Full o' Killing

So it's apparent by this point that Europe is in fact undergoing some sort of horrific heatwave - Vic tells me it's even made the papers back in Australia. So in order to avoid the heat, we head towards the equator! And, sadly, we've lost Rach as she's off on the hectic last bit of her trip before it's back to Station St. So just Ange, Cath, Nick and I.

Toledo was once capital of Spain but now it's just an ancient stone city, of narrow winding paved streets, on a big hill, with (unsurprisingly) a huge ornate cathedral. It's less than an hour from Madrid on the bus, so most do it as a day trip, but we stay a few days, in a tiny hotel run by Ma and Pa, who sit up worrying, waiting for us to scrape home, every night just before the 2am curfew.

Cause, even more than the rest of Spain, nothing starts here until very late, especially when it's as hot as this. But it's such a dry heat, and we have so little to do that sauntering down the street and siesting and eating late make it pretty bearable.

Though we do see the inside of the huge cathedral, which is wonderful and terrific and really quite ridiculous, considering Toledo now has about 80,000 people. I get the feeling they could all fit into this church, it's that big. And also, separately, there's a pretty good museum with everything from giant elephant fossils to roman relics to middle ages religious art to, well, a shedload more religious art. El Greco, despite being Greek, seems to have been adopted by Toledo, lived there for a while and has bits of art all over the shop. I'm sure it's all very impressive but at this point I'm kinda arted out, I must say. Especially after seeing five Last Suppers, ten Sagrada Familias and about a hundred crucifixions.

Also in Toledo, some more real true Spanish food experiences. I especially enjoyed the red partridge casserole (I think it's the bird that's red). And there was some sort of meat stew which was really good, but I've forgotten all the other details about it so that's not so helpful... Hopefully someone else remembers this. We found a restaurant that we liked so much that we ate there two nights in a row, in fact! And also partly because a lot of the rest of the city seemed to be closed to us.

Oh yeah, and Cath ate the biggest meringue the world has ever seen. Well, some of it. With help from us. And we avoided the marzipan. And, harking to the title of the post, there seem to be hundreds of shops selling swords and knives and armour and other big metal things - and even, bizarrely, real live working guns! Of which we don't partake, this time. But we know where to go now.

And then, wistfully, it's all over for the group. Nick's to Oz, Ange and Cath to Granada and I'm heading for cooler climes; Bayonne next stop. Though not without some sort of horribly stressful bus trip.