Sightseeing in Toledo
The Plaza de Zocodover, crowded with patio restaurants and at last count one McDonald’s, is the home base for touring the city. From it, most of the sights, except for the Alcázar, are down hill... but not too far down hill.
More on Sightseeing in Toledo below:
Puente de Alcántara
Before or after venturing into the city, take time to admire two of Toledo’s most impressive bridges spanning the Tagus River. The Puente de Alcántara, on the east side of the hill close to the Alcázar, was first constructed by the Romans but owes its current appearance to alterations made by the Moors and Christians. Steps lead down to it from the Paseo de Cabestreros. On the city side is an 18th-century Mudéjar battlement tower and the last surviving one of its three gates, the 10th-century Moorish Puerta de Alcántara. Passing over the bridge leads to the Castillo de San Servando, built by the Moors but completely overhauled in the Mudéjar style in the 14th century. It now serves as a youth hostel and university dormitory.
Puente de San Martín
The Puente de San Martín, on the opposite side of the hill in the west below El Monasterio de San Juan de Los Reyes, is a 13th-century bridge and the only one in Toledo that still has its two defensive towers. This bridge is best reached by following Calle San Martín, west one block from the plaza in front of the monastery.
The Catedral of Toledo
The Catedral of Sevilla is larger and more grandiose, but for many the Catedral of Toledo is Spain’s most evocative. It was begun in 1226 but took 250 years to complete, around the time Columbus was discovering the New World and the Catholic Monarchs were conquering Granada.
With the its grand construction, the Moorish mosque that had claimed the site and had previously been converted from the Visigothic basilica was lost. The exterior is frank in its Gothicism and mostly obscured from proper view by the three-story buildings crowding around it. Owing to its long period of construction, the interior is a mix of Mudéjar, Gothic and Renaissance.
After entering through the Puerta Llana, the Renaissance coro (choir) immediately confronts you in the center of the space facing the high altar. It is a massive square of carved stone, alabaster and dark wood. The layers forming the stalls where the priests sit during mass are carved with figures depicting scenes of the conquest of Granada and, above them, biblical figures carved in the 16th century – those on the left by the Spaniard Alonso Berruguete and to the right by Frenchman Felipe Vigarní Bargoña.
The transept separates the choir from Capilla Mayor, for many the most impressive feature of the Cathedral. It dates to the late 16th century, with an intricately fashioned wrought-iron cage from which the gold-encrusted reredos can be appreciated as it rises high above the altar, with scenes of prophets, the Virgin and Child, and a huge depiction of the crucifix. The tomb of Cardinal Mendoza also lies within.
To light the tabernacle, which had dwelt in the shadows of the towering reredos, the architect Narciso Tomé was commissioned to strategically cut holes in the Catedral’s exterior walls so natural light would be cast on the tabernacle during mass. Known as the Transparente, these were cut low on the back of the main altar and across the ambulatory high on an exterior wall and adorned with angelic sculptures and paintings so as to conceal them but not block the new light. Of the Cathedral’s 22 chapels, mention should be made of the ornate Gothic Capilla de Santiago, with a statue of Santiago Matamoros (the Moor Killer) atop a thrashing stallion and with the tombs of Álvaro de Luna and Juana Pimentel, as well as the Capilla del Virgen del Sagrario, patron saint of Toledo. The Sacristy displays a long hall of El Grecos depicting the 12 disciples, Jesus and Mary. There are other notable works by Lucas Jordán, Van Dyck, Tristán and Goya, whose ‘The Arresting of Jesus on the Mount of Olives’ is among the highlights.
El Monasterio de San Juan de Los Reyes
The monastery was begun in the 15th century in the late Gothic style under the guidance of architect Juan Guas. It is a lofty sight when arriving in Toledo, with numerous spires, peaked arches and a squat octagonal tower atop it. In commemoration of their victorious battle over the Moors at Toro in 1476 the Catholic Monarchs commissioned this Franciscan monastery. What looks like chains hanging curiously from the walls are actually shackles. These belonged to Christians that had been enslaved by the Moors and were ultimately freed during the liberation of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs. They, Ferdinand and Isabella, had planned to be entombed here. After they had defeated Boabdil and the last of the Moors at Granada and thus assured their legacy (one that also cruelly included the creation of the Spanish Inquisition), they chose instead to lie eternally entombed in the Catedral of Granada.
The Alcázar
From the highest perch in the city, this great square of brick construction with four steeple towers at each corner, Alcázar, has long served as a fortress, though not in its current incarnation. Romans, Visigoths, Moors, Christians all took part in building, altering and extending the various forts on this site. The current citadel, which serves as a regional library (books) and military museum (swords, shields, armor, guns...), is a reconstruction of the Christian rendition built during the reign of King Carlos V. The original was almost completely destroyed in a series of struggles, the War of Succession, the Napoleonic Wars and the Spanish Civil War, when the fascists took refuge inside. You can listen to a crackling tape recording of General Moscardó – whose son the Republicans had threatened to assassinate if he did not surrender the alcázar – telling his son to prepare to die.