Today it’s all about El Greco, or Doménikos Theotokópoulos (Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος), the famous artist born in Crete of Greek origin who is most well known for dramatic portraits with haunting, gaunt faces. He moved to Toledo at the age of 36 and worked there till his death in 1614 at the age of 73. He was a painter, architect, and sculptor. A true Renaissance triple threat.
Near here,
is his house that also serves as a museum. Unfortunately it’s shuttered for restoration when I get there:
So I make my way to the Church of San Tomé, El Greco’s parish church,
where one of his most celebrated paintings, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, hangs on its humble wall. This is long considered a Spanish masterpiece for its unusual composition, filled by a literal and philosophical divide between heaven and earth. The faces in this painting are so solemn yet expressive. If you observe well the locals walking around Toledo today, you can still see the same characteristics that El Greco captured perfectly in oil on canvas back in 1586.
Since we’re in a church and all, I have to make a confession here. I know you really shouldn’t take pictures when it says no photography allowed, but I have adored El Greco for a very long time and I HAD to sneak one when the guard sneezed and blew his nose. Suffice it to say I didn’t get a great shot:
But you can tell how big the painting is. There are better pictures and more information on this work here .
Most people pay to view just the painting and then move on to the next stop. But do go around the side and visit the small church. If anything, it is nice to sit there for a few minutes and imagine where El Greco might have meditated in any of these pews and drew inspiration:
Anyway, while the restoration is underway at the El Greco Museum, all of his paintings can be viewed together at the Real Fundación de Toledo, which shares space at the nearby Victorio Macho Museum. But what rotten luck–when I get there, the curator tells me that the paintings are on loan for an exhibit in Mexico City. This is when a teleporter would come in handy!
What do you say tomorrow I take you to lunch then we’ll talk about the other two reasons I came to Toledo.
Tags: Church of San Tomé, Doménikos Theotokópoulos, El Greco, Real Fundación de Toledo, Spain, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, Toledo, Victorio Macho Museum
I’d mentioned yesterday my 4 reasons for visiting Toledo, and in the picture above, behind me is a statue of the man responsible for one of them.
Cervantes fans know that there is a Route of DQ (no, not Dairy Queen but Don Quixote) cutting through Toledo that marks the various points mentioned in the book:
I don’t have enough time here to follow the path, but I can’t wait to go back and re-read the book with the images of Toledo still fresh in my mind. The spirit of our beloved hero DQ is captured throughout the city:
But I’m actually looking for the Cathedral of Toledo (Catedral Primada Santa María de Toledo)…
because across from it is the Ayuntamiento, or town hall,
where I can get a city map from its tourist office (an ice skating rink has been set up here for the past holiday season). But before all of this can happen, let’s go grab some breakfast at a bar:
I pass on the churro and opt for a Spanish croissant (it’s not flaky like its French counterpart and feels much heavier) but I have the yummy zumo again:
Most of the streets here are tiny, and they curve around and around so that it feels like you are walking in a circle when you are not.
It’s not a big place so you really shouldn’t get lost, especially if you mark your bearings by the huge gothic cathedral:
This Catholic church broke ground in 1226 and, like many great cathedrals in Europe, saw continuous construction over centuries. It is well worth a visit, regardless of your faith, because no amount of photography (which isn’t allowed inside anyway) can capture the enormity of the work that went into building this place. The Toledo Cathedral is the second largest church in Spain but it is revered as the most important because Toledo has historically been the center of Spain’s catholic faith.
Tomorrow I’ll try to cover the other 3 reasons for loving Toledo.
Tags: Ayuntamiento, Catedral Primada Santa María de Toledo, Cathedral of Toledo, Cervantes, Don Quixote, Toledo
What a difference a day makes. Whereas it was pouring yesterday, the sun is brilliant this morning as I walk to the Atocha train station to catch my ride to Toledo:
You can buy tickets online well ahead of time as some routes do sell out quickly, especially during high season and if you do not get a pre-assigned seat, but at this moment the station is only mildly busy…
because most people have already caught the earlier trains. Me? This is as early as I can get there after a late night…
You could very easily take the bus to Toledo from Madrid, but depending on traffic that might take up to 1.5 hours. If you don’t get motion sickness, sometimes a bus ride is the best way to see a new city. On the incredibly efficient, highspeed AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) train system, which is RENFE’s (Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles) new network connecting Madrid to Seville and now Barcelona, however, you will get there in 30 minutes. The train, even in coach class, is extremely clean and comfortable. It costs at least twice as much to travel by train than bus but convenience always comes with a price.
Before I can finish deciphering an article in the local Spanish paper about fashion for the upcoming award season (I find it funny that I can’t escape Hollywood even here in Madrid), Toledo is already in sight:
I’ve wanted to visit Toledo for a very long time, for 3 reasons: El Greco, Don Quixote, and la convivencia. Well, OK, maybe 4 reasons: marzipan. More about food in another entry.
La convivencia refers to the co-existence of the Catholics, Jews, and Muslims in certain towns of Spain where religous tolerance yields to multicultural exchanges. Toledo, in its golden age when it was once the capital of Spain, epitomized this philosophy of acceptance, and its remaining beautiful architecture is a historical manifestation of such interplay of religions and cultures. This magical city high on a steep hill is truly one built for the ages.
As the passengers disembark, the Toledo Train Station–a stunning Neomudejar-style building–greets us in all its Moorish splendor. The tourists, myself included, are in a tizzy. Holy Toledo, Batman! This place is gorgeous!
But it’s the historic city center that I’m here to see, and it’s up the hill. There are doubledecker tourist buses that wait outside as the trains arrive but I’ve just missed them because I’m too busy taking pictures. But no worries, there are about 3 other city buses that I can take. Let’s meet there tomorrow:
Tags: Atocha train station, AVE, Don Quixote, El Greco, la convivencia, Madrid, Moorish, neomudejar, RENFE, Spain, Toledo, Toledo Train Station
The Royal Palace in Madrid goes by two names, Palacio Real de Madrid and Palacio de Oriente (East Palace).
