It was a sad day when we left Gibraltar. I'll admit it. Even with all of its moments of craziness, it is forever enmeshed into our memory. We will never forget.
We left early (ok 10 am which is VERY early in Spain) for our trip north. Our hosts said they wished all of their guests were as nice as us. (All together now:Awwww! Ha ha!!)
We made it to Toledo at about 5, which we were hauling (ok 120 km/h) to do so. We wanted to make it to the cathedral before closing, but it was not to be done. We were going to have to wait until 14h on Sunday to make it there. We found our hostel, the Oasis Hostel, which was right off the Zodocover (main square) of the town.
We had more room in our car than in our room. Just saying. It was two sets of bunkbeds, and the concierge was aghast to learn that there were going to be five of us. Now my children can say they have stayed in their first youth hostel, replete with padlocks for the drawers. It will get them ready for their grand European tour after college.
I knew going in that with a room for four, there would be a shared bed in some circumstance, and it had never been an issue before. Oh to be so naive. Somehow in the last 6 months or so Tank has determined he is not going to share his bed with any of sisters camping or traveling otherwise, and after much argument and coercion otherwise, he ended up sleeping on the floor of the hostel.
This is the same kid who could fall asleep on a barstool. I mean, a barstool with no backrest. He is a hardy man who needs no excuse to fall into a deep slumber. He did not disappoint.
The Oasis was cute. It was run by a bunch of college students I think. Lots of cute handwritten notes highlighted with orange and green hi-liter pens. The desk clerk was of absolutely no use whatsoever except to blather on and on about the cathedral, not understanding that we were in fact trying to get to said Cathedral before it let it last group of tourists in, at 5:30.
She could not tell us where it was.
After running through the streets with a few people in our party loudly protesting, we found the Cathedral. Now this is no ordinary Cathedral. Toledo is considered the last stand for the Moors and the birthplace of modern European Catholicism, after battling back and forth with those pesky Visigoths and their Nicene Christianity. Ultimately, Toledo was one of the few places in Europe where the Muslims (then called Moors), Jews and Catholics could reside in relative peace. The understanding being, Christianity can have the fore as long as the Muslims give up their mosques to build the Cathedral there.
Spain is 95% Catholic, and it showed. The Cathedral at Toledo is the most amazing cathedral in all of Europe. I told them after we left that I did not need to go see another Cathedral for as long as I lived. And 24 hours later I still feel the same way.
Nothing against the Roman Catholics. But as I wandered around with my neck out of joint for the first hour of my tour of the Cathedral it started to dawn on me. How many millions of Spanish taxation and centuries of church domination did it take for this thing to be built. It was at the end guilt-inducing to be sure. Did Jesus really desire for us to spend quadrillions of pesos to have his likeness covered in goldplate? The Jesus I know would say No.
But I digress....here are some pictures of our visit to Toledo. As I sit in our new corner apartment at our home in Vitoria I can be appreciative for how we got this far. And know that each time we have visited a new city, our expectations have been met or if not exceeded. Toledo was no exception. While the people were probably the most aloof and curious so far, they were still pleasant and patient with us.
While Vitoria is no Toledo, it has provided us with a nice place to live and our apartment iis within close proximity to whatever we may need.
Toledo
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| so precious |
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| view of Toledo from the roof |
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| cute little meditation room off the rooftop patio. There was a girl sitting on a Muslim pouf writing on her laptop. |
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| the great walls of Toledo |
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| those flippin' Illumanitis are everywhar |
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| hey it's a sliding-door-castle-thingy whose name is suddenly escaping me |
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| The Moors, Jews and Christians lived in relative harmony here for centuries |
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| yes it's a burger vending machine these are quite popular here now we did not imbibe even though Tank was belligerent in his begging |
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| look to your left |
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look to your right.
