Photo: Julie in Toledo
Feb 17, 1979 Early morning I picked up mail at the Post Office and then packed my bike for the 45 mile ride to Toledo, south of Madrid. I left the hostel at 10:15 AM and finally at 11:30 found the right road on the southern outskirts of Madrid. The first 15 miles took me past factories in an industrial zone. It was a little strange to hear Donna Summer disco music blaring across the countryside.
In retrospect I was ill equipped for bike touring. I wore baggy blue jeans, a jeans jacket, hiking boots and not biking shoes. I did not have clips on the pedals and I had way too much weight to carry.
Eventually the landscape became a pleasing combination of rural fields and gentle sloping hills. I reached Toledo about 4 PM. The Hotel Lion where I was to meet Julie was full, so I checked into the Hostal Des Armes at a rate of $3 per night. I soon found Julie who, by chance, had checked into the same hostal. We wandered the narrow, twisting streets of Toledo, got lost temporarily. We enjoyed a 4 course meal which included a boiled egg soup.
Photo: Downtown Toledo square
Feb 18, 1979 We saw a few museums, the cathedral, and shopped for bargains at the numerous shops. I washed clothes in the hostal bathtub, despite house rules to the contrary. At night the square would overflow with people. Since an election was coming up, political slides were shown on a huge sheet which hung from one of the buildings on the perimeter of the square. Military marches were played over loudspeakers constantly and during the day planes would fly overhead with political banners streaming.
Spain had been ruled by the dictator Franco from before WWII until his death in 1975. Remarkably, Spain in a short amount of time became a democracy and held its first democratic elections in 1977. The elections upcoming on March 1 would be the second elections for the new democracy.
Feb 19, 1979 Julie returned to Madrid the previous evening. I stayed an extra day in Toledo, so that my clothes could dry. The El Greco house was closed but there were many other sights worth seeing.
Map of North Eastern Spain
