

Spain's Toledo is a jewel frozen in time

You can drive around Toledo, Spain, on a pretty ring road across a canyon that allows you to study this elegant hilltop city like fine sculpture on a pedestal. And that's where Toledo belongs for many reasons.

It's a stunning fortress almost completely surrounded by a natural moat, so it's historic. The Romans got here in 193 B.C., the Visigoths in 554, the Moors in 711 and the Christians took over in 1085. In the 16th century, when Charles V ruled the Hapsburg Empire from Toledo, it was the capital of most of Europe.

So it was wealthy. This is evident from its villas, palaces and churches but especially its cathedral full of works by El Greco, Goya, Titian, Van Dyck and Valasquez. It is a showcase of European architecture, sculpture, masonry and carving; its choir pews are works of art. Its altar is crusted with gold from Mexico and Peru. The place rivals the great art museums, all in a city of 85,000. Imagine Paris' Louvre in Boca Raton, Fla.

Also imagine a medieval city known for its diversity and tolerance. For centuries, Muslims, Jews and Christians co-existed here in mutual prosperity and respect. The evidence is in the architecture and art to which they all contributed. Of course, that was before the Inquisition.

So what's Toledo today? It's a medieval city that is frozen in time, and within the ancient walls of which are a warren of crooked alleys, a synagogue dating to 1356 and the Alcazar fortress where Franco held out in the Spanish Civil War. It is a tourist mecca. It is a dowager queen haughtily watching the princess Madrid just an hour away.

It is a jewel in the crown of Europe.

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