Andalucia's White Hill Towns

Today we booked a small group tour that was to pick us up at 08:00 and drop us off at 19:00.  So it was going to be a long day.  Miguel, our guide, was waiting for us in front of our building at 08:00 but he was alone.  The driver was sick on his way over to our place and was sent home.  Miguel told us to go and have a coffee for 15 minutes as he had ordered a car and he was going to do the guiding and driving.  Miguel also mentioned we were the only two on the tour.  Fantastic, we are now getting a private tour with our own driver and guide.  The weather was still cold and overcast but no rain was forecast.  It was an amazing day as Miguel was an excellent guide and because we were by ourselves, we were able to look around at our own pace.

Andalucia's Pueblos Blancos (White Villages) are perched along the Sierra Nevadas mountain range and are distinguished by their simple whitewashed houses influenced by the Berber architecture of North Africa, the Moor's native land.

 View of our first village Zahara de la Sierra sitting between a turquoise lake and a Moorish Castle.

 Start of the steep 15 minute climb up to the Moorish castle from the village center

  The spectacular view from the top of the castle  

Grazalema is also a very pretty hill town located in a high valley, over 800 m (2,625 ft), in the Sierra de Grazalema National Park which is famous for being the rainiest place in Spain

Looking across the valley at the whitewashed town of Grazalema 

The town looks spotless with its white buildings and cobble stoned lanes.  As mentioned previously, the narrow streets and whitewash reflects heat and a chemical in the lime paint repels bugs

The central square has a bronze statue of the "running of the bull", which takes place in mid July during the annual fiesta of Carmen.  The Toro de Cuerda (Bull on a Rope) basically means a bull is let loose to run the street with a man holding a rope tied to the horns of the bull to keep it from goring people running in front of it.  It is one of the oldest events in the town.


Our last stop was Ronda and it was the most spectacular of the White Hill Towns that we visited. The town straddles a massive gorge spanned by an amazing bridge. Ronda has a long history but what we see in old town mostly dates from the Moors (11th to 15th centuries) and new town was built after the 1485 Christian conquest.

 Looking across El Tojo, the 360 ft (110 m) deep  and 200 ft (61 m) wide gorge, at 15th century new town and what seem like buildings just barely clinging to the edge of the cliffs 

The Puente Nuevo (new bridge) was built from 1751 to 1793 after the original bridge, which was built in 1735, fell into the gorge after six years

Ronda is also the birthplace of modern bullfighting.  Rules and the introduction of the red cape were introduced here in the early 1700's.  This was the first great Spanish Bullring built in 1785

This was an amazing day.  If you are ever in this part of Spain you have to at least spend a day touring these incredible White Hill Towns.  Better still, take a couple of days to really explore and appreciate the beauty, culture and history of these wonderful places.

Seville-Gateway to the New World

Seville or Sevilla (seh-Vee-vah) in Spanish has been one of the most important Spanish cities since ancient times.  For the Romans it was a major port on the Guadalquivir River.  The Moors made it a capital of one of their Spanish Caliphates.  Under the Christians it became the capitol of Castile, the largest Kingdom in Spain.  However, in the middle ages Seville suffered severe economic damage due to the Black Death of 1348 and the expulsion of all Jews in 1391.  By the 16th century it was bigger and better than ever before due to new world explorers Amerigo Vespucci (whom the Americas are named after) and Ferdinand Megellan who both sailed from its great river harbor, discovering new trade routes and abundant sources of gold, silver, cocoa and tobacco.  In the 17th century Seville was Spain's largest and wealthiest city and its cultural center.  Seville's luck ran out again in the 18th century when the river harbor silted up and the Spanish empire crumbled.  But it got it's mojo back in the 19th century when it became a big stop on the Romantic "Grand Tour" of Europe and has hitched its fortunes to the tourism industry ever since.

We arrived after a 4 hour journey from Toledo to Seville via Madrid by once again using the excellent Spanish train system.  Unfortunately, the weather was overcast and cool.  We took a taxi to our apartment which is in the heart of Old Town Seville.  We met up with the owner and went through the paperwork.  After getting the keys we put our suitcases away and went to check out the area as tomorrow we are on an all day small group tour to see some of Andalucia's White Villages.

Enjoying lunch with wine on our train trip from Madrid to Seville

 Rita with May, the owner of our apartment.  She was such a lovely person.  We needed our passports for the paperwork and when we told her our story of having our bag pick-pocketed she was so upset that this would happen to us in Spain that she made a reservation for us at her friends Arab Spa, which she paid for.  And she gave us some excellent tips for local restaurants and bars.

This is our building (only the part with the balconies).  May owns the restaurant on the main floor so I assume she owns the building as well.  We are on the top two floors.  It is not as big as it looks as we only have the two balcony windows on each floor.  But we have three balconies, which is amazing if the weather gets hot and sunny again.

