The Twenty-First One

Or, the one where I finally succumb and post this on a blog instead of sending it out via email.

Or, the one with SPAIN!!!

Once upon a time, in January 2010, I made my first trek to Europe; specifically I visited Spain: Toledo and Madrid. And it was wonderful and beautiful and educational. I was fortunate enough to not have to pay for my hotel room (which was great) or my food (which was the very best part of the trip) and everywhere I went I had someone who knew the history of the area I was in. Let this blog serve as a record of my time there. You will see a lot of pictures of architecture, but not a lot of pictures of me. Here we go.

Welcome to Toledo: the first capital of Spain.

Toledo's location was chosen because of the excellent geographic location. As I asked my students: what did cities of old have to do to protect themselves? Answer: build walls. Toledo was built where it was built because of the river and gorges that surround it, providing natural protection. Consequently, they did not have to build a great big wall all the way around and yet there is still only one way in and out of the city.

No history lesson would be complete without some dates, so here's the one that I remember: 711. This is when the Moors conquered Spain. What does this mean for Toledo? Nothing bad actually. In fact, during this time, before the Christians took over again, Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived in relative peace and harmony together. So much so that this time period was called La Convivencia. You can see this coexistence in the architecture of the city. The Moors/Muslims used a lot of brickwork, the Christians used stones and the Jews didn't contribute a whole lot architecturally speaking, but they are responsible for the crazy, winding streets of the city. If you ever visit Toledo you must a) know where you are going, b) be with someone who knows where they are going, or c) not be afraid of getting lost. Because chances are you will.

As you look at the pictures of Toledo you may start asking yourself, "How many pictures of alleyways can one person take?" The answer to this is, of course, a lot. Way more than I am showing you here. You get the cream of the crop. Also, that tall spire you see in the background of some of the pictures is a beautiful cathedral that was a mosque that now is a cathedral again. It has the most amazing art and is a combination of many different styles of architecture because it is old. Something we don't know much about here in the United States: when a building is old enough to survive thousands of years, the building and art will reflect that history. I also was privileged to see many works by El Greco, who was not Spanish, but has since been adopted by the Spaniards because he was rejected by his own people. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take any pictures inside the cathedral. This worked out in my favor I think, because it meant all I had to do was listen and look and absorb. The world is a different place when you look at it through a lens, or in my case, an lcd viewscreen.

Welcome to Madrid: the current capital of Spain.

Otherwise known as the place where my eyes were opened to a history I never knew. It's not a history of a thousand years ago, but rather history from only 30 years ago. For me, this history was told best as I toured El Museo Sofia Reina and learned about the life and work of Pablo Picasso. Picasso lived in a time of amazing achievement. He was born when people were still using horses and buggies to get around and by the time he died man had made his way to the moon. His greatest work La Guernica was painted during a time in his country when the arts were as oppressed as the people. Learning about Picasso's life and what the Spanish people went through in such recent times almost, almost made me like his paintings. It certainly made me appreciate them anyway.

The museum didn't have the most extensive Picasso collection in the world. It was built for the sole reason to house La Guernica which Picasso vowed would never come back to Spain until his country was no longer under the rule of a dictator, until his people were free. La Guernica was kept in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City until 1992.

This is a contraband picture of La Guernica. Throughout the entire museum you could take pictures so long as you weren't using flash photography. In THIS room, which housed only the one painting (and some photographs of it while it was in-progress), you weren't allowed to take pictures at all. Unfortunately, they told us this by posting a small sign on the wall as you were coming into the room. A sign that is easily hidden by the bodies of people as they walk through the entryway. Long story short, I was yelled at, in Spanish, by a woman who took her job very, very seriously. It was very, very embarassing.

In case that's not enough art for you, I also went to the Prado where I was not allowed to take any photographs at all. Please enjoy a picture of the outside of the museum. It's in the top left corner.

I would also like to direct your attention to the building in the bottom right. This building, during Frando's rule, was a prison. Our tour guide said that her parents and grandparents can still remember walking in front of the building and hearing screams coming from the basement, from the prisoners who were being tortured. This is something the youth of Spain know nothing about. Talk about a generation gap.

And finally. The view of Madrid as seen from the window of my hotel room.

The End.