Saturday was a long day. We began at 9 am meeting a coach to take us to Toledo, the medieval capital of Spain (Before Felipe II decided to move it to the small town of Madrid. It is located about an hour south of Madrid and is known for being hot! Fortunately, those medieval builders knew what they were doing and built narrow streets with high walls to keep out the sun. It helps to keep the houses cooler - not much help for us who were walking around, but an interesting topic of conversation, nonetheless.
The Cathedral in Toledo is the second largest Gothic cathedral in Spain and in my opinion, the most beautiful. It houses the vestments of Cardinal Cisneros about whom we learned last week in Alcalá de Henares and the most amazing transparente - constructed behind the main altar in the 18th century. It is an alabaster rococo sculpture of the Virgin and Child with the Last Supper above it. In order to illuminate it, a large window was carved in the gothic ceiling surrounded by frescoes in the italian style and more alabaster cherubs. It is phenomenally beautiful.
One of the most important aspects of Spanish history, and one about which the Spanish are most proud, is the fact that for hundreds of years, the three cultures, moorish, christian and jewish, cohabitated this peninsula in relative peace. Their coexistence made for a rich culture. Toledo is a perfect example of this heritage. We visited the Alcazar, the sinagoge, the Church of Santo Tomé, which houses the masterpiece of El Greco, El Intierro del Conde de Orgaz and finally went up to the tower of the Iglesia de San Ildefonso - the Jesuit church. From there one can get some of the most beautiful vistas of Toledo and its surroundings, the bell tower and rooftop of the Cathedral and a wonderful view of Castilla/La Mancha, the province in which Toledo (and Madrid) is located. Our final stop in Toledo was the ever-favourite, sword factory, where various modes of medieval weaponry were purchased by the boys. Unfortunately Facebook has been the depository of most of the photos... and since I don´t have access to their facebook pages, I can´t get the pics. I´m working on getting my camera in working order so that I can take my own photos and no longer have to depend on them....
Every summer in Spain one of the largest festivals of European Gay Pride takes place in Madrid. The parade was on Saturday night with over a million people (and 15 Prep students)in attendance. From all accounts, they enjoyed the parade and the spectacle, street music, food, parade, all manner of stuff! Not being a fan of huge crowds, I stayed at home and watched it on tv. I didn´t see any of my kids on tv so I considered this a good thing!
On Sunday morning we toured the 16th century house of playwright Lope de Vega. It is the only remaining house of this epoch in Madrid. It is located in the Barrio de las letras, which is also home to the Convent of the Trinitarians, where Cervantes is buried and also the church where Lope de Vega is buried. I then gave the boys a free afternoon - a rarity - some went to the rastro, some to the park, some to the pool and some to the bullfights. Since it was our last Sunday in Madrid, I wanted them to be able to do and see what they wanted before we head south on Saturday next. I took a nostalgic (6 hour) walk through the neighborhood where I lived as a student and then out to the University where I studied 100 years ago. It was a beautiful day, sunny in the 80´s with a nice breeze. I hear it is STILL raining in CT.
Monday began our last week of classes. Some of the students who have been with us, especially Andreas from Farmington, CT and Shane from Maine are now gone. But there are new students every Monday and while some friends depart, others arrive...it is all good. Our afternoon activity was to visit the Reina Sofia museum. It houses the Spanish art from the 19th century on... so we got to see Picasso, Miró, Dalí to name a few. The highlight of course, is Picasso´s masterpiece Guernica, a testament to the brutality of the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.
Tuesday was a quiet day, we took a lovely afternoon walk through the Botanical gardens...a nice shady afternoon on a hot afternoon. The boys are getting tired. I have kept them so busy and they have seen and done so much! They are ready for their little "cultural vacation" to the south of Spain. They think they are going to get to rest - but I, as usual, have other plans! Our days will be full and very eventful, but I can assure you that they will have memories to last a lifetime! I´ve encouraged them to do as much as possible in the few days they have left in Madrid, sleeping just isn´t an option!
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