Toledo is best described as the ancient city on the hill. It must have been deliberately and strategically built on the highest point of the surrounding countryside with a 150-degree view, perhaps to safeguard itself from enemy attacks in the belligerent epoch in the Iberian Peninsula. No, I am not talking about Toledo, Ohio in the US, but Toledo, Spain, which is the capital of Toledo Province in the Autonoma Communidad of Castilla la Mancha. When it was founded during the Roman era in Spain, the name was the Latin ‘Toletum’ which eventually evolved to the Spanish Toledo. Toledo is just 70 kilometers south of Madrid and had been the capital of Spain before the Muslim invasion and take over of the city.
Emerging from the bus station, you have to do a hefty climb to get into the city, and a further steep climb though the ancient parts of the city to get to the very top, which sprawls into the major plaza and several ancient buildings that are currently living monuments of the city. As you wind your way up the city, several gift shops beckon you with assorted displays of ornamental and actual swords. The city was known for its steel and iron works. It was the chief supplier of swords, knives and such implements in the days of yore and still does so today, hence the ubiquitous display of swords, knives and cutleries in every gift shop. I really liked some impressive decorated swords with embroidered steel ornaments for its handle but wondered how that would fit into my luggage as a souvenir. Instead, I settled for table-size decorative gift-item swords and gold and silver necklaces that seem common there too.
Meandering around the plaza mayor which doubles as what we would regard as downtown in the States, I pulled some money from an ATM (by the way, that and using credit card for purchases are the best way to obtain money in Europe if you want to avoid the exorbitant exchange rates when you manually change dollars into euros) and headed in the direction of the Catedral de Toledo (Cathedral of Toledo). The cathedral is built in the Gothic style. King Ferdinand III of Castille and Leon, accompanied by the archbishop and most important booster of the edifice, Jimenez de Rada, laid the first stone of the church. The construction was finally completed in 1493, yet the church is still standing in great condition and actually in use.
The Cathedral is the most important monument and museum of the city of Toledo. The charge for the tour of the church was 7 Euros but it was well worth it. The cathedral had been very instrumental in the annals of the catholic traditions of Spain as well as the world in general as it had hosted so many synods and the last one concentrated on the implementation of the Treaty of Trent (which made sweeping reforms, set dogma and clarified virtually all Roman Catholic doctrines especially those contested by the Protestants).
The magnificence of the church is indescribable given the grand detail of every inch of plaster or whatever they used in those days. To achieve this feat without the modern construction equipment we have today humbles any one standing inside or outside the church today.
With the cathedral tour under my belt I headed to the next most important monument of Toledo, the Alcazar. Built by the Romans in the third century but renovated by King Alfonso in 1535, it served as a military garrison, which understandably was very well located. It now houses the regional library and the Army museum. You could pretty much see all of Toledo lying at its foot with the confidence that no approaching armies could breach its boundaries without detection. If you knew nothing of its history you would assume it is some kind of city hall built in the 1970s. The only outward hint of its original purpose as a castle would perhaps be the statute of a lady wielding a sword in a non-menacing manner as if saying, ‘I welcome you with a smile but would chop off your head if you make a wrong move’. On the other hand, she might have been saying, ‘people of Toledo fear not, I am here to protect you’.
As usual in all the places I had visited people were very warm and friendly. The one surprise was when I cornered a passerby to take my picture at the gate of the ancient city, a guy driving past noticed my red Wisconsin Badger shirt, slowed down and yelled out “Go Badgers”! I was so excited hearing that cheer in a foreign land that I whipped around towards the roads with both hands in the air belting out, Yeah! Go Badgers! Everybody else noticed I was excited but could not figure out this sudden burst of excitement from this lone big black guy.
