Toledo (Encantada)
Toledo: 3/24/2017
Today
Kristen and I took a day trip to Toledo.
In the morning, we bought gloves and long socks because it was so
cold. I put on a tank top, two t-shirts,
the two long-sleeved shirts I brought, a sweater, my jacket and scarf,
leggings, and jeans, and we headed out on a bus to Toledo, which is an hour or
so from Madrid.
Toledo is a
quaint little town caught in a time warp. It was the capital of Spain
originally because it is nestled in hills and surrounded by a river. The
buildings are ancient, and the streets are all narrow and winding and made of
cobblestones. Needless to say, the views
were amazing.
Toledo
was/is known as the “city of three cultures,” because for thousands of years,
Christians, Jews, and Muslims all lived harmoniously together. I just love this
concept. Toledo has a good amount of
Muslim influence. “Damascus” is a Spanish term for gold-plated, as in the Damascus
style jewelry that was brought over from Damascus, Syria. What do you know.
Of course,
this religious harmony could not last forever, and the Christians decided to
take over some 500 years ago. They took
over mosques and “repurposed” them.
I imagine the conversation went something like this: “hey, let’s just use that
mosque, but fill in the doorway with cement so it can pass for a church.”
Our last stop on the tour was the “house of
the Jew.” During the Spanish Inquisition (if I remember right) the Jews had to
pray in secret. Many of them would come to this underground cavern to do so.
Fun fact
alert: the Jews were blamed for the black plague in Spain because they seemed
to be immune to it. As it turns out, they weren’t getting sick because all the
doctors were Jews; because they watched their hands religiously as a matter of
course; because they buried their dead; and because they were confined to the
Jewish Quarter. The queen at the time was not convinced, and had them all
killed or exiled.
After the
walking tour we went to lunch and had carcamusas, which is a kind of beef stew
with tomato sauce that Toledo is known for. We decided to get a closer look at
the Alcazar and got lost in the neighborhood-y part of Toledo, which consists
of winding cobblestone streets built into hills. It was a very quiet and
pleasant place to get lost.
Literally
ALL the streets look like this.
We found our
way back to the Alcazar using the cathedral as a landmark. Of course, being a
castle of sorts, it had an amazing view from the edge of a hill.
We also did
a bit of souvenir shopping, debating whether we could check knives or swords in
our airport luggage (Toledo steel is admired around the world), and whether Iberian ham would make it through customs (I tried, it doesn't). We stopped in the marzipan store with the giant
marzipan Quixote and tried marzipan for ourselves, which Toledo is also
apparently known for. This marzipan arrived in Toledo from Arabic influence too,
and it is a hundred times more delicious than any marzipan I’ve had in the US.
Back in
Madrid, we had pinchos (“snacks”) again, of course. I tried “tortilla
espanola,” which is some kind of magical potato/egg dish that I need to make
here.
Since it was
our last night together, we wandered through the neighborhoods people watching.
Loads of people were out since it was Friday night.
I had an
early afternoon flight home the next day, so I found an empanada place for
breakfast (really coming full circle here) and then headed out!
* * *
I never liked history of any kind. I always found it dull and dry. Since I have started traveling to Europe, though -- this was my third time there in ten months -- I've found that I LOVE it. Every city and every building has a story full of secrets, many of them scandalous. Each place is similar, but has a unique atmosphere. Spain is definitely in my top three favorites. I'm lucky that I get to travel to so many places and with such wonderful friends. :)
Comments
Post a Comment