Trip to Spain, recommendations on Toledo visit

Assuming that you will have traditional Castellano meals while you're in Madrid to set a framework for your tastebuds, you should make a point when in Toledo to try something more modern:
http://www.asadorpalenciadelara.es
This is one of my favorite recommendations in the region -- but since you say none of you are drinkers, and you don't know if you're going to be up at local dining hours, take this with a grain of salt. Best leg of lamb on the planet, though. Just sayin'

Claire,

1. I took the bell tower tour of the cathedral and enjoyed it. You'' get to see the largest bell that cracked the first time it was rung. My mom, who was 88 at the time, waited for me in the cathedral.

2. We spent 5 nights in Toledo and did not buy the "Pulsera Turística" because we didn't know if we were going to go to all the places included in the price.

3. There is a very popular place on Plaza Zocodover: Pastelería Santo Tomé. Expect long lines.
   To tell you the truth, I love marzipan but did not like the ones I ate in Toledo. So taste it, before buying a bunch to take home!

4. My mom and I enjoyed the Greco Museum, as well as the Museo de Santa Cruz.

5. We enjoyed tapas and lunch at Cervecería El Trébol. We don't drink alcohol either, but the food was delicious.
   We had hot chocolate and churros at a" Kiosco Catalino" (recommended by our hotel as the "best churros in Toledo") across from Puerta Nueva de Bisagra but we didn't care for them.
   You see, we're used to the sweet churros which are sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon (Mexican style), but the churros we ate in Spain where salty and the chocolate was extremely thick.

6. We enjoyed our stay at Hotel Santa Isabel near the cathedral. You can add the delicious breakfast for a nominal fee.

7. Toledo is a very popular day trip destination from Madrid. However, I've not been there in November. We were there in Mid October and it was chilly and rainy.

Have a wonderful trip!

Claire. You will have fun in Toledo! Some specific answers for you:
1. We did the bell tower. We had a great guide and were given plenty of time to enjoy the views.
2. I did not use the wrist band. I know one contributor has (acraven) and found it worthwhile
3. I tried the marzipan at the more popular place. Didn't enjoy it. We also found a few pieces of marzipan in our hotel room.
4. We didn't do the El Greco museum. We did see many pieces of art by famous artists at the cathedral. We also saw the famous El Greco painting, The Burial of Count Orgaz at the Iglesia de Santo Tome'. We spent a lot of time wandering the city and the walls/gates. We also took a taxi across the river to a few of the famous viewpoints of Toledo. If you come into town via the train station and plan to taxi into town, you could ask your taxi to take you the scenic way to the viewpoints, on your way to your hotel
5. We enjoyed El Trebol so much we went there twice. They mostly have pintxos (small open faced sandwhiches. It was such a bargain we took a photo of our bill. Now, we did get a few freebie tapas with our wine/beer. Not sure if they would do that with a non alcoholic beverage.
6. We stayed at Santa Isabel. Very inexpensive, great location by cathedral. Clean nice room with a nice view out the window. Quiet. Amazing views from their rooftop. Breakfast is included, tho very bare bones.
7. We visited approx November 14. It was moderately busy during the day and very quiet at night. We found the weather quite comfortable. We typically used a jacket at night and sometimes during the day. No rain. Slightly overcast one day and sunny the next. Even in November, I would purchase train tickets at least a day in advance. The trains can sell out, especially during commute time. FYI--the train station is beautiful. Allow some time to enjoy/photograph

Hi Claire,

We spent two nights in Toledo as our first location in Spain. We really enjoyed Toledo - a nice smaller town.

My husband did the bell tower tour and enjoyed it.

We didn't eat marzipan, but we bought cookies from the nuns .

We didn't go to the museum. The only places indoors where we spent a lot of time were the cathedral and the synagogue.

Our lunches were mostly stopping into the shops and having their wonderful ham & bread. How often do you see your ham being scraped off of an animal leg??

We stayed at Sercotel Pintor El Greco hotel, and I really liked this hotel. (I would stay there again.) Nice rooms, and it was in a very quiet but nice part of town. The breakfast was fantastic - huge selection of excellent food in a nice dining room.

