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.
Surprisingly, I slept through the night without taking a sleeping pill! Of course, after 30+ hours without sleep, last night may not be a true indicator on the jet-lag app, but I'm hopeful! We have a cloudy and warm day in the forecast. The high altitude of the city sometimes gives it huge weather changes in a single day. Our local guide, Nico, joined us to give our tour of Madrid and the Prado Museum.
Madrid was founded in the second half of the 9th century by Emir Muhammad I of Córdoba. The city was made the capital of Spain in 1560, which makes it one of the youngest capitals in Europe and the only one with Islamic origins. Today it has a downtown population of about 3 million people and the city is divided into 21 districts.
Spring flowers blooming!!
We had a short stop at La Plaza de Oriente, the grounds of the royal palace I visited yesterday. Nico told us that the last time the royal family lived in the palace was in 1931, and their family is related to British royal family. The equestrian statue of Philip IV (Felipe) on top of the fountain in the middle of the plaza had an interesting history. Sculptor Pietro Tacca created the tribute in 1640, but Galileo's help was required to calculate the stability of the design. "the horse rears, and the entire weight of the sculpture balances on the
two rear legs—and, discreetly, its tail— a feat that had never been
attempted in a figure of this scale" [source].
Museo Nacional del Prado was our last stop for the morning, and unfortunately you're not allowed to take photos inside the exhibits. "Prado" means 'meadow' as it was originally intended to be a museum of natural sciences. We did a very quick tour (under two hours) to highlight the "Big 3" in the museum: El Greco, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco de Goya. The museum has over 35,000 works of art, and 8,000 paintings so I think our curated tour was perfect. To appreciate these paintings, I've shared some videos I found explaining them.
Doménikos Theotokópoulo, who is widely known as El Greco (which means "the Greek" in Spanish) had a very unique painting style - he elongated & distorted figures and painted without backgrounds. During his lifetime he was not very famous outside of Toledo. He would also paint in a different style for those who commissioned him and didn't like his preferred style.
Diego Velázquez was born in Seville, Spain and painted during the 17th century. As a court painter for Philip IV, he painted many royal portraits and is best known for his Las Meninas (Ladies in Waiting or Maids of Honor) depicting Philip IV's family. In addition, he often painted mythological people as real people, such as his Vulcan’s Forge painting depicting Apollo in the forge of Vulcan.
Francisco de Goya "is regarded as one of the last of the Old Masters and one of the earliest of the modern artists." [source] Because he painted during the time of the American and French revolutions his works reflected those upheavals. Some of his most famous works, that we saw, included The Naked Maja, The Clothed Maja, The Family of Carlos IV, andSaturn Devouring One Of His Sons.
After our free time for lunch, I joined the optional tour of El Escorial, which is located about an hour northwest of Madrid. It is a combination monastery, royal palace, and basilica complex erected by King Philip II as a memorial to his father, Carlos V. The complex is vast, and to not make this blog post a book, I'll keep it limited to the parts I found most interesting.
El Escorial - entrance through the Basilica
Nico was an excellent guide, and he brought us up a staircase and through a small door into the Royal library, and exclaimed "isn't it a wow!?" He wasn't wrong! Interestingly, all the books are shelved backwards so you only see the golden pages. The room was incredibly impressive. The sign above the other entrance to the library threatens excommunication if you steal a book!
The Royal Pantheon of Infantes was very beautiful. In Spain, only the heir to the Crown is a prince or princess, so they use the the title Infante de España for the children of reigning and past Spanish monarchs. Among other privileges, the infantes have the right to be buried in the Pantheon of Infantes. The floors and ceiling are made of white marble and there are multiple chambers.
Pantheon of Infantes Children's Mausoleum
The special polygonal tomb for the royal children who died before
reaching puberty was unique. The Pantheon of the Kings (Royal Pantheon)
did not allow photos, although I'm really not sure why. It is located
directly below the church's main alter and has beautiful black and red
marble walls with green marble caskets. The mausoleum, with the caskets
of each king, in order of reign, and their wives opposite them, hold
kings from the 1500's of both the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties.
Although, since Felipe IV created the burial place, he cheated the rules
and had two of his daughters buried there.
The Royal Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial
The father and mother of King Juan Carlos I, are awaiting interment, which is anticipated to happen within the next 5-10 years. Once that happens the marble caskets will all be filled. No decision has yet been announced as to the final
resting place of now-abdicated Juan Carlos, Queen Sofía, Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, and any future monarchs and consorts.
We also visited the Palace of Philip II, which compared to my visit yesterday at Palacio Real, is very austere! It's a bit shocking when you think about the size of his empire (from the Philippines to South America, the sun never set on his empire), but he was deeply catholic and only spent a few months a year there since it was a seasonal palace.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been trying out an app called "TimeShifter" to help me have less jetlag. I started on Monday, and by tomorrow (Saturday) I'm supposed to be completely adjusted to Madrid time. It's a bit too early to tell if it worked, in part because on the flights yesterday I was to get some sleep, but I can never sleep on planes.