They are everywhere |
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| First view of Toledo's Cathedral |
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| Considered one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in all of Europe |
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| Exquisite amounts of detail on every surface |
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| Stunning... |
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| Hey we have thirty minutes til we can buy tickets....let's have some churros dipped in hot chocolate. Nom. |
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| Hola pajarito! |
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| Natalie is running towards the camera per Mark's request |
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| Poor gato :( |
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| Salvador Dali's painting of Toledo. This is a print. |
The Cathedral
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| Mozabaric Chapel |
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| this is the exterior of the choir (chorister?) |
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| staggering amounts of stained glass. My camera and its flash could not do it justice. |
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| 10 ft high 400+lb monstrance, which holds the Holy Communion wafer during the Corpus Christi parade through the city. On the interior is a bit which is 35 lbs of solid gold. |
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| monstrance |
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| Ceiling of the Tesoro |
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An interesting custom is allowing the cardinals to decide where they would like to be buried. If they choose the Cathedral, their headpiece is hung from the rafters above their burial site where it is allowed to stay until it rots.
You see a cardinal headpiece. After Gibraltar I see a jellyfish ;). |
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| Corpus Christi |
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| Interior of the Choir each of these seats is painstakingly hand-carved. The upper carvings relay stories from the New Testament. |
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| ...and lower ones talk about the Crusades |
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| Madonna and Child in alabaster |
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| pipe organ. One of two on either side of the choir. |
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| gruesome detail on choir seats |
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| pure gold. And completely fenced in and glassed over ;) |
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| The church wanted a skylight to brighten up afternoon Mass. So they hired someone to cut a large hole in the ceiling. It's chaotic and Baroquey-hokey but it does tell a story. It's story of Jesus, ending with His Last Supper and Ascension. It is truly awesome to experience in person. |
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| Mother Mary all covered in gilt |
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| Sacristy |
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| original De Goya |
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| You are blessed among women...see her in the blue? |
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| Naked Baby Alert |
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| More from the Tesoro all of the cardinal and priests ceremonial robes through the centuries... |
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| I would like to say this is a Muslim prayer rug, but it doesn't have the arrow pointing to Mecca ;) |
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| My favorite...at least 8 feet across. I am sure the carved wooden border was added later ;) |
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| Wealthy families could buy rooms off the main sanctuary for burials |
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| This is towards the end of my tour, and I was starting to get a little rummy. I thought the paintings were a nice touch of humor for me. I am definitely going straight to H 3 77 |
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| I think he was my English teacher at Chief Joe |
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| Roger Daltrey (r.) confers with John Entwistle |
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Tim Conway from The Carol Burnett Show
see...totally sacrilegious |
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| fantastic outdoor walkway |
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| interior ceiling of a burial site |
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| I don't know why their dogs at buried with them |
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| stunning |
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| Back to the Tesoro |
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| a gift from the Phillipines rubies |
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I found the brochure advertising the Medieval Torture Museum as i exited the Cathedral. We got here some thumb screws, a chastity belt, a torture chair, something called a Heretic hood I think?
Huh. |
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The REAL treasure in Toledo!!! The precious baby boy and his mom working at the Mercado across the street from our Hostel. I wanted to take him home with me. She let me hold him and I got him to laugh and I was so HAPPY :)!
BTW there are many, MANY Chinese immigrants working in Spain. |
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| Toledo treasures beyond measure |
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| An hour outside of Vitoria. My kids---I am SO proud of them! |
Vitoria---our Home away from Home
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| Hallway. The windows are double-paned with a heavy metal windowshade encased between. To lower and raise the shade you pull on a flat nylon strap which winches it up. It makes the rooms totally pitchblack and utterly private. |
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| Master suite. I have no storage ;) |
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| Bano |
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| Look at the precious row of coffee cups ;) |
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| main living space Monday morning you can completely close off the space from the hall. |
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| I am standing at the furthest corner of our apartment into our main livingspace. Snug, ain't it? At least all of the windows in our corner apartment make it VERY sunny and bright!!! |
Sorry for the length of this blog entry. Having so much to add, and it's been a bit overwhelming trying to find time to update it all. Now that we are getting at the apartment I know things will start to settle down and we will find things to get a lot more boring...school starts in earnest tomorrow, seeing as the PGA offices were closed today.
Happy Labor Day! I am off to bed it's 12:15 am here. Buenos noches compadres! <3
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