Advertisement
Published: November 20th 2005
Edit Blog Post
I and the Molino
While they bare a striking resemblance to a big roll of toilet paper with a cone on top, these are indeed windmills. This weekend, I and about 30 fellow classmates traveled to Toledo. My history of Spanish Art class was in the midst of studying Gothic architecture and the paintings of El Greco, both of which, conveniently, are found in great quantity in Toledo. Passing on our 6 or more hour drive through the fantastically colorless landscape of the region known as La Mancha, I now see what was so humorous about locating Miguel de Cervantes’ satiric tales of the chivalry and adventures of Don Quixote in this place. There is absolutely nothing adventurous about it. You might remember that this gentleman (Don Quixote) becomes crazy from reading too many books about the era of knights and roundtables, etc. and sets off on his old horse in rusty armor seeking “La Gloria y la Fama” (Glory & Fame). At one point he sees the now famous windmills (Los Molinos) of La Mancha. Thinking they are monstrous giants with many arms, he attacks them only to pierce a blade of one with his lance and be throne, horse and all, down the hill. His trusty assistant, who tried to tell him that they were just windmills, helps him up and listens as Don
Casey & the Windmill
Some of us desired to identify better with the windmills through interpretive dance. Quixote raves that his enemy (an evil magician) has changed the monsters into windmills to steal from him the fame of having defeated them in battle. It’s quite a funny story, but sometimes I just feel sad for this old man who has gone crazy from reading too much. I mean, I really can identify with that, or at least learn a lesson from it.
We stopped to pay homage to the windmills, taking ridiculous photos with them and regarding the mundane landscape that seems to stretch on forever, like a big brown ocean with a few pieces of garbage floating in it (actually buildings and cities).
Toledo, on the other hand, was a black, crag-covered mountain, that turned out to be a city. Besides being frequently mentioned in Bugs Bunny’s cartoons, and having an American counterpart in Ohio, this city stakes its claim, literally, as the sword-making capital of the world. Indeed, since medieval times, Toledo has manufactured swords for almost every army, save the Salvation Army. Most notably in recent years, Toledo has hosted the design and construction of all of the swords for Lord of the Rings movies, a fact not lost upon its enterprising populace.
Be the Windmill of La Mancha
Others went to even further extremes. Everywhere I looked, I saw store after store selling ‘official’ Lord of the Rings weaponry and jewelry, between Don Quixote memorabilia, due to the frequent mention of Toledo in what may be the most famous book in the entire Spanish language. I take a few pictures of the Lord of the Rings sword arrays for my friend Billy, and continue on towards a monastery.
While the name evades me, this monastery/cathedral showed some spectacular Gothic architecture, with its Gothic rose arches and such a menagerie of Gargoyles that it could populate an otherworldly zoo. Being rushed out of the main cathedral only shortly after entering, we realized we had preceded a wedding procession by only a few minutes. Standing outside we watched a ruby red carpet tumble down the steps to greet the young couple’s motorcade. For once, we, the tourists, were not the only ones snapping away photos as the bride proceeded up the walkway. We all commented on her dress, I thinking at first that it was some kind of rendition upon culottes, and somewhat worried that this trend should accompany the already popular mullet in making a comeback in Spain. While I was mistaken about
Lexi sees La Mancha
Lexi gets excited about the view, or lack thereof. the former, the latter remains a grave infection into the world of fashion which, if left unchecked, I fear may leap over the Atlantic causing a worldwide pandemic. Hopefully, the major international airports will add a barbering section to their new bird flu screening centers. Temporarily relieved, but with the Ghost of fashions past still lingering, we proceeded to scatter and find entertainment for the afternoon.
