El Escorial

The next morning we had an early breakfast and checked out of out hotel.  We loaded up the bus and headed north.  Our destination was the city of Logrono one hundred and fifty miles north on the Ebro River.  But before we made the trip to Logrono, Ed made arrangements to visit El Escorial, 28 miles north west of Madrid.  There we planned to see he royal mausoleum, museum, library, the pictorial map room, and the Titian painting of St Lawrence.

The yellow star marks Escorial

 We no sooner got under way, when we heard yelling from the back of the bus, "Air!, Air! AIR!..."
The rowdy ones in the back were complaining again.   Their complaint was well deserved, however, because in time we all felt the need for air conditioning.  Ed was sitting in the front talking with the driver who was trying to get the air to come on.  Finally, he decided to stop at a service station  and see if he could get another bus as we would be driving over one hundred miles to get to Logrono, and we couldn't do it without air unless we wanted to look like miserable limp poppies upon arrival!

Everyone even Jose has some advice for Ed!

Since we had some time on our hands, I took the opportunity to do a run and do my stretches which felt great under the Spanish sun.  Meanwhile, Ed was on his cell phone trying to get us a bus with AIR!  These are the times you can really appreciate a tour director and see how much influence he can muster with the head honchos.  Apparently, he had clout because shortly a new bus came rolling into the parking lot.  We loaded up again, and we were off to El Escorial.

The dignitaries of the parking station came to greet us.

Upon arrival at the bus parking lot, we got out and followed Ed toward El Escorial complex in hopes that our guides would be waiting for us in spite of our delay.

Through the tunnel we go!

As we emerged from the tunnel we met our guides who seemed relieved to see us.

Our guides...I hoped they had a sense of humor!

Our guides said we were to divide into two groups.  Then we waited for out turn to go into the building.    It was a good time to take pictures in the courtyard known as the Patio
de los Reyes.  According to James Michener this area was big enough to hold army maneuvers.

Loretta and Charmaine posing in the Patio de los Reyes in front of the church

El Escorial came about as a result of the death of king CarlosV who had requested his son Felipe II to build a resting place for him when he died.  Well, Felipe  had lots of New World gold in his coffer, and he decided not only to build a resting place for his father, but a mausoleum for all the Habsburg royalty.  He looked around for a nice hill and he found one at the foot of Mt. Abantos. It was made of gray and black stone which was residue from near by iron  mines in Guadamarra, hence the name Escorial meaning The Slag Heap.

Felipe then looked for an architect and he found a Spanish architect who had done most of his work in  Rome by the name of Juan Batista de Toledo. It took 21 years to build it and unfortunately Toledo died before it was completed.  It was up to Juan de Herrera, his apprentice to finish the job in 1584. the floor plan they chose was that of King Solomon's Temple because Felipe held Solomon in high esteem.  The over all look was like that of a grid iron to honor St. Lawrence who in the third century A.D. was martyred by being roasted to death on a grill.  The legend goes that The Prefect of Rome, who was on a rampage killing all the officials of the fledgling Catholic Church, asked St Lawrence to bring him all the riches of the church. St Laurence, who was a deacon, said he needed three days to gather it up.  He did gather it up including the holy chalice that was used in the Last  Supper.  He sent this with his brother to Huesca in Aragon to his parents for safe keeping. The rest of the riches he distributed to the poor.  In three days he gathered the poor and sick people who were supported by the church and presented them to the prefect saying, "This is the Church's treasure!" The Prefect was so pissed off that he condemned Lawrence to a slow, cruel death.  King Felipe II commemorated the edifice as victory of the Spanish forces against the French at the battle of St. Quentin on August 10 on the feast day of St. Lawrence.

Painting by Titian of St. Lawrence being martyred

Our group followed the lady guide who spoke very good English.  She led us to the museum which is regarded as the 8th Wonder of the Modern World.  We viewed many paintings, but the one  I took great interest viewing was the Defeat of the Spanish Armada. The great Armada was also built using the wealth from the New World and many from Bolivia will tell you that it came from the Andes Mountains near Potosi.  King Felipe II was again in charge of this, and he had a few feathers in his cap already having won the battle of San Quentin, and building the Escorial. Interestingly, he was married to Mary queen of Scots and he deemed Queen Elizabeth of England was a heretic since she was no longer a Catholic.  If he defeated England, maybe the country could return to Catholicism. Unfortunately Elizabeth gad Mary beheaded and furthermore she supported the Dutch in their battle against Spain to become Protestant.

