Holy Toledo

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Known as 'The City of Three Cultures' for its rich Muslim, Jewish and Christian histories, Toledo is only half an hour's train ride from Madrid so ideal for a day trip. It has a beautiful walled old town and lovely streets apes and arches, with architectural styles that combine the influences of the Muslim and Christian rulers (Jews don't really get much of a look-in on architecture). Even the train station is a remarkable ornate building.

Of course we wanted most to see the Juderia, the old Jewish quarter and were very disappointed to learn that El Transito, the well-known grand restored synagogue is closed on Mondays. We did however see the strangely named Sinagoga de Santa Maria La Blanca which is smaller, simpler and older but also has beautiful Mudejár architecture. It was rather moving. We thought about saying Kaddish but it didn't seem quite right without a minyan.

Toledo was the seat of the Catholic Church in Spain and the cathedral is an immense Baroque piece of showmanship with gold, marble and stained glass in every direction: impressive but aesthetically incoherent. The Tesoro includes an extraordinarily ornate processional piece called the Custodia de Arfe which is about 3 metres tall and contains 18 kg of gold and 183 kg of silver. Heaven knows how they lug it around for Easter but they do. No wonder the Spanish set off to loot South America!

While the Cathedral has the wow factor I much preferred the beautiful but provocative Monasterio de San Juan de los Reys, which was set up in the Jewish quarter by the Catholic monarchs Isabel and Ferdinand in the years before the expulsion. It is an amazing mixture of ornate Gothic and Islamic influenced Mudejár architecture and is built around a delightful courtyard garden.

We also checked out the Army Museum, set in an old Alcazar with a great view from the patio. It's a relic of an overfunded military under Franco I suspect. I'm not interested in weapons or military tactics but Danny liked some of the technical items and it was useful for consolidating my grasp on Spanish history.

Big treat for Danny at the station on the way back: Puerta de Atocha station in Madrid has a decorative pool filled with dozens of turtles!

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