A Visit to Toledo and More Games

Today was more focused on site seeing than soccer - a welcome change of pace for everyone! After letting the boys sleep in a bit, we all piled into the bus for a gorgeous day of site seeing around Toledo, Spain.

Toledo is about an hour's drive outside of Madrid and is considered a UNESCO World History site. The scenery along the way wasn't incredibly picturesque, but once we came upon Toledo that all changed. Perched on a hilltop and surrounded by other foothills, the 2000 year old city was breathtaking!

We drove around the city to get to a nearby lookout point and were able to capture some truly, unbelievably beautiful photographs. Panoramic features on photo apps were made for scenery like this! We also captured some great pics of each of the teams with the wonderful backdrop.

Once we arrived into the city center (which required 5 escalator rides - can you say hills?) the group had 3 hours to explore the town. Everyone went off in different directions - families, groups of boys, coaches, tour guides, etc. Some visited the local churches. In a city that was able to keep peace between Muslim, Jewish and Christian residence for more than 700 years, there are a lot of churches, synagogues and mosques to explore - 12 in a town that only has 85,000 residents.

Others did some shopping. Toledo is known for it's steel that was used to make swords as far back as the Crusades. Some people may need to check their luggage in order to bring home their new souvenirs. Funniest souvenir award goes to Jason Smith for purchasing a magnet of Don Quixote after misinterpreting our tour guide's pronunciation of famous writer. Let's just say to someone's Southern ears, Don Quixote spoken with a Spanish accent sounded an awful lot like "Donkey" Hote. Jason is a great sport as we've all had a good chuckle out of that all day.

Along the River Tagus there was a zip line experience that a couple of the boys took part in. The huge grins on their faces tell you what they thought of the experience!

All in all, Toledo was greatly enjoyed by everyone. Would highly recommend a visit there is you make a trip to Madrid.

Heading back into Madrid, we went straight to the boys games against UD San Sebastian de los Reyes. We arrived in time to watch CASL 16 Black earn a 5-5 draw in their game. Once that game was completed, both the 13s and the 14s took to the field for their matches at the same time. While it was nice to be done earlier in the evening, all of the parent were a bit disappointed as we enjoyed cheering both teams on the night before. The 13s came out with a resounding 7-1 win over the Infantil A team. One of their parents told Amy Leonard that their boys play fast, but that the Railhawks boys played even faster. The 14s also won in a 4-2 matchup with the San Sebastian Cadete A team. Overall both teams were happy to walk away with the W and there were lots of cheerful boys on the bus back to the hotel.