Two weekends ago I went to city of Toledo. It only took about two hours by bus to get us there, but the travel gave us a great perspective of the region of Castile y La Mancha.
Spain has around 20 regions of Semi Autonomous nature. Castile Y La Mancha is one of the largest and its wide plains are known for supplying the nation with a lot of its food.These same plains are also famed for the setting of Cervantes masterpiece, Don Quixote, and the author, Cervantes lived in the regions center, Toledo.
Since the Roman era, Toledo was a center for the region. Mostly its geographic location in the center of Spain made it ideal the different rulers to control the area. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Spain came under control of the Visagoths. The Visogoth Christians leadership also centered its empire in Toledo. However, in the 9th Century the Moors took the city from Christians and kept it as a powerful stronghold of resistance in the coming campaigns by Christian kingdom in the north.
During the time Toledo was a apart of Moor held Spain or Al Andalus, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish people were able to exist in relative peace. Eventually however, Christian forces under Alfonso VI of Castile retook the city in 1085. This marked one of the first major victories for Christian forces in the nearly 700 year Reconquista.
Even with the insurrections of Christians against the Islamic caliphs who controlled Toledo and the siege by Alfonso VI of Castile, Toledo's walls and gates remain in great condition.
As we approached the main gate to the city it was evident that we were entering old Spain. Once through the he Puerta Bisarga we found ourselves surrounded by walls of an inner courtyard. One could imagine the disappointment of breaking down the first door only to be surrounded by archers with another gate blocking your entrance to the city.
The court yard also had a statue of one of my favorite Spanish kings, Carlos I. As if European monarchs weren't hard enough to remember the statue was labeled Carlos V, the Spanish name for Charles V. Because European families intermarried, during his life, Carlos was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire aka most of Germany, Netherlands, and Austria. His succession to the Spanish throne also gave him control of Spain and subsequently the Spanish colonies in America. So this statue is recognizing him by his larger title of Emperor to which he is the 5th Charles. However in the Spanish monarchy he is the first Charles or Carlos I. European monarchs liked to use similar royal names as a way to mess with people.
The walk up hill brought us to another gate, called the Puerta de Sol. The path we followed was paralelled by a narrow two way road that led into old Toledo.
On the other side was a near two hundred foot drop. Ignoring the modern cars, roads and building the view offered a glimpse of what old Castile de La Mancha looked like, and you could imagine Don Quixote charging a windmill on the expansive plain before us.
We decided to enter Toledo's maze of narrow streets and get lost in the endless shops selling an excessive amount of awesome swords, armor, helmets, and gold work. Occasionally we were surprised to see some art hidden in the street.
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