TOLEDO!

Sunday, April 12th

As we make our way towards Córdoba, after picking up Nico again, our main stop will be a visit to the first capital of Spain, Toledo (pronounced "toe-lay-dough").  The city is located on a granite hill by the Tagus River (Río Taja in Spanish). Part of the region of Andalusía (and thus part of the captivating book "The Ornament of the World"), the area was of course inhabited by Native Iberians and then Celtic-Iberians before the Romans arrived and set up a city.  The Visigoths conquered the area in the 10th century and in the 700's the Muslims came, and with their rule in the Middle Ages came the name Al-Ándalus (from which we get the name Andalusía).  The city of Toledo is still the capital of the state of Castilla-la Mancha. Castilla means "land of castles" and La Mancha refers to "dry land".  The city is on a hill and as we drove up to it, we had another one of Nico's "Isn't it a wow!?" moments.

 This view of the city hasn't changed in hundreds of years, and we know this because old paintings of Toledo still match what you can see in my photo above.  Our first stop on the walking tour was to The Primatial Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, or simply the "Toledo Cathedral".  It has beautiful Gothic architecture and a depiction of The Last Supper at the top of the facade.  

The city itself is indeed an ancient place with labyrinth-like streets and alleys, you felt it as much as you saw it.  Down one narrow street we stopped and saw a demonstration of the Damascene jewelry making which is a specialty of Toledo. "Damascene is a handcraft technique originally from Damascus, Syria...and the Arabs brought it in 711 after invading the Iberian Peninsula, this know-how complemented and enriched the traditional relationship between Toledo and the steel of its forges and swords. (source)"

Soon back on the street we made our way to Iglesia de Santo Tomé which is famous for its El Greco painting "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz".  If you enjoyed the Art History videos from my previous post, here's one about this painting particularly. The painting is based on a legend from the 1300s:

Don Gonzalo Ruiz de Toledo, notary major of Castile and Count of Orgaz, contributed to its reconstruction and left annual mandates for the church in his will, ordering to be buried there. His burial in 1327 became a legend when it was reported that Saint Augustine and Saint Stephen descended from heaven to place his body in the sepulchre, rewarding his life of charity. (source)

Onward to the Jewish Quarter to visit the synagogue of Santa María

La Blanca. In years past it was the major synagogue of Toledo, and it is now an icon of the city and its sephardic history. It was not at all what you would expect of a synagogue (unless, perhaps, you read The Ornament of the World), and oddly enough was never used as a mosque, even though the architecture has Nasrid influences. "It is one of three preserved synagogues constructed by Jews in a Mudéjar or Moorish style under the rule of the Christian Kingdom of Castile." (source)

 We had free time for lunch, so I wandered around and found some empanadas on which to munch on as I walked.  

Isn't it just darling?

Since I didn't sit down to lunch the break felt a bit long, but I ended up waiting at the meeting point and chatting with several of my tour mates.  Before we headed back to the bus, José Manuel gave us all a piece of marzipan to try.  I've heard of it, and possibly even eaten it before, but I truly didn't know what it was, but I found it surprisingly tasty!  It reminded me of trying Turkish Delight in Istanbul -- the original is always way better than the mass-produced version sold in America. 

 

We had a long bus ride, so I did some reading while occasionally taking glimpses out the window of the countryside full of olive groves and vineyards.  We did not stop, but could see across the meadow the windmills of Consuegra, made famous by Don Quixote. To pass the time, José gave us some more Spanish history, especially of the region of Andalusía, where we will be for the next few days.  Our destination for the evening is Córdoba ('coor-dough-bah' with the emphasis on the 'coor'). When the Arabs invaded in 711, they made Córdoba their capital and thus the main city of the empire. The city is over 2000 year old as it was founded by the invading Romans. Since the city was on the Guadalquivir River they could transport lots of items and soon became rich.  Shortly after arriving at our hotel it was time to walk to dinner at La Cueva 1900.