Toledo By Naveen Agnihotri

Toledo, officially granted Heritage of Mankind status by UNESCO in 1987, is one of the richest historically, culturally, monumentally and touristically endowed cities in Spain. It is also the capital of the province of the same name in a region called Castilla la Mancha. It is about an hour's train ride from Madrid; I got there at about 10am.

The city as a whole is very striking, being perched on top of a hill right by a sharp bend in the river (Tagus, I think), surrounded by curtain walls on all sides. The town consists of a winding maze of alleyways and cobblestone streets that meander up and down, criss-crossing every which way. Toledo calls out to be explored on foot, and that I did. Of course, Toledo does not guarantee that you will not get lost in the maze of streets, which also I did. Several times. Toledo is also famous for being the home of El Greco for most of his later life. His house has now been turned into a museum, which houses several of his famous paintings.

Also striking are the throngs of tourists that seem to fill the streets. This was not tourist season, but there were still tourists in great abundance.I wonder what its like when it is tourist season. And of course, like anywhere else in the world, American tourists are easily told: they're the ones wearing sneakers. I've sometimes wondered why that is the case. I mean, it's not like everyone wears sneakers here all the time. And I refuse to believe that comfortable non-sneaker walking shoes are not sold in the US.

And I met this nice couple from New York in Toledo, who seemed very fashionable people. The lady's sunglasses had been selected with more care than my entire wardrobe -- the frame matched the color of her pants. And yet, she was wearing sneakers. A friend (who, for the record, is American) was once trying to convince me that wearing sneakers when overseas is a subliminal American mentality -- that's how Americans exert their national identity. I didn't believe him then, but now I think maybe he was on to something. :-)

My guidebook said that the the town has remained virtually unaltered since the Middle Ages, and except for the tourists, it certainly looked that way.

But by far the most famous historical monument in Toledo is the Catedral. It was by far the biggest and most impressive monument that I saw in Spain.

Right behind the Catedral, in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, there was this little water fountain that caught my attention. (Thanks to Diane Wille for emailing me about the name of the plaza.)

Along the winding alleyways of the town, one sees many interesting doors. Here's a couple that I liked.

Strictly speaking, all of Toledo is not on the hill. A little portion of the town is also found across the river, somewhat lacking in the monumental department, and, not surprisingly, entirely lacking in tourists.

I was quite surprised to see that the town of Toledo had named a street after its sister town of the same name in Ohio. I thought is was kind of gracious of them, because Toledo, Spain gets more tourists per year than the number of people that live in Toledo, Ohio.

All the towns I visited in Spain -- Segovia, Alcalá de Henares, and Toledo, all had a town square, which consisted of a large open space, on one side of which was the City Hall (the seat of the city government), and another side had a Catedral. This picture doesn't show this setup, but it was taken in the town square -- Plaza de Zocodover, so I think it qualifies.

Like all self-respecting Spanish towns, Toledo has its own majestic prison, El Alcázar. This one isn't quite as stunning as the one in Segovia, but it still deserves a picture.