Enjoy your trip!

I'm actually a big fan of Toledo's Mazapán, a pretty good place to buy some is Obrador Santo Tomé, it is the classic Toledo institution for Mazapán with multiple locations and a great selection.

If you want more of an experience when buying your Mazapán I would recommend you buy it directly from the nuns themselves, el Convento De Santo Domingo el Antiguo is a good one, they are not cloistered so no fancy revolving door. However their adjacent baroque church is where El Greco is buried, one can see his coffin in their crypt for a small fee :)

The questions I can answer:

1. I just popped in to a marzipan manufacture by chance while walking the backstreets. I mean not the shop in the front, but the place where the stuff was made. The artisans were surprised to see me, but I was made welcome and I bought a small bag of the stuff by the weight. It was really good and it couldn't get fresher. I don't think I could ever find that workshop again, but you may get lucky too if you walk the backstreets with open eyes.

2. Haven't been to that museum, but I don't think it's a must see. It's a museum about his life and an old house the like where he could have lived, but it doesn't have any of his best paintings. If you have time or the weather is too bad for much walking it could be a nice place to visit I reckon.

3. I was there in early November, a few days after All Hallows and the town was surprisingly uncrowded. The weather on that day was not very nice, it wasn't too chilly, but was raining a lot(fortunately not the whole day).

I was in Toledo Nov 7-9 2017. It was still in drought so cool but not wet. Quite uncrowded. In fact, the streets were deserted when I went out to find 'early' (8pm) dinner. Be sure to take hat, gloves and scarf for extended outside activities. I needed them in Madrid and Segovia.
I didn't get the Pulsera Turistica, but did get the Toledo Museum Pass (~5E) and visited pretty much all on the list. The Visigoth Museum is on the ticket, is small, but interesting and has a bell tower of its own. Not a hard climb, but perhaps not the view as from the cathedral. These small museums are only 1 or 2E individually, so won't break the bank if you pop in without the ticket. I figured if I didn't use it enough, for 5E I was at least supporting the upkeep.
I wasn't able to get into the El Greco museum due to a short closure, but saw enough of the art elsewhere on my trip.
I was able to find the bars were open for dinner about 8pm. Simple but good local cooking. Could watch the news with the few other locals and fun to watch the regulars come in and be served their favourite tipple or dinner with nothing but an 'ola' said. Alternatively, I would eat major meal at lunch and do an in room picnic in the evening. Might be a solution if inclement weather. Otherwise, choose a hotel with an attached restaurant. Otherwise, I second Priscilla's hotel choice.

I enjoyed the wristband sights a lot. Most of them (maybe all) included a short bilingual tour as of 2016. Those tours were offered just once or twice a day, so it was very helpful to have two full days in Toledo. Some tours were back-to back and involved scurrying through the back streets where it was very easy to get lost if you weren't using the You Are Here dot on your smartphone to navigate. I do not know whether folks who buy indivdual tickets to those sights can take the tours; I sort of got the impression the tours were a benefit of the wristband.

I skipped the El Greco Museum; he's not a favorite of mine.

I think some of the Toledo marzipan has some candied fruit inside, and I believe small cookies with marzipan filling are another local product. I liked what I bought at San Tome, but it's an excellent idea to buy a few pieces and make the sacrifice of testing them yourself.

We also bought Santo Tome marzipan from the Zocodover plaza store as it was very convenient. It may not be the best, but we enjoyed the marzipan very much.

I've visited Toledo multiple times now, most recently last April with my husband, kids (ages 12 and 13) and mom-in-law. We all loved it. It is small enough to be manageable, but you will still feel like you have been dropped into another world with its tiny medieval alleyways and beautiful architecture. acraven is right; without that "you are here" dot, it's easy to get completely turned around, but the nice thing about being in a small, walled city is that you can't go too far wrong.

