09-04-2025 Walk

Was a mildly frustrating start to the day. I wanted to go out for a run, but Ann needed me to hang around while she booked the train tickets to Toledo. Was the right call. I showered and had breakfast, including a quick instant coffee that was not bad. We left the flat with plenty of time to catch the train. Metro travel went okay, although Ann had to charge her ticket twice for the ride. She had the train tickets on her phone, but the directions were unclear about where to catch the train. With the help of a couple of Renfe employees, we avoided making any mistakes and got onto the train with just a few minutes to spare. It was moderately stressful but successfully navigated. Got to Toledo train station and decided to walk up to the old town area. It was a hike, old town area is up on a hill, so we did a fair amount of uphill walking. Morning was nice, so it wasn't bad, just took us a while (was a nice statue of Cervantes just before we came to a main square). We got to the cathedral and bought tickets to enter. There were some interesting sights: a cool area for the choir, the main altar, some paintings by El Greco. It wasn't fabulous, just a little better than average. After that, Ann tried to navigate us to some views of the city from the original walls, but it was a letdown for me. We walked net downhill, then hiked back up into the old town area to have a good pizza lunch at this small restaurant. On the way, we saw a very cool metal sculpture honoring Federico Bahamontes, a legendary Spanish cycling climbing expert. Went to the monastery after that, another long walk to the other side of the old town. On the walk there, on a downhill section, I stepped into a break in the cobbled and twisted my left ankle. Stopped and checked to see if it was bad, but I was able to put weight on it without pain, just a little discomfort that gradually got less as I kept walking. Again, the monastery was mildly interesting but not earth-shaking. Time was running out, so we had to move fairly quickly (I navigated) back to the train station. That walk, much of it in direct sunlight, was a major workout for Ann, and we got to the train with about 5 minutes to spare, cutting it a little close. Train ride back was uneventful. It was a quiet evening (watched last hour of La Vuelta coverage), had a relatively light dinner and cleaned up the kitchen, packed the food, and put my stuff in my backpack.