On Wednesday, our group headed out for a day trip to Toledo. We arrived outside of the city and at the base of the mountain there was a wall that overlooked the entire city. Looking out over the city of Toledo, the girls used their selfie-sticks and adjusted their hair as they tried to capture the perfect photo for their Facebook albums. After getting a quick photo of my own, I sat off to the side with my iPhone in hand and began to write.
Our hotel was located in the middle of the maze that is Toledo. Outside on the balcony of our hotel room, this was the view of Toledo's famous Cathedral.
Toledo was the capitol city of the Iberian peninsula for a long time before the peninsula became the countries of Spain and Portugal. It was the capitol during Roman times around 200 BCE, in Visigoth times around 711 CE, as well as during times when the Muslim's had power over the peninsula up until the reconquest by the Christians in 1085 CE.
The capitol changed to Madrid when Phillip II took control and became King. He wanted to restructure the country in order to be able to maintain power and control easier. He decided to move the capitol to a more central location. At the time, Madrid was a small villa, but there was plenty of space around it to build upon. Toledo is located south of Madrid and is placed within the mountains leaving not much room for expansion. Despite not being the capitol anymore, this city has a lot of heritage that has been influenced by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultures.
This here is the Cathedral de Toledo. It took generations worth of architects, artists, and builders to build this massive structure. The cathedral is dimly lit on the inside and feels like a church session is already going on upon walking in. It was surprisingly quiet despite there being a number of groups touring inside. The building originates around 1226 CE with renovations and additions being done up until the 16th century.
The inside of this place was breathtaking and this photo doesn't begin to do it justice.
The streets of Toledo are incredibly thin and not the least bit straight.
After a night out on the town with my new friends and classmates, my roommate Maisara and I decided to check out some monuments we didn't get the chance to see during Wednesday's class.
This place was called the Santa Maria la Blanca Synagogue. It was located within the Jewish Quarter of Toledo and has deep religious history. It was once used as a Synagogue, and then much later used for Christian worship around the year 1405.
Many shops within the Jewish Quarter sell these intricate gold plates. I wanted to buy one, but even the smaller ones cost upwards of 300 euro (way out of my budget).
As we were exploring, a bunch of armed men in uniforms came down the street in horses as they prepared for the day's special religious event.
This photo is of the inside of another historic church, Iglesia de los Jesuitas (Church of the Jesuits). It had two huge towers on the top of it and we were able to walk up and view the city from above.
This city is super cool and if you ever find yourself in Spain, I would highly recommend it. The beautiful buildings aren't the only thing this city has to offer, as you can see, the surrounding countryside is quite breathtaking.
La Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun) is this really cool structure on the outskirts of the city. Maisara and I wondered around using our all-access pass to check out the city's numerous museums and monuments.
As we made our way back to the hotel to catch the bus back to Madrid, we ran into the crowds that filled the plaza celebrating Corpus Christi. This guy was all dressed up and I asked him, "Puedo sacar un photo de tu?" (Can I take a photo of you?) He agreed. I think he was excited to show off his attire to an obvious foreigner, because he quickly struck this pose. Afterwords, he asked Maisara and I a question, but I didn't understand (No comprendo, this is a phrase I have used quite a lot when conversing with local Spaniards). He put it more simply by saying in Spanish, you are Muslim and you are Christian, as he pointed to Maisara and I. I had never thought of it like that before, but yes, this was true and it had a lot of relevance to the culture of Toledo.
We were fortunate enough to be able to come to Toledo during it's most exciting time. There was an event going on called Corpus Christi. The event has deep religious ties and people really came out to show their support to my surprise. In America. religious events never get nearly the same amount of public presence that this event had. Maisara snapped this photo of me just before we headed out towards the bus to go home.
I was worn out and slept all the way back to Madrid. When we got back, I threw in my headphones and got onto the metro to go back to my apartment. As I got off and began to exit the station, Be by Common came on and the moment in which the beat dropped, I was walking out of the metro station and into the sunny streets of Madrid. It put a huge smile on my face as I realized I was back in my "home" city. "I want to be as free as the spirits of those who left...(the first line of Common's classic song)" I thought to myself about how lucky I truly am to be given this opportunity. I have learned so much over the past two weeks and cannot imagine how sad it is going to be to leave Madrid for good. Hopefully one day, I will be able to return.
Thanks for reading,
RCE
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