Felipe II

 The Great Armada was sent to England in 1588 to teach England a lesson for pirate raids against the galleons returning from the New World. The Armada had 151 ships, 800 sailors, 1800 soldiers carrying 1500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns. Of the 151 ships it had 28 war ships, four galleys with 200 rowers, four galleasses (small galleons with rowers), armed carracks, hulks used as prison ships, and 34 light ships and barges. It took two days for the great Armada to leave port on May 28th.  The English outnumbered the Spanish fleet by 200 ships, though the Spanish had more guns.

The Spanish Armada engaging in battle with the English fleet in the English Channel.

The Armada was actually defeated by poor strategy, bad luck, insufficient knowledge of navigation and poor leadership.  They had planned to meet with a 30,00 soldiers in the Spanish Netherlands and these were to be conveyed by barges to attack London. The English tried to negotiate a peace, but when English ships  tried to intercept the Armada at the Bay of Biscay peace efforts failed. The original commander with a lot of experience  was Marquis of Santa Cruz, but he died in February of 1588 a few months before leaving port.  The Duke of Medina Sidonia, a high born courtier but with no experience at sea took his place.  This was not a good choice for such a mission.

 When the Armada reached the entrance to the channel, they had a chance to attack the English fleet at which was dead in the water in Plymouth Harbor. This would have made all the difference for the Armada. But Sidonia gave the order to go to meet the troupes in Flanders to barge them across to London instead. As they passed in the channel, the English had lookouts all along the coasts, and they as soon as they were able attacked the Armada from behind.  There was quite a battle in the channel near the Eddystone Rocks with the Armada upwind at a disadvantage.   They failed to meet the troops in Flanders as they were forced to continue around Scotland and on around Ireland.  The English ships kept after them with their smaller ships that had more ability to manoeuver in close quarters and so the Spanish guns could not sink them.

 By the time the Spanish fleet got in the North Sea, storms had come up and pushed the Spanish ships into the dangerous, rocky Irish coast.   Many Spanish sailors lost their lives.  The lucky ones who made it to shore were saved when and they got gathered up be the sweet Irish girls. Thus started a new strain of beautiful Black Irish children.  The Irish also gathered up all the floating potatoes that the Spanish carried in their ships brought from the New World from the land if the Incas.  This new food staple saved the Irish who were not able to raise wheat in their poor soil.

The Armada limped back to Spain after their defeat having lost as many as fifty ships.  Felipe II was never the same after that.  He resolved to live in Escorial and did little to improve agriculture, trade, or art and literature.  The Black Legend surrounds his last days at Escorial. The legend consisted of these postulates: 1. Catholicism captured Spain and adopted a policy of keeping the country in darkness, 2.  Using Spain as a base, Catholicism intended to enslave the world. 3.  In order to police the conquests on the New World,  4.  Spanish Catholicism used  the Inquisition to subdue territories.  4.  The one responsible for evil designs was FelipeII, 5.  He was basically evil and committed crimes to further his aims. The growing forces of protestant reformation all around Europe fanned much of these feelings against Spain as well as the jealousies of all the riches brought in from the New World.

Our guide led us to the chart room were we were able to see maps that were drawn of the world as the explorers came to new continents.  They gave the information to the monks who did the detail work of map making.  They were surprisingly accurate compared to present day maps.  We then went to a room where our guide pointed out a sundial given to Felipe II  from the king of Germany.  The sundial was on the floor as a long line with a light emanating through a hole in the wall.  the months were written on the floor and as the light hit at one time of the day through the hole it would mark the accurate month.Looking out the window from this room we could see the garden which had an English appeal like you would see in Alice in Wonderland.

 In these rooms also were the family trees of the king's genelogical line, and many portraits of the royals by master painters. We then were privileged to see the king's bedroom which was situated right next to the altar of the church so he had immediate access to the church where he could pray.

We then followed our guide down some little stairs to the mausoleum.  There in circular room  were the caskets of all the ruling kings.  Also the queens who gave birth to ruling heirs were buried here.

