8/21/2025 Getting closer to Madrid. We're served breakfast of sorts-orange juice, yogurt, topping for the yogurt, fig bar. Not my ideal breakfast but the orange juice was good.
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Breakfast
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| We've landed in Madrid! |
We arrive at Madrid Airport, terminal 4 and now have to make our way to ATOCHA train station to continue on to Toledo. I buy our tickets to take the shuttle train and we board the train at 11:00 am. Cost 7.20€/$8.40 for both of us. It's supposed to take 30 minutes to get to ATOCHA. On our last trip back in 2018 we got the train which took us all the way to ATOCHA. That's not the case now. Train goes to Charmartin where we will need to change to get to ATOCHA. Train stops on the tracks and just sits for quite some time. Have no idea what's going on. Our tickets to get to Toledo leave ATOCHA at 12:15 pm. I figured that having over 2 hours to go from the airport to the train station would be enough time but I was very wrong about that. We didn't get to ATOCHA until 12:30 pm so we've missed our train. Instead of 30 minutes it's taken us 90 minutes! Cost for our round trip tickets Madrid-Toledo, Toledo-Madrid $62.45
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| Our original Renfe tickets Madrid to Toledo |
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| Cercanias tickets |
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ATOCHA train station
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I find the Renfe office and explain the situation. The girl tells me I have to go to a different office to get a stamped certificate of sorts and then return to her so she can issue us new tickets at no added cost. Ok. I do that and return but the girl tells me that the delay has to be at least 40 minutes and my certificate states the delay was 25 minutes. It says the shuttle train arrived at 11:36 am. I say no that's not right and I have pictures to prove what I'm saying. If that had been true we would have had time to make our 12:15 pm train to Toledo. She says I have to return and get this certificate corrected. By now I'm really getting stressed with all this back and forth. I just tell her I'll buy new tickets. Then I'm sent to another girl to buy the new tickets! I'm told the next train to Toledo is at 3:45 pm. I'm fuming but what can you do. So I just buy the new tickets which end up costing 27.80€/$32.46 for the both of us one way. So in the end I've paid $94.91 for our tickets instead of the original cost $62.45!
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| Certificate of delay which is incorrect |
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| New tickets to Toledo |
We finally are on our way to Toledo 3 1/2 hours later than our original ticket time. There goes our pool time to relax. But we're happy we're on our way.
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| Our train |
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| Yay! |
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| Exhausted but happy! |
At last we're in Toledo-Roman, Jewish, Visigothic, Moorish, and Christian history. The train station is a beautiful architectural delight. From the train station in Toledo we take a taxi to our hotel. Cost 4.80€/$5.60
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| Blurry picture of our taxi |
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| View from taxi |
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| We've arrived at our hotel's parking area |
Hotel Hacienda del Cardenal. We will stay here from8/21-8/23/2025. 2 nights. Breakfast is included and this hotel has a pool. In fact we're told there are 2 pools. Cost 255.00€/$297.71
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| Our hotel |
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Entrance
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| Reception desk |
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| Hours for breakfast 8:00-11:00 am |
Our room is very nice and will be fine for the 2 nights we'll be here. The beds are comfy and the room is a good size for the 2 of us. The bathroom has a tub/shower combo and I'm thinking maybe I'll have a nice long soak in that bathtub!
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| Bathroom |
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| Tub/shower combo |
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| Comfy beds |
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Not a great view due to the mesh over the window
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After we do a bit of unpacking we find time to spend around an hour at the pool. The water is not heated but it's sunny and hot in Toledo. We relax!
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| I think our faces say it all! |
El Trebol. Dinner. We take a taxi. Cost 8.55€/$9.98 On our last visit in 2018 we had dinner here and it was good. There is outside and inside seating. We don't have a reservation but since we actually prefer sitting inside we get a table right away. Menu has a variety of items-some of which I remember from our last visit. Drinks- sangria for me and a soda/soft drink for Richard. I can't believe he's not getting a beer. Richard wants the Greek salad. I ordered the carcamusas/pork stew which I had before back in 2018. It's delicious and as I remembered. The Bomba Trebol was a bit of a disappointment. The aioli sauce overpowered the dish. I would have wanted less of that and more of the tomato sauce which wasn't spicy at all. Thank goodness Richard helped me eat it. Way too much food. I should have just ordered the carcamusas. We also got a complimentary dish of sausage and potatoes which was good. Cost was 27.20€/$31.76 Very reasonable. Service and food were very good.
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Bomba Trebol-potato stuffed with minced meat, peppers, aioli sauce & a spicy tomato sauce
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Complimentary bites of sausage and potato
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| Lemonade for Richard |
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| My first sangria! |
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Greek salad
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| Carcamusas/pork stew |
After dinner we walk around a bit. I find an ATM where I get 350€. Then we walk over to the taxi waiting area and take a taxi back to our hotel. Cost 5.35€ It's been a nice end to what started as a stressful day.
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| Monument to Cervantes |
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| Plaza de Zocodover |
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| Taxi back to our hotel |
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| Lit fountain back at our hotel |
Tomorrow will be a big day for sightseeing!
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