I and a few others started scanning the local artisans’ wares and found one man to be a master of a local art known “Oro Demasquinado” or roughly, Damascan Gold. It stems from the early Islamic empires’ occupation of Toledo and importation of a style of gold work from Damascus in which 24 karat gold leaf is meticulously hammered onto black iron in extremely detailed Arab geometric or Renaissance floral and animal designs. While this art has changed little through the centuries, the artisan we had encountered was working on a contract piece, a mid 1800s colt revolver from a private collector. He was covering all of the black steel in a magnificent vine pattern of spades and leaves. At that moment he was carefully hammering gold onto the cylinder over his
Yes that is my roommate
My roommate Jared along with Amy enjoy the strange lower gravity phenomenon that can be found around the windmills. Seriously, they're not just nut cases. small black anvil. Seeing our interest he told us all about his work, and even showed us one more unusual custom piece he had recently completed: a casing for an inhaler. I don’t know how marketable the asthmatic demographic is in the U.S., but I would recommend this accessory for anyone. Indeed, I thought, perhaps I should begin a business that covers all manner of medical devices in beautiful Damascan gold leaf. I tried to imagine a wealthy retired fellow walking down the street with his black and gold walker, then someone carrying their insulin in a custom gold-leafed case. I got to thinking of my grandmother’s adorned rolling IV stand that she always dressed in beautiful shawls, glasses, and a hat. I can’t remember what she named it, but decided perhaps I should leave such things to more ambitious venture capitalists than myself.
Of more educational valor, we toured the cathedral, which can be described by no other words than huge. I discovered that all the rumors I had heard about the tourism workers of Toledo being the most unfriendly in the world, and I can genuinely say that this horrible rumor is absolutely true in every
God's model for Toledo
As this little model shows, Toledo is one big crag on top of a mountain. way. The attitude can even be found in many shop owners, most of whom absolutely forbid that anyone take a photo anywhere inside, outside, or near their shops. Inside the cathedral, even during tours, photos are completely forbidden, with or without flash. Obviously, one can understand why they may not want flash pictures taken, but as the only cathedral in Spain with such rules they sure don’t have anything special to see. It’s said that Toledo harbors a perpetual embitterment for having been the capital of Spain all through the centuries until the modern kings moved it to Madrid. Apparently, this repressed sense of exclusion finds its outlet in the tourism industry. To me it seems ironically self-destructive, but perhaps no one has ever pointed that out to the city council before. The older gentleman we encountered in the gold shop turned out to be the exception, along with our wonderful hotel receptionists.
Speaking of hotels, I should mention that it was an incredible blessing to have a shower I could freely turn around in and with which I had more than 9 minutes of hot water. Surprising the little things you really appreciate after a few months
Lord of the Rings Paraphanelia
If you want it, they got it. Looking for that Gandalf wizard staff you always wanted? Well for about 150 euros it can be yours. Geek not included. in a culture that saves utilities above all things. It made the paintings of El Greco far more enjoyable. I can genuinely say that if I had not studied his art in a class, I would never have found it very appealing at all. However, now that I get what generation he was reacting to (Renaissance) and how he was going about it, I kind of get his whole almost impressionist, elongated, contortioned figures thing. The Expolio de Cristo painting in the cathedral really is impressive. Apparently, after the Church commissioned him for it, they never would officially commission him again. It seems they really didn’t like three elements of his painting: first, he placed the head of Christ below other men in the background, something never done before; second, he located the three women too near to Christ at a moment when his robe is about to taken away; finally, El Greco used Roman soldiers with armor and weapons from his century (an artistic element known as anachronism), which the Church thought was disrespectful (or something like that, I’m a little unsure what the deal was with that one). Anyway, great works of art with phenomenal colors and almost
Don Quijote de La Mancha
Proof that there is such a thing as too much reading, but perhaps better evidence that role playing games like Everquest aren't too good for you either. more than photo-realistic textures.
After a good night’s sleep in a soft hotel bed, we spent a few hours relaxing and some of us donating money to Toledo’s souvenir industry. I and a few of the girls ate lunch at a really good Palestinian kebab restaurant, after which we all loaded back up and braved the journey back through the emptiness of La Mancha to beautiful Sevilla.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.063s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 7; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0316s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Ellen
non-member comment
Really...
Your pictures are great...can I have some of them?? Also...that was a horrible sword pun. You should be severely punished for that...