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Toledo
Nov 1, 2018 13:19:07 GMT
Post by amboseli on Nov 1, 2018 13:19:07 GMT
During our months stay at the Costa Blanca, we decided to drive to Toledo for 3 days (2 nights). It was a long drive, around 500 km. On that Wednesday morning we were in the car by 9 in the morning … supposed to arrive around 1:30 – 2:00 pm. The further we drove north, the more clouds. Thick, black clouds. So I was talking to my husband … ‘Weather doesn’t look very good. I don’t know if I packed the umbrella. Oh well. You did put the suitcase in the trunk, didn't you’, I said, jokingly. ‘No.’, he said, ‘I thought you did! Realizing then, OMG, WE FORGOT OUR SUITCASE!! So there we went, all the way back from Valencia to Benissa (1 hr drive), to pick up the suitcase. As a result we only arrived in Toledo at around 4 pm where the sun was shining brightly. Toledo is one of the oldest cities in Spain. The whole city is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List for its extensive monumental and multi-cultural heritage of Christians, Muslims and Jews. Conquered by the Romans in 192 b.C., and ruled by the Moorish between 712 and 1085. During this period Jews, Christians and Muslims lived peacefully together. In 1085 Toledo was 'liberated' by Alfonso VI, and the city immediately became the symbol of the new, purely Catholic Spanish kingdom. An enormous cathedral was built on the remains of a mosque, several monasteries arose, the al-qasr became the Alcázar, and it was from Toledo, among other things, that the Catholic reign of the Spanish Inquisition was orchestrated. The power and importance of the city started to deteriorate after Philip II had elected Madrid in the 16th century as the new royal capital. Toledo became a historically important, but otherwise somewhat dulled provincial town.
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Toledo
Nov 1, 2018 13:59:10 GMT
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 1, 2018 13:59:10 GMT
Bouncing in my seat with eagerness to see more, Amboseli! I got to visit Toledo when I was a child, & still remember how beautiful it was & how awed I was when I saw the process of making Toledo wares. Gorgeous pics and I'm glad you had clothes to take them in!
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Toledo
Nov 1, 2018 14:23:29 GMT
Post by amboseli on Nov 1, 2018 14:23:29 GMT
We got to visit a Damascene ware taller (can you tell I'm taking Spanish classes?). Amazing handicraft! I bought a pair of earrings.
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Toledo
Nov 1, 2018 14:54:21 GMT
Post by amboseli on Nov 1, 2018 14:54:21 GMT
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Toledo
Nov 1, 2018 18:02:06 GMT
Post by kerouac2 on Nov 1, 2018 18:02:06 GMT
Great photos. I have not been to Spain enough and yet there it is, next door.
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Toledo
Nov 1, 2018 22:53:36 GMT
Post by amboseli on Nov 1, 2018 22:53:36 GMT
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Toledo
Nov 2, 2018 0:49:03 GMT
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 2, 2018 0:49:03 GMT
Just blown away by your pictures, Amboseli! Thanks for showing so much of the cathedral, which is magnificent. That entryway is about as beautiful as anything could be, then the stained glass, the carvings, the soaring ceiling -- and an El Greco! I can definitely see the relationship between the style in this church and that which was imported to the new world. Of course I'm also thinking Toledo -- yikes. Isn't this the crucible of the Inquisition? Keep it coming, please!
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Toledo
Nov 2, 2018 1:01:53 GMT
Post by lagatta on Nov 2, 2018 1:01:53 GMT
Inquisition and persecution of Jews and Muslims, yep. But I was thrilled by the El Greco.
Why on earth is there a Toledo, Ohio? There must be several other Toledos in the Americas...
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Toledo
Nov 2, 2018 5:42:42 GMT
Post by kerouac2 on Nov 2, 2018 5:42:42 GMT
Seeing so many sculptures, I always wonder about the categories of professions in the Middle Ages. Agriculture was probably the most important profession for a long time and yet it wasn't very prestigious. Then there was probably the military and the church. But artisans made the country progress and of course sculptors made up part of that group. But what made somebody a sculptor instead of a blacksmith or baker? I guess it was mostly an inherited profession because it's not as though there were schools to spot the various talents of the children. There were probably a huge number of young people slaving away with a hammer and chisel and making all of these incredible statues while perhaps wishing they could have been a tailor or a fisherman instead.
