It is famous for bringing in more light and for its truly remarkable structural achievements for the time.
The Alcazar was also really cool to see -- it's a stone fortification located at the highest point of the city -- it had been a Roman palace in the 3rd century, restored in the 1500s, then had to be largely rebuilt or restored after the Siege of the Alcazar of the Spanish Civil War. It had a museum inside, places showing the original footings and walls, and had the most incredible views.
We were excited to find a place that served gluten free lasagna, along with a whole list of other gluten free foods, according to the waitress reading us a gluten free menu off her app -- only to get ready to order and find out they had NONE of that. Like, nothing, except some seafood the kids weren't interested. This was one of a few big gluten free blows the kids had had already, and resulted in tears for one of them. We ended up eating ice cream and fries for lunch -- not my first choice as a Mom, but it's what we found. Gluten free turned out to be much harder this trip than I'd expected -- not that there was none, but between trying to find stuff more on the go, for kids, and not at fancy restaurants, and that wasn't just baked goods, and that we trusted the language barrier that they understood what we needed, we ended up eating more grocery store food than we'd expected this trip.
This cathedral was probably the MOST amazing place I saw -- but there were no pictures allowed inside.
Greg slept weird and had a REALLY sore neck, so Star was working on getting the knot out of his shoulder -- the kids all joined in to help out :-)
After the cathedral, we headed to the Alcázar
Lastly, to the Mezquita del Cristo de La Luz -- which had been a mosque that became a Christian Church.
Then walking out of the City on our way back to the van:
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