Mausoleum with caskets of the kings and queens.

Then we followed her to the room of the buried prince and princesses.

Smaller caskets of the princes and princesses

We then went through the Church which was very large and built very similarly to other churches in the form of a cross.  We were pointed out the secret door next to the altar where King Felipe II could enter the church from his bedroom.

Cathedral of San Lorenzo

We were prepared to sing in this church all of us wearing our pastel shirts. We were told that we got permission from the monastery friars.  Tim got us in a semicircle and we began to sing.  Then we saw the guards approaching.  Again Ed told them that the friars gave us premission and they turned and went back to check.  We began singing "Jubilato Deo," then sang "All My Trials," and "Secure."  We had our numbers down perfectly and soon we were done.  As we dispersed out of the church the guards came back but we were all gone.  We chalked that one up as a great performance and we were thrilled that we were able to sing in such a beautiful church!

Singing with all our passion!

Everyone went out to the courtyard and we enjoyed the sunshine and a chance to go to the gift shop where some of us bought samples of replicas of ancient maps that were drawn by the monks.

Then we had the option to go up the steep staircase to the monk's library,  or just take a rest while others like me scampered up to see the library.

Taking a rest!

Upstairs I joined the group with the gentleman guide and fell right in with Lorraine and Charmaine.

The Guide pointed out the books on the shelf with the gold side up.  He was asked how one would find the book if the spine is facing back.  He explained that first of all the books are placed this way on the shelf because the light would be reflected back when it hits the gold, thus saving the books from deterioration.  The books are listed by numbers.  All the shelves are numbered, and the books are numbered from left to right.  So a monk wanting a book would get two numbers, the first for the shelf and the second for the book. 

The guide went on and pointed out all kinds of books that this library that may not be acceptable in a catholic library: Books about astronomy for instance that showed the sun was the center of the universe not the earth.  They had books by Galileo, books by Muslims, books about protestants, etc.  Another worlds this library was open minded!  He also pointed out books by St. Teresa who was one of the only female authors represented.  We all felt good about all of this, and we left with great respect for the King and for the monastery and the monks for this wonderful library.

We all learned a lot and we thanked Ed for making sure we got to see El Escorial. We headed for the bus where we found a great deli where we got sandwiches and ice cream. Now we were ready to get on the bus and head for Logrono.

El Greco in Toledo

Our group posing as we left the cathedral.

We left the cathedral still in awe of all we had seen.  We followed our guide (in a red shirt waving his hands to hurry up already!) back through the city streets passing by street musicians.  If we were not in such a hurry, it would have been nice to stay and listen for a bit.  Our guide had other places to take us and if we did not follow quickly we would certainly lose him. We were going to see the most celebrated painting by El GRECO.

 El Greco (Domennikos Theotokopoulus) came to Toledo around the age of 36 after leaving his home country of Crete which was owned by Venice at the time.  He developed his art in Venice and in Rome.  By the time he was studying in Rome he was developing his unique style if elongated figures and his use of colors. This style was quite different from that of Michelangelo whom everyone held in high regard. So El Greco left for Toledo which at the time  was the religious capital of Europe.  In Toledo he met with emissaries of Phillip II who provided many commissions one of which was the Burial of Count of Orgaz.  


The legend  behind the painting centers around Don Gonzalo Ruiz.  He was a native of Toledo and a lord of the town of Orgaz twenty miles south of Toledo.  When he died in 1323 he donated a lot of money to the town and money to improve the church of San Tome. He also gave money to the Augustine friers.  Legend says that because he was such a religious man that when he died St. Stephen and St. Augustine came down from heaven and carried him with their own hands to his burial site, this chapel, in front of the astonished crowd.

 This was the painting that El Greco was commissioned by Andres Nunez of Madrid, the curate of the church. As part of the pious tribute the people of Orgaz were to pay to the curator of the church and the ministers as well as the poor of the parish two sheep, sixteen hens, two wine skins full of wine, two loads of firewood, and 800 coins.  This was to be an annual offering but the people refused to pay.  So it was brought up as a law suit and the people of Orgaz were forced to pay by the order of the Chancery of Valladolid.  The case was energetically prosecuted by Andres Nunez and Pedro Ruiz the administrator of the church. This successful lawsuit led to the commission of the painting. In 1586 El Greco was asked to paint the burial and pay homage to the aristocracy, poets, scholars, and Nunez and Ruiz by immortalizing them in the painting.

