El Greco


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Europe » Spain » Castile-La Mancha » Toledo
August 9th 2016
Published: June 8th 2017
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Issy is either turning Spanish or reverting to her teenage years. She's been going to bed at 2am every night, and then waking up at about 10.30am. Actually she doesn't wake up; I wake her up.

First stop this morning is the El Greco Museum. On the way we pass the 14th century Puente de San Martin, which we read is Toledo's second oldest bridge across the Tagus River. It has large towers at both ends, and its 40 metre long central arch was apparently one of the longest on any bridge in the world at the time it was built.

We buy tickets to both the museum and the synagogue next door. The museum was founded by the Marquis of Vega-Inclan, who was a patron of the arts, and it opened in 1911. The Marquis bought the site thinking that it was the location of El Greco's house and only found out much later that he'd bought the wrong piece of land. I suspect that he may not have been too happy about this, but he went ahead and built the museum anyway. It includes a re-creation of what El Greco's house might have looked like, and an extensive display of his works. We hear that El Greco was quite a controversial figure. Apparently he was just about the only artist in Toledo at the time, but he always felt that he didn't get paid nearly enough for the works that he was commissioned to paint. This would seem to be a bit at odds with the usual laws of supply and demand; I think that maybe he could have done with some better marketers. He was also controversial because his style was unusual for its time. I think it's unusual for now; it's certainly distinctive, and all the works on display here are very dark. All his figures look to have very angular features, and their facial expressions are particularly striking. One of the paintings on display shows St Peter with tears in his eyes, and the way El Greco has captured the tears looks amazing even to my very unartistic eye. We see a stunning painting of a panorama of Toledo which doesn't look a lot different to some of the views we saw of the town yesterday from across the river. Apparently El Greco was very quickly forgotten after he died, and he was only recognised as a really great painter a few centuries later. This was a bit sad for him.

We got up too late to have breakfast so we're now very hungry. We try to find somewhere to get a snack, but it's only one o'clock which is a bit early for most Spaniards to eat lunch, so there isn't much open. We find a "Spanish-Lebanese" restaurant. Issy orders hummus and I order a souvlaki. It seems that the Spanish-Lebanese aren't any better than any other Lebanese at making souvlakis that are easy to eat. All the filling falls out the bottom just like it does at home, and I'll need to wash the garlic sauce off my shirt when we get back to the hotel.

The Sinagogo el Transito was built in the 14th century by Samuel ha-Levi. He was the treasurer for Peter the Cruel, but he eventually fell out with Peter. If what we heard about Peter in Seville is anything to go by, this probably wouldn't have been a great move. Samuel was eventually arrested on suspicion of embezzlement. He confessed under torture, and Peter then had he and his family executed. I wonder why they used to execute whole families because one member was found guilty of a crime. I hope our offspring are behaving themselves back home. When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, the synagogue became a church. It's very well preserved and much of its architecture looks to be in the Mudejar style. There's a museum attached to the it. Apart from a very brief handout in English, all the signage is only in Spanish and Hebrew, so we move through it quite quickly as we're not really too sure what we're looking at.

Next stop is the massive Toledo Cathedral. We arrive at the front entrance, but it's locked. We decide to look for the tourist entrance by walking clockwise around the Cathedral. We walk about a kilometre before we find it. Apparently we should have instead walked about 50 metres anti-clockwise, which is yet another fine example of the many recent experiences we seem to have had of Murphy's Law in action. The audio guide tells us that there was a Visigoth church here in the 6th century and when the Moors captured Toledo they tore it down and built a mosque. In keeping with the pattern just about everywhere we've been in Spain, the mosque was then turned back into a church after the Reconquista. The current Cathedral was completed in the 15th century. Toledo was the capital of Spain until 1561, so quite a few early Spanish monarchs are buried here. We walk through the Cathedral's impressive museum which houses works by El Greco, Goya and other notable artists.

On the way back to the hotel we pass a Japanese restaurant. Issy starts drooling as she notices that it has sashimi on the menu, and I think I now have a fair idea what we'll be having for dinner. Issy has her now customary siesta, and I wonder again if she might be turning Spanish. It has become a bit overcast and stormy looking and we even feel a few drops of rain. We've scarcely seen a cloud since we left Barcelona let alone any sign of precipitation.

The hotel next to the Japanese restaurant is called "Abad". With a name like that I hope they're not expecting too many English speaking guests. There are no other people in the Japanese restaurant, which is never a good sign. The background music that the staff put on to try to create some atmosphere is "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", and we both get the giggles. The waitress and the chef, who are both Japanese, look a bit perplexed, and I'm not sure they have any idea what we think is so funny. Issy asks me if I'd recognise a Japanese Christmas song if I heard one, which is probably a fair point, although I'm left wondering if there's any such thing as a Japanese Christmas song. The food comes out in random order and Issy gets all her four dishes before I get any of mine. I watch her eat, so now I'm the one doing the drooling.

We spend our last night in Toledo sitting on our giant roof terrace. We've been playing Troy's band's latest EP in the room all afternoon, and I couldn't get one of the songs out of my head. Now I can't get Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer out of my head. I'm pretty sure I know which song I prefer.


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