Holy Toledo! - Day 2

January 26^th, 2026 

Originally, one of my plans for my second day in Toledo was to visit the Military Museum in the Alcázar of Toledo , the massive square building in my photos from the Toledo viewpoint on my last post.  Unfortunately, today is a Monday so that museum is closed.  Oh well, I was sure that I’d find some other places to visit.  I wanted to go up a tower of one church to get a good view, plus I’d read great reviews about another museum called Cromatica.

Walking my way up to the old city on the hill.  Hard to see here, but there are about 4 sets of outside elevators working their way up from left to right.

I think it's only the second city that I've visited with outdoor elevators.  The other one was Medellin in Colombia.  Those elevators were installed in poor neighbourhoods and were credited as part of the solution to making Medellin a safer city in the late 90s, along with libraries and other infrastructure to improve the lives of the lower class.

One of the gates into the fortified city.

On my walk towards the Cromatica Museum, I noticed that I was passing by one of the seven attractions that you can visit by purchasing a tourist wristband for 14 Euros.  It was the Mezquita Del Cristo de la Luz – or Mosque of Christ of the Light.  I knew that I wanted to visit at least three of the other seven spots, so I purchased a wristband and headed in.

I must have spent all of 10 minutes in this Catholic cathedral (which was originally a mosque) and its tiny grounds.  The view of the modern part of the city was nice, but the grounds were small and the interior of the mosque was stark and there just wasn’t much to see.   

The grounds outside of the chapel.

Looking out from the walled part of the city.

Now I later found out that it’s the oldest standing building in Toledo and one of the oldest in Spain having been built in 999 AD.  That is impressive.

I made the mistake of not even taking a photo of the main chapel...so I stole this one from the web.

The main part of the chapel.

Looks like she has received a disturbing text!  ;)

Logically, following a big clockwise circle around the old town, my next stop was the Cromatica Museum.  I’ll save that for the next blog post as it deserves its own (and this one will be long enough!).

I walked just outside of the city walls and then back in through this gate.

Plaza de Zocodover.  You can see two of the corner towers of the big Alcazar building which houses the Military Museum which was closed.

This dude was just hanging out by the patio of a restaurant.

Not sure what this place was...just looked nice.

A statue of Miguel de Cervantes, a Spanish writer who is best known for his two-part novel Don Quixote.

I was just amazed at how this guy parked his car...that's a dead end where he is so he had to back it in.

This shop claimed that it was for home decor...

...would you like this in your living room?!?

This was a different store...but another huh?!?

This was a fancy clothes store...not that I'm a fashionista...

...but when the fewer the clothes on the rack, the fancier the place.

I was surprised at how many shops sold armour, swords and knives.  I guess it matches Toledo's history?!?

Sorry, my reflection makes it hard to see these cool helmets.

Lots of goodies in this shop.

Wristband stop #2 was the Church of San Ildefonso (aka the Church of the Jesuits) which I had passed by yesterday, but didn’t enter.  San Ildefonso is the patron saint of Toledo and this church took 100 years to build!  My main motive for checking this place was to go up on of the towers and get a bird’s eye view of the city.

Looking around the church...you may hear some medieval type music playing in the background.

That looks like a muffin to die for Jesus! (I know, I'm going straight to hell for that one)

The view from the back of the church, from the upper level on the way up the tower.

The top of the dome.

The cathedral on the right and the alcazar on the left.

Looking to the west.

Next on the list was the Iglesia del Salvador.  This diminutive church was once a mosque as well.  The 12th century church was built on top of an 11th century mosque.  After a quick view of the chapel, I walked down a few steps and out the back of the building where there were some stone remnants of part of the mosque that might be interesting to an archeologist but were lost on me.  You could also see under the church floor, but again, just some old ruins.

Hmm...so interesting...

At least there was a nice column.

I ventured up the small church tower, but it was only about 3 storeys up, so there wasn’t much to see.

Looking out from the front of the church.

Walked by yet another sword shop.

Seems like Jesus isn't the only holy person who has a sweet tooth.

Number 4 of the wristband tour was the Iglesia de Santo Tome.  Once again, a church built where there once was a mosque.  At first the Catholics didn’t make major changes to the mosque but eventually the minaret was turned into a bell tower.  This was probably the quickest visit of my seven stops with my tourist bracelet.

A striking painting at in a cloister at the back of the church.

This poster was on the side wall of the church, stating that life is sacred, and insinuating that there should be no abortions.  I just got a kick out of how it starts, with a couple smiling with their arms around each other...is that all it takes?!?

This sign at the back of the church caught my attention:

So I had to take a look for that small red light to the right of the altar...and it was on.  Jesus is in the House!

I felt like I was alternating between churches and armoury supplies as I walked the streets of Toledo.

Okay, this was in the foyer of a hotel.

And for our 5th contestant, not to leave one of the world’s other big religions out of the mix, let’s throw in a synagogue, specifically the Synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca.  Sadly, but not surprisingly, this was the only place that required you to be screened by a metal detector.

The non-descript outside of the synagogue.

It is thought that it was constructed in the 12th or 13th century by Jews with a Moorish style under the rule of a Christian Kingdom…got that?!?   

Not quite as many arches as the Mezquita-Catedral of Cordoba...

Compared to the churches I'd just visited, the synagogue had a very clean look to it.

Around the Jewish Quarter, there were small tiles to look out for, like you were on a scavenger hunt.  Naomi had told me about these as she visited Toledo with her mom a few years ago.  Here's a menorah, but there were others with Hebrew writing on them.

I stepped into a small art gallery before heading into the next church.  The lady working told me that it was her father who was the artist.  She spent a few minutes explaining the meaning behind some of the pieces.  You could purchase smaller copies of the artwork...I just snapped a few pics instead (I'm already going to hell from a previous comment in this blog entry, so I might as well make it worthwhile!).

The penultimate stop was the Monasterio San Juan de los Reyes, which I’d walked right by yesterday as it is located near the San Martin Bridge.  This place was impressive…even though by this point I was pretty churched/mosqued/synagogued out!

The monastery is the building in the background with the little spires.  There really wasn't a spot to get a good photo of the outside due to the density of the buildings.

Walking along one side of a square cloister...

...that had a courtyard in the middle.

The nave.

Looking towards the back of the church.

Impressive stonework.

Up on the second level of the courtyard.

It was nice and peaceful with the birds singing and you can't hear it in the video, but there was some nice, soft classical music playing too.

It was cool that you were able to access the little pulpits (not sure if that's the right term) on the upper level.  I'm currently on one about 2/3s the way back from the altar, but do you see the person standing on a closer one, just to the right of the center of the photo.  I went to that one next.  In my experience, these are usually off limits to the general public.

The view from the upper pulpit.

You had to duck through this 4 foot high little entrance to get to the pulpit in the front section of the church...can't imagine how a bishop would do it with his hat!

And some stained glass near the exit to finish off the visit of the monastery....okay, one place to go!

Found another tile.

My tank was running low at this point…I’d done a lot of walking today and felt religioned out, but I can’t not see the last of the seven sights.  I entered the Real Colegio de Doncellas Nobles, not even knowing what it was (a former religious college of some sort I figured).  With a degree of pride, I stated to the woman checking my bracelet “Siete de siete!” (seven of seven).  She smiled back and then promptly stepped outside for a smoke.

On my way back to Octi.  I was tired enough that I took the outside escalators down...

If you made it this far, well done.  What a day.  Don’t forget that I’m missing my visit to the  Cromatica Museum which also happened today…that’s the next posting, and consider it your reward for making it through this one as it will just be cool photos!