Justyn Wilson
Today is the first chance that we had to see how Spain is beyond its capitol of Madrid. We started off the day with breakfast in our hotel before checking out of our rooms. We then boarded our tour bus and began the hour long journey to Toledo. Toledo is a magnificent city that has been around since the Roman times. The city was founded on a mountain that has a river running in the East, West, and South sides of it, therefore the Romans only needed to build a wall to defend the northern part of the city.
When we arrived in Toledo we dropped our luggage off at the hotel and proceeded to go on a panoramic tour of the city while riding our bus. The tour showed us the beautiful scenery that surrounds Toledo and gave us the opportunity to see one of the best views of the city possible as pictured below. The panoramic tour concluded on the west side of the city, where we then began our walking tour of the city.
The first building we came to was San Juan de los Reyes, this building was originally built for King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. They later changed their minds and were buried in Granada, Spain. This building was decorated to show that Ferdinand and Isabella were supposed to be buried there. The interior had many places where their personal symbols were carved together.
We proceeded to Santo Tomé, where El Greco's masterpiece is displayed. This canvas is named The Burial of the Count of Orgaz and is considered to be the third most important canvas in the world. The canvas has two main scenes, the upper depicting heaven and the lower depicting a burial being done by two saints who came from heaven. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed of this amazing painting.
The Cathedral of Toledo was another gorgeous place that we visited. The cathedral is massive and took 267 years to be built. Unlike most cathedrals, there is only one tower instead of twin towers. This is because the location of the second tower would not support the enormous weight that would be placed on it. The inside of the cathedral was astonishing, everything was intricately designed and well taken care of. Words can not possibly describe how the cathedral looks and the amazing works of art that it contains. The cathedral contains several more works from El Greco, including a painting that covers the entire ceiling of a separate room. The painting is larger than Michelangelo's in the Sistine Chapel, yet it only required eleven months to be completed.
This concluded our tour of Toledo, so we were given free time to get lunch and go shopping. Four other people and I went to a local restaurant where the food wasn't quite what we were expecting. The food was prepackaged, where we thought that it would be prepared like most restaurants normally do. After lunch we wandered through some stores trying to find souvenirs to buy before having to meet up with the rest of the group at the hotel for a meeting.
When we arrived in Toledo we dropped our luggage off at the hotel and proceeded to go on a panoramic tour of the city while riding our bus. The tour showed us the beautiful scenery that surrounds Toledo and gave us the opportunity to see one of the best views of the city possible as pictured below. The panoramic tour concluded on the west side of the city, where we then began our walking tour of the city.
The first building we came to was San Juan de los Reyes, this building was originally built for King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. They later changed their minds and were buried in Granada, Spain. This building was decorated to show that Ferdinand and Isabella were supposed to be buried there. The interior had many places where their personal symbols were carved together.
We proceeded to Santo Tomé, where El Greco's masterpiece is displayed. This canvas is named The Burial of the Count of Orgaz and is considered to be the third most important canvas in the world. The canvas has two main scenes, the upper depicting heaven and the lower depicting a burial being done by two saints who came from heaven. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed of this amazing painting.
The Cathedral of Toledo was another gorgeous place that we visited. The cathedral is massive and took 267 years to be built. Unlike most cathedrals, there is only one tower instead of twin towers. This is because the location of the second tower would not support the enormous weight that would be placed on it. The inside of the cathedral was astonishing, everything was intricately designed and well taken care of. Words can not possibly describe how the cathedral looks and the amazing works of art that it contains. The cathedral contains several more works from El Greco, including a painting that covers the entire ceiling of a separate room. The painting is larger than Michelangelo's in the Sistine Chapel, yet it only required eleven months to be completed.
This concluded our tour of Toledo, so we were given free time to get lunch and go shopping. Four other people and I went to a local restaurant where the food wasn't quite what we were expecting. The food was prepackaged, where we thought that it would be prepared like most restaurants normally do. After lunch we wandered through some stores trying to find souvenirs to buy before having to meet up with the rest of the group at the hotel for a meeting.
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