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Day 3: June 18, 2014
This mornig most of the groups dediced to join the excursion to Toledo, so we drove to Castilla La Macha to visit its capital, the medieval city of Toledo. It has a perfect location at the top of a hill and surrounded by the Tajo river. We stopped at a view point to enjoy unique views of the city, then drove to downtown and walked all along the city. We visited its fantastic cathedral, a real jewel of architecture. We also saw El Greco’s masterpiece: “The Burial of Mr Orgaz”. We then walked along the former Jewish district and stopped to see its oldest synagogue. After that, we went to a local factory where they make the crafts from Toledo, where apart from seeing the work being done, we also had the chance to shop for a while. We returned to Madrid and had lunch in the city center. In the afternoon, we started our visit of Madrid . We stopped at Plaza de España, saw the monument to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, the main character for the masterpiece of Spanish literature written by Cervantes. We then drove around the city seeing the famous and lively Gran Via, with its theaters, stores, hotels, cafes, among other places. We stopped to visit the beautiful bullring of Madrid, called Las Ventas. We went past the Retiro Park, the famous Puerta de Alcala, the nice and elegant Salamanca district... We stopped to take pictures outside the famous stadium Santiago Bernabeu house of the Real Madrid football club. We then went to a local restaurant by the Opera square and enjoyed a very nice Tapas dinner to put an end to our time in Madrid. The Tapas were just delicious!