Gluten Free in Toronto, ON

Last weekend my husband and I decided to make the two hour drive up to Toronto, ON for a fun getaway. Of course, the first thing I did was research gluten free and celiac-friendly options in the city. I quickly had a list of restaurants I wanted to check out!

We arrived on Saturday, June 28 around 10:30am. It was World Pride weekend in the city and our hotel (The Courtyard Marriott) was smack dab in the center of all the festivities. We quickly checked in before heading away from "festival zone" towards Chinatown which bordered the Kensington Market area where our first stop was located; The Kensington Cornerstone.

Kensington Cornerstone

Let me tell you, this place was an amazing find! Located at the end of Kensington Avenue, with an adorable, cozy patio to enjoy the beautiful summer morning, we found the perfect place to start our gluten free eating extravaganza! Kensington Cornerstone is 100 percent gluten free - the absolute best thing a celiac can hear! 

We split a pitcher of Vodka Lemonade which was delightful and just the right proportion of lemonade to vodka. After a lengthy debate between french toast and a breakfast sandwich I chose the french toast and never regretted my decision. It came out looking beautiful and scrumptious and tasted even better. The bread was thick, perfectly cooked, and the crusts seemed like they had been dipped in sugar and cinnamon for extra enjoyment! I loved every second of eating this breakfast favorite that I haven't had since I've gone gluten free - so at least two years! Drew ordered the eggs Benedict and loved it, including the gluten free bread. What an awesome way to start the day!

First french toast since celiac!

I had told Drew there was a bakery I wanted to go to, but looking on the map I realized it was a lot further than I had thought. I decided we'd skip it. We began to wander around the Kensington Market area, savoring the unique shops and restaurants and hipster vibe. Suddenly, I looked up to see "Bunner's," the name of the 100% vegan, gluten free bakery I had wanted to visit! What?! We went inside and quickly discovered that they had just opened up a second location (this one!) the day before! What luck! We ordered a cinnamon bun which they warmed up and cut in half for us, and I also got a red velvet cupcake and a creamie (two chocolate chip cookies with frosting in the middle) to save for later. All three of these items were absolutely delicious and tasted like they had been jam-packed with gluten because they were that good! I will definitely make a point to go back there the next time I'm in Toronto.

Bunner's 100% Vegan and Gluten Free Bakery in the Kensington Market area

After some more wandering and shopping we headed to our next food-specific destination: Poutini's House of Poutine. Poutine is kind of a Canadian delicacy consisting of french fries, gravy and cheese curds. I'd never had it, but decided that if there was a gluten free version I should probably indulge. Drew loves poutine so he was totally on board for this adventure. We had to walk a couple miles to find this place and there wasn't much to it. No bathroom, cash only, a couple high tables and a kitchen. We were still stuffed from brunch and bakery treats, so we split a regular gluten free poutine. I was pleasantly surprised. For some reason, I expected poutine to be a lot, um...grosser? Haha. It was literally a paper cup's worth, so it wasn't too too much. The french fries were good, the gravy was tasty and not overloading the fries, and the cheese curds were not overwhelming either. All in all, a good first poutine experience!

GF Poutine, a Canadian Tradition

The remainder of our daylight hours were spent walking, window shopping, and enjoying a cold beverage before stopping into the Pride Festival to visit some friends we met while on our Galapagos diving trip last year. Soon, it was time to venture out for dinner.

We headed to the Distillery District, a funky area in the historical district I had visited in the fall. I knew Drew would love the vibe as much as I had. We headed to El Catrin, as it was listed on several websites when I was searching for gluten free in Toronto. The restaurant patio was massive and gorgeous with giant rustic metal chandeliers hanging, and a fire pit in the middle. The line was out the door and around the corner. There was a private party inside, so only patio seating was available. We decided to wait. 

An hour later we were seated. The menu had little icons next to certain items stating "wheat free." I asked about this and the hostess gave me a confused answer about it really meaning gluten free. Hmm. So I asked the server and he said yes, they were gluten free if they have that icon. Not to give away the rest of the story, but at this point, I should have asked to speak with a manager. Unfortunately, the place was crazy and I was starving and I did not. Instead, Drew and I ordered a few items (it is tapas style), and our food came quickly. We had Esquites (a corn dip), Sopes de Tinga (delicious little tart looking things), Cochnita Pibil (BBQ pulled pork tacos), and Carne Asada de Catrin (flat iron steak). Everything tasted amazing!! We loved the experience, the food, and our waiter. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes later I quickly realized I had been glutened. I'll leave out the details, but I will say, if you go here, please make sure you do your due diligence and talk to a manager so you can be assured what you order is gluten free. And maybe it would be better not to go on a Saturday night in the middle of summer so they aren't so busy and can be more careful of cross contamination. I'm not sure what made me sick, but it definitely gave our awesome gluten free food day a less-than-awesome ending.

