Crooked Windmills and Curvy Paths..: Holy Toledo!

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Holy Toledo!

There were stairs.. stairs and more stairs.. Dear God, did they stretch all the way to heaven??!! And who could possibly get to heaven if the pathway up was an infinite climb of stairs?? We would reach Saint Peter, panting and gasping, doubled over in worldly overworked muscular pain, but at least we would reach the presence of God with strong calves and fit thighs! Fortunately though, for our choir, the climb up the steep hill to Toledo, consists of an efficient network of escalators, thus merging the beauty of an ancient royal city with the modern practicalities of today.

After a cultured morning of wandering the impressive Prado art museum in Madrid on our third day (some of us will admit to being completely lost from the group while surrounded by breathtaking art,) we filed obediently onto our bus for the 70 kilometer drive southwest to the dramatic loveliness of Toledo. A famed haven to religious tolerance, Toledo was home to Romans, Moors, Jews and Christians up until the final Christian conquest in the 11th century and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 and the last of the Moors in 1502. From it's high perch over the Tagus River, Toledo remained the capital of Spain until the 1500s when the Royal court ran off to Madrid. (I'm sure it was for the shopping..)

Upon arriving at the foot of the town, the choir rushed the public restrooms for a much needed potty break (these may have been one of only two public restrooms in all of Spain, or so it seemed… this constant bathroom quest would become a theme on our cross country journey..) After receiving the blessings of our happy bladders, we ascended the stairs to old Toledo, following our two attractive male guides (I adore Spain.)

While meandering through the narrow cobbled streets of Toledo we passed the Catedral de Toledo on which construction began in 1226, we wandered between the hallowed pillars of Santa María la Blanca rumored to be the oldest standing synagog in Europe, and ironically built in 1180 under Christian rule by Islamic architects, and we stopped to stare at the different ornate door knockers embellishing the simple wood doors of the city center.

Our tour's end filtered us into the vestibule of the Iglesia de Santo Tomé where we sat and stood, our eyes trained on the vibrancy of the 16th century El Greco painting 'El entierro del Conde de Orgaz' (The Burial of the Count of Orgaz) Built and expanded upon in the 14th century, thanks to funds donated by the Count depicted in El Greco's famed painting, Santo Tomé, had a lovely little choir loft overlooking the yellow walls and white trim of the church below. After an excessively short warmup in a pretty interior courtyard, we lined up compactly in the choir loft, listening intently through the Spanish mass parts in order to anticipate our musical entrances. As the mass finished, we walked down, took our place on the alter steps, turned to face an audiences made up half of our own and half of those who call Toledo home, we acknowledged our maestro, raised our music, inhaled deeply, and proceeded to fill the warm church with our pilgrim voices.