A few weekends ago, we took our first trip out of Madrid to the nearby city of Toledo! The religious capital of Spain, this town was absolutely stunning. With a large cathedral, winding river, the oldest synagogue in the world (still standing), and beautiful architecture, this town was the picture perfect image of Spain. In both Santa María la Blanca (the synagogue) and la Catedral Primada Santa María, we saw how popular the Moorish architecture style was, and how Christian, Jewish, and Moorish influences all coincided to have a heavy impact on the city. We had a tour guide with us for the day as well, who was able to provide us insight on what exactly we were seeing and the history behind all of it. For example, in the cathedral, she told us all about how the virgin Mary came down from Heaven to give a priest a hand-embroidered robe as a gift for lending his cloak to the needy. She then showed us the rock that Mary supposedly stepped upon when she came down from Heaven. I’d absolutely recommend this as a day trip to anyone visiting Madrid, it’s simply gorgeous and there are sweeping vistas around every corner.