A Cold Easter in Castile-León

We were up early to catch the 9am train from Madrid to Toledo, a short thirty-minute train ride southwest.

Upon arriving in Toledo, we realized that Madrid was warm by comparison- apparently it had SNOWED in Toledo just a few days ago. Now, it was windy and pouring rain. I detected a slight scent of wet dog after our walk from the train station to our AirBnB.

Unlike Segovia, Toledo is not underrated; in fact, it's extremely overtouristed, and constantly flooded with day tripping tour groups. (We too had first visited Toledo as day trippers back in 2001, and while Spain's tourism sector was quite different then, my strongest memory of Toledo was being so surprised to reach the top of Plaza Mayor...and see a McDonald's.) But during Semana Santa, it is even MORE touristed- because Toledo celebrates Good Friday with the famous Spanish KKK-like masked Easter processions. And guess what- today is Good Friday! We planned this trip well.

Last year, we had visited Zaragoza and Logroño on Good Friday, which are two other Spanish cities with Easter processions. The Easter tourism was easier to tolerate in those towns, because not only were there more open plazas, but both of these towns are a bit off the tour group circuit. But Toledo's winding, maze-like Old Town is perched atop a hill, and accessed through medieval gates...and while this makes for a stunning city, it also creates tourist gridlock. So between the tour group congestion and the icy, pouring rain, seeing Toledo was going to be a challenge.

We took the escalator up to the old city- yes, Toledo is so high up, with so little space for cars, that they built not one, but two massive escalators to ease tourism congestion. It plops you right atop the old city, and a short walk leads right to Plaza Mayor in the center. (And yay, that McDonald's is still there, though in 2024 it's joined by a Burger King! Ugh.)

One thing I didn't realize during our previous short day trip is that Toledo is HUGE. While Segovia could be easily seen in a few hours, to truly see Toledo, you need days. We spent the morning walking in the rain, viewing the many medieval gates, Romain ruins, and churches. The history of Toledo is mind-blowing: It was founded in 60 BC, and became part of the Roman Empire in 200 BC, then the Visigoth capital in the 6th century AD, and then conquered by the Arabic Empire in the 8th century AD- before being conquered by the Crusaders in the Middle Ages. This is my way of saying that after a few hours, we needed a break.

We stopped in at a tiny taberna where we ordered some Toledo specialties: Migas (stale bread crumbs mixed with jamón and topped with a runny egg), torreznos (deep fried pork belly), and pista, a shakshouka-like stew that is perfect in the cold weather. And wine. Lots of wine.

After lunch, we attempted to see the Alcázar. I say "attempted" because after two circuits around the building, we never found the entrance. I have no explanation for this.

Later in the afternoon, we visited the Toledo Cathedral. We had planned to go inside it, but despite their website insisting that entry was free for Semana Santa, the bouncer at the door refused to let us in without a ticket. So given that we already live a five-minute walk from our OWN Spanish Cathedral, we chucked it and instead visited the Monastery of the Conception, which has one of the prettiest cloisters in Spain. And I don't mind paying for cloisters, but one should draw the line at paying to enter a church. I am just saying.

It was finally (somewhat) sunny by very late afternoon, so we took a lovely walk over the River Targus on the San Martín Bridge to see the view in the sunshine. However, that sunshine lasted about fifteen minutes before the rain began pelting again, so we gave up and headed back to our AirBnB.

We knew that the Toledo Easter processions were to begin at 6pm, then restart at 11pm for the all-night procession. So we cleverly ventured back out at 8pm, the time in between all the processions when the crowds had thinned, to see the city lit up at night. However, we were surprised to realize that the entire old city was packed with spectators at 8pm, and the Easter procession was just beginning- Storm Nelson has been raging in the center and south of Spain all week, and Easter processions had been delayed (or, in the case of Sevilla, cancelled altogether. This is something that hasn't happened in decades; the penitents who march in these processions spend months preparing, tourists fly in from all over the world to view them, and the towns are dependent on this income. So the rain in Spain fell mainly on the...tourism sector).

So with the rain stopped for the evening, and the postponed procession beginning, we wandered the city to take photos of Toledo at night. This is the reason why we didn't day-trip like most Toledo visitors; it is stunning at night, and not to be missed. The lit walls and fortresses can be seen from all over the city, and reflect onto the River Tagus below. At 11pm, after a few hours of exploring, we decided to find a place to warm up and get some snacks. We found a small bar at the far side of the city, away from the more touristed part of the old city, and filled with locals. We sat by the window and proceeded to order wine and migas. It was quite peaceful until about twenty minutes later- we were startled by the sudden, loud appearance of the procession going right by the window, about a meter from my head. And by this time of the night, most tourists had gone to bed or lost interest, but the penitents must still march until the wee hours of the morning. But I will say that there is nothing quite so jarring as enjoying a nice glass of wine late at night, only to have a KKK-like group saunter by in your peripheral vision.

And with that, our Semana Santa adventure concludes. Tomorrow we head home on the OUIGO to spend the rest of Semana Santa in Barcelona.Read more