[Illustration: Puente de Toledo, Madrid
_The bridge of Toledo at Madrid was completed in 1872. The banks of
the stream are continually rising, and the piers are therefore partly
buried in the ground._]
The very entrance to Spain is a fit preparation for the strange,
interesting and beautiful things to be seen there. No one can forget
the day that he crosses the impressive boundary between France and
Spain, winding about and tunneling through the majestic Pyrenees.
Once this superb mountain range is passed, the traveler feels as if
he had come upon a different world from any that he has seen before.
His attention turns first, most naturally, to the great cities, which
differ essentially from one another. Perhaps no two more contrasting
cities could be selected than Toledo and Madrid. Toledo was from the
earliest times a capital city. The Romans, Goths, Moors, and finally
the Christians, made it the headquarters of authority. It was the scene
of the triumph of that world-admired hero of the eleventh century,
Rodrigo the Cid. Toledo is in all respects an impressive relic of
bygone splendor. Madrid, on the other hand, is a modern city. In the
days when Toledo was most magnificent and had a population of over
200,000, Madrid was a little town. Today Madrid numbers over 500,000
inhabitants, while Toledo’s population has dwindled to less than
30,000. In Toledo we find many things as they have been for hundreds
of years. The city is still famous for its swords. The Toledo blade is
known the world over today as it was in Roman times.
The traveler does well to visit Toledo first. Its very situation is
extraordinary. The river Tagus flows about it and almost binds it in
like a rope. The banks of the river are rocky and steep, and spanned by
several interesting old stone bridges.