My flight out of Pittsburgh was delayed by air traffic control, so by the time we landed in Philly my flight was to begin boarding and I wasn't off the plane yet and still had to get to the international terminal. Oddly enough, the couple int he 2 seats next to me were also on the flight to Madrid. He was very polite, yet also bold enough to keep speaking up and asking people if they would allow us to go ahead of them (exiting the plane). We all begin sprinting through the airport from Terminal C, Gate 20 to Terminal A, Gate 26. My American Airlines app told me it was a 20min walk, but we simply did not have 20 minutes! They were loading my boarding group as I arrived at the gate, so I had just enough time to use the restroom before I got onboard. Then, somehow, they put a pet in the wrong cargo hold or something, so we spent an hour and a half getting that corrected and then doing all our safety briefings over again before we could take off. According to the TimeShifter app I was to "wake up" and be exposed to bright light at 1am to help reset my circadian rhythms...so I did what I could to make that happen on a dark airplane while all I wanted to was to be asleep.
Madrid Airport was very inefficient, from my point of view, with their international arrivals. In their defense, I believe the law requiring all visitors to be electronically fingerprinted is new, so they're still trying to work out all the logistics. Either way, it took me over an hour to get out of the airport and I didn't even have a bag to claim. I will say, they did have the most impressive Ride-Share pick up location I have ever seen. Sometimes it's maddeningly difficult to find out where you're to meet your driver, but Madrid had perfectly marked parking spots that get assigned to each driver as you request a ride. I don't know how they do it, but I was impressed.
My driver dropped me off at Meliá Madrid Serrano hotel around 12:30pm and I left my luggage with the hotel staff as my room would not be ready until 3pm. Since I had expected to have arrived at 10:45am, I was somewhat prepared with a plan to do a walking tour loosely based on Rick Steve's guidebook. Somehow in my planning I failed to notice that my hotel was a 30min walk from the starting point of the 'tour'. I was exhausted and hungry, and yet, kept not stopping for something to eat. Despite how brave people think I am, and despite the amount of Spanish I know, and the expected level of English at most places, it was too intimidating. My brain just couldn't do it, I was even having trouble following my trusty Maps.Me app and the directions I'd printed for Steve's tour. It was a lovely, warm, 82 degree day, and there were lots of people out and about. Arriving at Plaza Mayor, in the Old Town of Madrid, I gave up and decided to head straight for the Royal Palace before my headache took over.
Palacio Real
Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena
The Palacio Real is the 3rd largest palace in Europe (and is the largest in Western Europe). Only 6% of the palace is able to be visited and the rest is closed to the public. It has 3,418 rooms and was built to have about 3,000 people living in it (servants would be included in that total). The first king to live in the palace was Charles III, and it was used as a royal residence from 1764 to the deposition of King Alfonso XIII in 1931.
The decorations visitors see are the same decorations from the 17th century! The palace is only used for official ceremonies now, such as state dinners in this unbelievably large dining room.
I don't always make wise choices when traveling, and by the time I got my ticket and went inside I was confident that not prioritizing finding some sort of snack before arriving was a huge mistake. Without a guide (human or audio) and with a pounding headache, much of what I saw was wasted on me...but it was a beautiful palace and very large. I begrudgingly paid the $20 price for an Uber back to my hotel where water, food, and Tylenol did the trick. Then, despite the TimeShift app, I had to lay down and close my eyes for a bit. I drifted off for maybe 15min, so I don't think it did me any harm.
The tour orientation and dinner were nice - there are 35 of us total and our guide is named José Manuel. I sat with a couple from Indiana, named Max and Patricia. There was one couple younger than me, maybe 26, so I wasn't the youngest, and there was one other woman traveling solo, so I wasn't the only one traveling alone either! Our dinner at La Farmacia was okay, nothing to write home about, but it was a cute location and I was tired enough to not care too much about the food.
As many of you know, I'm off to Spain today! For a country that has been on my bucket list for the last 15 years you might be surprised I've not been there yet. And all I can say is that I've been waiting for a tour to go on sale, and it's just never been as low as I wanted it to be! Finally, after hearing over and over again on my tour of Portugal how much I would love Spain if I was enjoying Portugal (which I was enjoying), and after reading a fascinating book about Andalusia, I decided it was time. Sale or no sale, it was time to book a trip to Spain. The Gate1 Travel Single-Supplement sale came around last fall and when I saw that the fee (you have to pay extra to join tours when you're traveling alone, and they call it a "single supplement") for Spain was $1000 and that it was waived as part of the sale, I knew I had to take the leap (even if I paid full price for the tour).
