Toledo, Spain

A quick train trip took us to the UNESCO World Heritage listed town of Toledo today. Toledo is a fortified town with a many layered history which includes the Romans, the Visygoths, the Muslims, the Jewish and the Christian people. It was founded by the Romans in 192 B.C. on the site of an old Carpathian settlement. A major point in history was in 589 when the king changed his religion from Arianism to Catholicism, also improving the relationships between the various groups in the area. The Muslims arrived in 711 and the Christian reconquest happened in 1085. With the inclusion of the Jewish people Toledo was what we would call multicultural, and according to our guide, they lived in amicable coexistance.

Our bus ticket up from the station to the old town included a sight-seeing drive around the city to a viewing point and also a walking tour with entries into several important sites in the history of Toledo. An excellent combination ticket which still allowed us plenty of free time.

There is quite a lot of evidence of the Roman fortifications and bridges across the Tajo river.

From the viewing point you get a great view of the old town and can easily identify the two main structures, the Cathedral and the Alcazar. The latter is a square building and the massive cathedral has the spires.

Once in the old town area the ambience surrounds you; picturesque narrow streets, cobbled roads, quirky buildings with snatches of evidence of the Muslim influence in the architecture, and best of all, the tourist paraphernalia is set within a historic context.

The Cathedral is massive and built upon the total area space of the previous mosque. This accounts for some of its unique features such as the double apse. Our entry included a self guiding electronic device which really brought the tour to life, and guaranteed that we saw the most important features.

It is impossible to show the grandeur of this building; the size, the detail, the clever design, the pure beauty.

Like most churches in Europe there were some works by the great masters. The painting above, The Disrobing of Christ (1579) is by El Greco, and the one below is a Madonna and Child by Goya. 

The walking tour showed once again the great variety of people you meet when you travel.Today we had a family from Lithuania with us. The guide is talking about the fortified doors and door knockers that are high enough to easily reach when you are riding your horse!

The Church of San Ildefonso, the patron saint of Toledo.

The Church of Sto Tomé was a perfect example of historic recycling. The colums have been reused, several from the Roman era and the one below from the Visygoths. This church has an archealogical dig site below it with evidence of burial chambers and water cisterns. Again recycling of building materials is evident.

The Synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca is a great example of how buildings have had many uses. It has been a Christian church (a small patch of frescoed wall is preserved), a Synagogue as is evident by the white walls and inset tiles on the floor with Jewish symbols, it has been a refuge for homeless people and also a stable for horses in the time of Napoleon. Now it is preserved as a museum example in the Jewish Quarter.

The last stop was the Franciscan Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes. Its chapel is popular for weddings but the cloister is the masterpiece of the monastery with Gothic arches, fantastical beasts in stone carvings and gargoyles, and the intact garden.

The Alcazar is actually a rebuilt structure that has suffered many damages over the centuries. It is now the library and a war and torture museum ... old style torture! 

There is lots more to see in Toledo and it would warrant an extended visit. For us, it was a very enlightening and entertaining day trip from Madrid.