Taken while I was enjoying my food...

The next morning we went to the Brownstone Bistro for breakfast as I found it on my "Find Me Gluten Free" app. Another disappointment. When I asked about gluten free, our unfriendly waitress sort of laughed and said that the menu she gave us was the menu for Pride Festival and there were no substitutions. OK, then. She also said "you know what you can eat, right?" And I said "Yes, but sometimes there are hidden things in certain items." She didn't seem to care. I ordered an omelet (after verifying with our super friendly waitress that they didn't use anything but eggs in their eggs), and my plate came out with bread on it. I ate the 3/4 of the omelet that wasn't near the bread, begrudgingly. After the night before, I was upset and angry, but felt too defeated to fight. I debated just not eating anything, but I was hungry, so I ate the part I felt should be safe.

Overall, we had a fun time in Toronto. It's a great city that is a melting pot of cultures, making you feel like you could be almost anywhere depending on the area of the city you are in. Plus, we found three awesome gluten free finds in Toronto and I will definitely revisit Kensington Cornerstone and Bunner's the next time we head north!

Just Cruisin' (A Flashback)

Written on May 4, 2013

Tonight I am writing from the comfort of our wonderfully large white king-sized bed in our sizable ocean view cabin on-board Holland America’s Eurodam. We've been aboard since Monday, today is Saturday, and so we’re about halfway through our 11-night Mediterranean Cruise.

We departed from Rome, where we met my parents just two days before. They flew in on Friday and we flew in from Prague on Saturday, meeting them for the afternoon and evening, and spending all day Sunday dragging them around to show them as much of the city as we could, after exploring the Pantheon and the Coliseum. Whew! Early Monday afternoon we all boarded the ship (after a quick mishap involving a van and Drew’s iphone…funny story) and began to settle in.

The four of us before our first formal night

It’s been quite a change for Drew and I from the way we’ve been traveling since February 2^nd, let me tell you! 

• First of all, we are staying in the same room for eleven nights. Eleven nights! That hasn’t happened since we left home! It’s been really nice to unpack and live out of closets and drawers rather than organizational Ziplocs, stuffsacks, and backpacks! 
• Secondly, we’re with my parents! We’ve made many friends during our travels and even stayed with new and old friends along the way, but to actually be exploring new places and spending time with my parents is really awesome. 
• Thirdly, our “world” is much more confined causing us to slow down a bit. We tend to travel at a pace that not too many people could probably keep up with, walking an average of probably eight hours a day. It’s a bit of an adjustment to slow down due to processes, procedures and lines that are just part of cruise line traveling. Plus, when we’re on-board the ship there are only so many things to see and do. We’re almost forced to just relax and take it all in because there’s only so much we can do in the time allotted at each port and on the ship.  
• Fourthly, we’re eating (at least) three meals a day and the food is amazing! It’s still a bit of a challenge with my having to eat gluten free because I always have to ask and don't have quite the selection as everyone else, but overall the cruise line is doing a good job catering to me and giving me what I want. And Drew is enjoying eating whatever he wants whenever he wants. He’s gotten two appetizers or two desserts or even two dinners – just because they all sound delicious and – he can!
• Lastly, the crew aboard our ship is amazing and they treat us well. Our room is cleaned  twice a day, the sheets are turned down nightly with a chocolate left on our bed, fresh fruit is left in our room each day, and we have all the comforts of home (yes, even a washcloth!!)

It’s going to be a bit of an adjustment when we get off – but I am just happy we have a few more weeks of our adventure left. I’d definitely be pleased to have even more, but I suppose this journey has to come to an end at some point.

In case you’re curious for more details of our cruise,there’s a quick rundown of our itinerary below. I hope to write posts and share pictures from each port soon.

Monday – board

Tuesday – at sea

Wednesday – Kerkira, Greece (Corfu)

Thursday – Katakolon, Greece (visited ancient Olympia)

Friday – Santorini, Greece (amazing place!!)

