Plaza de Zocodover is the heart of Toledo's old city — the place where visitors arrive, where buses stop, where the tourist train begins its circuit, and where locals converge in the evening. It is lively and unpretentious, ringed by a café terraces under arcades and overlooked by a medieval gateway.
The square has been everything in Toledo's history: Arab livestock market, Christian execution ground, Inquisition tribunal, and now the main meeting point. The Arco de la Sangre — the gate at the square's edge — dates from the 14th century. Through it, the medieval street network of the old city begins.
The square is a useful orientation point. The Cathedral is five minutes south; the Alcázar five minutes east; the Jewish Quarter and the monasteries are fifteen minutes west. Pick up a map here and then walk. Toledo's old city is compact enough to cover on foot in a day, and most of its major sights are within a ten-minute walk of each other.