2010 - Oct :   5-day Trip to Ciudad Real and Toledo

Click on images to view the respective Videos
In October a group of AAA members went on a 5-day trip to Toledo.
After our first night in Ciudad Real, we visited the sites of Calatrava and Alarcos on the river Guadiana.
Calatrava is one of the earliest Islamic foundations (785 AD) in the Iberian Peninsula which played an important role because of its strategic position on the cross  roads between Toledo and Cordoba and between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; it became the most important nucleus fronting Castilian Toledo. In 1147 Calatrava became a Castilian city. Many structures of the old Alcazar and fortifications are still preserved.    (Klick on image to see Video 1)
Alarcos was one of the largest Iberian cities in the area dating from the 6th century BC. A reconstruction of a dwelling and part of a village was shown in the adjoining museum. The castle, fortifications, and church on top of the Iberian foundations showed the influences and turbulence of the subsequent periods: Visigoth, Muslim, and Christian.
(Klick on image to see Video 2)
In the afternoon we continued our trip towards Toledo. From our hotel we had a wonderful view of the old city which is located on a mountaintop surrounded on three sides by a bend of the Tagus river.
The next morning we had a guided tour of the city. The first stop was the cathedral which is the second largest in size in Spain, but the first in importance being the seat of the Archbishop of Spain.
Building took about 175 years and was finished in 1493. It was decorated with sculptures, jewels, screens, organs, and manuscripts. Decorations started off in the French baroque style but as the decorations took about 500 years to complete an array of subsequent styles is shown. It became one of the most opulent in the Christian world, and is indeed a magnificent peace of work.

Winding our way through town we made a stop at a chapel housing a large painting by El Greco. Toledo also used to have a thriving Jewish community coexisting peacefully with the Muslim population. We visited the beautiful synagogue now known as Santa Maria La Blanca, with horse-shoe arches, and decorations influenced by the Granada style. It is a miracle it survived so well following the expulsion of the Jews.
Click any of the 3 images to view Video 3
In the afternoon we went to the village of Carranque north of Toledo, where in 1983 the remains of a large Roman villa dating from the 4th Century were discovered. The living quarters of this villa have been completely excavated showing 20 rooms with superb mosaics which have survived almost intact.
(Klick on image to see Video 4)
The next morning we visited the Santa Cruz museum. The building of Santa Cruz was originally built as a hospital built in the Renaissance style. Now it was housing a tapestry collection and in the cloisters a ceramic collection. There was a special exhibit of tapestries depicting Alfonso V of Portugal in the conquest of Tangiers.

In the Visigoth museum fine examples of Visigoth art were displayed, amongst which a collection of crowns that had originally been buried (Tesoro de Guarrazar) when fleeing the approaching muslims. 
Click any of the 2 images to view Video 5

In the evening we had a guided tour of Toledo by night and the subterranean archaeological remains of a Roman and Muslim bathhouse.
(Klick on image to see Video 6)
The next day en route back to the Algarve we stopped for lunch at the village of Baňos de la Encina where we also  visited the huge Islamic castle.     (Klick on image to see Video 7)