As we skirted Granada, the weather suddenly changed and what was a lovely sunny morning became a horrendous, with torrential rain accompanied by lightening.
The visibility at times was less than 20 metres.
It was difficult driving so we broke what was to be a 51/2 hour journey a number of times. The weather finally relented as we left the autovia for Madrid to divert to Toledo, just 150km short of the 545 km journey.
On arrival in Toledo, we checked into the NH Hesperia, 1 km from the old town and across from the bull ring.
We were so exhausted, particularly CC that we decided to eat at the hotel - menu del dia €14.95 pp - not haute cuisine but an excellent, tasty meal of 3 courses in addition to a glass of beer, wine or water.
This morning (Tuesday), we took the 5Bus to the old town. We entered through the Puerta and the bus's final stop was outside the Alcazar, originally a fortress but the present building was constructed by Carlos V, however, as it has been bombarded many ties, little remains of the original structure. In1936, the Republicans besieged the Nationalists (Facists) there for two months!! Franco rebuilt it after the Civil War as a tribute to its glorious defenders. (yes that man again!!).
The museum records the breadth of Spanish history and among its exhibits is a full a Nazi uniform complete with swastica!
After two hours at the Alcazar, we exited to find that the sunny morning had been replaced by heavy rain. None of our weather apps had forecasted rain!!
We decided to grace a busy nearby restaurant as a refuge from the rain. Again we chose the Menu del Dia €14.95 pp. There were about 5 choices for starter, main and dessert.
Mushrooms to start
Followed by Venison Stew
And ended with a custard
Together with a glass of red crianza wine.
After an hour the rain eased and we made our way to the nearby Catedral Primavera. The €10 ticket entitled us to an audio guide, which was not at all helpful.
The cathedral is spectacular in Gothic style. It took 250 years to build. (1227-1493). It contains masterpieces of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque style. It had a 100m spire and close up, one cannot appreciate its scale and grandeur.
There are 8 doorways.
The main altar is the most amazing riot of gold - an exhuberance of Gothic art. It contains a synopsis of the entire NewTestament culminating in the depiction of Calvary at the summit.
There are magnificent stained glass windows dating from the 15th and 16th centuries.
On front of the altar is the Coro (Choir) with carved wooden stalls - the lower level depicts the conquest of Granada with each seat showing a different village taken by the Christians from the Moors. The tier above depicts Old Testament characters. The grill that encloses the Choir is said to be plated in gold but it was covered in iron to disguise its value from Napoleon's troops and has since been impossible to renovate!!
Over twenty chapels adorn the walls. In the Sacristia is the Disrobing of Christ by El Greco
and in the adjoining rooms called the New Museums is housed paintings by among others Caravaggio
and El Greco.
A visit to San Tome is a must, where prior to entering the church is displayed the main attraction of Toledo The Burial of the Count of Orgaz.
In this painting El Greco depicts himself and his son among the mourners.
Finally no visit to Toledo would be complete without a trip to Casa del Greco - not the artist's actual home though he did rent premises close by. The case not only exhibits his paintings among them a painting of each apostle with Christ at the centre
and View of the Map of Toledo but living quarters as they would have been in El Greco's era.
Making our way back to the hotel, we dropped in on the nuns for a coffee and cake.
On we continued through rain drenched streets
with shops windows tempting us with local fare.
Arriving back at the hotel, having spent 8 hours sightseeing, we couldn't brace ourselves to return to the rain-drenched streets,thus a bottle of wine, a pizza and the telly completed a long but interesting day.
Tomorrow we depart for Bilbao.....
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