Saturday (today) – Kusadasi, Turkey (visited the ancient city of Ephesus)

Sunday and Monday – Piraeus, Greece (Athens)

Tuesday – at sea

Wednesday – Messina, Italy (Sicily)

Thursday – Naples, Italy (tour to Pompei)

Friday – disembark in Rome, we’ll spend the day in the city until our flight to Bucharest, Romania

Drew's first cruise! He has no idea what he's in for...

The food! Oh, the food!

One of the two pools - this one had a retractable roof that blocked the wind

Another shot of our boat - docked in Katakolon, Greece

One of the nightly towel animals that awaited us. We loved these!

The super creative towel animal we made for our room steward, Wibi :)

Salzburg, Austria: The Hills are Incredible

One of the many stunning views on our ride

Our entire bus and train journey from Venice to Salzburg was about six hours and the majority of it was through absolutely gorgeous scenery. At some point before we got to Austria we hit the massive snow-covered mountains and it was spectacular. It was hard not to constantly stare out of the window!

Villa Trapp

We arrived in the city around 10:00 at night and decided to splurge on a taxi to our hotel, Villa Trapp, yes as in Von Trapp. 
For three nights we lived in the mansion of the Von Trapp family (from The Sound of Music, for those of you who aren’t familiar). Waking up the next morning we were in for a wonderful surprise. Our room (a “basic room” that somehow came equipped with its own private and large balcony) overlooked the stunning snow covered peaks just to the left, and not far to the right was the city and we could see the famous castle peaking through the just-beginning-to-bloom trees. Perfection.

The view from our room

Pretending to be part of the Von Trapp family

We spent the next two days exploring the city, mostly by foot, as we typically do. We walked into and back from the city a few times, wandered along and across the river, through the old town, up the mountain for a view of the city below and around the main streets and plazas. I ate one memorable meal at The Heart of Joy Café, not far from the famous and beautiful Mirabell Gardens. It was a vegetarian café that also had several gluten free options, including a highly recommended chocolate mousse cake. Yum! Drew was able to explore some more traditional culinary delights from some shops along our wanderings, such as pretzels, schnitzel, beer, and sausage, and he was very excited about that!

Fortress and the Alps in the background

Hohensalzburg Castle

Overlooking the suburbs and Alps

The river and the old town

It's a unicorn! At Mirabell Gardens

Mirabell Gardens with Palace in the background

Mirabell Gardens

He kind of hated that I made him pose for this picture ;-)

A dinner picnic on our balcony

The city is beautiful and has an entirely different feel than anywhere we’ve been so far. I’m not sure what it is, but I told Drew that I felt the safest here over any of our other destinations. Not that I ever felt unsafe, necessarily, but there’s something that just made me feel really comfortable. It was also the first real days of spring in the city, we were told, and being from Buffalo we can totally relate to the positive energy this time of year creates in a place. In addition, the people, in general, were extremely friendly; people in the stores and restaurants, random people we encountered or asked questions to, and the drivers (who all stop for people in crosswalks and don’t seem annoyed about it or like they’re going to run you over if you don’t hurry up! Imagine that!) Plus, the scenery was stunning. I’m more of an ocean person than a mountain person, but I still find all of nature wonderful so I can’t complain, that’s for sure.

If you’re looking for a small but interesting, friendly, and beautiful city to visit, Salzburg would be a wonderful option. Most people spoke English as well, which made it a lot easier than I expected. And for any celiacs, gluten is a commonly understood term and you are able to find gluten free things in the grocery stores, and it seems that many restaurants try to accommodate gluten free diets if possible. Plus, after Italy most things seems a bit cheaper!

When in Rome...

Ah, Roma!

Us overlooking the river

Like many Americans, I've always wanted to see Rome. I’d heard and read stories from many people who just rave about the city. One thing I read before we came was something to the effect of the “grittiness” of Rome, but even with that grittiness you can’t help but fall in love. This didn't sound so great to me and so I tried to forget that I read it because I just didn't understand how I could love something described as dirty and gritty and crowded.

Well, let me tell you, that description actually makes a lot of sense and I truly did fall in love with the city despite of and because of its grit! I don’t know how to explain it, but it just gets to you. For me, it was a combination of two things that really put me over the edge: the beautiful ancient architecture around every corner and the food.