A television crew taping some kind of lighthearted variety program on the plaza asked if they could interview me. Well, while I could understand some Spanish I could not string a sentence in the language. So as they interviewed me in Spanish I responded in English along the general gist of the questions I thought they were asking. Maybe the interview ended up on the cutting floor, but at least I had my 5 minutes of fame in Toledo. Afterwards some policemen in the area took pictures with me, the just-minted celebrity! Ha…
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Toledo: Swords, the Alcazar and a great lookout
Toledo is best described as the ancient city on the hill. It must have been deliberately and strategically built on the highest point of the surrounding countryside with a 150-degree view, perhaps to safeguard itself from enemy attacks in the belligerent epoch in the Iberian Peninsula. No, I am not talking about Toledo, Ohio in the US, but Toledo, Spain, which is the capital of Toledo Province in the Autonoma Communidad of Castilla la Mancha. When it was founded during the Roman era in Spain, the name was the Latin ‘Toletum’ which eventually evolved to the Spanish Toledo. Toledo is just 70 kilometers south of Madrid and had been the capital of Spain before the Muslim invasion and take over of the city.
Emerging from the bus station, you have to do a hefty climb to get into the city, and a further steep climb though the ancient parts of the city to get to the very top, which sprawls into the major plaza and several ancient buildings that are currently living monuments of the city. As you wind your way up the city, several gift shops beckon you with assorted displays of ornamental and actual swords. The city was known for its steel and iron works. It was the chief supplier of swords, knives and such implements in the days of yore and still does so today, hence the ubiquitous display of swords, knives and cutleries in every gift shop. I really liked some impressive decorated swords with embroidered steel ornaments for its handle but wondered how that would fit into my luggage as a souvenir. Instead, I settled for table-size decorative gift-item swords and gold and silver necklaces that seem common there too.
Meandering around the plaza mayor which doubles as what we would regard as downtown in the States, I pulled some money from an ATM (by the way, that and using credit card for purchases are the best way to obtain money in Europe if you want to avoid the exorbitant exchange rates when you manually change dollars into euros) and headed in the direction of the Catedral de Toledo (Cathedral of Toledo). The cathedral is built in the Gothic style. King Ferdinand III of Castille and Leon, accompanied by the archbishop and most important booster of the edifice, Jimenez de Rada, laid the first stone of the church. The construction was finally completed in 1493, yet the church is still standing in great condition and actually in use.
The Cathedral is the most important monument and museum of the city of Toledo. The charge for the tour of the church was 7 Euros but it was well worth it. The cathedral had been very instrumental in the annals of the catholic traditions of Spain as well as the world in general as it had hosted so many synods and the last one concentrated on the implementation of the Treaty of Trent (which made sweeping reforms, set dogma and clarified virtually all Roman Catholic doctrines especially those contested by the Protestants).
The magnificence of the church is indescribable given the grand detail of every inch of plaster or whatever they used in those days. To achieve this feat without the modern construction equipment we have today humbles any one standing inside or outside the church today.
With the cathedral tour under my belt I headed to the next most important monument of Toledo, the Alcazar. Built by the Romans in the third century but renovated by King Alfonso in 1535, it served as a military garrison, which understandably was very well located. It now houses the regional library and the Army museum. You could pretty much see all of Toledo lying at its foot with the confidence that no approaching armies could breach its boundaries without detection. If you knew nothing of its history you would assume it is some kind of city hall built in the 1970s. The only outward hint of its original purpose as a castle would perhaps be the statute of a lady wielding a sword in a non-menacing manner as if saying, ‘I welcome you with a smile but would chop off your head if you make a wrong move’. On the other hand, she might have been saying, ‘people of Toledo fear not, I am here to protect you’.
As usual in all the places I had visited people were very warm and friendly. The one surprise was when I cornered a passerby to take my picture at the gate of the ancient city, a guy driving past noticed my red Wisconsin Badger shirt, slowed down and yelled out “Go Badgers”! I was so excited hearing that cheer in a foreign land that I whipped around towards the roads with both hands in the air belting out, Yeah! Go Badgers! Everybody else noticed I was excited but could not figure out this sudden burst of excitement from this lone big black guy.
A television crew taping some kind of lighthearted variety program on the plaza asked if they could interview me. Well, while I could understand some Spanish I could not string a sentence in the language. So as they interviewed me in Spanish I responded in English along the general gist of the questions I thought they were asking. Maybe the interview ended up on the cutting floor, but at least I had my 5 minutes of fame in Toledo. Afterwards some policemen in the area took pictures with me, the just-minted celebrity! Ha…
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