Kings, Cardinals and Rabbis

Thursday, October 11, 2017--Hectic two days!  Yesterday we boarded a mid-morning train for a full day of sightseeing and tourism in Toledo and this morning we saw King Filipe VI!  

El Greco

Gold Monstrance

Toledo is gorgeous.  No other words can describe this hill top city, once the capital of Spain, home for hundreds of years to a poly-religious population of christians, muslims and jews.   The cathedral, the second largest in Spain, is magnificent.   From the tombs of cardinals with their hats hanging from the ceiling for over centuries, to the altars and the solid gold monstrance used for the Festival of Corpus Christi, the cathedral exudes history.  Of major interest, in the sacristy, now a museum,  are not only restored El Greco paintings but "god" written in Hebrew in the frescoed ceiling.

Toledo is all hills, up and down, tiring and lots of tourists but equally beautiful with views and moorish architecture.  One area, La Juderia, the Jewish Quarter, now the home of no Jews, has two buildings once synagogues.   The one we visited, the El Transito Synagogue and Sepharic Museum, still had intact architecture, from the days of Samuel Levi, treasurer to King Peter, in 1336.  It still has its magnificent ceiling.

Sephardic synagoge

Tired and worn, we returned to Madrid.  After a short rest we headed out to the restaurant Aire, part of a syndicate of restaurants named after the four elements.   Dinner included paté de fois with toast laced with fruit pieces,  croquettes of seafood, ceviche of goose with Peruvian spices and .........   All this was complemented by an excellent Albariño and conversation from friends Tim and Barry, both from Australia.

King Felipe 

Today, after the lengthy miles of walk yesterday, we are resting in preparation for Bizet's "Carmen" at the Teatro Real this evening.   We did however head down the street to one of the city's main boulevards for the celebration of Spain's national day.  This included a drive-by from King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.