Trip to Toledo (written by Rickey Shumway)

We recently visited the ancient city of Toledo. Toledo is a very interesting city filled with fascinating history including many epic battles.

On the day we left, we had to get up very early to catch the 7:58 am train into Madrid. There we took the bullet train to Toledo. It is called the AVE, which means "bird" in Spanish, but also "alta velocidad Española" (Spanish high speed). The bullet train ride there was pretty awesome. They go fast—120 miles per hour (like the one in the movie Mission Impossible). See attached video of an AVE trip my dad took a couple of summers ago.



When we got to the train station in Toledo, we took the scenic walk up to the city which was difficult with all of our stuff. We crossed bridges over a thousand years old.

After about 20 minutes, we came to the famous Bisagra Gate (pictured). This is the gate the Christians entered when they overtook the city from the Moors in 1085 (more on that later).

One of Toledo’s coolest features is the cathedral. It was the most superlative one I’ve been to yet. It wasn’t the biggest one but size isn’t everything. It was cold in the Cathhedral. People had to be wrapped in blankets that Kathy packed and wear little gloves. It had the coolest stuff in it. There were more decorations than all of the other places. More elaborate designs exist within these walls than the other cathedrals. There were a lot of paintings and statues. El Greco did many of them. The first step you take in is pretty much breath taking because it is so big and the ceiling is designed with beautiful arches.

We climbed up on the walls around the city. We also crossed the river and walked around the city. We could see why the Romans and others used it as a fortress city. It is pretty much surrounded by a river and it is up on a hill. The Romans came about 200 B.C. They built aqueducts and bridges and other magnificent things. The Visigoths (German barbarians) displaced the Romans in the 5th century and Toledo became the Visigoth's capital.

The Moors came and conquered most of Spain in 711 and after. They took Toledo in 712 A.D. The Moors were Muslims and most of them were Berbers from North Africa, but there were Arabs with them as well. When Toledo was conquered, their general sent many Visigoth nobles as captives back to Damascus. In many ways the Moors were more advanced than their Christian enemies. The Moors influnced the way the way the streets are designed. Our hotel was on a very narrow street. The buildings use brick instead of stone another very distinguishing feature that the Moors inserted. One of the main plazas in Toledo is still called Zocodover, after the Arab word for "market." You can still see a lot of Arab influence in Toledo, like the arches on the bridges and on buildings. There is also a little mosque that still remains from the time of the Moors (see picture on right).

There were a lot of Jews living in Toledo as well. We visited a Jewish synagogue. What was in the synagogue? You may ask. There was some stuff written on stone and some cool arches. The only reason I’m writing this is because my dad is making me. It was nothing compared to the cathedral, but you know people try. (Jeff's note: the synagogue Rickey is talking about, pictured on the left, was the personal synagogue of a very wealthy Jewish man who lived in Toledo in the 1300s. Like the mosques in Spain, the surviving synagogues were all used for other functions, and many became Catholic churches. Foturnately, or unfortunately, a few survive with some of their original forms).

The Christians took Toledo back from the Moors in 1085, helped by the famous El Cid. There is a movie about him and we watched it. But it’s animated and it’s not that great.

The streets of the city are filled with shops of the finest blades in the world. (see photo of me with fine blades). There is culture and history overflowing in Toledo.