The city of Toledo was important in Roman times but people have inhabited this site since the bronze age. It was also a city where Jewish, Christian and Moroccan culture coexisted from the 8th to the 15th century, a period known as La Convivencia.
Our guides to the city were our good friends Laura and Juan Miguel. Because the old city is on a hill, if you park your car at the bottom, there are escalators to the top. The Romans thought of everything!
The streets are generally very narrow and because the fiesta was due to start in the coming week, they were decorated. The streets were wet not because it had been raining: they had just been hosed down.
This wooden ceiling in the 15th century San Juan de Los Reyes monastery is phenomenal as it goes around all 4 sides of the upper cloisters.
It was as if each religion had been trying to better the others in the grandeur of their buildings whether it was a mosque, a synagogue, a cathedral, a monastery or just an ordinary church.
El Greco, the Greek, made Toledo his home and we saw one of his finest paintings on display here, Entierro del Conde de Orgaz or the Burial of the Count of Orgaz, painted between 1586 - 1588. (I'm a very slow painter too!)
One of the best things about the bars was that when you ordered a drink you were automatically given a plate of tapas. A great custom!
To see more photos of our visit to this wonderful city click HERE
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