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz

The painting is divided into two parts; the upper part shows the heavenly figures, and the lower part shows the burial on earth. The Dormition of the Virgin was said to be a composition model for this painting because of the structure of the two parts. There is so much to see in this painting that  you would need to sit and stare at it for a whole  afternoon.  That is just what  James Michener did  in 1964  when he described it in his book, Iberia. So I would like to play a game with  you and see if you can find the people, or hidden objects in this painting.  I will start with the easy ones first:
      Jesus Christ
      Virgin Mary
      Count of Orgaz in two places
      St. John the Baptist
      St. Peter
      apostles
      martyrs
      Biblical kings
      Phillip II of Spain
      St. Augustine
      St. Stephen
      Son of El Greco
     Handkerchief with the artist signature and date if the painting
     The face of El Greco
     The girl angel (all angels were supposed to be male) carrying up the soul of the count.
     Three musicians
     Town dignitaries
     Stoning of St. Stephen
     Keys of St. Peter
     Andres Nunez
     Pedro Ruiz
     Brother of the St. Augustine Order
    
As you can imagine we did not have enough time to savor this painting, and at the time the guide did not explain very much of it to us.  Father Cadarso was doing his best but it was difficult for all of us to hear and fully understand.  So I hope this quiz will be a bit enlightening. 

We left the little church with blinking eyes into the hot Spanish sun and followed our guide down the streets of Toledo.  When we came up to the 'Toledo Boy' we were all ready for  lunch and cold one.

Streets of Toledo and the Cathedral

Toledo at sunset

We were now ready to see the sights of Toledo. We met our guide at Zocodover square and set up a plan to see the city.  We would not be going to the Alcazar as it is now used for the military.  As previously mentioned, Toledo has done a great deal of renovations to prepare for tourist.  The Alcazar was a huge renovation project since it was almost destroyed during the Spanish Civil War.  The story goes that in 1936  Colonel Moscado gathered all the military personnel in the Toledo district  and the Civil Guard and barricaded themselves in the Alcazar to hold down the fort against the Nationalist.  they had ammunition but little food and the determined leadership of Colonel Moscardo.  The fighting went on for ten weeks almost to the point of starvation while the Nationalist bombed the walls and dropped bombs on the Alcazar.  Although the fortress was almost destroyed, the Nationalist still had to climb the hill to overtake the fort which they didn't do.  Just in time Franco's troops came and fought off the Nationalists.  By the 1960s the Alcazar was rebuilt and assumed its position as the landmark that is seen standing in its glory today.

Our guide was ready to lead us through the streets of Toledo.

 All the streets in Todelo are very narrow like everywhere else in Spain.  The city was getting ready for the Corpus Christy Festival and the streets were being decorated with banners.  To protect the people from the sun, long  streamers of cloth were strung above all the streets.

Banners of cloth are strung to protect people from the hot sun during the Festival.

The streets, restaurants and shops are kept very clean.  The ministry of tourism does inspections to make sure everything is in perfect order because they depend so much on tourism.

Jean has her camera ready to take pictures of the clean streets.

We walked until we came to the Catheral of St. Mary of Toledo.  It was built in the 13th Century during the rule of Ferdinand III and was modeled after the French style of the Bourges Cathedral. Like many other cathedrals it was built on the same site of the Muslim mosque.  Its high Gothic style is made from white limestone from quarries near Toledo. We had seen our share of cathedrals so far but we would be very surprised at this cathedral because of the paintings by El Greco and other unique structures.

There are five parts of this cathedral that are outstanding:  The Choir, the Main Altar, the Transparente, the Monstrance and famous paintings.  The choir circling the back part of the cathedral can accommodate a chorus of eighty priests who chant during the Mass.  The lowest level is decorated in carved miserichords which are half-seats that can be propped up when the service is long and leaned against so that the singer seems to be standing up  while he is actually sitting down.

Near the top the below the balcony is a row of carved standing figures from the Bible.