 The amazing view from our roof top balcony

 Some interesting structures that we stumbled across on our little walkabout 

  

Highlights from Toledo

The medieval walled town of Toledo is so amazing that everywhere you turn you bump into some historic building.  It is also very compact and it's wonderful to put away your tourist map and just wander the streets as you cannot get lost for long.  Here are some more images of our wonderful time in this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

While we were at the Parador lookout that offers an amazing view of the whole walled city of Toledo

Puenta de la Alacantara (bridge in Arabic) is a Roman arch bridge over the Tajo River which was updated in the 13th century.  During the middle ages merchandise and people were controlled entering Toledo through the gates on this bridge.

The city view of the Puerta de Bisgara Nueva (New Bisgara Gate).  The original gate to the city was built by the Moors but in 1559, to show the power of Spain and it's Emperor, the gate was expanded making it much grander and carrying the Coat of Arms of Emperor Charles V.  

Laundry day on the back deck of our apartment.  

They built narrow streets and overhangs on the top of buildings to stop the sun from getting in which allowed the air to keep cool, helping to keep the buildings cool as the summer months were very hot

Speaking of hot, we like to keep cool ourselves and stopping for a beer and Tappas under an umbrella in a medieval square was a great way to do that

One of many quaint and narrow streets winding there way through old town Toledo

Rita taking a break from one of our extensive walks with some of the medieval wall behind her

Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz was originally a mosque built in 1000.  In 1187, after the Christian conquest, it was changed to a church.  You can see the original Mosque with the three arches on the right and the later edition of the Christian apse on the left.

Toledo Cathedral

Today started out a bit overcast and so we decided it was a good time to go inside and tour Toledo's main attraction, its Cathedral.  The Cathedral is massive and took over 250 years to build (1226 - 1495) and has a mix of styles, including Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical.   It looks impressive on the outside but its what's inside that sets it apart from other Cathedrals.  It was a memorable three hours spent exploring around this unbelievable Cathedral.

 Looking at The Primate Cathedral of St Mary of Toledo's west front featuring the 92 m (301ft) bell tower, Portal (entrance) of Forgiveness and the Mozarabic Chapel Dome.  Originally, there was supposed to be a matching tower but an underground stream was found during construction and it was believed the ground would not support the weight.

Looking down one of five isles within the massive main chapel which has a total of 88 columns and 72 vaults to support the roof 

In the center towards the back of the Cathedral is the stunning High Alter with its 16th century gold-plated iron grille, considered to be the best in Spain.  It is the first time I have seen the High Alter in a self-contained box within the church

This amazingly intricate High Alter is made of real gold on larch wood and is considered one of Europe's best pieces of Gothic art.  Work began in 1497 and was completed in 1504.  The structure is about 15 m (50 ft) tall.  The High Alter imagery summarizes the whole new testament.  To give you some perspective of the size of this masterpiece, the crucified Christ at the top is nine feet tall

The Choir section is located in the center of the Cathedral (a few steps away from the High Alter) and is considered one of the grandest in all Christendom.  The 72 walnut wood choir chairs were built in the 1495 and 1543 and each chair depicts a scene of a surrender by the Moors of a town or village in Granda. Front and center of the Choir is a Romanesque stone statue figure of the Virgin of Santa Maria la Blanca, the patron saint of the Cathedral.  The statue is quite famous as there are very few images of the Virgin Mary smiling

El Transperente (the transparent) sits in front of the back of the High Alter and its purpose is to be illuminated from a skylight in the ceiling allowing shafts of light to pass through a hole in its alter piece and onto the tabernacle sitting in the High Alter directly behind it.  It was a piece of religious trickery to give the impression that the tabernacle was rising to heaven.  This particular transparent (built in 1732) is considered a masterpiece of Baroque mixed mediums (stucco painting, bronze castings and multiple colors of marble). 

The Sacristy (where the priest prepares for service and where articles of worship are kept) houses a wonderful selection of paintings and sculptures under a barrel vaulted ceiling fresco depicting the "Descention of the Holy Virgin".  The  most famous painting is El Greco's  "The Disrobing of Christ" which holds the central position in the room

 The Disrobing of Christ by El Greco was completed in 1579 and is considered a "masterpiece of extraordinary originality".  The painting depicts Jesus just before his Crucifixion with people vying for his clothes and the wooden cross being prepared.  The colors jump out of the painting and the scene depicted is quite memorizing.

 Chapel of the Treasure houses the great Monstrance of Arfe also known as the Le Gran Ostensoria de Toledo.  Housed in bulletproof glass, this magnificent structure measures 10 ft tall, weighs 500 lbs, has 18 kilos of 18 karat gold, 183 kilos of pure silver and assorted gems.  Originally, it was totally decorated in silver but 70 years later was gilded with gold, allegedly melted down from Christopher Columbus's first New World shipment of treasure.  Since 1595 it has been part of the annual Corpus Christi of Toledo procession.

 We also took a climb up to the Bell Tower up a series of narrow, circular stairs.  Rita is at the top just below the monstrous big bell.

The bell, affectionately known as La Gorda (the fat one) weighs almost 18 tons and is the biggest bell in Spain and third largest in the world.  It was completed in 1755 and allegedly cracked on its first ring due to a defect in the casting process.

