To say that Toledo is an amazing place is an understatement. Everywhere you go there are narrow winding ancient streets. If you like history you must go to see it. Our hotel was near the Bisagra Gate which is the most solid construction I can imagine. Each time I see it I marvel at its show of strength for an invading army.
To fit in with ferry sailings from Santander we have to spend a day in Toledo. It's roughly half way from Malaga to Santander in Northern Spain. Victoria, our hotel receptionist is so welcoming, helpful and entertaining. We missed her last year as she was recovering from a broken leg. Where have I heard that before?
Our Toledo day began with a visit to the Synagoga de Transito which is next door to the El Greco museum that we visited last year. It is a great place to consider the life of the old Jews of the city before they were thrown out after 400 years of peaceful co-existence with Muslims and Christians. We managed to make it upstairs to the Women's Gallery where there were many interesting exhibits like the Magem Davids, various menorahs, phalacteries and even a set of circumcision instruments. The garden was peaceful and contained a number of ancient Jewish tombstones. Someone had placed a stone on one - a Jewish tradition.
Next we visited the Santo Domingo Convent where we saw, through a glass opening in the floor above the crypt, the coffin of El Greco, some of whose works were on the walls. It is still a convent and we were greeted by a nun acting as greeter and cash receiver. They had a sculpture of the head of John the Baptist on a plate. Now that was really gruesome!
We came out and discovered a small restaurant close by. It was lunchtime, so we gave it a try. It turned out to be the best lunch we had had. We shared a smoked salmon salad with tomatoes and balsamic vinegar and some potatoes stuffed with stuffed peppers. It was wonderful.
Our next visit was to the Museum of Santa Cruz. It was a huge former church with a crossing, lantern tower and long transepts. The most interesting exhibits were huge tapestries of Flemish design. Some of these were difficult to appreciate because they had deteriorated somewhat. The view from the approach to the loos was over the rooftops of Toledo and I found it interesting. Something to enjoy whilst you wait for your wife answering the call!
The last visit was the tiny mosque dating from 1,000 CE (AD to you). It was small when you allowed for the apse built later for Christian worship. The young woman at the desk was very helpful and called us a taxi after our visit. You get a better response in Spain when you are a wheelchair user than at home in the UK.
Now we are staying overnight in a hotel on the outskirts of Santander ready for our sail home tomorrow. The hotel restaurant is closed so I had to go online to find a restaurant in Santander that was open on a Sunday. I solved the problem and keyed the details into the Satnav for later. We are now looking forward to our 24 hours cruise home.
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