“A castle stands sentinel across the stream; harsh grey hills are all about: the setting of Toledo is all abrasion, nothing soft, nothing hospitable, nothing amusing. This is the Spanish character at its most intractable” – Jan Morris – ‘Spain’
The car park might have been conveniently located right on the edge of the City but to get there involved a rather strenuous climb to reach it because old Toledo is built on the top of a craggy outcrop of rock which sits like a Stork’s nest that in the Middle Ages made it impregnable to hostile forces.
The whole city is a sort of natural castle with a moat, the Tagus River, running in a looping gorge around three sides of it. The only way an enemy could threaten it was to attack the north side and that was difficult because not surprisingly that was the most strongly fortified part of the city walls. The Tagus, by the way, is the fourth longest river in Western Europe and the most important in Iberia and from Toledo it flows all the way to the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon in Portugal.
Toledo has always been one of the most important cities in Spain and for many years actually contested the status of capital with nearby Madrid and was in fact the principal city until 1560. But Madrid gradually came to prominence under the Hapsburg Monarchy and Phillip II moved his court there and made it his Capital in 1561.
Toledo compensated for this by reinventing itself as the principal religious city in the country and today remains the seat of the Primate of all Spain. To walk around the cramped streets of Toledo and browse the souvenir shops is the closest you can get in Spain to being in Rome as replicas of the Saints stare out from every shop window.
This too is the city of El Greco, the greatest artist of his age and his religious paintings and his interpretations of the scriptures that represent Toledo as a brooding cauldron of spiritual energy are never far away.
At the end of the climb from the car park we entered the city at the busy main square, the Plaza Zocodover, which was surrounded by tall imperial buildings and confusing little streets leaking away into deep shadows in all directions. Without a map we were rather confused and disorientated because this was easily the biggest place we had visited so far.
After a while we established our bearings and walked to the Alcázar, which was closed today for improvements and a planned new museum but being at the top of the city did have spectacular views over the river and the lands stretched out to the south. We were still unsure of our location and after an aborted refreshment stop at a bar with a broken loo and unacceptably loud music we threaded our way into the maze of narrow streets and walking in the general direction of the Cathedral.
After lunch we walked to the Cathedral and paid the entrance fee of €7, which turned out to be excellent value compared to the €2 to get into the tiny church in Belmonte. It is one of the biggest cathedrals in the world and the interior is not at all austere as some cathedrals can be. Slightly annoying was the fact that for those who didn’t want to pay the admission charge they could enter by a side door and although they couldn’t walk around freely and see all of the internal rooms and the especially impressive choir area, they could certainly see and appreciate the magnificent structure for free.
Outside the Cathedral we found a tourist information office and now we had a map the city was suddenly much easier to negotiate. In the past Toledo had changed hands many times and it was renowned for its diversity and religious toleration and we visited a synagogue with, unusually for a synagogue, free admission and then after walking through a warren of mazy streets came out on the other side overlooking the modern town to the north.
Every available square metre of this rocky outcrop has been built upon and the buildings are heaped together in a random and haphazard way with cobbled lanes revealing new delights at every twist and turn. We negotiated the narrow confusing streets and the surprises back towards the Plaza Zocodover and as we did so passed through an area of artisans workshops where metal workers were making swords and knives and displaying them in the windows.
Traditionally Toledo (like Sheffield in England) is famous for its production of steel and especially of swords and the city is still a centre for the manufacture of knives and other steel implements designed for stabbing people. In the tourist shops slashing swords and dangerous daggers compete for selling space with the holy Saints and religious icons.
For soldiers and adventurers in past times a sword made of Toledo steel was a must have item because the quality of the steel and the skill of the blacksmith combined to make an exceptionally strong and perfect lethal weapon. In literature and film the Three Musketeers had Toledo steel swords and so did Don Diego de la Vega who was more famously known as Zorro.
The manufacturing process was a carefully guarded secret and to make such an exceptional weapon they had to select the very best raw materials and then follow a complicated technical process to achieve the right balance between hard and soft steel forged at a temperature of 1454º Fahrenheit for exactly the right length of time and followed by a critical cooling and shaping process. So complicated was this whole procedure and so perfect was the finished weapon that to achieve this level of precision a master craftsman would typically only be able to make two or three blades in a year.
Little wonder that they were so expensive!
There’s an escalator thingy there now to get from car parks to centre of the city. I can’t say we enjoyed the place much after our previous day in Segovia but that may have been due to an awful guide we had.
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I can’t really explain why but there is something about Toledo that keeps off a list of my favourite cities of Spain. Segovia is on that list for sure.
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It seemed very “closed in” to me, I can’t explain it either, but I do remember that you were right on top of everything but couldn’t appreciate things by standing back and admiring them. Clearly the best view of the city is from outside it!
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I think that might be it Brian and I didn’t find it especially photogenic, not like Seville for example. I certainly struggled to find pictures to illustrate this post. Big cities need big open spaces like those in Salamanca and Burgos.
