Ubeda - Toledo Day Twenty-Five

Day Twenty-Five

Date:     23 April  2013

Place:    Ubeda - Toledo

Weather:   Sunny, mid-twenties and cool evening

Accommodation:   Hotel Imperial, Toledo.

After another leisurely start and a 9am breakfast we left Ubeda through its narrow alleyways to head towards Toledo.

On the road again......

The countryside of the region Ciudad Real is the heartland of La Mancha famous for Don Quixote.  It  was very flat abutted by two large ranges either side of the vast plains.  Once again there were large groves of olive trees in what looked like pretty poor soil.  A lot of the trees are very old with gnarled trunks however it seems with pruning they can go on forever!

We made a detour to Consuegra at 1pm to see the windmills made famous by Cervantes in his book Don Quixote de la Manch in 1604.  The windmills stand high on a hill behind the town and the eleven mills have been restored.  The road we followed is the Ruta de Don Quixote which follows the route in the region and identifies areas that Cervantes identified in this centuries old tale.

The vast plains of La Mancha.

 

The fabled medieval windmills made famous in Don Quixote.

The old headquarters of St John can be seen in the background.

 

It was then on to Toledo, the hill top village made famous by El Greco in the 1600’s.  Once again we negotiated narrow alleys to find the hotel however it wasn’t as bad as Ubeda’s streets.  We dropped off the bags and set off in the brilliant sunshine and cooler conditions to have some lunch only three doors down from our hotel.

Croquettes of Venison...... Noooo.....not Bambi!

 

Our first stop for the afternoon was San Tomo. This church is famous for one thing:  the El Greco painting The Burial of the Count of Orgaz.  It stands alone in the entry area.  I’m sure the church has no problem with funding as every person who enters in charged two euros fifty. 

The Spaniards called the painter El Greco which means The Greek as he was born in Crete and moved to Toledo when he was thirty.  His real name was Domenikos Theotokopoulos and he signed his work with his real name. It’s a wonderful painting depicting El Greco at his best – the details in the count’s coat to his broad brush strokes so identifiable of his painting technique.  In this painting he depicted himself – seventh from the left and included his young son in the left corner.

A short stroll away is the El Greco museum which houses the twelve apostles with Christ and the well-known San Bernadine.  This is a great museum as it also portrays the housing of the time as well as many of El Greco’s paintings.  The audio guide helped us to move through with lots of information.

A dream come true....so many of El Greco's work.

 

After the museum we went to the cathedral which is so well known in El Greco’s paintings of Toledo however despite the information guide saying it was open until 6.30pm it closed at 6pm.  Lost in translation again!  We will have to see it tomorrow before we head off to Madrid.

The huge main cathedral of Toledo....lost amid tiny alleys.

 

It was time for shopping and the boys went off for some cervasa (beer) while Desley and I hit the shops.  It’s interesting to see each town and what they have to offer the tourists.  In Toledo it’s all Don Quixote, knights, knives and black and gold jewellery.

As we’d had a late lunch Desley and I picked a tapas bar not too far from the hotel.  The small meals were delicious and we discovered a great rose.

It was very cool walking back to the hotel.  Tomorrow we will have more exploring in Toledo before we head off to Madrid.  Our Spanish holiday is quickly coming to an end.