Not The Ohio One.

My next (and last) stop was Toledo. It used to be the capital of Spain - like ages and ages ago, before "Spain" really existed. It is nicely located on a big hill, and is surrounded on three sides by a river (and the fourth by a big ol' wall). The whole city has been declared a national monument, and the government has forbid any modern exteriors.


I took a (cheesy) tourist 'train' around to the other side of the river. There was a piped-in commentary that was telling some sort of history and mythology surrounding Toledo. I couldn't really hear it though, and I swear, the voice said "Welcome to the magical bubble train!" It provided some good overviews of the city, though.


Mmm... Pretty.

After the 'bubble train,' I decided to go see the El Greco Museum. El Greco was a painter who lived in Toledo in the 16th century. He was from Greece, thus was just called "the Greek." His real name was really long and Greek-sounding. I really like El Greco's work (like the painting View of Toledo which is hanging in the Met in New York... It looks SO much like the real place after you've actually seen Toledo)

The thing about Toledo is that the streets aren't very... organized. And combine crazy medieval street plans with my sense (or lack thereof) of direction... well. I walked a lot that day.

I searched FOREVER for the El Greco Museum, finding, instead the Victorio Macho museum.


I was so, so frustrated. I asked the nice man at the Museo Victorio Macho where the El Greco Museum was. And guess what? They closed it! No WONDER I couldn't find it. I don't know who Victorio Macho was. Apparently a sculptor. But his museum is nicely displaying some very lovely El Greco works, so all was well. The sculptures were pretty cool too!

After that, I decided to go to Toledo's Cathedral. I went to where the entrance was _supposed_ to be (and I got there pretty easily). But there were two guards standing there in front of a locked gate. Hmm. So, I walked around the cathedral. No entrance. Then I went to lunch. Then I walked around the cathedral again. Still no entrance. Then I went to a different church to look at a different painting. Then back around the cathedral. Finally, I found a little alley way I hadn't explored before. And behold! An entrance! It took me so long to find things in Toledo...


This was my favorite inside of a cathedral in Spain. (My favorite outside of a cathedral was the one in Sevilla). This is the main altar. The iron grate in front of it has one of the requisite interesting stories that goes along with it. The man who the church commissioned to build it sold everything he owned to have enough money to finish it. The church didn't pay him for the extra work, so the poor guy lived out his days in the poor house. That's dedication. But look! Centuries later, here I am taking a picture of it.


This is the altar itself. Covered with scenes from the life of Jesus.


Including this scene - by far my favorite. It is slightly blurry, unfortunately.


I loved this explosion of sculptures. See the red spots hanging from above? Apparently cardinals can choose where in this church they want to be buried, then they hang their hats above the grave until they rot and fall down. So two cardinals were buried right there. I counted about seven hats hanging in various places in various states of decay.

After I left the cathedral, it was approaching dark - I'd been wandering (mostly lost) most of the day!


And that was pretty much it for my Spanish excursion! I went back to Madrid, slept, then got up and went to the airport. Very unromantic, I know... Airports aren't nearly as exciting as cathedrals.