Holy Toledo (Spain not Ohio)

Toledo, once the capital of Spain, is located about an hour southwest of Madrid. The city has an Arabic history so much of the architectural influences are Arabic. It is also built on a hill which gives wonderful views of the city ... and turns a day of sightseeing into a mini-workout. The 8 o'clock bus from Madrid arrived in Toledo around 9 and dropped us of at the edge of the city (hence the bottom of the hill). But, full of the energy of eager travelers we quickly hiked our way up to the city. This was one of our first viewpoints :) The tiled roofs and solid white/tan walls give Toledo a character all its own. We hiked (following Rick Steves' directions) to the Cathedral and arrived there about 30 minutes before it opened. So, we peaked into a few stores and discovered the artisan damascene jewelry for which Toledo is famous. We actually even had the opportunity to see artisans making Damascene jewelry ... while we were standing outside the cathedral, a man approached us and offered some information about the Cathedrals hours and other tourist sites around the city. Bad news, we apparently looked a lot like tourists. Good news, he was really friendly and offered helpful information. He even told us about a place where artisans make this jewelry on Fridays (in the courtyard underneath a monastery) and offered to lead us there. We followed him (a little warily) but the streets had other people on them and there were four of us. As it turned out, the man worked in a shop where they sold this jewelry and his job was to bring tourists to it. The cool part, there were artisans working on the jewelry and we got to see them! It was really neat. The general process of making the jewelry involves inlaying gold leaf (and silver) into the designs printed on the black plates. It makes for very pretty patterns and the gold & silver shine very brightly in the black plates. The artisans shared with us that this craft has been passed down through the generations in Toledo and has origins as an Arabic art. One of the men has been making jewelry this way for 20 years, and the other for more than 30. It was a lucky opportunity to see these artisans at work.

By the end of this detour, the cathedral was open. I had heard from many people that this cathedral was one of the most ornately beautiful in all of Spain and I wan not disappointed. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but Steph snuck one of this ornate alter with the scenes of Christ's life depicted in the golden frames. The mix of architectural styles and cultural influences in this cathedral was so pretty! Interesting fun fact, there were some bishops buried in one of the chapels and their hats were hung in the chapel. According to Rick Steves, these bishops had earned the right to hang their hats there until the rot. It was really an exquisite cathedral. There was even a room full of religious paintings by greats such as El Greco, Goya, Velazquez, Caravaggio and Raphael. Wonderful!

Our next walk took us through more shops on the way to the southwest part of town. There we visited Sante Tome, a church that still plays home to one of El Greco's paintings, "The Burial of Count Orgaz." This is a very famous Greco painting and it still hangs where he placed it more than 400 years ago. The church itself was very pretty - and it was neat to see a religious painting still hanging where the artist first intended it to hang when he painted it. Also, our visit to Toledo was perfectly timed. We studied El Greco this week in art and Toledo was where he lived and painted during much of his life. I've decided that I really like his style.

Next we visited la Sinigoga de Maria La Blanca (Synagog of Mary the White) ... quite a mix of cultures as it was a Jewish Temple turned Catholic Church (built by Muslim architects). It was very pretty in its simplicity, but a little overpriced. It cost 2.30 to get in and there was only the one large room to see. To give you an idea, this was the same price we paid to see the monestary,

chapel and courtyard of San Juan de los Reyes (our next stop). This church was very ornate with intricate carvings in white stone all around the church. The name means Saint John of the Kings, because this monastery was originally build as the burial site of Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. However, once Spain drove the Muslims out of Granada, the monarchs were buried there to demonstrate the kings' commitment to keeping all of Spain under Catholic rule. Still, despite the lack of royal tombs, it was a spectacular church, definitely fit for the royals who were supposed to reside there. This was our last site in this part of town, so we took the #12 bus (suggested by Rick Steves) around the city wall and back to the main square. From there we continued to the final recommended site in Toledo, a museum where we were supposed to see some of El Greco's minor works. However, these paintings were currently being put into an exhibit and instead we saw some 16th century tapestries, a pottery exhibit and some architectural displays. A little disappointing, but it couldn't be helped.

After this we headed home to Madrid. All in all, this was a fantastic day trip from Madrid. We saw some pretty cool churches, took pictures from wonderful vistas, looked at artisan jewelry and medieval weapons in shops and even tried fresh Marzapan (made in Toledo). Glad we made the trip! Well, that's all for now folks. TTFN