Indian Yogi's, Tacky Trains and Tapas

Ah, Spain...the land of olives, grapes, ham, queso manchego, and buildings that take 370 years to finish (seriously!).  I have just returned from my 8 day vacation in Spain, full of good food and even better memories.  I spent my vacation with my dear friend Stephanie, who lives in Toledo with her Spanish boyfriend Jorge.  They were beyond excellent hosts, and I am forever grateful for everything they did for me while I was with them.

When I decided to go to Spain for my vacation for La Toussaint (All Saint's Day), I expected to see lots of historical & beautiful sights, to visit and catch up with Steph, and to experience a good bit of Spanish culture.  What I got from my vacation was all that plus more! When I arrived in Madrid I was greeted by Steph and her Indian Yogi, Baba (his real Indian name is far too difficult to pronounce, so everyone calls him this); Steph and Jorge are taking yoga classes with Baba, and he is teaching them the ways of a vegetarian diet.  So after being greeted in Madrid, we took off for this Indian food store that Baba wanted to take us to so he could buy ingredients for the food he was going to make us later on that day.  After being lied to by 3 different Spainards, we managed to find the Indian food store where we spent the better part of an hour watching Baba pick out all the spices and other ingredients he needed.

After our Indian food store experience, it was time to meet up with Jorge and catch the bus back to Toledo.  When we arrived in Toledo, it was time for the boys to get busy cooking! Baba and Jorge cooked up quite a meal -I'm still not even sure what we ate, I just know that I ate mass quantities of it because Baba kept piling food onto my plate!   We were so full by the end of our meal that all we could do was shower and lay around the rest of the day....

The next few days that followed were filled with seeing the sights of Toledo.  We started out tour of Toledo with what Steph likes to call the "tacky tourist train". It is essentially a train that takes tourists around the city pointing out the highlights and providing a little bit of history about each one.  I definitely explored and learned more about Toledo from Stephanie and our fantastic tour guide that we had later on in the week, but the tacky tourist train is a definite must do while in Toledo.  Toledo is an interesting and fascinating city, because it is home to not just Catholics, but Jews and Muslims as well.  It is one of the only places in Spain where all three religious groups lived rather peacefully and tolerantly of one another.  The cathedral is absolutely beautiful, and the mosques and synagogues are equally as breath taking. I wish I could put all my pictures of Toledo here in my blog, but sadly there is just not enough space.  So please enjoy the few pictures that I am posting on here:

I hope you enjoyed those few pictures! Now onto tapas....Tapas are a tradition in Spain.  Because Spainards love to drink, restaurants and bars are historically known for bringing a plate of some finger foods that you can munch on so that you have something in your stomach besides a whole lot of alcohol.  This is where tapas come from, and Spain is known for their tapas.  Take a look at the tapas we had Saturday afternoon in Madrid and I won't need to explain anything else about them:

Far left: mozzarella with pesto & olive oil.
Middle: Goat cheese & carmelized onions on baguette
Far right: Stuffed mushrooms on baguette

Because Madrid is only a 45 minute bus ride from Toledo, we decided to spend the weekend there, visiting things like the Palacio Real and other historical sights:

Steph and me in front of the Palacio Real

This cathedral took 370 years to build!

If you ever find yourselves in Madrid,  chocolate and churros are a MUST!!!