My Spanish Birthday

June 18, 2007 My 54th Birthday
The day begins early as we get our wake up call at 6:22 AM. The day is bright, sunny and the temperature will be in the 75 range all day. A perfect day to see Toledo….Spain.

First we begin with a hearty buffet breakfast consisting of yogurts, fruits, juices, breads, meats and of course Spanish café. As we dine our luggage is loaded into our luxury coach and by 7:50 we are ready to drive the hour to Toledo.

I must admit Toledo Spain was simply magnificent. The views from across the river are breathtaking as can be recalled by the El Greco painting of the “View of Toledo” Our first stop was the actual view painted by El Greco. We saw why he immortalized it in his work.

We pick up our local guide and head into the city itself for a walking tour and some shopping. Toledo is noted for it’s Swords, Knives, Damascene jewelry and beautiful art.

Toledo was first built by the Arabs, inhabited by Jews and Arabs, conquered by the Romans and finally settled by the Christians. Unfortunately most everything we see today in Toledo is built in recent times. You see most of Toledo was destroyed by the bombs of several wars and was nearly destroyed. This beautiful city was entirely rebuilt using the original plans so it looks today much as it did 400 years ago.

We enter through the Jewish quarter which is modeled after the city of Jerusalem and resembles the city in architecture. The one Jewish temple was changed by the Christians to a Church, leaving the outside but Christianizing the inside. The church itself is very bare with columns down two aisles. There is a small altar at the center but otherwise the walls are unadorned.

Outside the temple and around every corner are shops. Lladro, Toledo steel and gold Damascene abound. I stop to buy a beautiful gold hand made letter opener in the shape of a sword: the only Toledo steel I could afford but it is genuine and it is my birthday after all.

We tour throughout the city stopping at the Arab Mosque, now a Christian Church. We also stop at the Church of the Virgin Mary of the Holy Chalice. Legend has it King Ferdinand had a vision where he met the Virgin Mary and was given the gift of a golden Chalice. He built this church to commemorate the event. He and his wife, Isabella, wanted to be buried here but instead are buried at the Alhambra Palace which we will see later in the tour.

All too soon we must say good bye to the sister city of Toledo and head south to Cordoba where we will have dinner and spend the night, but not without a little adventure first.

You see as we depart Toledo our guide, David, has a surprise for us. He is going to take us to a place where they actually make the fine Toledo steel blades the area is famous for. The factory also makes the Damascene jewelry renowned throughout the area.

We see a demonstration of forging the steel, then move on to the Damascene work shop with a final stop, of course, at the factory store! Cathy buys a beautiful set of earrings and I buy for Rick a Toledo Steel letter opener. I decide to head back to the bus a little early to explore the area, when things go slightly awry.

As I approach the bus I spy one of our fellow travelers basically trapped in the hot bus. You see he decided to stay on the bus while we shopped. The bus drive went off for a walk and a smoke, I am sure, and closed the bus and shut off the A/C. Now even though it is relatively cool out, a closed bus in the sun can get HOT. Well my fellow passenger looked a little hot and I saw him trying to find a way to open the door from inside the bus.

As I stood there I saw a red dial labeled OPEN/Emergency. Well open was good right? So I turned the dial and the door opened. Our friend was freed from the bus. Now the door was open and I wanted to walk away. So I figured if turning the handle left opened the door, then turning the handle right must close it. Right? Wrong!

It seems turning to the right engages the Emergency part of open/emergency and shuts the bus down completely so NOTHING WORKS. The ignition is locked, the doors are open but can not be closed and basically the bus is DEAD. OK, not my best move but I did get the guy out right? So how about a little credit for that.

So here we have 28 people, a Tour Guide and a rather pissed bus driver and one big dead bus. There has to be a way to reset the damn thing. Unfortunately no one knows the way.
Ok I got us into this I guess I have to get us out.

While the bus driver seems to be getting less happy with me by the second I point out that there is a key hole in the dial so there must be a key. He says there is no key. GREAT. There has to be a key so he looks around and finds a key. I begin to feel a little less like I am going to die on my birthday when the driver puts the key into the key hole and turns it to reset the switch. Unfortunately nothing happens and 28 pair of eyes begins to look in my direction.

I know this will work I just do not know how to make it work, but after several tries I get the doors to open and close, progress. The bus will still not start but the doors work. Ok so now we are half way there and with much twisting, turning and I am sure cursing on the part of the driver, the alarm turns off (oh yeah I forgot to mention during all this time there is an alarm in the background going off in the bus) and the ignition responds.

Sheepishly I get back in the bus. I did save a guy remember and the bus does work. So now we are driving to Cordoba in the south of Spain. Everyone in the bus is asleep including Chris and Cathy as I write this alone in the back of the bus. OK I came here of my own accord but nobody complained. I do hope the older folks on the bus have some level of Alzheimer’s and they forget the alarm incident soon or this is going to be a lonely trip.

7:00 PM June 18, 2007
Well it seems I have been forgiven for my adventure above. At the last rest stop even the bus driver told me “no problems”. So I guess I survived that one.

We checked into our 5 star hotel in Cordoba. It is magnificent. Rolling gardens, beautiful pool and nicely appointed guest rooms. We have now confirmed that Chris will enjoy a single room for the entire trip, lucked out again!

Cathy and I enjoyed a quiet hour at the pool doing a little reading and a little swimming and just plain resting. Dinner tonight is in the Hotel.

Before dinner we have to decide on the “extra trips” offered by Trafalgar as added excursions to our tour. We heard all about them on the bus trip over. Of course we will do all but one. I will describe each as they occur so you can follow along with the same anticipation as we have.

Showers and dinner awaits.

8:45 PM
Dinner at the hotel was a delicious buffet of pasta, fish, chicken, pork and a variety of potatoes, salads, breads and fruits with dessert. Delicious. A fine bottle of Rose wine to round out the flavors. It is 10:00 PM and we just finished.

We actually get to sleep late tomorrow with a 7:00 AM wake up cal for an 8:00 AM departure on route to Grenada and more adventure