Toledo

We decided to go to Toledo on the way to Granada...it is famous for its multicultural heritage,as a place where Catholics, Jews, and Muslims co-existed-La Convivencia.  You can see remnants of that all over the city.  It was stinking hot that day-100 easily but we managed to see a lot.  This all ended inn 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella expelled all non-Catholics.  It is a very old city dating back to the Roman times.  It is high up on a hill, but the Spaniards have a thing for escalators, bless them!

It is a long escalator but you can take it from the parking area all the way to the top.  The views are amazing.

We walked into the city and needed a cold drink.  We walked around the borders of the city and then

Loved the sign that shows the different religious locations. 

I loved the fact that you could feel the age of the place and that the history was palpable.  We hardly felt the heat as we walked around.

Castle walls and more of my Spanish doors

We walked through winding streets and were so impressed with the beauty and the age of what we were seeing.

Finally a cold drink and a plan of where to go.

This was a view of the cathedral.

She was beautiful!  We did not end up going into the cathedral but we did visit inside part of it and the synagogue  and an old mosque. 

There were beautiful gated courtyards with lovely old gardens.

These are called chapitars and surround all the pillars-they are stucco.

This is a column in the synagogue.  It's called Santa Maria la Blanca Sinagoga (nice Jewish name!!) There is no information about its age, but it was believed to be built at the end of the 11th century by a Jewish ambassador to Alfonso VIII, who was openly sympathetic to toward Jews.  It burned in 1250 and was then rebuilt.  Even before the expulsion of all non-Catholics, it was not used as a synagogue but a church-hence the name.  

Tile floors and old wooden ceiling.

More remanants of Jewish history in Toledo.

So many beautiful old streets and buidings.

Me still on my quest for the best gazpacho soup...still nothing better than Le Pain Quotidien...but I got the recipe finally, I think and can reproduce it...

Luis conversing with a manequin and a motorcycle.  We contiued walking around the city and seeing amazing views.

Everywhere you look there are views of the hillside.  We have to go back because the city is surrounded on 3 sides by a river...we didn't have time to see it all.   We allowed 3 hours, stayed 5.5 and felt rushed to see it all.

More doors.  I love Spanish doors...it's the combo of old wood, well-worn and metal, I think.

I loved these window boxes/window alcolves...not really bay windows, San Francisco style, but cool nonetheless.

As we continued our way around the city, we found the mosque too.It's called Mezquita Cristo de la Luz.  

This is the way in..the old name is Bab al-Mardum.  The road itself was discovered in 2005-it's an old Roman road.    King Alonso VI conquered Toledo in 1085.  The original building was built in 999 AD.

This is the front of the mosque.  Although some of the mosque was discovered only recently, it is really quite old.  It has been a mosque, a church,and even a chapel for an order of knights.  

On our way back to the escalator, we saw more amazing views.

It was an amazing visit and so interesting, well worth another visit.