Just watching a good TV 3 part series on BBC iplayer by Andrew Graham-Dixon on history of Spanish art, I thnk it is a few years old but it well worth a look.
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Hooray we agree on something😂 That sounds interesting I’ll take a peek now to find it.
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And the swords are also on all US Military academies!! Lovely city of cultures my family lives just outside and we go often. Too bad for the pictures. Cheers
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Great city but not my favourite. Thanks for your thoughts!
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Alright , is a smaller city but great punch. Cheers
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Kim and I were chatting only last night and I said that I need to go to Toledo again because I am sure that I am missing something.
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Ahh wise men, I think so ::)
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It’s a place I’d love to see though no idea where it would come on my list. A blogging friend lived and worked there and came to dislike the place but it’s such a spectacular location. Maybe just stand opposite and look 🙂 🙂
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Like any city I suppose, we only go and see the tourist bits, we don’t see the parts where people live and work.
Toledo is a bit low on my list, I prefer Seville and Cordoba. When you live permanently in Portugal I recommend that you travel to Extremadura and visit Merida, Caceres and Trujillo. Not that far from your place!
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I’ve heard good things about Merida so it was on the list. Most definitely will 🙂 🙂 Thanks, Andrew. Happy Easter!
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Wow, three blades a year! That really speaks to the quality.
And this, “random and haphazard way with cobbled lanes revealing new delights at every twist and turn.” My kind of place. Thanks Andrew for the tour. –Curt
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Like most cities in Spain Toledo is a real delight. You would like it for sure.
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Peggy and I are semi-planning a trip to Portugal with Peg’s sister and brother-in-law. I’d love to add Spain to out itinerary. –Curt
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Portugal, how wonderful, where will you go I wonder?
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We’ve played around in Albufeira, Evora and Lisbon, all of which I think are worth revisiting. I would like to make it north to Porto as well. Other recommendations? –Curt
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Lisbon is a great city but I think there are better places along the Algarve than Albufeira.
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Recommendations? 🙂
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To be honest I’d skip the Algarve and see Lisbon, Evora and a little further north to Tomar (I know a great hotel) and I would skip across the border into Spain and visit Extremadura.
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Thanks, Andrew. I’ve made a note on your recommendations. –Curt
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From Portugal quite easy to cross into Extremadura, one of the best regions in all of Spain, the home of the Conquistadors!
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I’m pretty sure we will be in Evora, not too far away. Thanks, Andrew.
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That castle just the sort of p[lace the Spaniards would have garroted their condemned in, I’m not over fond of the Spanish, It is just a bit over 40 years since they gave up the practice of garroting. The most vicious form of execution ever used.
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I suppose any form of execution is quite unpleasant Brian!
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and this was the worst https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrote
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Yes very unpleasant indeed!
Mankind has thought up some cruel ways to behave.
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Wonderful views and as you say superb cathedral. I made the classic man mistake of saying we could walk back down to the station and got hopelessly lost. That was the final nail in the coffin of my wife trusting my sense of direction!
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That is really serious. Always bad to make map reading errors in front of your wife. They always treat it a moment of triumph!
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. . . now I want Zorro’s sword . . .
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Everyone wants Zorro’s sword. Do you remember how Tyrone Power sliced through that candle and how Basil Rathbone laughed because he thought that he had missed?
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Yes. I think that scene is recreated in many movies and was itself copied from earlier films.
If I’m remembering correctly, Basil was quite the swordsman in real life with impressive fencing skills (I say this but since I’m not checking it, it could be I’m remembering a different actor).
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Basil Rathbone was the Hollywood Pantomime Villain. Do you remember him in Robin Hood with Errol Flynn?
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Yes, and I’m pretty sure that he’s the actor that was an accomplished fencer despite always losing to title characters.
. . . now, I’ll have to look that up . . . yes, he was:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Rathbone?wprov=sfla1
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Never destined to make the scene before the final credits!
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Nice info of Toledo – will consider going in through the sidedoor of the cathedral when we go.
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Worth a try to avoid the entrance fee. Thanks for stopping by!
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my pleasure
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Much enjoyed Toledo and its cathedral many years ago
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Great city, been twice, feels different to other Spanish cities to me.
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Mmm, can’t say I recall.
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I seem to remember that Toledo was one of the world’s three top places for swords, along with Damascus and somewhere in Japan that I’ve forgotten. I had a book as a kid, and it said that they tested swords of that level by cutting a silk handkerchief in half in mid-air. All I know is that it doesn’t work with kitchen towels and an ordinary knife!
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I bet those current sword makers don’t confine themselves to just four or so a year. After all, I presume these days they’re merely ornamental.
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I imagine so Margaret, the tourist shops are full of them.
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A place I would love to see for its spectacular location
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Spectacular and Dramatic!
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I’m sure….I always loved El Greco’s View ofToledo….
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