Before leaving the choir, we all took notice of the smiling Virgin.  It is a rare marble statue of the standing Virgin and Child which faces the altar.  She wears a white robe and is known as the White Virgin.  They say that she was a gift of St Louis, King of France, in the thirteen century.  What is curious is that both she and Jesus have very dark faces, and are both smiling maybe to look more Moorish since this was once a mosque!

In the chapel of the Sepulchre the retable rises to a great height above the altar. It was commissioned by Cardinal Cisneros in 1497  Mary architects, painters, and sculptures took part in its creation.   It includes beautifully craved filigree of balusters, spires, done by Joan Peti.   It consists of five continuous panels with the center panel being the widest. It is five stories tall and the lines of separation are stair-stepped.  These pictures tell the story of Jesus for the majority of people who could not read.  The themes of the central panel from bottom to top are first the Virgin and Child, then the Nativity, and  then the Ascension.  the top culminates in the monumental scene of Christ's crucifixion at Calvary.  Further themes of the life and passion of Christ are represented on the other panels.

In the cathedral there are separate chapels. In the Mozarabic chapel the dome was designed by the son of El Greco, Jorge Theotocopoulus.  In addition to the composition, Cardinal Cisnero commisioned  Juan de Borgona to depict highlights of the conquest of Oran.

One of the most unique parts of the Cathedral is the altarpiece called El Transperente.
It is a Baroque style combining sculpture and fresco depicting the Mother and Child.  High above is the Last Supper with thirteen full sized polychrome marble celebrants.  then at the very top among whirlwind of angels and clouds is the ascension of the Virgin Mary.The art work was created by Narciso Tome and his four sons (two architects, one painter and one sculptor.) The name  refers to the large skylight that illuminates the high altar.  Another hole cut into the back of the altarpiece allows shafts of sunlight to strike the tabernacle. 

       

The most important treasure kept in the Chapel of Treasure is The Monstrance.  The great Monstrance of Art is also known as La Gran Ostensoria de Toledo. It is made of silver and gold and bejeweled by many gems.  It measures ten feet tall and is used  during the Festival of Corpus Christi.
Enrique de Arfe, a German metalworker from Cologne, worked on his masterpiece for seven years. It was commissioned by Cardinal Cisneros to depict a Gothic temple with columns, arches, vaulting, and delicate lacework. It has 260 statuettes from scenes from the life of Jesus.

The Monstrance

The paintings in this Cathedral are outstanding. First to note is El Greco's painting of The Disrobing of Christ found in the Sacristy of the Cathedral.  He used color as a significant part of his paintings.

The Disrobing of Christ by El Greco

The other impressive painting was one of St. Christopher.  A full size wall fresco of the saint adorned one wall.

                              Now I know why they say, "Holy Toledo!"

Our Visit to Toledo

The next morning we had breakfast and got ready to meet the bus for the trip to Toledo.  Father Cardarso was going to join us on the trip and we were happy to have his company.  He is well known to the St. Joseph's parishioners in Bradenton as he was the visiting priest when Tim joined the church to begin his position as the choral director.  In fact it was Father Cardarso who hired Tim and they have been good friends ever since.  Tim as made many trips to Spain so this this is a special one for him in that he brought us along to sing in the cathedrals and other sites throughout Spain.  We can feel the excitement that Father Cardaso brings to this journey with his great resource of knowledge and his enthusiasm for Spain.

                                       Father Cardaso posing with Toledo in the background

The bus drove south to Toledo which is about an hour drive.  Toledo is situated on a hill which is a perfect place for a fortress. Toledo was a population center as back as the Bronze Age populated by Iberians and Celtiberians.  When the Romans conquered Spain, it became an administrative center for Roman imperialism.  At the fall of the Roman empire the Visigoths, who were escaping the Huns, came to Iberia and  occupied Toledo. Its strategic site served as their capital city for three hundred years. Their contribution was bringing Christianity to Spain.  They also introduced a code of law, a sensible tax system, a centralized government, and a sense of strength to the Spanish character. After the Visigoths converted to Roman Catholic rule, they brought great influence in creating ecclesiastical law.  