To prepare for the trip I've been re-reading the above-mentioned book, Ornament of the World. The combination of things I learned in Portugal, and the things I learned about Jewish history from my tour of the POLIN museum in Poland, have certainly helped me keep the timeline and understand the context of the book better this second time around. It's incredibly fascinating how the author ties together the history and how events impacted the religions and cultures of the area.
Also, for the first time I'm trying out an app called TimeShifter which I read about in How to Win at Travel. I'm hoping it works and helps to mitigate (even eliminate) my jet-lag and make the tour much more enjoyable for me. That being said, it required that I be up at 3am this morning (after several days of earlier bedtimes and earlier wake-up times) and my flight doesn't leave until 5:30pm tonight! The plus side to that is that I did the majority of my packing, cleaned my house, mowed my lawn, and still had time to write this post before heading out.
Oh, and another first happened last night as I was checking in for my flight. It wanted me to pay $75 to check my bag, which was a surprise because the last time I flew to Europe I only paid $40! I did some searching and found out that the fee for checked bags to Europe is indeed $75 and now I had a dilemma. I had planned to check a bag, but hadn't really packed anything yet, and was the extra pair of shoes worth $75 EACH WAY? So, for this 15 day trip, I managed to pack in a carry-on. Will my feet hate me when I have to wear the same pair of shoes every single day? Maybe, but I'd rather spend my $150 on something else. If only my 18-year-old self, packing for a semester abroad in Italy, could see me now!
My apologies for the teaser, as there's no way I'll end up blogging on the tour (even if I end up not having jet lag), but it's always good to have something to look forward to! Ciao!
Warsaw, "the city that saw the war" was almost 90% destroyed by Nazi Germany in 1944, out of retaliation for Polish resistance. The historic centre was meticulously restored based on the original layout and "is an outstanding example of a near-total reconstruction of a span of history covering the 13th to the 20th century." (source)
It has since been rebuilt in the original layout, so the buildings are mostly new. Our local guide for the day was Philip, a charming Polish chap with lots of fun quips. One that stuck with us was a "Shakespeare Stop" (that was code for a bathroom break - 'to pee or not to pee'). Warsaw is such a large city that the morning tour felt almost like a waste of time. He was pointing things out as we drove, but I often wasn't even sure what building he was referring to and couldn't get a photo from a moving bus even if I did know which building. We did learn a fair amount of history on the ride though, so one mustn't complain.
Our first stop was at the massive monument of Frederic Chopin (pronounced "show-pin"), possibly the most famous Polish man in the world. Frederic began playing piano at age six and was better than his teacher by age nine. By age 20, he was forced to leave Poland, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising (also known as the Polish–Russian War). Chopin went to Vienna, then Paris, then Majorca Island, before dying at age 39 in Paris, France from tuberculosis. The park was lovely on our sunny, spring day - in the summer they hold free outdoor concerts in the park.
Our next stop was the POLIN Museum for a Shakespeare stop and a moment to talk about the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto outside the museum. The square in which the monument resides was formerly part of a Jewish ghetto, and was the spot where the first fighting of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising took place in 1943. The people were locked in the ghetto and couldn't escape, but they chose to fight (an honorable death) instead of die like cattle. The opposite side of the monument shows the deportation of the Jews sent to Treblinka Concentration Camp (there are Nazi helmets in the background of the relief).
From the museum we headed to the rebuilt Old Town Square, which is stunning. What I found so interesting was the use of polychrome decoration on the outside of the buildings. I don't recall ever seeing anything quite like it, at least not as extensively used; it looked like they had carved the exterior of many of the buildings.
We walked to the Archcathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist (one of three major cathedrals in Warsaw) and headed inside for a peek. The church is viewed as a symbol of the relationship between church and state, an idea staunchly defended during WWII. Buried in the crypts beneath the main aisle are several historical Polish figures, including the last King of Poland (he's actually the only royal buried there as all the other kings are buried in Krakow).
After our visit we had free time so I wandered off on my own for quite awhile enjoying the lovely day and exploring the old city walls and environs. I found several other beautiful churches, including Pauline Church of the Holy Spirit and Paul The Hermit, and Kościół pw. Świętego Marcina (St. Martin's church).
The Mermaid Monument at the Old Town Market Place
Shortly before it was time to reunite with the group I ran into Roz, Irv, and Rose, all enjoying an ice cream, so I bought one too! Then it was off to Jan Sobieski III's Wilanów Palace for a tour, and despite its name it was apparently never a royal residence (he became king after he built it and never lived here as King). Since it survived both world wars, everything is original and is a stunning example of late-Baroque architecture. Surprisingly, it is in the top 25 most visited National Monuments in the world! We had the most delightful afternoon for a visit, clear skies and 70
degree temperatures. The flowers were blooming as well, so the bright
yellow exterior of the palace and the azure sky made for lovely photos.
The interior was very well preserved and Philip kept things very entertaining as we made our way through the museum. The venerable King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania was born in what is currently the Ukraine, but was then Poland. He spoke 7 languages and he and his wife, Marie Casimir, traveled extensively. They had 17 children, but only 5 lived to adulthood.
Battle of Vienna statue
Jan (Polish for John) was the leader of the Polish Army and saved the country from Ottoman Empire's takeover. He had the largest privately owned library in the world at the time, and it has this amazing (original) stone floor in a 3D design.
The ballroom was done in the early 1700's in Classical Baroque style. The large painting behind the piano is of Stanisław Kostka Potocki who turned the palace into a museum. He was a Polish noble and his mausoleum is outside the palace, we had passed in on our way into the museum. When the tour was over I said goodbye to Magic & Simona as that was the end of our interactions. She was truly the best guide I've ever experienced -- maybe being the same age helped, but she was informative, fun, had a great sense of humor, was organized, made stories personal so we could connect what she was saying to real human lives. I would love to have her by my tour guide again some day.
My day wasn't finished as I had booked a one hour Chopin recital for the evening. I caught an Uber across to the Old Town and had some time to spare, so I explored a bit more.
It was a very small "salon setting" much the way Chopin's first pieces would have been played. The pianist, Katarzyna Hushta, studies at the University of Warsaw School of Music, and was born in Belarus.
She did a phenomenal job and it was an enjoyable concert. The optional Gate1 concert was two hours long (I think only 1 person had signed up), and I was falling asleep by the end of my one hour recital! The walk to the edge of the Old Town at twilight was a nice farewell to the city before I caught an Uber back to the hotel.
The group of 13 traveling together on our tour was in the lobby, so I stopped to talk for a bit. Then Roz and Irv came into the lobby and a God-ordained comment about me flying through Dallas prompted Roz to tell me that George was also to have flown through Dallas, but they had changed his flights. She suggested I check mine. I'd already checked in for my flights and had boarding passes, had scheduled my Uber to the airport and set my alarm for the morning...But sure enough, my flights had been changed and they never told me! I was now departing Warsaw three hours later than originally planned, and would be going to London and then straight to Pittsburgh. Much, much better flights, and I would be home three hours earlier as well! Ever so thankful for everything working out!
Not much of consequence today as most of the day was spent on the bus driving from Vilnius to Warsaw.
However, all was not lost as Simona imparted lots of history on the drive. Poland is full of historic landmarks and UNESCO sites, and has a population of about 39 million people. They are one of the rare countries in the European Union that still use their own currency (Polish złoty).
Of the countries on our tour, Poland and Lithuania have the strongest ties (and not just because our driver was Polish and our guide Lithuanian). In 1569, the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania unified to become the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, creating one of the strongest powers in Europe at the time. They were quite advanced and in 1791 had the first European Constitution (second in the world after the good 'ol USA)! Unfortunately, its long period of strength and prosperity were in decline shortly after the Constitution was signed it all went downhill quickly. By 1795, the Commonwealth had been divided into 3: Russia, Prussia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire each took a part. We're all a bit more familiar with Polish history post-1920's so I won't add any of those details.
We also learned about the Suwałki Gap, although we did not cross it. Knowing so much more history of this region, and their 'tussles' with Russia, it's easy to grasp the strategic and military importance of this choke point since Poland and the Baltic states joined NATO.
We finally arrived in Warsaw with a smidge over 2 hours before our farewell dinner (odd timing, yes, but it's the only free evening before many on the tour leave in the early morning hours Friday). Anyway, I had no other free time in Warsaw, so I had to quickly choose how I wanted to spend my time. Depositing my backpack quickly into my hotel room, I booked an Über and headed to the POLIN Museum. The museum is actually dedicated to the history of the Jews in Poland, which actually dates back a thousand years, and was erected in the former Jewish ghetto.
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
The entrance fee was about $12 and included an audio guide, but in the end I found it unhelpful. The guide didn't read the displays, so I would start reading the plaque next a display I was viewing and then would end up missing what was being said via the audio guide. The museum was astounding, and they say you need about three hours to get through it. Seeing as I had less than 2 hours eventually turned off the audio guide and continued through the very extensive and masterfully done exhibits.
Jewish communities in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1765
I read only what caught my attention and easily could have spent another two hours there. To my dismay, I had to zoom through the WWII era in about 15 minutes and quickly head back to the hotel. I had a few moments to 'powder my nose' before the farewell drinks and walk to AleGloria for dinner. It was a unique spot, served delicious food, and I had a fabulous time with some of my favorite tour-mates.
