On my last visit to Toledo, it seemed holier than ever: Dark El Greco clouds threatened overhead, stark against bright, clear horizons. Hail pelted the masses of people clogging the streets as they awaited the Good Friday procession. A look back at my write-up reveals nothing but superlatives: Toledo’s street plan is the most confusing in Spain, its cathedral the most Gothic (and the most Spanish of all Gothic churches), and the cathedral’s altar the most stunning.
Toledo was once home to Europe’s most powerful king, Charles V, and is papered with the vividly spiritual paintings of the city’s most famous artist, El Greco. Spain’s former capital crowds 2,500 years of tangled history onto a high, rocky perch protected on three sides by a natural moat, the Tajo River. Toledo is so well preserved and packed with cultural wonder that the city has been declared a national monument – no modern exteriors are allowed.
For centuries, Christians, Muslims, and Jews enjoyed this city together. Toledo's past is a complex mix of these three great religions. Today, Toledo is filled with tourists day-tripping from Madrid, a quick 30-minute train ride to the north.
Its main sights were beautifully renovated when the town marked the 400th anniversary of El Greco’s death in 2014. The two biggies are the magnificent cathedral, with a jaw-dropping interior and a sacristy swathed in El Greco’s work, and the Santa Cruz Museum, with its own world-class collection of El Greco paintings.