Tuesday April 16, 2019

Santa Cruz Museum

Another breakfast start, the fresh squeezed orange juice is really good. Time to start our day. The first stop today is the Santa Cruz Museum. The building itself is a former orphanage and hospital funded by Cardinal Mendoza upon his death in 1495. The facade of the building still has bullet holes in it from the Spanish Civil War. When we go to pay, they tell us it is a free day today. What a pleasant surprise.

Beautiful Stained Glass

Even more pleasant is the beautiful interior. The highlight of the museum is 15 El Greco paintings but there is much more to see including a money chest with a fake keyhole, a large pennant flag from the Battle of Lepanto, stained glass, a wooden sculpture of Saint Martin, a folding chair you wouldn’t want to carry to the beach, and much more. The items are very well displayed and each has Spanish and English descriptive texts next to them.

Modern What?

After finishing the main floor, we go upstairs where there is a modern art exhibit. I still don’t get it nor am I a big fan. We go back downstairs and out where it says, salida(exit), which takes us to a courtyard.

Bought on Discount Rack

We take some steps up to the second level where we are pleased to find a tile and ceramic exhibit. The displays are broken down by towns and centuries and we find many beautiful pieces. We also find quite a few that have us scratching our heads. I mean, who would want to eat out of a bowl with a fat devil on the bottom? Same goes for the wall tile of a pot bellied man booked figure. Probably bought it in the clearance aisle. Back out in the courtyard, there are several examples of really beautiful wall tile scenes and patterns. We end up spending over two hours here and we’re really impressed with this museum.

Assumption of Mary

And let’s not forget the El Grecos. From the Immaculate Conception to Portraits of St Francis, and St Peter, his work is really astonishing. We like the vivid colors, flowing concept, and details in the people. We did not know much about El Greco before this town, but we really like his work. We hope to see more as several of his paintings are in the Prado in Madrid.

Striking

When we leave the museum, we head over to the San Roman Church that was closed yesterday. We arrive, walk in, and are told it too is free today. Fate is on our side apparently. This small church, houses the Visigoth museum as well. We use the translator photo app on Carols phone to take pictures of the Spanish signs and learn about this culture. The Visigoths were mostly Germanic people. In Spain, the Romans had a sort of treaty with them, that let them control some areas as long as they provided food and goods to the Romans. As the Roman Empire declined, the Visigoths ruled Hispania from about 425 until 711, when the Moors conquered them.

Very Beautiful

The San Roman Church has many arches and moorish features built into its design from the time that the Moors most likely used it as a Mosque. It is a beautiful building to see. Trying to push our freebie luck, we walk to the Christ of the Light Mosque to see if it is free. Our luck runs out, it is not, and we had not planned to go in, so we check out the exterior and continue our walk.

Fortifications

We walk to the Alcazar (Royal palace) and are not interested in its museum which is an army museum. We instead walk around it to a nice viewpoint looking both at the palace and also at the Tagas River below and the Puente Alcantara, the old bridge we walked into town from.

Dining al Frescoe

We are now pretty hungry so we walk to Virtudes, a small cafe, nearby. Carol orders mussels in sauce and I order chicken curry with rice. We get two sangrias again. Unfortunately, none of our food or drink lives up to the hype of this being rated the number 5 restaurant. The service was slow and overall sucked. The portions were small and just ok tasting, edible but nothing special. Even the sangria which had some kind of spice, maybe nutmeg added to it in an overabundance , did not satisfy us. So far, I would say the worst food we have had in Spain. The only nice thing was that we sat outside on this beautiful day. Our day is done and we retreat to our room for a siesta. We did buy some more Manchego on the way back from the Manchego museum. It was a different girl there and when Carol says we were there once already, she gets really happy. She asks what day and we say Sunday, and she tells us the other girl was her sister, then she introduces us to her mother, who is also working today. It is nice that we can support a family operation. Later this evening, we go up to the rooftop and finish off our wine, cheese, and chorizo. A fitting end to our time here…or is it.

In Our Street

When we are getting ready for bed around 2200, we hear a lot of people gather in the small street below. Sure enough, twenty minutes later, a new procession comes marching along. No staffs, just a swaying back and forth motion as they walk. They stop below us as the other one had, and than are on their way. The crowd disperses and the street becomes more quiet. Carol had read that Toledo does its processions late at night and that each one is done by a different brotherhood of the town. It was nice to be able to see the traditions that are being carried on. Time to sleep as tomorrow is a travel day.

Expenses
Hotel Santa Isabel 53E
Santa Cruz Museum Free Day
San Roman Church Free Day
Virtues Lunch 30E
Manchego Cheese 5.85E
Bread, Chorizo, snacks 3.10E
Walked 3.5 Miles