2nd Excursion Trip: Toledo

Saturday, September 23, 2017
            The city of Toledo was never known to me for years and years of my life. The first time I have ever heard of the city itself was when the brother of a close friend, Curt Huffmire, met with me over lunch at the Huffmire home to talk about the Spain Madrid mission. I remember one of the most important things I needed to do while being a missionary in Spain was to get the opportunity to visit the city of Toledo and buy a sword from that area. I was informed that Toledo was once the best manufacturer of steel weapons during the past couple of centuries for warfare. I learned that they currently had been responsible for manufacturing the props of the Lord of the Rings and sell replica swords of what was used in the films.
            So, as a missionary the first time I could visit the city of Toledo happened in February 2015. I will never forget the first time I was there and how awesome of a city it was to me. The sad thing is that I did not do much and barely had a chance to soak myself in the culture and history of that city. The second time I visited the city happened later that year in April 2015. This time I could walk around more and look at some of its ancient monuments such as Jewish synagogues, Arab mosques and Christian cathedral. I never had the chance to enter and visit any of these visitor areas, however, I was blown away by how much culture this city has hosted for centuries of time.
            In addition, the third time I had the opportunity to really dissect the city of Toledo again happened just recently this past weekend on Friday, September 22nd and Saturday, September 23rd. I was familiar with where everything was at, the plaza de Zocodover, the cathedral and the Roman bridge. This time it felt like a sequel to a movie or something about my life and how I come back to conquer the city. Well, I do want to say that I pretty much conquered the city of Toledo and have a better idea of what it is about and it means so much to me.
            The Cathedral of Toledo is one of the most impressive Cathedrals that I have seen. It is unique and different for its architecture and the way it tells a story on the outside of the cathedral. Back in the old days when people did not read and write in Toledo, the images of Bible scenes about the life of Christ was a standard way to educate people about Christianity.

            In the city of Toledo, we could find architectural remnants of the Jewish faith in Toledo. We learned about their history with the synagogues.

            Toledo on a geographical standpoint has been a capital for different kingdoms. They are the border city before crossing paths into Moorish territory back then or Christian territory. It is surrounded by a river and at the border of different kingdoms.


            One of the things Toledo is known for is their metalworking, which was their swords. They also make good mazapan. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to the new blog

Saturday, September 23rd, 2017 Hey everyone, I just wanted to take the time and explain my time in Spain. First of all, I served a mission here in Spain back in July of 2014 and it lasted 2 years. After that when I returned home to the US I was always craving to return back to Spain. Through BYU, I got accepted to a Spain Study Abroad in Alcala de Henares, Madrid, Spain for Fall 2017.  I arrived in Spain sometime around Mid August to visit the south of Spain and meet new people right before the program started. I was also able to visit one of my last areas where I served as a missionary called Valladolid and the whole month of August was great. As for the month of September, I would call that the "settling in" month. I really did not get a chance to talk about what was going on besides the personal emails that I send to my personal group at home. And, as a requirement for the program we need to write a blog about all of our excursions that we participate in S...
Read more

5th Excursion Trip: Valencia (October 19, 20 and 21)

Image
Saturday, October 28th, 2017 Hello Everyone, For this excursion trip we went to the Eastern side of Spain into the Community of Valencia which has great weather and located near the Mediterranean Sea. The trip was set up into 3 days of travel, the first day we ate a typical plate of Valencian food and toured the aquarium, the second day we toured the Lladro museum, went to a market and spent the rest of the day at the beach and the last day was mainly to visit the Cathedral that contains the Holy Grail. After a short 4 hour bus ride to Valencia from Madrid we first arrived at a restaurant specially reserved for our university group. In the restaurant we ate a great meal of typical Valencia food. The order of these meals began first by ordering a drink, eating bread with the options of putting vinegar tomato sauce on it or mayo. Followed by a Spanish salad which consists of tuna, lettuce, tomatoes, corn, carrots and a mix of oil and vinegar. Lastly, we had the main entree course ...
Read more

9th Excursion Trip: Segovia (November 24th)

Image
Hello Everyone, Friday, November 24th was the last day of our excursion trips as a group with BYU. The last and final area that we went to visit was a place called Segovia which is the capital and part of the province of Segovia. Segovia is part of Castilla y Leon. Many people do not know this, on my mission when I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I spent my last P-day in Segovia. It was the 4th of July in 2016 and I was serving in my last area Valladolid and my last week as a missionary was coming up. Segovia was one of the places that I have never been able to visit during the 2 years I spent in Spain working for the church. So, I was able to go. When I went I remember I spent time with the other Elders who were there in Segovia, Elders Roka and Jeppson. They showed us around the city and we had a great time. I was so sad that day because I could not get over the fact that I was going to end my mission. About a year and a handful of months I ...
Read more