Toledo

Heading north now towards Bilbao, the autoroute adjacent to much of the N-630 was the route I followed before turning east after Merida. It was great to be able to see from a slightly more birds-eye perspective the landscapes we had cycled through only 2-3 weeks earlier. The autoroute was almost as quiet, so easy, enjoyable driving. After several hours I was glad to be approaching Toledo, and it really is a magnificent view from that direction as the road seems to go over the top of the plateau revealing in the distance the river valley and then historic city above it, yet still lower than the plateau. The sun was right behind the citadel, so I didn’t stop to try and capture the scene. A really impressive geological position.

Long on my list of places to visit, I stayed at a good campsite 1km away and spent the next day exploring by bike with continuing blue sky and sun. I was reminded how fortunate I was to be able to enjoy such opportunities, including having the variety of chinese food for lunch.

I really loved this place – larger than another of my favourites, Ronda. I haven’t been to similar sized historic towns in Italy, but with the cypress trees around the buildings on the other sides of its gorge, I wondered whether this was similar. One of my observations about Spain’s historic town/cities is that 21st century life goes on in and amidst the history, including of course tourism. Buildings continue to be used for universities, administration etc, and apartments above the narrow medieval streets are lived in. I know a great many villages are being abandoned with people moving to the cities, so I guess Spain as with other countries has a balancing act to manage for the right level and type of the valuable tourism sector.

A great place to combine with a trip to Madrid and I would love to share a visit again.