It is one of the largest palaces in the world (there are over 250 guest bedrooms!) but is unoccupied by Spain’s royal family–they stay at the Palacio de la Zarzuela in another royal compound. It’s good to be king here, too. The Royal Palace is open to the public when it is not in use for state ceremonies.
I wish interior photography were allowed so I could show you how ornate and large the rooms are. OK…one tiny spy pic:
There are colored themes to each room, one after another filled with works of art by Goya, Velázquez, Caravaggio, and other masters. There is even a chrysanthemum yellow room with the most amazing Chinese ceramics embedded into the wallpaper! I also enjoy the cavernous room serving as the royal armory with an excellent exhibit of medieval armors (I love gauntlets and bascinets as they inspire some of my jewelry designs). There are life-sized reproductions of knights and horses in full armor. Just fantastic!
Below the palace to the west and the north there are manicured gardens, and in my pictures below you can see rain and snow:
It’s a nice walk all around the palace grounds, but perhaps better on a clearer day:
From the palace I pass by the Senado (Senate) that has some nice real estate nearby,
Then from here I make my way to the Prado Museum, which has one of the best art collections in the world. The museum was recently expanded to accommodate its treasures. It is here that I finally get to see the famous painting, Las Meninas, by Diego Velázquez. It is a fascinating, complex work of art in which the viewers have to ask whether they are looking at a painting or whether they are the ones being watched? The composition and depth of this painting are stuff that elicited long conversations in my art history classes so long ago. It is a real treat to finally see this painting (among countless other works here that I’d also studied) with my own two eyes, all these years later. Of course photography is not allowed inside the Prado, but they have these machines around the various galleries where, for one euro each, you could buy miniature books–in Spanish, English, French or Japanese–about the art and artists you’ve just viewed. And yup, I’m walking around collecting these books like a good little sucker tourist that I am!
Up on the hill behind the Prado, which means meadow btw, is a church that seems to glow in the night:
The rain has finally died down. I have great hopes for tomorrow’s day trip.
Tags: Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas, Palacio de Oriente, Palacio Real de Madrid, Prado Museum, Senado
Remember the Belgian churro I had at the Christmas market in Bruges? It was more like a sweet snack. In Spain, however, the churro is a bland pastry to be dunked in your breakfast hot chocolate, like what he’s doing here…you might say it’s a Spanish dunkin’ donut.
On my first full morning in Madrid I have to go find a train ticket for the next day’s side trip. The weather has soured from sunny/cold to bone-chilling rain. So much for my decision to go to Madrid for its milder winter! Anyway, on the way to the Atocha train station, which btw seems to have a rain forest growing in the middle of its courtyard,
I spy tons of locals darting into their neighborhood cafes for a quick bite and drink–and by quick I mean they are all standing around the bar area for a hit of that expresso, white wine (why not!), or zumo (orange juice) and a small piece of toast or pastry before blowing out of there to go to work. I decide on a large pastelería with a busy bar in the back. I elbow my way to a small spot at the bar and am tempted by the goodies…
but when in Spain…
The fresh-squeezed OJ is quite wonderful actually. BTW that’s my favorite Chanel 05A cardigan over a Tory Burch shirt. I always wish for the four seasons in LA so I could wear winter clothes but the truth is, when it’s below freezing outside I can sortof understand why so many snuggies have been sold. OK I don’t, but I could use one right now. It’s hard to look cute in sleet. But where were we? Oh yes, the place is packed so I also rush out of there like those who hurried before me. It’s raining harder now and I really want to get to the train station, but I have to pop into this church for a looksie–plus it’s warm inside:
It’s now well past 11 am and there’s no train station in sight. But I do get to make another pit stop at the Panteón de Hombres Ilustres, a Neo-Byzantine style building
with some of the most amazing marble sculptures I’ve ever seen. They commemorate the lives and deaths of Spanish political powerhouses, most of whom were assassinated for their beliefs.
As I leave this beautiful pantheon it is snowing! Definitely a rarity for Madrid. It’s not quite cold enough for the snow to stick to the ground but the flakes are huge. Flurries give way to pouring rain by the time I reach the train station. My soaked map now looks like this but at least I have the train ticket I wanted:
From Atocha I wander toward the Reina Sofia Museum, which I plan on visiting later...but I definitely have to stop for a shot of the huge Lichtenstein in the courtyard:
I mean it is HUGE:
It’s probably 2pm by the time I reach this gate,
and I no longer care for the four seasons. Sunny LA sounds pretty good right about now, but this very moment is the best time to be in Spain. Because the mediodía (after 1 and till 4ish) means it’s time to eat! The mid-day meal is typically the biggest of the day for the Spanish, followed by a more haphazard, lighter dinner (tapas hopping, for instance). Everywhere you go you can find a solid 3-course meal for around 10 euros. Madrid is also full of wonderful, upscale restaurants should you wish to splurge on your taste buds. I just want to find a place to dry out right now and this restaurant is right across from the gate which I can’t identify for the moment. My waiter doesn’t speak English but he’s patient enough with my Spanish to sort out an all seafood meal for me, including seafood soup, gambas paella, and a local fish dish as my entree–he offers a tart as dessert but I only want the clementines to cleanse my palate:
I think I’ve eaten enough for five people but I’m going to need the calories for the day I’ve yet to finish on my feet. Tags: Atocha train station, Chanel, churro, Lichtenstein, Madrid, paella, Panteón de Hombres Ilustres, Reina Sofia Museum, Spain, Tory Burch, zumo
