Spain, Day Seven

I had a fantastic day today filled with much knowledge and entertainment. Despite having to get up at the early time of 7:30 today, this has been my favorite day so far. Today was our day trip to Toledo, the former capital of Spain, and I just loved it. I think the trip worked well because we had a very enthusiastic tour guide named Mario who spoke Spanglish for the convenience of everybody on the bus. He was very funny though and you could tell he was so passionate about everything he was saying, which made him very easy to listen to.

On our way into the city, Mario gave us some basic facts about the city itself. Apparently, the original name of the city was Toletum, which is a latin name but it was changed in 1085 to Toledo and they began transitioning the city of predominantly Muslim to Christian, although the city itself is known as the city of three cultures because for a time, the Muslims, Christians, and Jews actually lived together without hostility, which to me is amazing.

When we arrived in Toledo, we immediately stopped the bus for a Kodak moment that was just absolutely breathtaking.

Our first real touristy stop was at the monastery named after San Juan de los Reyes and let me tell you, there was SO MUCH history going on here. It was just incredible. During the 14th century, there was a civil war happening in Toledo, which is in the province of Castile. This came about because the present monarch, Henry IV, died unexpectedly and had not written a will. There was some disagreement about who was to succeed the throne because although he had a daughter, there was much speculation that she was not actually his. So many people believed that the crown should go to his sister instead who would have been next in the blood line in the event that his daughter was not actually his. Unfortunately back then, there was no way to check genetics so the people of Castile picked sides and had themselves a civil war. The king's sister ended up winning, who is actually the very famous monarch Isabella the first who would go on to marry Ferdinand of Aragon to unite their kingdoms and create the country we know today as Spain.

However, right after the war and before her marriage, the first thing Isabella did as a thank you to God for winning the war was erect this monastery which has been standing for over five hundred years now.  Once Isabella came to power, she immediately went to release the Christians who had been imprisoned by the Muslims and put the Spanish Inquisition into place, which expelled all Muslims and Jews from the country (unless they chose to convert to Christianity, which is where the term Sephardic Jews comes from). On the wall outside the monastery, the chains that held her fellow Christians captive hang to serve as a reminder of their oppression and who prevailed.

It is difficult to see them but the dark spots on this wall are all of the chains from the Christians that were held captive

Our next stop was at the Synagogue of Samuel Levi. This served as a primary Jewish meeting point in all of Toledo and was named after the most well-renowned Jew at the time of its construction. This synagogue was actually converted into a church though when the Spanish Inquisition happened in 1492 but has since been restored as a Jewish place of worship. Spain has actually made a point to give citizenship to anyone in present day who can prove their lineage to the Jews who used to live in Spain, which I think is pretty neat.

This is the main wall of the synagogue

After the synagogue, we wandered over to another church which was home to El Greco's masterpiece. It was quite a sight to see. Unfortunately, they had a strict no camera policy so I couldn't document it but I did learn quite a bit there anyways. The painting is of a man from Toledo, who was later declared a saint, during the time of his death. The bottom half of the painting shows the burial of this man who is actually being buried by two other saints who came down from heaven with a large crowd around them. The top half of the painting is of heaven itself with Jesus at the top and his apostles surrounding him. This part shows the man who died in his "soul" form as a baby being carried up to heaven (he was represented as a baby in this transition because heaven represented the beginning of a new life for him).

I didn't found this picture online since we couldn't take our own. Don't let the size of this picture fool you. The painting is a giant mural that is probably twice my height.

The artistry is just incredible in this work, with many brilliant colors and stylistic elements. El Greco actually painted himself into the crowd that was watching the burial of the body as well as his son who are the only two characters in the painting breaking the fourth wall. El Greco was actually known for not putting his signature at the bottom of his paintings but only painting a handkerchief somewhere onto the piece. In this one, the handkerchief was in his son's pocket. While he usually puts the date of when he completed the painting on said handkerchief, he actually put his son's birthday of that year on this one, as if to say "This is my masterpiece and the date I want you to remember is my son's birthday because he is truly my masterpiece." How cool, right?

Our last stop on our tour was in the Cathedral of Santa Maria which is actually the fourth largest in Europe (the first is in the Vatican, the second is in London, the third is in Seville, Spain, and then there is this one). I could hardly even believe the magnanimity of this cathedral. I mean wow. It's hard to comprehend that something of this scale could have ever been constructed, especially without the tools and technology of today. In every corner, inside and out, there was some kind of intricate artwork carved into the wall. Seriously, it must have taken so long to complete this cathedral. Some of my favorite details can be seen in the pictures below.

Check out how small those people are. This cathedral is huge! Above the main arch at the bottom center, there is a row of carvings depicting the last supper in statue form. It was so beautiful.

This was my favorite window. It has a Jesus figurine as well as other saints surrounding it, making it seem very heaven-esque

This was the main area of worship. It is much bigger than it appears in this picture.

After we saw the cathedral, it was lunchtime. We quickly at the picnics that our host families had packed for us and then walked around all the fun boutique shops of Toledo. I only made out with a watch and a hair straightener (that was only 15 euros, which is like $17.50!) but I didn't want to go too crazy with the money spending. Some of my classmates came back with dagger replicas and knight figurines and I'm just like what are you ever going to do with that? But to each their own. My roommate and I also found a little Irish bar so we popped into the bar and had a half-pint of Smithwicks, which brings me to my palabra del dia. So just about everybody in this world knows that cerveza means beer, right? Well if you are ordering a beer and you just want half a pint, you would tell them that you want una caña. Truly, that is the perfect size for me, so I am glad to know this word. 

At four, we headed back to Madrid where my roommate and I rested up until dinner time and then tried to head out for the evening to see the activities that were happening for San Isidras. While there were many people in the Plaza del Sol, we had a hard time finding anything to do, so hopefully we will have better luck tomorrow. We ended up home before midnight and just read for the rest of the evening. I do enjoy reading though so it wasn't exactly a bad evening. Hoping tomorrow night I have something more exciting to tell you about though.