Holy Toledo

Although Segovia was the first city (outside of Madrid) I visited in Spain, I have to say that I enjoyed the city of Toledo just a hair more. This dusty city rises from the floor of the sparse Castilla-La Mancha countryside and comes complete with mysterious passageways off of medieval, cobbled streets that are lined with the most unusual selection of stores (mazapan and knight's armor, anyone?). Toledo reminded me a bit of Venice, Italy -- minus the canals, of course.

Toledo is known for two main things: having a 16th century Alcazar that was almost demolished in a seige during the Spanish Civil War and for being a place historically noted for its tolerance among its Christian, Moorish and Jewish populations. You can still see traces of each of these cultural influences in the food and architecture in the city. Two main food items they are noted for are mazapan and partridge (more on those later).

I first became aware of Toledo because it is the sister city of Toledo, Ohio in the United States! Just kidding. Sort of. I had heard of the city because the famous Spanish writer Cervantes wrote about it in "Don Quixote". I was also reminded of Toledo when I went to an exhibit earlier this year at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston exhibit featuring Spanish painters. One of the painters, El Greco, was based in Toledo in the later part of his career, and used the city as the subject of many of his paintings. Here is El Greco's famous painting, "View of Toledo":

The city has filled in a bit more since the above was painted in approximately 1600 a.d.:

It took only about 45- minutes to get to Toledo by bus, and then a pretty long walk to the city gates.

And then we finally spotted the Cathedral.

The Cathedral of Toledo is absolutely cavernous and beautiful. It contains works of art by many famous painters including the aforementioned El Greco, and Rafael, Titian, Goya, Rubens, Ribera and Caravaggio, among many others. It also contains a piece of rock said to be from the place where the Virgin Mary appeared in 667 A.D. to the archbishop of Toledo at the time, Archbishop Ildephonsus.

We couldn't quite figure out how to get around the cathedral as the roads around it are a bit confusing, nor could we take photography inside. I humbly offer this view of the Cathedral's "Door of the Clock".

While wandering the streets, we sampled some of the local specialty, mazapan, a local Toledan sweet featuring almond paste. Next time, though, I will take a picture before I devour them and also wait until I get to the Nuns of San Clemente's store to buy the delicious candies. This is a picture from the plaza in front of their store:

We also visited the Sephardic Museum, which was quite captivating.

I came away from Toledo thinking, "I've got to come back". I didn't, after all, get a chance to try their partridge.