Ruins near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Everywhere you turn in Rome is another historically significant and beautiful structure. From the Coliseum, to the Trevi Fountain, to the Pantheon, to St. Peter’s Basilica to the random church on the corner; the beauty is overwhelming. There are fountains and plazas and huge Roman columns, you think you've gotten a handle on the city and seen so much and you turn the corner to find another grand and stunning building/fountain/sculpture/obelisk that you haven’t seen before!

The Colosseum

The beautiful Trevi Fountain

The Pantheon at Night

View from the Pantheon doors

And then there’s the food!!! With my diagnosis of Celiac disease just a few months ago, I was kind of dreading our time in Italy when it came to the eating part. I love Italian food, but since my diagnosis it’s been hard to find a gluten free pizza, bread or pasta that is actually more than just a way to satisfy my craving. I've yet to find any that’s really good. And then I came to Rome. Rome knows how to do gluten free and they do it amazingly well. Drew and I had many meals and often shared two entirely gluten free dishes so that we each could try more things. And all of it was delicious! He didn't feel like he was being cheated and I felt normal again! I found restaurants that had entire menus that were 100% gluten free (Mama! Eat), and many other places could make at least a few types of gluten free pasta or pizza as well. I was in heaven and for those three days we both ate extremely well and filled ourselves with lots of pizza, pasta and wine, and several cappuccinos and even gelato.

My first meal in Rome: Gluten Free deliciousness at Mama! Eat

Gluten Free Nutella Pizza for Dessert at Mama! Eat

If you’re a Celiac, you MUST go to Rome. You have to go out to eat in a place where it’s not a big deal and people just nod and hand you their gluten free menu. You have to taste the best gluten free pizza and pasta in the world. You just have to. It’ll be worth it.

And if you’re not a Celiac, you’re still going to love Rome. It’s beautiful, romantic, and full of amazing food in addition to all the legendary sites!

Gluten Free French Fry Pizza at Voglia di Pizza! Yum!

One of our many Coffees in Italy

I was very sad to leave Rome…luckily we will be back for two days in just a couple weeks, as that is where our cruise departs from. Super happy about that!

Inside Vatican City

Vatican City

Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain at Piazza Navona

For more pictures of beautiful Roma, click here.

What We've Been Up To

It’s been a little while since I’ve written as we’ve been very busy hopping from place to place, so I want to catch you up on where exactly we've been and where we are going. I plan to write more detailed posts about the specific places soon, but for now here’s an overview. 

Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday night, after a six hour or so train ride from Sevilla. Our friend, John, who we met on our diving boat in the Galapagos invited us to stay with him at his flat in the Barceloneta area, which is right near the beach. We stayed until Monday morning when we left for San Sebastian, a town up on the northern coast which was recommended to us by one of our AirBnB.com hosts in Toledo. (I wrote this quick post about Barcelona while we were there, and this one after which has a little more detail about why I love the city.)

San Sebastian and Hendaye (France!)

We took a bus from Barcelona to San Sebastian on Tuesday morning, and arrived in the early afternoon. We took another bus from the city to our accommodation for two nights – another AirBnB.com stay. Our host, Elvira, was wonderful and her place was extremely clean, homey and welcoming. The only downside was her apartment is about a 50 minute walk into the city. You can catch a bus easy or a train after a 10 minute walk, but we tend to like to walk, so we made the trek a couple times. While in San Sebastian we took a day trip up to France because why not and Drew really was hoping to get to France so this gave him a small taste! (I have a full post on our time in the city and our excursion to Hendaye, France coming soon).

Bilbao

Thursday afternoon we took another bus (about 1 hour 45 minutes) from San Sebastian to Bilbao. We both wanted to visit the famous Guggenheim, for different reasons. I took an architecture class my senior year at Canisius where I learned about the museum and architect and thought the building was amazing. (This class is actually what sparked my interest in Gaudi as well.) Drew, on the other hand, is a big James Bond fan, and apparently the Guggenheim Bilbao was featured in one of the movies. (More to come on this soon).