To answer your questions:
1. We did not go up the bell tower. We spent close to 3 hours in the cathedral itself (it is beautiful, and we enjoyed the audioguide), and by then we were starving and ready to head out.
2. I have not purchased the wristband, but would definitely consider it for 2.5/3 days (we were there last year for 2 days, right off the plane from the US, and I knew we'd be slow-paced). It would get you off the main tourist track, and, for just a few euro, like Maria said, even if you don't get to all the sights, it's still a small monetary investment.
3. We tried the convent in Rick's guide for mazapan but it has closed. So we just went to one of the Santo Tome branches. Definitely try a few different kinds. Each of us liked different varieties, and each of us really intensely disliked a couple of others (different ones for different people).
4. I've never been to the El Greco museum. I've felt like there's enough of El Greco around Toledo in other places that I've seen enough, and I think it's more interesting to see it in the churches where it was meant to be. Plus we're just not major art museum people.
5. We had great food in Toledo -- actually, all over Spain. One of our favorites for brunch food was Nuevo Almacen, a couple blocks off Zocodover. As much as you can, try and shift your eating to Spain times; it's part of the pace of the country, and it's suprising how quickly you can find yourself adjusting to 10:00 dinner hour. But no worries if you can't, there are always food choices available any time.
6. We stayed in this apartment, which I would highly recommend: Casa de los Mozarabes. No breakfast, obviously, but there's a grocery store just up the street so you can stock up. We usually had yogurt, pastries, and cold cuts for breakfast (OK, we had jamon with every meal.....), so easy to prep and get us out the door. We appreciated the extra room of the apartment, the location was fantastic, the rates super good, and the hostess was truly helpful with recommendations for food, things to do, etc.
7. I've only been to Toledo in late spring, so can't comment on the weather for November. I've never felt like the crowds were unreasonable in Toledo, just gets more crowded between about 11 a.m and 5 p.m. We waited only about 5 minutes to purchase our mid-morning cathedral tickets last April.

One of the most interesting things we did in Toledo was to visit Mariano Zamora's knife shop (in Rick's guide). Really interesting to go in the back and see the craftsmanship in the works.

Have fun!

Like several of the above posters, I had a nice stay at the Hotel Santa Isabel. It's really inexpensive (I paid €35 per night for a nice room with breakfast), and has an elevator. In addition, you can go up to the roof for views over Toledo for free (and you don't even need to climb stairs to do it).

Some things you didn't ask about: wherever you stay, do take a taxi to and from the train station. It's under €10, and a great energy- and frustration-saver in this hilly town. If your mother, or anyone else in your party, is tired, don't hesitate to take the local town bus that goes from the synagogue area back to the main square. And I really liked the "toy train" that leaves from the main square; it stops at a great spot for photos.

If you don't want to see El Greco's home, I would urge you to go see La Iglesia de Santo Tome and in a side chapel is one of his finest works ,"Burial of the Count of Orgaz", in which El Greco painted not only all the distinguished members of the town at the time but also himself and his small son-the boy that's pointing. A little bit of immortality for all. It's one of my favorite paintings.

Wow guys, I knew the RS travel forum was great but you have all really blown me away with some great advice! I can't see all your names while I type this so thanking you individually would take eternity, but simply put the recommended restaurants look great. I am so glad someone suggested taking a taxi from the train station to the hotel because I am 100% sure we'll want to do that.
I will definitely do the Cathedral towers because I love a good view, and I think we'll skip the El Greco museum and see his art work elsewhere in the city. We may or may not do the wristbands, I'll figure it out as it gets closer. And I'm so glad someone mentioned the knife shop/sword smith because my husband had expressed an interest in that and I'd forgotten to ask about it! That'll be right up his alley. And it sounds like we'll have to sample several marzipan treats to figure out what to bring home. Poor us. Sounds like we should check the weather right before we leave and wear layers.
I feel like I've got a good start on Toledo now, but if anyone else has more suggestions I've got months to gather information so feel free to keep it coming!

If one of your Toledo days is a Monday, plan in advance what you will do, as many of the sights are closed on Mondays. Years ago, I took a day trip to Toledo on a Monday - huge mistake.