STL DPB IN TOLEDO - THAT CATHOLIC THING

Spain, as westerners know, was intensely Catholic. After all, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who drove the last Muslim kingdom from Iberia and dispatched Columbus to the New World to, in the end, plunder and spread communicable disease, were known as Los Reyes Catolicos. It gave us the Spanish Inquisition. Like most of Europe, churchgoing isn't so much of a thing these days, but the monuments remain. The Toledo Cathedral is enormous and made me think about the portion of the region's resources devoted to creating it. I come from a Catholic family and education so, you know, I'm just saying.

This hasn't been much of a St. Louis photo blog lately. It's going to get worse. I arrive in New York today for a five day street photography workshop. Home sweet home.              

STL DPB IN TOLEDO - TOLERANCE

Toledo, Spain, has a magnificent cathedral but there are also well-preserved synagogues, as here. The city has a Jewish quarter, marked by tiles with Hebrew characters in the street. There was a time when Christian, Muslim and Jewish residents lived together in relative peace (how relative depending on who was in charge). It didn't last.                            

STL DPB IN TOLEDO - THAT GREEK GUY

We all know about Doménikos Theotokópoulos, right?  El Greco to you. Born in Crete, studied in Venice under Titian, and then primarily lived and worked in Toledo. This is one of his masterpieces, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, in the Church of Santo Tomé, Obviously, it is very complex. You can find a discussion at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burial_of_the_Count_of_Orgaz .            

                      

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - VIEW OF TOLEDO

One day last week we took a trip to the historic city of Toledo, about an hour south of Madrid. It's hilly, and was tough on a couple of 70-somethings. There was lots to see. The main buildings seen here on the horizon are the cathedral on the left and the Alcazar, an old military facility, on the right.            

STL DPB IN MADRID - LATE DINING

When North Americans arrive in Spain, they learn quickly that local dining hours are much different than ours. For sit-down restaurants, lunch is served from 1 to 4 PM and can be the main meal of the day. They don't open for dinner until 8 or 8:30 PM. At that hour the customers are mostly Americans, Brits and Germans. The locals start rolling in about 9:30 or 10. This picture was taken after we had finished our dinner (8 PM booking, of course) a few blocks away and we went for a walk. The place was plenty busy.

I apologize that this hasn't been much of a St. Louis photo blog lately. I might pick up some images on Saturday but then Sunday it's off to New York for a five day street photography workshop, Packing it in while I still can.              

STL DPB IN MADRID - MINIMALISM

Richard Serra's room at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. Some people hate his stuff, some like it. We love it.      

STL DPB IN MADRID - ZAPATERIA

A shoe store just off Plaza Mayor in Madrid, closed for the night.             

STL DPB IN MADRID - THE PRADO FROM THE OUTSIDE

We have good news and we have bad news: photography is not allowed in the galleries of the vast Prado Museum. That's it, both sides of the issue. Photo junkies like me get antsy if we can't press the shutter button at will. On the other hand, the policy forces people to put down their phones and actually look at the art. How refreshing.

The collection of European painting is stunning but the crowd control could be better. The line at security was terrible, maybe an hour long, but because we had pre-booked with a senior discount they let us cut the line. We had also purchased a 90 minute tour of masterpieces in English, which revealed so much we would not notice on our own. Five hours was all our old bodies could take but you could spend days there.

             

STL DPB IN MADRID - GRAN VIA METRO

We spent part of Wednesday at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. It's an enormous place based on the collection of a very rich German-Spanish couple that grew and grew, and was eventually sold to the Spanish state. It isn't well known in the U.S. We could only cover a small part of it before our aged joints and muscles said enough.

After a leisurely lunch in the museum's cafe, we took a walk through some of Madrid's great public spaces. The Gran Via is hard to characterize, maybe something like London's Regent Street, full of grand buildings but longer and more varied, The metro stop gives a nod to Paris' art deco system.

Tomorrow we confront The Prado.          

STL DPB IN MADRID - I GOT RHYTHM

We like this city. It has beautiful architecture and fabulous food (but you better like ham). It's clean. The people are delightful, without exception. Taxi drivers and restaurant servers are complimentary when I try to communicate in my limited Spanish (I guess not many Americans try). And, at the current exchange rate, it's very affordable for us. Y'all come.

Two activities on Tuesday. We took a bus tour to the historic city of Toledo, where these old bodies hiked up and down hills for hours. More about that later. In the evening, we went to a fancy dinner and flamenco show at Corral de la Moreria, which is supposed to be one of the top places, but what do I know. Well, this guy from Missouri thought it was drop-dead spectacular, heart-pounding and riveting. We've been to some excellent tango dinner shows in Buenos Aires, where the passion is on a slow burn. Flamenco is white-hot, with the fire of el sol español.

 

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN, OR TO KNICK-KNACKS

More from the El Rastro Sunday market. It's not that big, certainly not compared to Portobello Road in London or Feria San Telmo in Buenos Aires, but it's fun and colorful. Even old guy vendors can keep rockin' on while they peddle their wares.                  

 

IN CHICAGO - NEXT STOP