Madrid

Saturday morning we took another bus (just under five hours) back to Madrid. Before we left the states this winter we opened up a Marriott Rewards credit card which gives us no international fees and points towards nights at hotels and other perks. One such perk was a free night at a category four Marriott hotel. We had booked a night at the AC Marriott in Madrid (for free!) before we left and boy did it come at the right time! We’ve been staying at some decent places, some hostels and some people’s homes through AirBnB.com, but in Bilbao our accommodation was pretty terrible. The location was fine, but the apartment smelled like mildew and mold and was pretty much disgusting and we couldn’t wait to leave. On top of that, the weather the entire time we were in the city was the coldest we’ve experienced on the trip thus far, and rainy. Cold, cold rain. Oh, and hail. And we did see snowflakes. Yuck. So anyway, when we arrived in Madrid we were so excited for the fancy hotel room awaiting us! It was gorgeous: king bed, beautiful bathroom, washcloths (!) (read my post about One Month In: What it Feels Like to be a Backpacker if you don’t get my excitement about that one), a nice hair dryer, a bidet (lol), I could go on.

Anyway, we checked in and quickly made ourselves comfortable before heading into the city. There were a few things we knew we wanted to do (mostly for me and my gluten free food needs). We found a Pizza Jardin restaurant near our hotel and had a late lunch there. We ate at another location of this restaurant for dinner on our first days in the city because I had read about their gluten free pizza (yay!). So we had pizza and then headed to the wonderful Celicioso Bakery which is also completely gluten free. Drew stopped at a regular bakery for a treat for himself afterwards, and then we stopped at McDonald's because I had heard that all McDonald's in Spain have gluten free rolls. It’s true. I’m really not a big fast food person, ever, but I felt I had to get and try one of these rolls, so I got a plain hamburger to have for dinner later. (It was ok…a little hard. I guess if you really loved McDonald's in the first place you would probably be more excited than I was).

What’s Next

And now, I am writing from the airplane. We are on our way to Rome! Spain has been absolutely amazing; fun-filled, new sights and amazing places, beautiful architecture, good food including many gluten free options, moving around a lot. I've enjoyed every part of it, but I can’t help but be excited for all that’s ahead, beginning with Rome.

The details aren't set yet, but we’ll be in Rome, then Sacile to visit family of our friends, up to Venice and into and around a few places in Austria, making our way to Prague. From Prague we fly back to Rome where we have two days before we depart on our Mediterranean Cruise! Yes, that’s right. We booked an eleven night cruise which will take us from Rome to several Greek isles, Turkey, Sicily and Naples. We found a good deal online a few weeks ago and decided we wanted to do it!

After the cruise we will fly to Romania, where we will go to Transylvania and somehow make our way down to Istanbul before we fly to Dubai on May 27. We are two months in, halfway through our adventure, but we have so much ahead, lots to figure out, and heaps to look forward to. I’m afraid time is going to fly by because we will be so busy, but I’m excited to take it all in and experience all of the places we are going to go! Stay tuned for more…

Update (Monday, April 8)

We're currently in Rome and it's AMAZING! I am finding lots of awesome gluten free food (including pizza and pasta!) thanks to Trip Advisor and some other great websites. This is where technology really comes in handy! Lots to say about this wonderful place...hope to post blogs and pics soon. Here's a couple, just to hold you over!

Drew and I at the Colosseum

The Trevi Fountain at night

The Pantheon at night

Sevilla, Spain: Faith, Flamenco and Flavor

The Andalusian capital city of Sevilla (Seville in English) was recommended to us by many people when we spoke of our upcoming Spanish travels. One thing that especially intrigued me about the city was that around Easter religion dominates the highly Catholic region with a lengthy celebration know as Semana Santa (Holy Week). Semana Santa is apparently celebrated in many cities throughout Spain, and particularly in the Andalusian region, however in my research Sevilla’s celebration was rumored to be the most magnificent. So when our host in Toledo recommended we visit the city, and I realized our time could easily correspond with the beginning of these celebratory activities, I thought to myself (and said to Drew) “Let’s do it!”

Less than 24 hours later we had our train tickets in hand, a centrally located accommodation booked, and excitement building.

We arrived in Sevilla on Saturday evening around 10:30, after a six hour bus ride from Madrid. Our AirBnB.com hosts, Karren and Chris met us at the bus station to give us our keys, a map, and a warm welcome and a few minutes later we were walking up the steps to our next “home.”

The place was perfect; stylish, clean, and centrally located. We rested up Saturday evening and Sunday we began our exploration!

