Toledo: a walk through the Imperial City

Talking about Toledo requires, in addition to reverential respect, opening the window of the everyday - metaphorically speaking - and letting the fresh air of the irreducibly legendary caress us.

Toledo, in the mouth of one of our best known and at the same time most criticized writers, Fernando Sánchez Dragó, contains, indisputably, an important part of the heart of that Magical Spain that refuses to die.

Suffice this statement to add that Toledo, with all its deservedness, is one of those places that leave a mark, because the more you visit, I assure you, the more you want to return.

Not surprisingly, other writers, such as the German Erich María Remarque - friend and according to him, a disciple of the great French sculptor, Rodin, and the author, in addition, of an extensive literary work, among which the anti-war allegation stands out, exposed in his novel 'No news on the front' - they said, completely amazed, that Toledo was and continues to be - the latter I add - the undisputed capital of forgotten empires.

And it is not for less, because in Toledo, you can believe it, the muds of History lead us, inevitably, to an exciting journey through the pools of Legend.

And there is not a corner in Toledo, at least in old Toledo, which is the one that is really worth visiting, that does not have an anecdote, a legend, a footer between reality and the fantastic.

I would like, and for the purpose that does not remain, to transmit to you with the images that I show you here -poor and scarce, indeed, with all that Toledo can offer- part of those sensations that led to another of our great writers, Ramón María del Valle Inclán, to say what Toledo has felt, under the crumbling arches, the passing of death, the density of centuries and the flow of hours like the sand of a clock ... (1).

Nor should they be surprised, if I affirm that Toledo is a city of angels and demons - as the writer Dan Brown would like to say - since if you ever walk through its narrow and sometimes dimly lit alleys, you will discover a street or crossing of the Angel, but also two mysterious alleys, which will attract your attention: the Devil's and the Hell's.

These last two, curiously, are not far from the Templar church of San Miguel el Alto and the Houses that the Order also had in the vicinity, which are still standing and whose facades retain, attacked by rust, the medallions that contained , as a sign of belonging, the type of cross most used by them: the kick cross or paté cross.

They should not be surprised, in addition, if during their walk they observe, on the facades of many private houses, an infinity of historical remains, from different times and origins, reused as fillers and if you ask any countryman, they will not hesitate to tell you that they are remains that the waters of the river Tagus - that same river, which like Baudelaire's Devil, passes through Toledo melancholy and taciturn - returns to the banks with the floods.

But Toledo is also and allow me the expression, a pandemonium of Art, which welcomed the feverish activity of painters such as Domenico Teotocopuli, el Greco, who chose to work here, possibly tired of suffering the wrath of the irate King Felipe II and in whose house, Conveniently converted into a museum and located in the heart of the Jewish quarter, they can admire, rather than photograph, that explosion of subliminal enigmas found in one of his best-known masterpieces: 'the burial of the Count of Orgaz'.

On the other hand, many traces remain of the strong Jewish presence in Toledo, among which stand out, converted into a museum, especially two synagogues: El Tránsito and Santa María la Blanca, which in no way will leave your artistic expectations indifferent. .

Nor will that beautiful Arab mosque, converted into a church by order of King Alfonso VI, after the conquest of Toledo in 1086, under the legendary dedication of the Cristo de la Luz, which should not be confused with the miraculous Christ of la Vega, so popular and revered by the people of Toledo.

Do not think that I am forgetting, at this point, those two great tributes to creativity and fascination, which are the monastery of San Juan de los Reyes and of course, that flagship of magnificence and mystery, which is the imposing cathedral of Santa María.

Particularly and apart from other considerations, of the monastery of San Juan de los Reyes I recommend that you let yourself be carried away by the hieratic tranquility of its double cloister, noting, in the one below, the picaresque baroque representations of its capitals and once in the above, the elegant and splendid Mudejar coffered ceiling that crowns it.

And about the cathedral: what could I tell you about a place specially designed to let yourself be carried away by the senses and spend hours and hours contemplating, until suffering an excess of Art, leading to the so-called 'Sthendal syndrome'?

But above all, I recommend that you pay special attention to the rotunda, a wonderful work of art in itself, which is known by the name of Transparente - in the crypt you can see the relics of Santa Úrsula - the magnificent Chapel of the Constable, Don Álvaro de Luna, located opposite this and once in the cloister, the immeasurable Chapel of San Ildefonso, in whose magnificent vault and apart from the paintings that cover the walls, you will also see superb dragon heads represented.

I understand that once you have arrived here, you may be tired of the walk that I have tried to recommend you, if you really want to imbibe the true spirit of this capital of forgotten empires, referred to by Remarque.

But it would be a lack of consideration, if I did not speak, even above, of that magnificent Alcázar, located in front of the emblematic Hotel Alfonso VI, an inn that was and continues to be, of multiple stars of Culture in general, at whose feet, some magnificent reproductions of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, it must always remind them that they are in La Mancha Cervantes, the one whose famous song says something like: 'in La Mancha La Manchega do not get upset, you are in the land of Don Quixote'.

And of course, the main artery of Toledo, which is none other than that same and popular Plaza de Zocodover, which annually receives thousands of visitors, as it also received in the past, the visit and the adventures of that stormy brotherhood, known as' the brotherhood of Toledo ', formed mainly by three figures, whose names, surely, will not leave you indifferent: Salvador Dalí, Luis Buñuel and Federico García Lorca.

From here, my dear friends, I recommend that you practice on your own another way of living Toledo: that of its magnificent restoration, where if you allow me and to finish, I recommend you not to overlook the sublime selection of Homemade pastry, which I am sure will be for your palate, 'peccata minuta', as our Italian friends would say.

Bibliography:

(1) Ramón María del Valle Inclán: ‘The wonderful lamp’, La Felguera Editores, First Edition, November 2017, page 117.

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