Saturday March 19, 2011 I woke up roughly around 7.00, rubbed the morning gewies out of my eyes, whipped my nighttime blinds opened and jumped out of bed. I washed my face, put my leggings, a t-shirt and my easytones on (I knew I was in for some prime time up easytone action). Once we got to the bus I sunk into my seat and immediately fell asleep. I was pleasantly awakened by the breaks of the bus to see one of the most beautiful sights I have seen while being abroad. HOLEY TOLEDO. Houses, mosques, churches, cathedrals, and temples stacked with the most beautiful architecture. I had arrived at the spiritual capital of Spain. Toledo is surrounded on three sides by the Tagus River and meters upon meters of tall walls. The bus parked and we hiked into Toledo via one of the only entrances.
View of Toledo from where the bus stopped
Toledo's entrance
After seeing a bunch of sights that were really interesting, however not at the top of my list, we finally made it to Toledo’s Cathedral which was insane! Seeing it from the outside I was in awe. Apparently the Moors of Toledo wanted to savor the beauty within rather than displaying it on the surface; this was not evident when staring up at this massive hunk of exquisiteness. Going inside the cathedral was in experience in and of itself. I stuck by teach in order to absorb any tid-bit of information that I could. Unfortunately the only relevant information that he could share was the height and width of the cathedral. So, I joined in on another English tour in which I learned tons of interesting facts.
THE CATHEDRAL
Choir Benches
While I think it is important to learn about the places in which I visit I think its most important to observe and take in the details in order to have an everlasting mental image. Staring all around and up at the cathedral only made me think about and picture ancient men painting, sculpting and building it, and how long it must have taken (from 1226 to 1493). Starring at a pillar with an angel coming out of it, I pictured the pillar in its entirety. A giant, white, cylinder shaped hunk of granite, which had to be -at least- wide enough to the tip of the angel baby’s nose. Then I had to imagine that someone sat there pricking away at this granite piece of perfection for days. I thought how long that must have taken, and then I had to imagine that that was one extremely small, minute detail of such a gigantic place.
The Choir
Capilla Mayor
Walking through the cathedral, into the various different rooms, I pictured people from the 1300’s walking around and going about their daily business. A priest sat at the podium giving a sermon while men, women and children sat in the audience listening ‘religiously’, draped in different fabrics for clothing. The chorus stood behind the audience singing psalms, horns blowing. In the dressing room I saw the priests, and other holey men hoisting their heavy suits on with their pointy caps, heavy jewelry, and walking canes. These images didn’t stop until the moment we left the cathedral, and as I sit here writing this I can see the men and women all over again as I go through a mental tour of Toledo’s religious palace.