We wandered, walked, and absorbed the city. We immediately liked it. It was bigger than Toledo, smaller than Madrid. It had a great feel and a unique character with its gorgeous old buildings that you see so much in Europe that they almost become common, except for that fact that we just don’t get them at home so they could never get old! It had personality and style, old and new, hidden alleys and bustling plazas.

A typical gorgeous sight in the city

Drew and I in front of the Cathedral

The Cathedral

The Cathedral and fountain

Around two, after exploring for a few hours, we decided to take a rest on a fountain in a plaza near the Cathedral  People had been setting up endless rows of chairs outside the church and in many different parts of the city. We had heard about the religious processionals that were supposed to begin today, but hadn't seen anything.

Resting by the Cathedral

Then we heard something; a marching band. We walked a couple hundred feet to the main road outside the Cathedral and the procession had found us! It consisted of a marching band, followed by hundreds or thousands of people walking in white robes with tall pointed hats. Eerily they reminded us of KKK costumes, but of course they were nothing of the sort. (Apparently the KKK adapted the costumes from these religious processions in Spain into their outfits, which most people now associate with a fearful and gruesome symbolism).

In addition to the robed walkers there were massive “floats” (for lack of a better term) emblazoned with gold, figurines of different religious scenes, and detailed adornment. As the first of these passed us, just inches away, we realized that these “floats” were not moving on wheels or motorized – they were being carried! We saw the human feet along the edge marching perfectly in sync, and even watched the men lower down, and later, pick up the structures. It was incredible! These things are huge, old, and must weigh a ton!

We watched the procession for an hour and decided to walk against its flow to find the end – it seemed that the robed people just kept coming! Finally we found the “caboose” which consisted of a second elaborate float with the virgin atop it. Behind the procession, people were swarming, heading to their favorite bar for a drink and some tapas. This is clearly one of the most important days of the year – everyone is dressed beautifully – men all in suits, women in cocktail dresses and their highest heels (I didn't envy them walking on the cobblestone streets!), and children fancied up in their special outfits.

Taking a break...this is how these "floats" are powered.
Apparently people pay to carry them!

Later that night we headed out to dinner at a restaurant that I read about online, Al Solito Posto – supposedly they had gluten free pizza and pasta and even prepared it in a separate kitchen from the gluten-containing food. I ordered meat tortellini and I even received my own (large!) gluten free roll and crunchy bread stick things. Drew got spaghetti and his was OK – mine was fabulous – but anytime I can get gluten free pasta safely prepared is an amazing moment, so it no longer takes as much to impress me. I guess my standards are lower – if I can eat it I am excited!

GF place mat to alert servers I need GF food!

My gluten free tortellini!

On our walk home from dinner we started to hear music. We quickly came upon a procession. The streets were flooded with people again and our route home was blocked. We managed to get around it for a moment, but quickly realized that they were heading in the direction we needed to go and we would simply have to follow them! And so we did. It was a long, drawn out walk until we got to the plaza where they split off from us. It was exhausting, crowded and a bit frustrating, but overall a pretty special experience.

During our next day in the city we ran into processionals two more times and saw robed people several additional times, walking from point A to B. It seemed that their outfits changed day to day, with the colors evolving and seemingly having some type of important symbolism that was unclear to us.

The next day we walked some more, visiting the famous Plaza de Espana and later the Plaza de Toros where we took a tour and learned about the history and current controversial practice of bullfighting (which is now illegal in several parts of Spain). Little did we know, six bulls are killed in every bullfight, and occasionally horses (and humans) get killed as well. That night we went to a local bar to get a taste of flamenco that is so famous here!

Plaza de Espana

One of the bulls who was a casualty - notice the ear missing - this is part of the "game"

The blur of a flamenco dancer in motion!

Overall, our time in the city was fun, exciting, and varied. We got to experience firsthand the importance of religion to the people, and we also got to see the way they gathered and celebrated post-processional. We watched a flamenco show, enjoyed gluten free food. We walked a lot and didn't find any use for the public transportation available. At one point Drew asked me if I had to pick RIGHT NOW to live in Madrid, Toledo or Sevilla which would I pick? I picked Sevilla; preferring its medium size over the hugeness of Madrid and the slightness of Toledo. Madrid was cool but didn't have a real character of its own – it could be anywhere in Europe to me. Toledo had a ton of character, but everything is almost too similar. Sevilla has character, but variety. It meshes the old and new well and seems to be a great place to live, not just to be a tourist.