08-Jun-2005
Kathy and I got up at 7am to catch the bus for our trip to Toledo. Like all the other days so far, the weather was sunny with a cloudless sky. The bus ride took about 2 hours and we saw some of the rural areas between Madrid and Toledo, which reminded us of both parts of California and South Africa.
One of the things that we noted about Toledo during our visit is that it is an old city, when compared to Madrid, with human habitation dating back to prehistoric times.
Our tour of Toledo followed the walking itineraries from the "Go Toledo" website.
We started at the bus station and walked up the hill to the Hospital de Tavera (now a museum; also houses the archives of the nobility). Especially interesting was the chamber containing the tomb of the founder, Cardinal Tavera, which has amazing acoustics. When standing at certain places, you can hear all the sounds, including the stomp of feet which like someone tapping a live microphone. The museum tour showed many artifacts from the 16th to 18th centuries (including a complete collection of the hospital records dating from the 1500's, listing food eaten, etc.) There was also a fairly large collection of books containing Gregorian Chant. The books were about 2 feet by 3 feet and in very large print so the complete choir could read off of a single book! Also they had a four-sided music stand to hold four of these large books and it could rotate. Really neat!
The museum tour was guided (there were four of us total) and we had to tune our ear to Spanish (our guide spoke slowly when speaking to Kathy and me, and more rapidly when speaking to the other members of the tour). The collection also included a wide selection of 16th century Flemish tapestries and furniture from Holland and elsewhere.
A view of the Hospital de Tavera taken from the city.
Our tour continued at the Puerta Bisagra, the main entrance to the old city. Note the arms above the gate ... Toledo was given permission by Emperor Carlos V to bear them.
Passing through the gate brought us to the Church of Santiago del Arrabel, whose tower shows the fusion of Islamic and Christian forms that are found throughout the city.
From there it was up the hill to the Puerta del Sol. The old city of Toledo is just as hilly as Pittsburgh and it fits into an area approximately 1km square.
While walking through the city we passed through may narrow and winding streets. Harking back to the old "Adventure" and "Zork" computer games ... "you are in a maze of twisting passages, all alike".
Look! I'm holding up the walls with my bare hands! Ok, maybe not :-) ... but I am illustrating the width of these narrow streets by reaching from one side to the other (about 5 feet wide).
Many of the streets are off-limits to cars and those that aren't are just as winding as these.
After climbing several hills and finding our way out of the maze, Kathy and Rob stopped for lunch at a cafe in the Plaza de Zocodover (which used to be an important market during the Moorish period). Our helpful waiter took the picture for us.
After lunch we headed back down the hill to the Sephardic Museum, housed in one of the two remaining buildings (out of ten) that were Synagogues before the expulsion in 1492. Most of the original construction at the higher levels of the building are still intact.
The museum was very interesting, especially the audio tour which gave a lot of background to the various items on display. The surrounding pictures are part of the synagogue (walls and ceiling).
Another trip up the hill brought us to the cathedral for a brief visit (inside they were setting up for an exhibition on one of the queens of Spain and thus much of it was off limits).
Finally, a common sight throughout the city are shops selling various forms of armor and armaments, especially swords of many varieties. Would you want to enter this store with such a fierce guardian blocking the way? "None shall pass!".
We end our visit to Toledo with some views from the city of the surrounding countryside, taken from one of the roads we used to enter and leave the city.
Editor's Note: Kathy and I both noticed that Toledo is especially proud of its heritage (Muslim, Jewish and Christian) and is actively promoting itself as a home to all cultures. This was especially evident in the culture and history museum that highlighted the contributions of all the cultures to the Toledo of today.
