Ron took a tour of the cathedral that is visible from outside the city. In the Sacristy or robing room of the church you can see an El Greco painting, “El Expolio” or “The Disrobing of Christ”. The gold structure is called the “Monstrance” and is the vessel in which the Eucharist is carried during special processions. It is about 10 feet tall (with the base) and is made of 40 pounds of gold and 400 pounds of silver! This cathedral is known for a relic, a stone where the Virgin Mary stood while presenting a vestment to Saint Ildefonso for his special devotion to her. The stone is in a box with a little window below a relief that illustrates the presentation.
The high altar is behind a huge fence. The five-story wall behind the altar is covered with carvings of events in the life of Christ. One more impressive sight is the painting of Joseph with his son, Jesus. This painting is 35 feet tall.
Day 100 of 111. Toledo, Spain
From Madrid it is about a 45 minute drive to Toledo. This is an Medieval town originally surrounded by a large wall for defense. Even from a distance, we can see two iconic buildings, the Alcazar and the Cathedral. We had to leave our bus outside the city walls and walk in due to the narrow and winding streets. High up on a hill (tough climb) we briefly visited a church. This is Good Friday and preparations are being made for processions through the city. Behind the church is a monastery (San Juan de Los Reyes) with a strange but striking skeleton over the entrance. Inside are two layers of beautiful cloisters surrounding a peaceful garden. This church was built by Isabella (Ferdinand and Isabella). Toledo has a history that dates way back. At one point, the Christians, the Muslims, and the Jews coexisted in Toledo very nicely. The Jewish Quarter in town is marked with small tiles of Hebrew words and menorahs. In Roman times, the Hebrew scholars were extremely useful in translating the Ancient Greek texts into other languages.
Before and during Isabella’s coming to power the expulsion of the Jews from Toledo occurred. We visited two former synagogues buildings that still exist. Both were built with the help of the Muslims and show the style of their culture. One of the synagogues survived because it was transformed into a Catholic Church. All of the decoration inside was covered with plaster. The building is now a museum and much of the original finishes have been restored. There are no synagogues in Toledo. The former synagogues are now museums useful for the Spanish to learn about this faith.
Next to the water, there is a monument to El Greco… the site of his former home. We got to visit a small church with a huge, famous painting by El Greco that shows the miracle of the burial of the man who built the church. Two saints appeared at his burial to help lay him in his tomb. El Greco was commissioned to paint the picture 200 years after the scene it depicts.
We had some free time for lunch and wandering. We found an interesting restaurant (Casa de Cisneros) that was entered by climbing down a narrow, winding staircase. In the dining rooms, the floors were made of glass so you could see the original rock walls below. The sign at the front of the restaurant said, “Welcome to the XI century”. Ron had pork with Roquefort and I had rabbit!
Day 99 of 111. Madrid, Spain
One of the biggest attractions of this overland trip was the chance to spend some time in the Prada Museum. Unfortunatly, absolutely no photographs were allowed inside the museum. Ron had a list in his head of the masterpieces he was hoping to see and I think we saw at least 10 of them. Our guide was knowledgeable and we learned a lot about the Spanish painters, Velasquez (who did the painting above), Goya and Murillo. We also saw paintings by Rembrandt and Ron’s favorite El Greco (he was born on Crete in a house just a few miles from where we docked in Iraklion).
Paintings caught our eyes. “Fable” (Paul’s choice) by El Greco shows a boy blowing on an ember. The boy is surrounded by a monkey and a man with a foolish expression. I was attracted by the interesting use of light. A picture that impressed Ron was “The 3rd of May in Madrid” or “The Executions” by Goya which commemorates the Spanish Resistance to Napoleon during the Peninsular War in 1808. Goya painted the picture in 1814.
Day 99 of 111. Madrid, Spain
The ship was docked in Barcelona when we took off on a train to Madrid. We will meet the ship when it gets to Cadiz. We only have a few more ports and then a seven-day sea voyage to get back to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. It has been an amazing adventure. I seem to use the adjective, “amazing” quite a bit, but it is a perfectly valid word to describe the mind-expanding experience this has all been.
Two items… how will we pack everything we have in our staterooms into the bags we have brought. On the Holland America Grand World Voyage, we get to our rooms and occasionally find gifts sitting on our beds. Sometimes these are hats, sometimes beautiful (and bulky) glass picture frames, Lego kits to make little ms Amsterdam ships, and luckily even an extra suitcase. Add to this the few souvenirs we have purchased. Luckily, we do not buy very much. This packing will be problematic, but apparently on the way home a representative from FedEx will join the ship and help with shipping stuff home.
Our second item is the fact that we are still several hours out of sync with the US. We passed the International Date Line early in the cruise, so we have been a day ahead of our friends at home for the great majority of this trip. We have had instruction to set our clocks back an hour, every once in awhile. On the trip across the Atlantic, we will have to set our clocks back almost every night. This will result in 25 hour days, which is fine with me!
While the ship is docked in Barcelona, we boarded a train for an overland trip to Madrid. This was a high-speed train that got up to a speed of 187 mph (301 km/h). When we found our Madrid tour guide and boarded the bus, we drove to a beautiful public park that used to be the private property of the royal family (Parque del Buen Retiro). There was a nice lake with a lot of people in row boats, street artists, a puppet show, fountains, and lots of people. After our short visit, we took a panoramic tour of the city. One sight was a large vertical garden on the side of a building. Madrid is a very green city with many trees and plants.
Our guide told us that two iconic symbols of the city of Madrid are a triumphal arch (The Alcala Gate) built by King Charles the III and a fountain of the goddess of agriculture (Cibeles) on a chariot pulled by two lions. After our tour, we had two hours to ourselves at the Plaza Mayor. After lunch, we found a churro and chocolate shop. The chocolate is amazingly thick, so we dipped the churros but only drank a little of the leftover got chocolate. We wandered around the shops and a large square where Ron had his picture taken as a bullfighter. We found the Museum of Ham which was a store where you could buy whole hams or many varieties of ham-based snacks. We took a turn through the Mercado de San Miguel which is an indoor market where you can get a drink and then walk around and buy all sorts of interesting and sometimes exotic things to eat.