Day 4 - Madrid to Toledo:
After
three very full days in Madrid, the entire group repacked and left for
our next destination, Toledo, Spain. Toledo is a very historic city
for Spain. Toledo was once the capital city of Spain. Typically in
Europe, one will find many cities on hills, so that they may be at an
advantageous position upon possible invasions. Toledo must be one of
the most dense cities ever built on a mountain. Streets are generally
no wider than the width of a car and a pedestrian or two, with many
streets even narrower. This particular site was selected because it is
on a mountain with a raging river on three sides of the city. A barrier
wall was built on the fourth side to protect the city. Toledo has the
unique distinction of being the only city in Spain never taken by force
by an enemy, in part due to this typography.
Another
fascinating fact about Toledo is fact that the entire city is a huge
labyrinth. There is no street in the city that has a dead-end! Once in
the center of town, it is virtually impossible to negotiate to the edge
of town as a foreigner. If any enemy were to invade the city, they
would have a very difficult time to get to any destination with any
certainty. Couple this with the fact that the entire city is like a
walker’s version of our San Francisco, this makes this city very
undesirable for any foreign invader.
The
city appeared to be very high in the sky as we had to take seven steep
escalators up the mountain just to get relatively close to the main
section of the town. Then at the top of the escalators, we still had
several levels of steps to climb to get near the lowest point of the
city center.
We
learned that in this city of eighty-four thousand, Toledo is known for
its perfect combination of Jewish, Muslims, and Christian cultures.
Many buildings contain architectural elements from all three cultures.
Rather than these separate cultures just tolerating each other, this
community embraced all their differences.
One
of the major stops on our walking tour was to see the most beloved
masterpiece of the greatest Spanish artists - "El Greco" who lived in
Toledo for the last thirty seven years of his life. His masterpiece was
entitled “ The Funeral of the Count of Orgaz” housed in the St. Thomas
Church. This is a large painting, oil on canvas, which illustrates a
popular local legend. It is divided into two zones, 1) the heavens
above and 2) the terrestrial below, brought together in stunning
fashion. El Greco’s home is now a museum open to the public.
After
the tour we had a group lunch, where once again we tasted foods that we
had never experienced. This time, we were served partridge as an
appetizer in salad which was very tasty. Many were glad NOT to know
what they were eating until after the fact, and after they enjoyed their
meal!
We
then left for our - Hotel Beatriz Toledo, which was a much better
establishment than in Madrid. We only had two hours to check in to the
hotel, eat, and return for our 8PM concert. Once again, it was an
adventure getting to the venue, given that the streets were so very
narrow, that only a car an one pedestrian may progress through on most
streets, certainly not made for modern automobiles. Knowing that we
needed to get closer to the venue for some older persons accompanying us
in the tour, we had a local police escort us to the venue with a
smaller vehicle for 12 members of the group.
Tonight’s
concert was at a professional theatre in Toledo - Teatro de Rojas,
known for the many major artists who have performed over the years in
this hall. This concert was sold-out. Additionally, we had arranged
for this concert to be professionally videotaped for possible future
sale and/or promotion.
The
sound in this hall was far superior to our previous concert which was
in a large cavernous church with an underpowered amplification system
for our concert and especially our brand of music. At the end of the
concert, we were met with enormous applause and appreciation. The choir
and I felt very good about the overall musicianship of this concert.
After the concert, at least one hundred audience members stayed behind
to congratulate the choir and ask for autographs and photos. See
attached photos from the day in Toledo and our second concert in Spain.
EC
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