Mi verano en España: Don't count the days, make the days count!

Hola! As mentioned, I'm a little far behind with the blog updates so I'll pick up where I left off!

After visiting El Escorial and El Valle de los Caídos on Friday, June 27th, my friends and I decided to spend the weekend in Toledo instead of traveling. We wanted to relax a bit and explore more of the city!

First on our list...La Colección Catedral for lunch! The Spaniards take their lunches VERY seriously...lemme tell ya! Lunch is the most important and longest meal of the day...and luckily is right before siesta!

So for the first course I had delicious risotto! For the second course, pork. AND then chocolate cake! We were probably eating at this restaurant for a good couple hours. It was definitely the best food I've had thus far!

Risotto!

Pork!

Chocolate cake!

After lunch we took a bus to the centro comercial (mall) in a nearby city. The mall was absolutely huge and had so many great stores!

Then on Sunday we continued to explore the city, but unfortunately many places we wanted to go were closed. We walked to the Cathedral...closed. Then we walked all the way to the El Greco museum...closed. Sunday hours are just too hard to figure out sometimes! Besides that, many places close for siesta, which we sometimes forget to think about because it's so different from the States!

After walking for hours on end, I went back to my host family's house to rest before we made the journey to La Piedra del Rey Moro. La Piedra (the Stone) is a giant rock that takes about 40 minutes to walk to, but has one of the prettiest views of the city. Many legends have been told about La Piedra, but the most famous describes a Muslim prince who falls in love with the Moorish King's daughter. The prince was killed and buried in the spot of La Piedra because he was trying to reconquer Toledo from the Christians. Because he didn't wish to remain buried, he begged Allah to let him observe Toledo, upon which he was transformed into what La Piedra is today.

La Piedra!

So with that we determined to get there, climb to the top, and watch the sunset. Before doing so, my host mom packed me an egg & ham sandwich with some fruit so I could eat with my friends on top of La Piedra! How sweet!

Before long we made it to the top! As my friends and I watched the sunset, we told each other stories and bonded over this short time we have together in such a beautiful city. It was a breathtaking view and a perfect time for a little self-reflection! I simply couldn't believe I was there...I felt so very lucky!