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Published: March 8th 2008
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Hola again! I am back for the second to last post I will make of my trip, so let´s get to it.
The following morning in Granada I awoke at 5:30 to a morning of travel. I took a taxi to the train station followed by a 4 1/2 hour train ride to Madrid a 30 min express train to Toledo, and two buses (one took me to the opposite side of Toledo I needed to go to), which finally put me at the doorstep of my hotel. Apparently the door of the hotel is always locked and the man who runs the place doesn´t seem to be around all the time, so I waited out front for about 20 min, periodically ringing the doorbell until he woke up from his afternoon nap.
The room is a little more expensive than what I have been paying for most of the trip, but it was the cheapest, and only way I could see the beautiful city of Toledo. The extra money spent has been well worth it considering I can open the window of my room and look out onto a river spotted with ducks. It was very relaxing after
my morning of travel.
I then perused the town, exploring a church with a great painting by El Greco. I hadn´t heard of the artist before, but he has a very distinct style where he uses only a select few colors in his paintings, which has the effect of bringing out the vibrancy of each of those colors. He was a little vain because he painted himself and his family in a few religious paintings and is quoted as saying something to the extent of, ¨my paintings will become famous¨. One of his paintings was of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, where Greco used the face of his wife and his sons. So a little full of himself? Yes, but his art is very beautiful. Just don´t expect me to go out for a drink with him.
Then I walked to one of the two Synagogues that survived since the 15th century. So you will actually get to see a religious structure in my pictures other than a church. And there was much rejoicing by Kam.
The inside of the building wasn´t so impressive, but this is because during the Spanish civil war in the 1930´s
the building was used as a barracks for soldiers. Work is underway though to refurbish the inside and return it to its original state.
As a bonus there was an in-depth Jewish museum attached to the Synagogue, so I got to learn a little more about my roots, to my mom and grandmas delight I´m sure. I learned that after the persecution of the Jews from Jerusalem in the 1st century by the Romans, the people fled to Spain and other surrounding regions where they settled until 1492, when again they were persecuted and forced to leave Spain, but this time at the hands of the Christians. Always with the persecuting. I also found it interesting that because of Toledo´s large Jewish population, the city was sometimes called the second Jerusalem. So for any of you Jews out there who want to learn about your culture, Toledo would be a good place to check out. Then I was tired and hungry so I decided it was in my best interest to eat and sleep.
The following day I explored the extravagantly decorated cathedral which cost 7 Euros to get in but much to my chagrin (word made possible
by Kam Ahler), I wasn´t allowed to take any pics! Comeon! However, you could just look at my pics of the cathedral from Sevilla and get a pretty good idea of what I saw. With one bonus, there was a room full of great paintings, including a Carvaggio! Awesome! Plus some El Grecos, a Raphael, and an epic painting on the ceiling depicting the immaculate conception.
Then I checked out the local museum and was the only one doing so for the two hours I was there. The Toledo museum has to be one of the best set up history museums I have ever come across, in history. It is divided up into a series of rooms that guide the visitor on a journey of discovering Toledo´s history, but with the focus on symbolic metaphors such as keys, water, and stone which lead the visitor to an understanding of where the city´s historical roots lie and the diverse cultures that have inhabited it over the many centuries. So it was a much more interesting and fuller experience for me compared to other history museums I have been to, because it was much more interactive and thought provoking. I wish
every city had a museum like this!
One part of the history that I found interesting was that from around the 11th-15th centuries, there was a flourish of artistic and scientific achievements, which can be credited to the coexistance of the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian faiths. Where they translated ancient Greek and Roman philosophies and exchanged ideas from their respective cultures and religions. It was a great time of communication that perhaps we could learn from.
Oh yeah and there was a guy named Alzacher (I think is his name), who melded mysticism with science to come up with new understandings in the realm of astronomy and geometry, which ultimately influenced the famous guy Copernicus. Who I am pretty sure discovered that Earth isn´t the center of the universe. So this guy from Toledo was pretty influencial apparently.
Then I explored another Synagouge a couple churches with more El Greco´s and was visciously barked at by a couple dogs.
The following day I explored another museum which had some spatterings of Roman rock work and ceramic art. Then I walked down the hill to the hospital/palace/church/school. They must be really trying to conserve on space.
I was treated to more Greco works and an awesome crypt. Maybe the only time I will describe a crypt as so, but because the acoustics were so freakin sweet. I stood in the center of the room and every little sound I made was echoed directly back to my ear. So when I shuffled my feet it was as if my ear was on my ankle. It was super cool and I hope Tool holds a concert there sometime, even though the room could only hold maybe 100 people.
Then I walked through a park that contained the ruins of a Roman amphitheater, and made my way back up to my hotel via a convenient escalator.
Today I walked along a cliff around the river that cradles Toledo where I found a good place to write in my journal and read some Thoreau courtesy of Kam. His writing is incredibly wordy and poetic and I can see that it will take me a while to digest him, but so far I like what I have read.
Alright I´m going to post some pics and then tomorrow I am off to Madrid for two hectic days and
then home!
Adios,
Daniel
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kamdab
a.k.a. Kameron Ahler
oma
i must say the plates of the jews, steel and shadown, and partial sunset pics blew my mind so smithereens. very well done. and look who got all "myspace" with one of their pics. hella gangsta nun too, where's her gat? excited to go home?