Toledo Cathedral was a majestic place matching the beauty you see in the rest of the city. Unfortunately, it was also the only place in Spain where I was told that a professional camera cannot be used. I do not know if you have ever traveled as a photographer. When you see a frame that is begging to be taken and you do not have your camera or the appropriate lens on you, something inside you dies just a little. This happened in Toledo Cathedral and also on the last night in Granada where I did not take my camera to the Flamenco show in Sacramente, but that is another story. For now, please accept the photos from my broken phone camera.
The story of the cathedral does not differ from that of Toledo’s. A small church became a bigger Visigothic church. The Visigothic church was then torn down to be a mosque under Moorish rule, which was then razed to be a cathedral. The cathedral constantly evolved as the city did. I believe it is in Anasi Boys that Neil Gaiman writes about the importance of locations rather than buildings. He says people sense places exuding energy and they construct a place of worship on it, but the magic comes not from the brick, but the land itself. There were multiple places on this trip that reminded me of Mr. Gaiman’s novel and Toledo Cathedral was one of them. It has been sitting in this place since the 6th century and embellishing the streets of Toledo in its current form since the 13th century. Nevertheless, I should admit that even if there is any truth to Mr. Gaiman’s fictional theory, the strikingly intricate brick they put on this piece of land emanates the same amount of energy.
Back in 2011, I visited Portobelo, Panama. A small town of fewer than 4,600 people, which was one day the gateway to one-third of the world’s produced gold before it made its way to Europe. Of course, the story, the ruins of the Spanish fort, and the bay where Captain Morgan unsuccessfully attacked the fort for the gold made for some deep contemplations, but little did I know that the thought and the place will come back to me 11 years later after seeing the astonishingly designed monstrance built from South American gold in the City of Toledo.
A story like Toledo’s is rare: Roman city that becomes the Visigothic capital, the Muslim stronghold, and the Christian center. A city where Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived together in [relative] peace for centuries. And a city that keeps many of these elements in their original form to tell us all this story. I hope I come back one day, Toledo.