Holy Toledo

It was time to keep moving so we travelled by bus to Almeria to board the train bound for Madrid.  Unfortunately Michael wasn’t very well so it was bad timing that we had a 6 hour train journey ahead of us.  The time passed slowly for Michael and he was grateful when we finally arrived at our destination.  Fortunately he awoke the following day feeling much refreshed and we were able to continue our journey to Toledo, a 35 minute train ride away.

 

We arrived at the beautiful railway station in Toledo, which opened in 1920 and was designed in the neo Mudejar style.  The station has been classified as a monument and was fully restored in 2005.  Michael promised that it was only a short walk to our hotel however he neglected to tell me that the entire walk would entail dragging my suitcase over cobblestones up a steep incline.  We arrived, panting, some 45 minutes later and I was not amused to discover that it would have only cost 4.50 Euro to travel by taxi.  We deposited our bags at the hotel and set off to discover the city.

 

The reason that we added Toledo to our itinerary is that Michael’s mother, Anne, gave us a Val McDermid book, Killing the Shadows, which was about a series of murders in Toledo.  The book described a wonderful city and mentioned that there were a number of paintings by El Greco there.  This, in turn, inspired our visit.

 

We decided to follow the El Greco trail through the town, starting with the Iglesia de Santo Tome, a lovely church, with the huge painting The Burial of the Count of Orgaz.  This painting is considered amongst El Greco’s finest works and illustrates a popular local legend of his time.  At the time the very pious count died, St Stephen and St Augustine descended in person from the heavens and buried him by their own hands.  The painting is quite beautiful and lavish in detail.

 

The next stop was the El Greco Museum.  The museum consists of two buildings, one is a 16^th century house, which recreates the home of El Greco and the other is a modern building which houses the artworks.  There are not many El Greco paintings there however there are lots of works by his followers displayed.

 

The Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo is considered to be one of the best Gothic cathedrals in Spain.  The building is huge and ornately decorated and the Chapterhouse is beautiful with a lovely frieze running all around the room adorned with portraits of all the archbishops.  The Chapel of the Treasure holds the great Monstrance of Arfe which stands over ten feet tall and is made of the finest silver and gold and bejewelled with gems.  The Disrobing of Christ, by El Greco, is also on display at the sacristy of the cathedral.  This is one of El Greco’s most famous works and it was thrilling to see this beautiful piece.

 

We continued the El Greco trail the next morning, finding our way to the Hospital de Tavera just outside the walls of Toledo.  Here we saw two versions of the Baptism of Christ as well as exploring the wonderful old church.  However, the highlight was seeing the Risen Christ, the only surviving sculpture by El Greco.  It is only a small work (45 cm) however it is mesmerising in its beauty.

 

The trail continued with a visit to the Museum of Santa Cruz, which was filled with ceramics and artworks as well as a number of works by El Greco, including Sagrada Familia con Santa Ana.  The Renaissance building itself is beautiful and the works are displayed to their full effect. 

 

Toledo is a magical old city and we spent hours wandering the laneways up and down the hills.  The food was terrific and we enjoyed sampling tapas in a number of bars and restaurants.  We were there on a public holiday and it was obvious that it is a very popular destination for Spanish people as the crowds poured into the streets.  The next day, when everyone returned to work, the streets were much quieter with only a handful of tourists strolling about.  I would love to return as Toledo was by far my favourite place we visited in Spain.