Viaje a Toledo

This weekend, I went with my CIEE interest group (theatre/dance) on a weekend trip. The best part of the deal was that the cost of the trip was included in my tuition, so I only paid for a few meals & souvenirs. We left bright & early Friday morning on our trusty Cortes Ingles charter van. (Unlike the other groups, which drew a bigger crowd simply for their trips to Barcelona, Mallorca or Lisbon, we only had 6 students on our trip).

Our first stop was Consuegra, or more precisely, the hill overlooking Consuegra, where 11 16th century windmills still stand. While I'm pretty sure these aren't the fabled windmills of Cervantes' "Don Quijote," they are still on the Route of Don Quijote. After taking in the scenery, we got back on the bus & finished our drive to Toledo.

At this point, I must admit that writing these historical overviews of Spanish cities has gotten a bit repetitive, & I wouldn't blame you a bit, dear reader, if you've started skipping over those paragraphs. As I'm sure you can guess, Toledo was founded by Romans, overtaken by Visigoths (& made the Catholic heartland of the Visigoth kingdom, in fact), conquered by Muslims (in 711), & finally reclaimed by Catholics (in 1085). Shortly after the last takeover, Toledo was recognized by the Vatican as a seat of the Church in Spain. Like other cities, while Muslims, Jews & Christians coexisted for a time, after the fall of Granada in 1492, all non-Christians were chased out. In 1986, Unesco declared Toledo a monument of world interest. Today, Toledo is known for swords, marzipan & damasquinado (damascene), or the art of inlaying metals in jewelry.

Our first stop in Toledo was, disturbingly enough, the Ancient Instruments of Tortue museum. Next, we visited a museum of Visigoth artifacts (no photos allowed). We took our typicall walk through the estrechas & emerged in front of the cathedral just after dusk, which was gorgeous. We enjoyed a free dinner of tapas & beer, then called it a night in our CIEE-selected hotel, which was much nicer than what we would have chosen for ourselves.

Photos here.

The next day, after a proper continental breakfast, we started off at the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes. The monastery was built by Fernando & Isabel in the Jewish quarter to establish their power. Next, we visited 2 synagogues. The first, la Sinagoga del Tránsito, was built in 1355 & now houses the Museo Sefardi of Jewish art (no photos allowed). The second, la Sinagoga de Santa María La Blanca, is also characterized by Moorish architecture, & also houses a museum of sorts. To complete our religious trilogy, we next visited la Mezquita de Cristo de la Luz, or the Mosque of Christ, a tiny, square building composed almost entirely of scaffolding. The garden outside, however, did afford a great view of the city beyond the walls.

After the mosque, we walked down the hill to check out the ancient city walls & gates. Having learned from experience, we were all taking note of exactly how far downhill we were traveling, knowing that what goes down must come back up to get to the hotel. Amazingly enough, the city of Toledo has remedied this problem by installing a series of escalators into the hillside. Upon reaching the top of the hill, we had free time to shop. I loved looking at all the intricate jewelry, most of which is made by hand.

Later in the afternoon, we met up again to visit the Catedral (no photos allowed inside). There were a series of hats hanging from the ceiling, which I thought was weird. Turns out, each hat is hanging above a tomb; if the hat falls, it means the deceased's soul has ascended to heaven. We also saw a series of El Greco paintings in the Catedral's collection. (Earlier in the day, we visited "El entierro del Conde de Orgaz," a super-famous El Greco painting depicting the interment of a count.) Then we had free time again to revisit the shops. That evening, we went to the Teatro Rojas for a concert by Pedro Guerra, a famous Spanish singer.

Photos here.

Today, we got an early start on the trip back. We stopped in the morning to visit Almagro, which houses the Museo Nacional del Teatro (no photos allowed). We saw a short performance in the Corral de Comedias, the oldest theatre in Spain, then ate lunch on CIEE at a nice restaurant. Then it was back to the bus to finish the ride home.

Photos here.

While this trip might not have been as spectacular as that of some of the other interest groups (Barcelona, Lisbon, Mallorca), I truly enjoyed the old-town feel of Toledo, whose stone buildings & windy streets made me long to read "Don Quijote." And I always enjoy how CIEE spends my money, treating me to better food & lodging than I'd ever choose for myself. Plus, our small group made our trip less touristy & more personal. I'd even like to go back to Toledo someday, so I'd call this weekend a success.

Nos vemos, Le <3.