Toledo · ES
Toledo: City of Three Cultures Highlights
Down through the hilltop city where Christians, Muslims and Jews once lived side by side, from the great gate to the cathedral, the synagogues and El Greco.
What's the walk about?
Welcome to Toledo, perhaps the most hauntingly beautiful city in all of Spain, a labyrinth of narrow lanes crowded onto a rocky hill within a great loop of the river Tagus. For centuries Toledo was the capital of Spain and, famously, a city of three cultures, where Christians, Muslims and Jews lived, worked and built together, leaving behind a unique tapestry of churches, mosques and synagogues standing side by side. On this walk we descend through the old city from its grand gate, past a tiny ancient mosque, the colossal cathedral and the fortress on the summit, into the old Jewish quarter with its exquisite synagogues, and the world of the painter El Greco. Wear sturdy shoes for the cobbles and slopes, and let Toledo enchant you.
What you'll see
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1
Puerta de Bisagra
City Gate
The grand, monumental main gate into the walled city, rebuilt in the sixteenth century for the Emperor Charles the Fifth and crowned with his enormous imperial coat of arms and double-headed eagle.
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2
Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz
Mosque
A tiny, perfect mosque built in the year 999, one of the oldest surviving Moorish buildings in Spain, later turned into a chapel, blending nine little domes and horseshoe arches with a Christian apse.
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3
Plaza de Zocodover
Square
The lively, triangular main square of Toledo, whose Arabic name recalls the horse market once held here, long the city's stage for festivals, bullfights and the grim ceremonies of the Inquisition.
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4
Alcázar de Toledo
Fortress
The massive square fortress crowning the summit of the city, a stronghold since Roman times, rebuilt as a palace for Charles the Fifth and famous for its dramatic siege in the Spanish Civil War.
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5
Catedral de Toledo
Cathedral
The soaring Primate Cathedral of Spain, one of the greatest High Gothic churches in Europe, built over three centuries on the site of a mosque and filled with dazzling art, including a Baroque skylight masterpiece.
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6
Iglesia de Santo Tomé
Church
A modest parish church with a lovely Mudéjar tower, famous throughout the world as the home of El Greco's masterpiece, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz.
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7
Museo del Greco
Museum
A museum recreating the house and world of El Greco in the old Jewish quarter, displaying his paintings, including a famous view of Toledo and a series of apostles, amid period rooms.
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8
Sinagoga del Tránsito
Synagogue
A fourteenth-century synagogue of breathtaking beauty, its prayer hall covered in intricate carved stucco and Hebrew inscriptions, now home to the national museum of Sephardic Jewish culture.
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9
Sinagoga de Santa María la Blanca
Synagogue
A serene, ghostly-white synagogue of the twelfth century, a forest of horseshoe arches on octagonal pillars, built by Muslim craftsmen for Jewish worship under a Christian king, the ultimate symbol of three cultures.
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10
Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes
Monastery
A magnificent monastery in the ornate Isabelline Gothic style, built by Ferdinand and Isabella to celebrate a great victory, with a stunning two-storey cloister and the chains of freed Christian captives hung on its walls.
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