Toledo
Started the day in Madrid with a morning walk down to the Mercado for breakfast. After four or five stops, we finally got Grace some sunglasses on the walk back to the apartment. Then, Holy Toledo! Amazing. An hour drive south and we entered a whole other world.
Coming in to town
Toledo!
We first went to our parador. The parador system is made up of buildings all across Spain, many that were former historical buildings, that have been converted by the government into hotels. Thanks Jean for the tip that led us to the paradors. The parador in Toledo was a monastery and is long and low on a hillside facing the city, but on the other side of the river. This gave us a spectacular view of the town in all its glory. We got settled into our rooms and headed back across the river to explore.
Toledo Parador
The view from our room’s balcony!
On the back deck of the parador- what a view!
The cathedral in Toledo was legitimately breath taking, and is part of the origin of the phrase “Holy Toledo.” It was the former capital of Spain, and in many respects remains the cultural and religious center of the country. The cathedral is spectacular in its intricacy and diversity of ornamentation and is large enough to allow the whole population of Toledo to attend mass. The audio tour was great and free with the ticket. Each section of the church seemed to be a world onto itself, with different styles and forms of decoration. My personal favorite was the, Coro, choir area; with two tiers of stalls beautifully carved dark wood. Two levels of seating, the lower tier of which has “mercy seats”, a small extension to the front edge of the seat bottom that when folded up allowed choir memebers to stand also allowed them the mercy of a partial seat. This was one of the most, if not the most spectacular churches we have seen anywhere in the world.
Central west portal
Portal of the clock entrance
First glimpses inside
Entrance to the Sacristy-& New Museums where the Moorish influence is obvious.
One of the many garments from the 16 & 17 century on display near the Sacristy. Remarkable detail.
El Transparente, an intricate alter of marble & bronze. The name has to do with the skylights above, allowing light in for the angels and more…
Sometimes it’s difficult to know if it’s a particular place that evokes emotions or if these already present feelings are just intensified by the place. I found myself very emotional as I wandered through the cathedral and listening to the audio-tour. Having to pause actually at various points and collect myself, wipe my tears, take a breath. The girls would glance over and say are you ok, Mom? And Scott squeezed my hand knowing. I carried thoughts of friends and family who face challenges that seem… nothing less than unfair. Perhaps in this beautiful place of worship, which took 200 years or so to build-touched by generations of artists, craftsman, workers, prayers would be more likely to be heard. Silly, I know: we are told you can pray anywhere when we are very young, your prayers are heard anywhere, anytime. Yet, I still found myself wondering…
Only a portion of the Capilla Mayor, which summarizes the New Testament.
Choir area
Up close at one of the medieval choir stalls
The gilded monstrance (where the consecrated Host is kept) It is still carried through the streets of Toledo during the feast of Corpus Christi.
The city itself is a medieval complexity of winding streets. Almost every second shop is a steel/knife shop as Toledo is known for its steel. We also noticed several Damascene shops. Dating back to the Middle Ages, it is the art of decorating non-precious metals with gold, especially jewelry. Toledo is the center for this art brought to Spain by the Arabs. There is also a tremendous number of sweetshops with a particular focus on marzipan treats, and even convent cookies like those we found in Madrid. The day was mild with some sun, so we walked around a bit, with a sort of meandering goal (only kind on these streets) of making it to the el Greco museum.
Exploring Old Town
Knife and sword shops
Damascene artist at work
Window of a pastry shop where we stopped for a snack; everything is made by the nuns. Yes, those are dolls.
Dulces shop
Venta De Dolces- Here we purchased some almond cookies for later consumption..
I have a whole new respect for el Greco (literally means “the Greek”) after the trip. Really an innovator, a genius and a little bit mad. We saw his famous “The Disrobing of Christ” in the cathedral, but at the museum we got to see more of his work and have it put in context. The museum is a wonderful change, in that is a recreation of el Greco’s home in Toledo. The paintings are hung on walls, but the place is very much open to the outdoors, like a real Spanish home. It seemed strange not to be in a place that was atmospherically controlled when viewing masterpieces from the Renaissance, though I guess cathedrals are much the same way. The main masterpiece to see here is “St. Bernardino of Siena”, a portrait that exemplifies all of el Greco’s innovations, from elongated figures to almost impressionist like use of paint, including leaving primer to show through the paint for a natural effect. Honestly, I was more taken by “Portrait of the Marquis of Vega-Inclán”, which was just lovely in it simplicity and modernity.
Museo Del Greco
At the Museo Del Greco
Portrait of the Marquis de la Vega-Inclán
St. Bernardino of Siena
El Greco was the first painter to show St. Peter on his own as the subject acknowledging his guilt with tears present.
Street signs on the ground leading to the synagogue
Jumping…practice
After culture, there is always food. We headed to a tapas bar (surprise), that had been suggested by our guide, Rick Steve’s. We arrived during the interstices (6:30 pm), so most of the tables were closed and there were just two barmen. The proper food was not going to be served until 8, when civilized Spanish folks are ready for dinner. So, we had a glass of wine (or fanta for the girls) and the gratis tapa that comes with wine when in the Madrid area, usually bread with jamon or bread with hummus. It kept us alive, and eventually the kitchen opened, and we could find a table upstairs and order some hot tapas. The food was excellent, and we discovered a new favorite – Bomba, a ball of meat breaded and deep fried with two sauces. There was also a wonderful Catalan chickpea stew with paprika. And we remained stunned by the total check which was only 20€, seems unfair to give us this much good food and wine for such good value.
Dinner in Toledo- Happy!!
The last treat of the day was a small shop just half a block from our restaurant, Jacinta & Maria Chocolates. We (really Christine, as usual) made friends with the owner, Frank (called Paco) in the sweets shop where we got candy for the girls, chocolate and wine for the adults. As a special treat Paco asked for the girls’ names and hand wrote a calligraphy bookmark for Christine with both names on it. Just the sort of lovely little touch and story that makes travel such a wonderful experience.
Chocolate, dried fruit and nut shop in Toledo… such a fantastic find!
Sweet shop in Toledo… Hmm, what to chose?
Ah, well, there was one treat left for us. When we got back to the parador and walked out to our balcony to have a last look at the city and a nightcap, the cathedral and the old palace were both lit up, along with much of the city. Just a final spectacular ending to another amazing day in Spain.
The view from our room’s balcony!
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