Photo: Chases with Don Quixote statue
Photos: Views of Toledo including the Alcazar
Toledo has a unique history since the city has been the host to Christian, Islamic and Hebrew cultures and the architecture of the city reflects its rich history - it's almost impossible to walk the streets without coming across an ancient mosque, a Gothic or Mudejar church, a Romanesque or Visigothic structure, a synagogue, or a Renaissance palace.
Fascinated by the history but more interested in the shopping, we spent the bulk of our time in shops looking at the Damascene jewelry, knives, and swords which are signatures items of the area.
Photo: With Joel, our friendly French waiter on an extravagant night out. It turned out that we were the only people in the restaurant and we had the full attention of the staff of 10. The following day, Joel offered to take us to the roof top for one of the better views of the city surroundings.
Photo: Craftsman making Damascene jewelry which is indicative of Spain. Damascene jewelry is made by embedding gold wire or metal shapes into blackened iron or steel. 'damascene' is a metal working process which involves decorating base metals with 22 - 24k gold plated patterns. Silver is sometimes used too, though only to highlight little areas of the gold. The item is finished with an oxidising technique which blackens part of the metal and creates the overall gold and black finish to the item. We managed to stock up on several pieces of Damascene for Celia, Kelsey, and gifts for family and friends.
Photos: Inside one of the historic synagogue. Isabel and Ferdinand ousted the Jews during the Spanish Inquisition starting in 1478
Interestingly, even though Jews have not been a significant part of the population in Spain for about 500 years, the Spaniards still call former Jewish districts, JudÃas (Jewish area)
Photos: Tagus River and the Vasco da Gama Bridge. The area reminded us of northern California with rolling hills and dry brush
No comments:
Post a Comment