Holy Toledo!

17 May 2006 Toledo
4:30 PM and we have just returned to the room for siesta. At this point, it means resting our feet!! Oh have we walked and walked around Toledo, our favorite city in Spain. It all began yesterday as we arrived at the train station: a beautiful building with stained glass windows. Then as we rode via cab towards our hotel, we saw the hill covered with what appeared to be a medieval city-with huge stone walls, gates, towers, etc. Our cab did not enter the gate to the city but went around the side: our hotel is built into the wall of the city! Hotel Cardinal was the country home of Cardinal Mendoza. It has been in the hands of a family since. They also own a restaurant in Madrid that is supposedly the oldest continuous restaurant in the world!



We love the architectural integrity of this city. New buildings are not allowed within the city and so everywhere you walk, down narrow little streets or the main Plazas, the buildings are hundreds of years old. One also finds reconstruction going on down every alley and street-some looks like renovation of homes; other is being done by the city to restore public buildings.

After checking in, we took the longest escalator I’ve ever seen from outside the walls of the city up the mountain to the main town. We decided to take the “tourist train” which rides around the perimeter of the city, giving perspective to the entire town. That was the 3rd train we had taken yesterday: one from Sevilla to Madrid (only 2.5 hours, with breakfast served in our seat), from Madrid to Toledo (only 30 minutes, threatening to make Toledo a suburb of Madrid) and the 50 minute tourist train. From that time forward it has been on foot. And with the temperature at 33 degrees C and humid, it is really hot!



Once again we learn of a city that at one time had active Moorish, Jewish and Christian communities that broke down with intolerance and Inquisition. We sat in our patio last evening and had sangria (the best ever—and the strongest!) and spoke with a local guide who had visited Arizona 20 years ago. He was quick to comment that the Spanish inquisition followed hundreds of years of similar behavior throughout the rest of Europe. This morning we visited the two synagogues that still exist-at least as buidings—in Toledo. One has the sanctuary, a garden and a museum of Sepharim, the other is an empty building, showing the transition of the building from synagogue to church. The museum was quite fascinating and was a good explanation of Jewish life in general as well as Sephardic in particular. The security for this museum was tighter than any church or museum we have visited in Spain.

We visited the El Greco museum as well. I never knew that “El Greco” was a nickname given to an artist (Deomenikos Theotokopoulos) who was born in Crete, Greece and moved to Spain, making Toledo his home. He was referred to by contemporaries as “the Greek,” thus “El Greco!”

The paintings there were an amazing collection. A similar collection was found in the Cathedral. Holy Toledo, what a Cathedral! Gives the one in Sevilla a run for the money! While the hundreds of stained glass windows are impressive, the high altar was exquisite and once again the gates around the altar and the chapels were works of art in and of themselves. The Choir, created later and “plunked” into the middle of the cathedral, had wonderful choir seats, carved with unique figures on each seat.





But the most amazing sight was again one I learned about first from Michener in Iberia: the Transparente. I was anticipating seeing it and walked around the back of the altar and whoa! My breath was taken away. Probably 50 feet up was a huge window, across and around which was a piece of artwork like I have never seen: sculpture (marble, jasper and bronze) and painting (fresco)by Narciso Tome and his sons spent 11 years creating the arch angels, the last supper and illustrations of the virtues. All of this and creating a window that will light up the art work and the church. The church took over 250 years to complete (starting in 1226) so it included Baroque, Renaissance and Gothic styles of architecture. The transparente was all the more controversial as Tome pierced the dome 500 years later in order to create the window.

We continued to walk around the city and visited many of the gates to the city. Toledo is bounded on 3 sides by the Tajo river and the 4th side has walls to protect it. Well, we may go back into the city before we call it a night. Meanwhile, we will check in on line. Ciao!’