July 8, 1999 Toledo, Spain. Visiting the Visigoth Capital.      Toledo was the medieval and Visigoth capital of what is now known as Spain. The Goths, knowing that they had worn out their welcome in Rome (after sacking it), moved to Toledo in about the fourth century AD and built their capital on a hill. That hill happened to be situated with a river on three sides, making the location of Toledo an ideal defensive site. However, for future generations this posed a problem. With a river on three of the four sides, and a wall on the fourth, Toledo ran out of room to grow. Therefore, King Phillip moved the capital of Spain to Madrid leaving Toledo "stuck" in the Gothic period, much to the delight of this Goth-o-phial. I had three reasons for going to Toledo. The first reason was to see the medieval city. As I said, I am a Goth-o-phial so wanting to see this city was only natural. The second was to see the art work of El Greko. My third reason for going to Toledo was to see the gothic cathedral; a gothic cathedral with a very unique feature.     I struck out for Toledo form Madrid early one blistering central Spanish morning. The day before, temperatures reached 42 degrees Celsius (F=9/5C+32 so that's 107.6 degrees F). Being the smart tourist I wore shorts (of a decent length) and a tank top. I knew that it would be hot and I wanted to be as comfortable as possible. The journey from Madrid to Toledo is easy, even for an inexperienced traveler. Toledo is serviced from Madrid by a modern "commuter" train. From the very attractive (Moorish style) train station, it is a moderate quarter mile hike up hill to the city gates of old Toledo.     By the time I reached the gates I was already glad that I was wearing shorts and a tank top. I was already sweating. From the city gates, I could see my eventual destination, the gothic cathedral of Toledo. Unlike Notre Dame in Paris, which had the surrounding medieval settlement surrounding it torn down, this Cathedral was surrounded by dense arrays of medieval buildings. Making it slightly difficult to figure out exactly where it was. This maze of buildings also made it difficult viewing this Gothic delight from the outside. However, the outside I was not really interested in. I had already been to Seville and Granada to view their Gothic constructions and I was due to visit Barcelona, Southern France, and Italy. Therefore I would see other Gothic cathedrals. I wanted to see the inside of the cathedral. Not only because of the beautiful paintings and windows, but because this Cathedral has one feature no other has.      I was in no hurry to get to the cathedral. Though the cathedral was my focal point, I also wanted to wander around the town. I am fairly sure I was armed with a map but I did not use it much. Toledo is a small city by today's standards. Furthermore, a river borders on three sides of it and you know you are leaving the town by the fourth side. So I decided to wander around the town and gradually work my way to the Cathedral. I liked Toledo. Toledo is a made up of medieval buildings with a mixture of Moorish constructions thrown in. The Alcazar has a nice view of the surroundings and romantic little plazas spring out of nowhere. Toledo has the same problem as other "medieval reconstructionist" towns such as Carcassone and San Gamanico have. That problem being over run by tourists and tourists shops selling the same cheap stuff claiming it is an authentic, hand crafted item. What I think is funny are the shopkeepers that claim that their item is one of kind, found nowhere else. That takes guts because often I would see the same item in the next store.      Years later I learned something on Kos. Speak the native language in areas like this. I decided to speak Greek on Kos mainly to confound the storekeepers. Every one assumed that I spoke English. So I spoke Greek (what little Greek I knew) back to then.) Toledo was the first place in Spain where people spoke to me in English first. So I responded in English. I should have practiced more of my Spanish.     I enjoyed my tour of Toledo. I visited the El Greko museum, and saw the Alcazar. I ate lunch in a nice little plaza and watched the people walk around. I admired the pleasant blend of Gothic and Moorish architecture that the city had.     After lunch I decided to visit the Cathedral. This was probably a good idea because this cathedral's unique feature would be highlighted in the noontime sun. Before this trip I had visited plenty of gothic and neo-gothic cathedrals. After my tour of Spain I visited few notable cathedrals as well, such as Notre Dame. However, none of those cathedrals have the special feature that the Cathedral of Toledo has. That feature is a skylight. This skylight was the one reason wanted to see the cathedral! I was on a mission to see it. When the Cathedral was built, it was a tad dark around the altar. Therefore, the engineers constructed a skylight behind the altar. The skylight is a highly decorative and ornamental skylight where the rocks of the cathedral morph into angels, arch angles and cherubs.     When I got to the cathedral I discovered I had erred. I was wearing a tank top and shorts. It is considered disrespectful to enter into a place of worship in Europe wearing shorts and a tank top. In Rural Greece this is taken care of by having "lender" clothes to put on. In fact the only church in Greece that I can recall that did not have "lenders" was the metropolitan cathedral in Athens. In Italy you can get around it by covering your legs with a sweatshirt or putting a bag over your shoulders. So I decided to try it here. I took a plastic bag out of my daypack (I had bought something that was put in the bag) and put the bag over my shoulder and tried to go in. The guard said I had to buy a ticket. I figured "good, my outfit is O.K., all I need to do is buy my ticket." (By the way, I think if you charge someone to go into a place of worship that cancels out the disrespect caused by wearing shorts and a tank top.) So I went to the ticket place and bought a ticket for what I think was the equivalent for five dollars. Ticket sales person had no problem with my make shift shoulder covering. So I went back to the same guard to go in and see the famed skylight.     "You no go in," barked the guard. "Why not?" I replied.      The guard pointed to the sign saying you had to have a sleeved shirt on. I was mad. Not because of the rule but because both the guard and the sales person allowed me to buy a ticket before saying my make shift covering was no good.      "But I have my shoulders covered!" I exclaimed.      "No!" barked the guard.      "In Italy they let you cover your shoulders this way," I replied.      "No!"      At that the guard lost his ability to speak English. That was fine with me; I was ready to experiment with some Spanish vocabulary words that cannot be used in polite company. But before I could unleash my profanity a grizzled old man sitting by the entrance interjected      "That's Italy. They'll let you hold your [male genital] in churches in Italy. So what if you don't get to see one church."     I had to laugh at that statement. I don't know if he intended it to make me laugh but I did. I said "O.K." and wandered away.      I was still determined to see the famed skylight of the cathedral. I started to think. "This is a tourist town. I should be able to find a shop that sells T-shirts really easily. I'll just buy a T-shirt, put it on and everything will be all right."     I didn't have to look very hard. In an alley way about 50 ft away I found a store that sold t-shirts along with everything else. Because of this fact I didn't have much of a choice. I selected a navy blue shirt what had Toledo written across it. After making my purchase, I wandered back to the entrance and gave the guard the ticket. The guard was very silent but the man who made me laugh smiled at me and gave me a wink.      The interior of the cathedral was worth the wait. The skylight is spectacular, especially when you consider the stonemasons have none of the tools available to us today. Guide Books |  FAQs |  Photos for Sale |  Travel Essays |  Links Contact info: