Today we took a full day tour of Toledo.  It was great!  I know it was a super touristy town, but it was old and beautiful.

We started by touring the Mosque of Cristo de La Luz.  200 or so years after it was built it was re-purposed as a chapel and the apse was built.

We went on to the Catedral de Toledo.  Lots of gold decorations and even a treasure room.  The Transparente reminded me of Bernini’s work in Italy.  They built a window or skylight in the wall so that sunlight shines directly through onto the sculptures.  During morning mass, the shafts of sunlight move across the piece making it appear as if it were ascending to heaven.

Next we headed to Santa Maria la Blanca, which had been a synagogue before it was used as a church.

On to San Juan de Reyes monastery.  They had all kinds of crazy stuff on the walls here.  Monkeys, dragons, two legged winged opossum, Donkey from Shrek (before he was famous)- weird stuff.

On the outside of the monastery hung chains from the Christian prisoners that were liberated from Granada.

After the monastery we headed off for lunch.  I suggested we walk into the nearest store and ask where THEY go to eat lunch.  It happened to be a store selling handmade leather purses.  Two hundred euros later we had a suggestion for lunch!  It was a beautiful city.

We purchased a few damascene jewelry pieces and headed back to Madrid.  We got back and still wanted to see the Rene Sofia so we hurried over there.  Housed in this museum is Picasso’s Guernica.  Standing in front of that painting I really got a sense of pain and suffering.  It was interesting to me because it is one of the strongest emotional responses I’ve had from a painting.

They also had a few Dali pieces that I enjoyed.  You saw a different painting if you moved and viewed the Dali from a different spot.