First off, let me just say that it's pronounced "toe-lay-doe," and no, it's not the one in Ohio, not even close. Toledo is a city south-west of Madrid and is very important to the history of Spain because it used to be the capital under the Moors and then again under the Christians. Also, it is known for being a city of three cultures: Jewish, Islamic and Christian because before the 1490s all three cultures lived harmoniously together in the city. You can still see the impact the three cultures had on the architecture of the city and the city, along with the national government, has made great strides on honoring the Sephardi, or Jewish people with Spanish origin.
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| Inside the Toledo train station |
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| My first glimpse of the Alcázar de Toledo |
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| El río Tajo |
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| La puente (bridge) de Alcántara |
I arrived in Toledo around 10:30 in the morning on Thursday after a quick half-hour high-speed train ride from Madrid. I had some difficulties locating my hostel because I only had some directions from Google Maps, which weren't all that helpful since Spain isn't all that great with posting street signs, except in Madrid where I found them all around, which was nice. However, I did find my hostel after going a little out of my way and after receiving a proper map of the city from the tourism office.
After checking in and getting my things put away, I went to the Alcázar de Toledo (Castle of Toledo) which houses the Museo del Ejército (Museum of the Army). Not only is the Alcázar amazing simply due to it's architecture, the objects it contains documenting nearly every era of military exploits in Spain, from the Romans in 218 B.C. to current UN and NATO military missions in which Spain participates. I really liked the hall of miniatures and the artifacts Spain collected as spoils of war from countries like Morocco and Vietnam.
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| The foundations of the Alcázar |
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| A bell from Vietnam |
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| Aztec armor |
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| Korans from Morocco |
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| The patio of the Alcázar |
Next, I toured the Catedral de Toledo, which is huge because the Archdiocese of Toledo had a huge impact in the politics of Castilla during its construction and two of its Archbishops were extremely close to the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabel and King Fernando. I was fascinated by the choir section, as I am in most cathedrals, and the giant gilded main altar.
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| Catedral de Toledo |
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| A painting by El Greco in the Catedral |
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| Choir |
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| Main altar |
Afterwards, I tried to go to the Museo de Santa Cruz (Museum of the Holy Cross) which houses a lot of works of El Greco, a Greek-born painter who called Toledo his home for the last half of his life, so he is very closely associated with Toledo. El Greco died in Toledo in 1614 so this year marks the 400th anniversary of his death, so the Museo de Santa Cruz has a special exhibit with paintings of El Greco that they have in their possession and also borrowed paintings from the Museo del Prado and other museums throughout Spain and the world. However, like I said, I
tried to go, as in I failed to go due to the fact that it's the 400th anniversary of El Greco and the museum is extremely busy and was all sold out for the entire weekend.
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An arch that demonstrates the mix off Islamic,
Jewish and Christian architecture in the city |
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A statue of Miguel de Cervantes,
author of Don Quijote |
Since it was getting late and all the museums and other attractions were closing or would've been closing by the time I got to them, I decided to take a walk outside of the city to get a good look at the entire city from a hill across from the Río Tajo that flows alongside the city. I was able to see the entire city from the hill and I took some amazing pictures, or at least I think I did; you can be the final judge though.
I returned to my hostel and was surprised that I had no roommates seeing as it was about 9pm, so I thought that somehow I got lucky, but I was woken up by people talking at 1:30am, I was not such a happy camper then after being woken up in the middle of the night. I woke up before most of them and I only talked to one of them when she asked me if I was done in the bathroom, so my first experience in a dorm-style hostel wasn't that great because I hardly even talked to them and they woke me up, which didn't make me like them very much.
After checking out Friday morning, I left my bags at the hostel, because luckily they allow people to do that free of charge, and headed to the Sinagoga del Tránisto (Synagogue of El Tránsito), the former main synagogue in Toledo and now a museum honoring the Sephardi culture. The Sephardi were exiled from Spain in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs and shortly after they started the Inquisition to "root out" the Jews that had converted to Christianity solely to remain in Spain, not because they actually believed in the Christian faith, so the Spanish government has tried to do their best to right that wrong since the Transition to Democracy in the late 1970s. the Sinagoga del Tránisto has an amazing collection of artifacts and I enjoyed it a lot.
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| Sinagoga del Tránsito |
Afterwards, I went to a neighboring museum, the Museo del Greco (Museum of El Greco). The museum, although it contains works by El Greco and some of his apprentices, is mostly about what El Greco's house was like when he lived in Toledo, so I was a little disappointed since I really wanted to see more of his paintings. Also, my favorite El Greco painting that is normally located in the Museo del Greco,
Vista y plano de Toledo (
View and Plan of Toledo), is currently on loan to the Museo de Santa Cruz, the museum I couldn't go to because it was sold out. However, I still greatly enjoyed the museum.
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The special signs the city had made for El Greco's
400th anniversary |
The final attraction I went to in Toledo was the Iglesia de Santo Tomé (Church of St. Thomas), where on of El Greco's most famous works of art is located,
El entierro del Conde de Orgaz (
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz). Unfortunately the church doesn't allow photos to be taken of the painting, but it was amazing to see since it takes up nearly a whole wall above the tomb of the Count of Orgaz.
After stopping at a few shops, to buy some marzipan (or mazapán in Spanish), which Toledo is famous for, I returned to my hostel to collect my luggage and walked to the train station to go back to Madrid (since Renfe doesn't offer direct trips between Alicante and Toledo). I had about a one hour layover in the Puerta de Atocha station in Madrid then my train left to return to Alicante. I was anxious the whole ride because I was so excited to return to Alicante (I really missed the palm trees), and I think for the first time I considered Alicante like home because I thought to myself: "I can't wait to be home." Before I simply thought of Alicante as an amazing city, but not as home, so I felt like it was a huge breakthrough in my study abroad experience. And after unpacking I just lounged around for a bit because after so much traveling and constantly doing something if felt good just to relax and have nothing to do, and after Dolo got home, we stayed up until nearly 2am telling each other of our travels (she went to Menorca, part of the Islas Baleares off the cost of Spain) and showing each other our pictures.
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| Toledo Marzipan |
All in all, my spring break to Madrid, Segovia, Ávila and Toledo has been one of the best experience in my life and I am so happy that I have even had the opportunity to go to such amazing places. The whole trip seemed like a dream, I still find it hard to believe that I stood in the middle of Spain, that was in castle where the Catholic Monarchs used to live in, and that I saw some of best architecture and art in Spain. I can't believe that I only have about a month and a half left living in this marvelous country, and I can't wait to go on my next adventure!
