Ancient Toledo Paints Memorable Picture With Alcazar, Cathedral

February 09, 1986|By Dick Alexander, San Francisco Examiner.

TOLEDO, SPAIN — It was an incredible view. Magnificent. We were standing on the balcony of our parador, watching the ancient city of Toledo spread beyond the River Tagus in a diorama of ineffable beige. We were the awed couple.

Like El Greco when he painted his masterful ``View of Toledo,`` we were looking north, while on an adjacent balcony a traveler was attempting to transfer the same view to canvas. It must have been somewhere just below us and to the left, I figured, where El Greco stopped on the hillside to set up his easel.

We weren`t the only ones to be awed by this provincial capital of 53,000 that reminds one of Jerusalem. They`ve been coming for centuries, some to occupy and rule, like the Romans, Visigoths and Moors; others to paint, sculpt or write novels; and still others to walk the crooked streets and buy their souvenir swords and gold engraved mementos.

In 1577, Domenikus Theotokopoulos, a Cretan-born, Italian-trained painter, came, fell under Toledo`s spell and became renowned as brilliant, though controversial, El Greco.

We had driven from Madrid--smoggy, hot, crowded, marvelous Madrid--in the late fall and were warmly greeted at the Parador Nacional Conde de Orgaz. The inn was named for the 14th Century Toledo nobleman who became immortalized in what is perhaps El Greco`s most celebrated work, ``The Burial of Count Orgaz,`` which was executed in 1586 for Toledo`s church of San Tome.

Toledo, a sharply silhouetted tableau draped carelessly over rolling hills, had burst upon us from the south about an hour out of Madrid.

Seeking a map of the city and directions to the parador, we drove through the Puerta Nueva de Bisagra (New Gate), followed a logical route to the left, then turned right on the Cuesta de las Armas. The route took us past the triangular Plaza de Zocodover, the heart of the city, to the imposing Alcazar, which, along with the Cathedral, dominates the uneven skyline.

The Alcazar, a massive fortress with four corner towers, stands on the highest point of the city. It was begun by the Romans, developed under subsequent Spanish rulers and was destroyed by fire three times and rebuilt.

At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War it was occupied by the Military Academy and was rebuilt once more after being bombarded by Republican troops in 1936 and left in ruins.

Across the street I found my map in a shop displaying stacks of souvenir swords and medieval armor. The lobby of a nearby hotel produced a cordial Spaniard who directed me to the parador. Genteel people, these Toledoans.

The four-star Conde de Orgaz, strategically located on a hillside just to the south of Toledo, was our first experience with a parador and it was a pleasant surprise.

Paradores, historically, have been a network of old castles, palaces and convents restored by Spain`s General Secretariat for Tourism into hotel-type accommodations, with modern fittings and conveniences suited to the 20th-Century traveler while retaining the Spanish motif.

Many have been modernized and some are new structures altogether, such as the Parador Nacional del Golf, a sprawling resort complex at Torremolinos.

Our Toledo parador had a little of the old and much of the new, with mini-bar and guest amenities in a commodious bathroom that included toothbrushes, combs, a razor, aftershave lotion, cologne, body milk, shampoo, shoe rag and shower caps.

We drove back to the city (a 10-minute trip), past the old Bridge of San Martin that is included in El Greco`s painting and on to the Balmardon gate, where a citizen found us a parking place on the street. (Toledoans pop up from nowhere to find you parking places, charging a small fee or accepting a gratuity for their efforts.)

Choosing the Cathedral for our first stop, we walked up the winding street, keeping the piercing spire of the ancient church directly in front of us.

Gothic in style, the Cathedral was completed in 1493 after two centuries of work and is certainly a focal point of any visit to Toledo.

El Greco`s ``Disrobing of Christ`` was painted for the Cathedral soon after his arrival, but, because of theological improprieties in his treatment of the subject, he was given no further commissions from the Cathedral. The painting, however, helped establish his reputation in Toledo.

Because it spreads over several hills and its expansion is limited on three sides by the Tagus River, Toledo is a city of many winding, often tortuous streets--a situation that demands the visitor park the car and explore on foot.

There is no point in trying to maintain a sense of direction. You can easily get lost, but not really lost, because sooner or later you will wind up at the Tagus River, Zocodover Square or the north gate. A map only points you in the general direction of where you want to go.

And so, with a general direction in mind, we asked passersby the way to the house and museum of El Greco--four times, we asked, eventually finding our way to the museum at the Plaza del Transito.