This is a post I've been meaning to do for a while (well, since I started this blog, but let's not go into that...) Today I finally had the chance to go and take pictures down by the river, where I go running, and every time I go there I think, "I MUST come here with my camera so that I can take photos" but then another day goes by and it doesn't happen.
Well, today it did happen. I've been in a very foul mood of late, and because I was woken up at 6 and then couldn't get back to sleep, I thought I would get up and go for a walk to try and make myself feel a bit better, instead of just vegging which is what I normally do.
So I went, camera in hand, down to the river. Sadly, the light was a bit too bright on one side of the river, where the views are more spectaculer, so the photos there didn't work out very well :( But I wanted to give an idea of the place that I'm lucky enough to be living in right now.
I took quite a few photos, so I don't think I'll put them all. But here we go:
This is the view you get when you look away from Toledo. I think this kind of view of the fields, looks to me what I think of as typical Spain- even though it's winter, it looks barren, dry almost, but with a few trees dotted around- I find it really beautiful, and I find myself staring at this view a lot. (Although I must point out, as I've found out since being here, EVERYONE has a different idea of what they think is "typical Spain"- some people think the south is Spain, whereas those from the north see the middle and south of Spain as "heathen" places. Not their words, but that's the impression I get when speaking to them.)
I walk across the bridge to go for my run and to get out of the city to go to the train station- beautiful right?
Part of the track where I run :)
Part of the bridge, I don't know what the name is of this one but it'll be "Puerta de" something, which basically means "door". This is what I love about Toledo- these buildings are from medieval times, when the visigoths were around, and yes they have all had some kind of restoration to some degree, but they look like they were literally built yesterday, even if the style's a bit oldy-worldy. Everything feels so clean, nothing feels old and horrible, you actually want to look at things here.
View looking up to the city- see what I mean about it being medieval? It looks far more impressive than anything JRR Tolkien could have dreamt up. (I'm referencing the Two Towers film, where the city they have the battle in loooked a bit similar to this) and the design was very typical of the time, as it all came down to safety- from up there you could see your enemies from far away, and it was a much better option to defend from above. Those clever Toledanos!
This is part of the river, I'm not quite sure what is happening there as I don't know anything about the geography of rivers, but it mesmerised me. The river was almost being sucked down, really fast, it looked really violent. Whether it's natural or not doesn't make any difference to me. Considering my worst fear is drowning, I don't think it was a good idea for me to stay there for too long, but for some reason I couldn't pull myself away!
My main wish is to take pictures of this part of the city during sunset hours, which is mainly when I run, and it is SO beautiful it is unreal. So that is my next task, especially before I leave for England (which is in 19 days yipee!). I am meaning to take a few more, and better, pictures of "el casco", the actual city, but I don't enjoy taking pictures of buildings as much as I do as scenary, so we shall see!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures!
:D