Wonderful view from the Bell Tower

Toledo at Night

It was a warm evening with a bit of a breeze and so we decided to take a walk to try and clear our heads of what had happened earlier in the day.  Although is was very troubling, we did not want the incident to ruin our time in Toledo.

In 2001 the City of Toledo decided to eliminate tour buses and reduce tourist car traffic going into the old town by building parking lots below the medieval walls and installing a series of six covered escalators.  It has been a huge success as in high season up to 40,000 people a day ride these escalators.  The best part for us is our apartment is just up the street from the top of the escalators.

Part of the medieval wall which was started by the Romans, tripled in size by the Visigoths, expanded by the Moors and expanded even further by the Christian King Alfonso lV in the 11th century.  

 MoorThe Puerta Vieja de Bisgra is the most famous gate in Toledo. The original gate was built in the 10th century by thes but was expanded to include the two turrets in 1560. 

Located across from the Cathedral in Plaza del Ayuntamiento, Toledo's striking City Hall was built in the 16th century

Toledo's magnificent Cathedral is one of Europe's best and totally dominates the town.  Can't wait to explore the interior before we leave. 

Holy Toledo - The Walking Tour

Nobody knows for sure where the phrase "Holy Toledo" came from but one suggestion is that it was due to Toledo becoming one of the great centers of Christianity after its liberation from the Moors in 1065.  The Kingdom of Toledo became known as the judicial definition of a Christian medieval kingdom due to its abundance of Churches and Monasteries that were built within its walls.  No matter, Toledo is an architectural marvel as it is incredibly well preserved and the entire city has been declared a national monument.  Spain's former capital crowds 2,500 years of tangled history (Roman, Jewish, Visigoth, Moorish and Christian)  onto a high rocky perch protected on three sides by the Tajo River.  Most of its walls, towers and gates have been preserved and all buildings have to maintain their historic exterior.

 This our cobbled stone street and we are on the top floor of the middle building.

 View of the old town of Toledo and the Tajo River from the Parador Lookout

The town is very hilly and buildings seem to stack up on one another

 One of the medieval gates and walls.  Notice the Moorish influence on the entrance gate

The Devil Comes to Holy Toledo

The train system in Spain is awesome as it is easy to navigate (even in another language), the trains are clean and run on time.  Our 30 minute train ride to Toledo was uneventful and we got off the train, got in a taxi, checked into our lovely historic apartment and immediately headed out to do some sightseeing, have dinner and get some groceries for breakfast.  We returned about 9:30 pm and Rita started unpacking and realized her passport wallet was missing.  It had our UK and German passports, three of Rita's credit cards and $120.00 Cdn in cash in the wallet.  We went through everything and it was nowhere to be found.  The only thing we could think of was she was targeted when we disembarked the train as this was the only time we were in a large crush of people.  We could not do anything until the next morning but cancel the credit cards.  It was not a good sleep. The next morning we went to report the missing wallet at the lost and found of the taxi and train companies in the small chance it was turned in.  As you can imagine this was very difficult as people do not have a good grasp of English here and we have no comprehension of Spanish.  I did a google translation of "we have lost our passports, could you report it to your lost and found" for the taxi driver and the staff at the train station.  This worked and they recorded the loss, but we were lucky to find an English speaking person at the tourist info center at the train station and she told us we had to report the loss and called the police.  She gave us the contact and address details and we took a taxi to the police station where they have a special tourist division to help foreigners who have been victimized.  The officer we spoke to spoke very good English and we filled out the theft report that would allow us to get new passports from our Embassy's.  Fortunately, we have our Canadian passports which we left behind with Rita's parents, so we will have them couriered out to one of our hotels before we depart from Spain.  We will wait until we get back to Canada to obtain our new UK and German passports.  Not the best way to start our time in Holy Toledo.     

Last Supper in Madrid

A friend of Rita's who lives in Madrid recommended a traditional Catalan restaurant for our last dinner.  Pasada de la Villa is located on Cava Baja, a tiny street a few minutes from the Plaza Mayor.  The restaurant has been at this location since 1642.  In 1980 a new owner bought the restaurant and spent two years completely restoring it back to its original origins.  The specialty of the restaurant is lamb roasted in a wood-fired oven.  We had a 8:00 pm reservation and the place was empty as the Spanish do not eat dinner until at least 9:00 pm.  It was a wonderful culinary experience and would recommend Pasada de la Villa to anyone visiting Madrid.

The Chef sliding the lamb into the wood-fired oven

Rita enjoying a glass of Rioja before dinner in the empty restaurant.  Istarted filling up after 9:00 pm

The house salads in Spanish restaurants are delicious but huge, so we have been splitting them between us

 The lamb dish is for two people and comes in a special bowl.  The waiter serves the lamb and potatoes onto our plates.  All that is left is to enjoy.  The lamb was very moist, tender and best of all delicious.  A wonderful way to end our time in marvelous Madrid