Toledo Trio Part III

 Reunited with my group we explored more of Toledo, trying to find the elusive free museum of Santa Cruz. Among the winding streets we found this elegant statue of Cervantes which we felt needed a proper eloquent documentation with proper pensive philosophers poses
( non intention alliteration)

The Museo De Santa Cruz for its free nature offered a great amount value. 

Starting with the exquisite grounds that housed the artwork and artifacts. The Moorish, Gothic and Spanish Renaissance mixed together wonderfully in the building that was originally a hospital for the city. 

Even the bathrooms reflected  a very historical and feel to them.

 One part of the museum was exclusively dedicated to the tile work.

 Walking the inner courtyard we discovered the main collection of the museum. This collection included many pieces that you could not take pictures of unless you wanted to suffer the wrath of omnipresent security guards. The presence of these security is actually at every single museum I have been to and I'm beginning to think that a large portion of the Spanish economy is museum security based.

Regardless the collection included many early period pieces of stone arrow heads, Roman tile work and other ancient artifacts. The second half included some great works of art from some famous artists. Unfortunately in the case of Toledo's famed artist "El Greco" (which translates to "The Greek" in Spanish) his best piece was on exposition in Japan. Luckily I had seen a couple of Greco's works at the Catedral earlier in the day.



The other  pieces were compariably great with various different mediums,  artists and time periods.

Shroud of Turin?

Not a Saint

Understanding European art definitely takes a knowledge of the many Saints that are celebrated in the Catholic religious tradition. My Saints definitely need brushing up but the one below is Saint Sebastian  Evidently he made one of the Roman Emperors angry so he had Sebastian put on a post to be shot by arrows. He survived, but later died by the same Emperor, who had him clubbed to death. Its strange that  St. Sabastian is more commonly depicted with arrows in his body rather than clubs because usually artists focus on the martydom. I suppose the miracle of surviving multiple arrow wounds is more memorable and has a slightly happier message because he survives the encounter.
  The painting of the man on the cross is not Jesus. He's St. Andrew. His X shaped cross is part of how you can recognize him because, as its told, when he was to be put to death, he didn't want to be placed on the cross in the same way as Jesus had been. So instead of the traditional crucification he was tied sideways because he felt he was unworthy to die the same death as Jesus.

The man on the right is not a Saint. Just my favorite Spanish king/ Emperor Carlos V( Charles V) He looking pretty sinister and dark, but that probably because hes ruling half the world.

After the Museo de Santa Cruz we followed a path uphill aiming find the Jewish quarter of Toledo. Along the path we spotted tiles along the floor that showed "Stars of David" where Jewish businesses or houses had been. On the top of the hill we caught a great view of the back of the city and the surrounding hills. The main building in view was the Monesterio de San Juan de los Reyes and without much idea of what it was, we headed towards it.















The Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes, was built by Ferdinand and Isabella. The chains on the side are representations of the thousands of Christian slaves that were released when Granada was retaken.
As the sun set on the city we headed back down towards the main gate to our bus. Our route brought us to the same look out we had seen earlier in the day, however now it was lit up with amazing colors that only a sunset can provide.

With the sundown we had an hour to kill before our bus left for Madrid. The city gate took new life with the lights shinning on its old stonework.

Finishing our night right, we sat down at a "Churroria" for some delicious churro con chocolate. My first churro experience in Spain. The churros were less sugary than ones I've had in the United States but the crunchy outside with doughy inside and the warm chocolate made them the best churros I've had. Churros and Chocolate and looking at the city we just explored shinning bright in the dark night, ended our day perfectly and made me very content on the bus ride back to Madrid.