We slept in until 8AM, had some breakfast and finished packing. Bob unloaded pictures and backed them up, so that we would not loose our treasures from yesterday. We finally left by 10AM. Getting out of the hotel garage and the area around the hotel was a breeze because finally all the one-way roads went the correct way, and before we knew it we were on the interstate to Madrid.

The first stretch to Jaen went through a mountainous region, with the hillsides covered with scrub trees, that were definitely put there with a purpose. We finally figured that these must be olive trees, after all, one of Spain's most important export are olives and olive oil. It was amazing how far up the hill some of those trees went underneath rather forbidding cliffs. Our Michelin map marked this region as scenic, as indeed it was

Further north we came into the plains that seemed to be much more verdant (I know, "the rain in Spain....."). By now we were starting to look for lunch. Instead of autoplazas they had here "via servicio", frontage roads that had gas stations and food areas. We were looking for a cafeteria, so that we could just point to something rather than have to deal with a menu. We finally just went into a place, Bob had something "pollo" or chicken, while I had a ham and cheese sandwich. Bob got a nice big roll and a plateful of chicken pieces that had been fried in olive oil. He was given two forks to pull apart the pieces to end up with what he could eat. Since olive oil is good for him anyway, it probably was a rather healthy meal. My ham was the smoked bacon type. I pulled of the fat and also a rather satisfying repast.

Going on we went past some funky signs, a big bull and a cowboy with guitar, many ruins, and little towns. We finally came to the turnoff to Toledo. The road over was surprisingly straight. When we got near Toledo it was the normal number of round-abouts. I kept calling out 180 so that Bob would know to go straight. At one point we saw a Lidl store and stocked up on groceries we were low on.

I had gone to the bookings website to get directions to the hotel, and it really was dead easy: a bridge, a round-about, and then signs to the hotel. There even was a parking area, not an underground garage, but a parking area nonetheless. We got our room, we rejected the first because of smoky smell, but the second one was acceptable, and we settled in for the afternoon.

Bob took a nap and then we had a bite to eat before walking around the city. The girl at the desk gave us a map and directions on how to get to the main square. Toledo is a typical walled city on a hill, but on a very large scale. Our hotel was just outside the city gates. Once through the gate we walked up along the city wall through another gate and around a corner to a commercial square. We knew it was a touristy place, since the Golden Arches were right on the square. But off the square we got into the typical narrow streets. We found an ATM that accepted our Apple ATM card, and so had again enough cash. We walked along a shopping street and got to the cathedral. The streets were narrow and picturesque with little stores selling the things Toledo is famous for: ceramics, swords, damascene, and marzipan.

When we got tired, we consulted our map and GPS to find our way back to the main square and the hotel. We settled in for the night and Bob spent a couple of happy hours with the computer and his old camera, stitching the panoramic pictures he had taken in the Alhambra. He had debated taking his old camera, but it was rather good at taking panoramic pictures, and it is always good to have a spare camera, so he had put the stitching software on the computer and taken the camera. He was very glad he did, since he got some spectacular pictures from the Nasrid Palace, that would have been impossible otherwise.