The Events of Saturday, April 9, 2011

                To accomplish all we had planned today, we started early. We were ready for our host/landlord at 8:40 when he arrived with our car (he had let us park it in his secure underground garage). We loaded up our bags and hit the road by 9:00. Traffic was light on this Saturday morning, and we were parked in Toledo by 10:00. As we left the Toledo parking garage, we saw some folks in Renaissance clothing. I asked them if there was some special event, and they answered, yes, a free exhibition would begin at 11:00. Next, Caitlin led us to the Tourist Information center, where we secured a map of Toledo and more information about the events of the day. Right outside the TI, a man told us there was a special open workshop of Toledan artisans, located under a nearby convent. That interested us all, so we added that to our agenda.

                A block away we found the Toledo Cathedral, widely considered the grandest in Spain. While the outside was unimpressive (there are weeds growing on the exterior walls), the interior was indeed awesome. The architecture combines Baroque and Romanesque features, because fashion changed during its 250 years of construction. Photos and videos were prohibited, and words are insufficient to describe the vastness and intricacy of design in this vast building. So I will focus on just one piece: the main “altar”. Constructed of gold-gilt wood, it stands about 60 feet high and 40 feet wide.  An iron gate kept us about 20 feet away, but even with the barrier, the altar’s mass and grandeur riveted our attention. It contained about a dozen carvings representing Biblical scenes, and working as a family we identified all of them. We wandered in and out of the various church chapels and museums, enjoying the great art and absorbing the majesty.

                Next we visited the artisan workshop, where we watched the process of “damascening”. Damascene wares, though original to Damascus (in Greece), are a specialty of Toledo. The craftsman etches a steel plate and then inlays fine thread of copper, silver, or gold. Our workshop guide explained that, when “fired” at 500⁰ C, the gold threads will melt, which changes their color and patina. In the showroom, the girls admired the showcases of finished Damascene wares. Abby took a fancy to a pendant heart within a heart, decorated with a bird, a leaf and a flower. Since next Wednesday she will turn twelve, we made this pendant (and an accompanying necklace cord) her early birthday present. She happily wore it the rest of the day.

                Another Toledo specialty is “mazapán” (which we call marzipan). The best mazapán, the one all the locals buy, is from the Santo Tomé bakery, so we headed there next. Pam and I know we do not particularly like the stuff, but the kids were curious to try it. So I bought a piece for €0.40. They liked it.

                I heard gunfire as we approached the “exposition” taking place at Alcazár, Toledo’s imperial palace. When we reached the front gate, we saw many people in period costume acting out troop movements of a battle. It was difficult to know exactly what historical event they were re-enacting, because we were arriving in the middle, and the narration was in Spanish. What I did gather was that a group of 18,000 Toledans, who until recently had been farmers and merchants, bravely defended their city from two invading armies. There was a drummer, a conch-horn player, and two musicians playing oboe-like instruments, who bravely marched the Toledo army forward into battle. All six of us were less than ten feet away from the infantrymen when they began firing their muskets. I enjoyed watching people jump and cringe when the guns fired. (Ben commented that in the U.S., this demonstration would have been quite different. Our laws severely limit firearms demonstrations and entirely prohibit hand-to-hand combat.) We took plenty of videos and photos of the intensifying combat. The drama ended as forces charged toward one another with bayonets, and that is where the narration ceased. So, we do not know whether the Toledo troops won or lost, but it was quite clear that they fought bravely against two larger and more experienced enemy forces.

                After a busy battle, we were hungry for lunch. Our tour guide Caitlin told us that the local specialties are roasted suckling pig and lamb, and she led us to a restaurant that served both. We ordered one of each, as well as several other Spanish dishes to share. We enjoyed fish-stuffed red peppers (quite tasty); partridge in beans (stewed pinto beans with bits of poultry, but still a tasty mixture); seafood paella (much better than the paella we had in Madrid); cochifrito (marinated pork); pollo asada (chicken); and a potato-egg omelet/casserole that they call “tortilla”.

                We retrieved our car from the parking garage and drove to Granada. While we drove, Caitlin read to us about this vast, empty area known as “La Mancha”. For the first hour or two, the landscape was flat and dry, but later we entered hills covered with olive trees. Abby wondered how they harvested the olives, since the hills are too steep for tractors. We’ll have to return someday during the harvest to find out the answer. There is one other item of interest to report: in addition to huge, metal roadside bulls, we saw today a huge, metal flamenco guitarist, with black body, red jacket, and red hat. Quite striking! We’ll see if we can get a photo of each and post them.

                Our lodging in Granada is called “Camping & Bungalows Maria Eugenia”. Most of the complex is devoted to campers. We saw several RVs, but they are much smaller than “Harvey”. In the back of the complex are the bungalows, where we are staying in #1. Like a hotel or motel, we have a private entry door and a parking spot. The rooms are small and dark, and the amenities are few. Since we had such a large, late lunch, we lounged around for a couple hours before putting together our “linner” (lunch stuff at dinnertime): salad and sandwiches with some combination of peanut butter, jelly, honey, and Nutella. And for dessert, we enjoyed a combination that was new for us: Maria crackers and Choco Duo (like frosting with swirls of milk chocolate and white chocolate).

                After dinner, Ben figured out how to use the shower, while the girls figured out how to make the couch into a bed (and how to put a pillowcase on a four-foot-long pillow that was to be shared). The bungalow has only two rooms, and kids were sleeping in both. So Pam curled up by the nightlight to read, while I used the laptop (hurrah for WiFi!) to arrange for our lodging in Ireland.