In the 8th century the Muslims came to town. Under the Caliphate Cordoba there were several insurrections with other Muslim tribes all trying to become king of the mountain.  This is kind of like a game we used to play among all the kids in the neighborhood.  Those that find the high ground are king of the mountain and being up there there is an advantage of keeping your position.  You can for instants rain down a bunch of dirt clods to those trying to get up the mountain.  Those below have little advantage unless you create a siege such the the king pins up at the top can't come down for food or water.  That works pretty well unless Mom calls us in for dinner, then we have to try the game all over again the next day!  Something like this happened until Abd-ar-Rahman III captured the city following an extensive siege.

The city went through a period called La Convivencia meaning co-existence with the Muslims, Jews, and Christians living together.  It became one of the richest capitals in all of Andalusia.  During this period several monuments were built: the Alcazar, Synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca, the Synagogue of Transito, Mosque of Cristo de la Luz and the church of San Sabastian.

In 1085 Alphonso VI from Castille overpowered the Muslims and took Toledo.  This was the first city to fall to the Christians forces of  Castille and Leon. In spite of this change, Toledo still hailed as cultural city.  Its buildings were not destroyed and the Arab library was not pillaged. In fact Alfonzo the wise set up a team of translators who would translate the Arabic books into Hebrew, then into Spanish, then into Latin.  Arab, Jewish, Spanish, and Castillian scholars sat side by side and worked together amassing a great deal of information that would be preserved for future generations.  Toledo continued to flourish into the 16th century when the Spanish court moved to Madrid.  The city's importance dwindled down until the 20th century when it became the capital of the combined  provinces of Castille and La Mancha. The preservation of the heritage in its buildings and culture has made this city one of the top cities for tourism.

We come to a stop at a popular vista for tourist.  Our bus passes many other buses that have stopped and we found a  parking place and join the many other tourists getting off their buses to take pictures of the city of Toledo. There we wee the rock outcrop with the river Tagus flowing like a mote.  at the top we can see the Alcazar fortress and to the right the Cathedral spire.  The rows of houses are all clustered all around like frosting on a cake.  Far off we see the bridge that will take us into the city.

We get back on the bus and it takes us across the bridge to the Gate of the sun.  Long ago it was made to accommodate carts and people who walked into the city.  In order to bring the big buses something had to be done.  So they expanded the porthole to bring all the happy tourist into Toledo.  As we come into the city we find that everything has been preserved to the days when it was in its prime.  In fact workmen were working on a wall and making sure it would seem to have been built eons ago.  It reminded me of how Disneyland tries to authenticate the buildings so it seems like you are living in the days of antiquity.  Like Mr. Disney, the Toledeans seem to know how to line their pockets with tourists euros and we are happy to pay for our guides who make the trip so much more meaningful and interesting.

Our fist stop is where we will be able to buy some artifacts to take home.  Toledo is known for its jewelry making and its swords.  We have an elementary school in Sarasota called Toledo Blade.  I never realized the connection but now I do!   We are told that metal-work has always been Toledo's industry. Toledo steel was greatly valued for its high quality alloy. They have a tradition of manufacturing swords and knives that dates back to the Roman times when it was used by all the Roman legions.  But it was under the Moorish rule and during the Reconquista the Toledo guild of sword-makers played an important role.  Around the 16th century swords and daggers were the choice weapons of mass destruction.  They supplied swords to the likes of Zorro, Conquistadores, the Templars, and even pirates like Backbeard.  If you wanted a state of the art blade, you got it from Toledo.  These swords were made by individual craftsmen who oversaw each detail. 

Around the 17th  and 18th century the sword-making industry began to decline as the pistol became a weapon of choice.  So King Carlos III prompted the Royal Arms Factory  and brought the guilds together into the city to occupy the former mint.  Then as they expanded they built another building to keep the guilds under one roof.  In the 20th century the production for knives and swords was reduced to cavalry weapons, and after the Spanish Civil War they supplied swords only to various military units and light foil for Olympic fencers and heavy swords for bullfighters.  Now the production has expanded to razorblades, medical devices and electrical products.  Soap, toothpaste manufacturing, flour milling, glass and ceramics have also become important industries.  The former building closed in 1980 but the building was renovated to house the campus of the Technological University of La Mancha  in Toledo.

                                                                    Ouch!

So we entered the building were jewelry was manufactured by hand.  Streams of tourists paraded behind the craftsmen as they formed their unique jewelry pieces.  They did not seem to mind us taking pictures as they worked.