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Toledo
Nov 2, 2018 10:03:59 GMT
Post by amboseli on Nov 2, 2018 10:03:59 GMT
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Toledo
Nov 2, 2018 16:14:22 GMT
Post by mossie on Nov 2, 2018 16:14:22 GMT
Quite some place, many thanks for illustrating it for us. Always find it amazing how much detail is packed into the very OTT decoration of the cathedral. The craftsmens time and dedication just beggars belief and I doubt it could be repeated today.
Thank you again
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Toledo
Nov 2, 2018 16:43:32 GMT
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 2, 2018 16:43:32 GMT
What a wonderful tour this is, Amboseli! You must have enjoyed that evening stroll so much and the daytime shots are dazzling. I can't wait to show this thread to my mother. She'll go crazy over that fabulous picture looking out over the roofs of the city.
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Toledo
Nov 2, 2018 19:18:04 GMT
Post by lagatta on Nov 2, 2018 19:18:04 GMT
Yes, this is lovely - thank you! I also love your earrings. Wanted to add was wondering, why on earth Toledo? The first non-Indigenous people there were French - who could very well have been Métis at that point - and I don't know of any historical Spanish ties, even churchy ones. Hardly like the obvious name choices of places such as Cambridge Mass or Birmingham Alabama, named for the key sectors of their British namesakes; academics and steel/iron work. It seems to have been almost a random choice. This is not a particularly well-documented site, but there must be more serious ones and I don't feel like researching them right now: listosaur.com/bizarre-stuff/10-american-cities-with-strange-name-origins/
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Toledo
Nov 2, 2018 23:12:46 GMT
Post by amboseli on Nov 2, 2018 23:12:46 GMT
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Toledo
Nov 3, 2018 21:12:23 GMT
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 3, 2018 21:12:23 GMT
Eeek ~ you all did not try to squeeze through those streets in a car, did you?!
Amboseli, this report keeps getting better and better. I adore that it is so architectural. The old mosque and the synagogue are both fabulously impressive. Are the last two pictures before the street tile saying Jewish Quarter of the mosque?
More! More!
And pee ess ~ forgot to say how much I like your earrings.
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Toledo
Nov 3, 2018 21:49:08 GMT
Post by amboseli on Nov 3, 2018 21:49:08 GMT
Thank you Bixa. No, we did not squeeze through those streets in a car. Toledo is very walkable. The last two pictures before the street tile are from the Mezquita Cristo de la Luz. Last part! Muséo Sefardo – Sinagoga El Tránsito. The museum is set up in the synagogue. It shows the historical and geographical framework of the Jewish people in antiquity, traditions, beliefs and customs and the history of Jewish people in Spain from their arrival. The synagogue was built in the 14th century. The main room is the Great Prayer Room with a tie-beam roof and profuse plasterwork decoration on the walls. Mudejar motifs in red, green, black and ochre are predominant in the interior decoration. I’m not a museum person but I found this one very interesting! The garden-park of the Escuela de Artes y OficiosBy lack of time we didn’t visit the Alcázar, but had a nice view on it from the rooftop terrace of our hotel.
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Toledo
Nov 3, 2018 22:30:05 GMT
Post by kerouac2 on Nov 3, 2018 22:30:05 GMT
Wonderful stone and brickwork on the first buildings and then the fantastic sculpting in the synagogue. Parts of Europe like that are so lucky to have been spared most war damage and to have an excellent climate to help preserve these masterpieces.
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Toledo
Nov 3, 2018 23:16:19 GMT
Post by lagatta on Nov 3, 2018 23:16:19 GMT
I loved the fact that there were both Hebrew and Arabic script in the synagogue.
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