Easter Sunday
I got up at 10 past seven and without eating a breakfast,
took the metro to Estacion Sur Autobus Station.
The bus to Toledo departed at 8 thirty, it was only a 50 minutes ride, being Easter Sunday, the road was empty.
The city of Toledo, was situated on the top of a hill.
I walked about half an hour from the bus station to the city centre.
I first went to the Toledo cathedral as I wanted to attend the Easter service.
Then I went to Museo de Santa Cruz.
This museum was very small but had an amazing collection of El Greco's paintings.
El Greco spent his later years in Toledo until his death, and have drawn numerous paintings in this city.
El Greco painted a lot of religious paintings, and one of his favorite subject was
'The Assumption', there was one in Prado and saw some in other galleries as well.
But the 'The Assumption' kept in this museum was somewhat different.
Perhaps it was the atmosphere of the room,
perhaps it was the quietness,
I don't know,
but I was so shocked when I saw this painting.
It was as if painted by a stroke of lightning.
There were about 15 paintings by El Greco in this museum.
And on the upper floor, there were some galleries of porcelain and ceramic arts, which I must admit that I'm not very keen on.
And in the basement there was a fossil of mammoth, which I thought was out of place.
You wouldn't expect El Greco's painting hanged next to a mammoth tusk do you?
The streets of Toledo were very narrow.
Most of them were only 2 meters wide.
I really like this photograph as the narrow streets which leads to the central back ground of the
photograph effectively leasds your eye to the man standing.
Just like in Henri Cartier-Bresson's photograph, including human in a photograph makes a city photograph much more interesting.
I had spagetthi for lunch.
By this time, I got used to eating alone in a restaurant.
The spire of the Toledo Cathedral (bottom left) could be seen from anywhere in the city.
I sought for means to climb to the top of the spire, but unfortunately I could't figure it out.
After lunch, I visited Museo de El Greco.
I had a bit of difficulty finding this museum, as the streets were like a maze and this museum itself being so small.
The main feature of this museum was 'Vista Y Plano de Toledo' painted by El Greco of course.
Very interestingly, it depics the city of Toledo with an angel overlooking the city, a subject which I never seen.
This museum was deceptively large, not only did they have El Greco,
but there were quite a few paining by Murillo, Tristan, Rizi, etc.
Toledo is half surrounded by a river.
In the distance, I was able to see the vast Spanish plains.
I wish I had time to go hiking or something, but unfortunately time didn't allow me this time.
It was beautiful though.
Next, I visited 'Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blanca'.
According to the guide book, this synagogue was built in the 12th century and
a massacre of Jews took place in 1391.
The synagogue itself was a bit dissapointing, as most of the building was restored,
and its archaic importance was not really tangible.
This is a typical scenary of this city,
narrow street with high walls on both sides.
I really liked the colour of the walls.
And this was the last of the museum I visited in Spain ( I visited so many this time),
'Iglesia de Santo Tome'.
The main feature of this museum (or rather a chuch) is El Greco's 'the Burial of the Count of Orgaz'.
I borrowed the audio guide,
and according to that, after the death of the count of Orgaz, who was the important patron of the church,
was raised to heaven by two saints, St Augustine and St Stephen.
The background music on the audio guide was so poor and I thought it won't make the listener convinced whether
such event really happend or not but I guess for a Christian, the most important thing is to believe what is
inside the bibile and it will be up to the individial whether to belive anything outside it.
I got out of the church and realised that I haven't bought any souvenirs yet for this trip,
so I went into a grocery shop and bought a bottle of Spanish wine, which I haven't opened at the time of writing this diary.
I'm thinking about opening it after I finish my exams.
Anyway, having visited most of the museums, I decided to devote the rest of my time taking photographs.
When I casually entered one of the cathedrals in the west of the city, I discovered that it had an access to the spire.
According to the guy at church, this is the highest place in Toledo, I was glad not to have missed it.
The view was... beautiful.
In the spire, there were bells, no longer used.
I stayed here for about an hour, I just loved the view.
Notice the difference in the impact of this photograph with the one above.
This photograph (below) would have been much interesting if there was some human in it,
but I guess that depends on what the photographer want to say.
This photograph was originally taken in colour, but I realised that it would make it more effective if I turn it into black and white.
I like how the water draws near the viewer.
It was some time past four, when I realised that there was actually two entrance to the Toledo Cathedral;
one which I entered in the morning to attend the Easter service, and the other for tourists...
Although it was expensive to enter the tourist entrance with six euros, I thought I'll give it a go.
It was the right decision, as this cathedral turned out to be the most amazing cathedral that I've visited in my life.
First of all, it's size, it's huge.
And second of all, it had a vast amount of collection of paintings of Rubens, El Greco, Titian, Van Dyck, Bellini, Velazquez, and there was one painting by Goya as well.
I never seen a cathedral with such a vast amount of quality paintings.
They had the larger version of El Greco's 'The Assumption' in one of the large halls,
and Goya's painting was Judea kissing Jesus before the crucifixion.
So that was pretty much my trip to Toledo and my trip to Spain.
I am very thankful that I was able to spend this year's Easter in Spain.
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