Toledo: City on a Hill

[Editor's note: some of this information is flagrantly stolen from Wikipedia. Since Wikipedia is not reputable enough to quote in a college paper, I see no reason to cite it here :) ]

Toledo, Spain

This week, my program took a day trip to Toledo. For those of you who, like me, have no concept of the geography of Spain, Toledo is about an hour south of Madrid, easily accessed by bus. After a chaotic half hour of trying to find everyone in the Metro (really, I don't know how people survived without cell phones... this is killing me!), we boarded the bus and were on our way!

Toledo is in the heart of Castilla - La Mancha, the legendary home of Don Quijote, Here, the brave knight sees his beautiful "dulcinea" (Lauren) in a vision!

Patricia, our Directora and Guide Extraordinaire, organized everything wonderfully. When we reached Toledo, we jumped on another bus which wound us carefully up the cobblestone streets of the city until finally we were at the top. Toledo, as you can see for yourself at this lovely link, (sorry, no good shots of the city) is more or less built on a hill, and is surrounded by water on several sides. It has a glorious history of being the capital of the region in many different manifestations- under the Visigoths, the Spanish Empire, and Moors. Particularly, it was heavily influenced by the Jewish, Arabic, and Catholics- a golden period in Spain's history called the "convivencia", aka "living together in peace" was centered here, especially under Alfonso the Wise, who reigned from 1252- 1284. During his reign, Alfonso ordered that Toledo become a center of translation, which further established it as a center of learning and mutual respect among the three cultures.

A beautifully decorated wall in the synagogue built by Muslims,
made for Jews, and overtaken by the Catholics.

With the expulsion of the Jews from Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, the peace of Toledo was irrevocably shattered, and when the Muslims were also expelled in 1502, Catholicism became the religion of the entire area. An interesting example of this is the synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca- a Jewish synagogue which was converted after the expulsion into a Catholic Church. Sadly, decimation or conversion of "heretical" religious places in the name of the Church was all too common in that time, and much cultural richness was purged from the country along with its citizens.

This enormous replica of the Cathedral door is made completely out of marzipan, a sweet bread.
You could buy it and eat it for weeks!!! It's about three feet tall!!!

The actual facade of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Toledo... an impressive and beautiful sight!
(If only the sky would be prettier, and not so drab! :) )

On a personal level, one of the main reasons that I chose to study in Spain was because here, in one country, many cultures have left their mark. Toledo is a beautiful example of this European melting pot... it was striking to see a synagogue converted into a Church, and decidedly Muslim influences throughout much of the art and architecture. In all, Toledo is a breath-taking city on the outskirts of Madrid... if you come to visit me, I'll be sure to take you!!!



Hasta luego,
:) Lauren