Toledo Cathedral

I hope you are having a good weekend.  We had a decent amount of snowfall and it finally feels like winter around here!  Today I have some photos from our trip to Spain last November to share.   We spent part of one day visiting the city of Toledo. 

We spent a lot of time in the Cathedral in Toledo.  It was very beautiful with elaborate carvings, statues and paintings.  Before we visited the city, we had lunch at a hotel on the opposite hill so we had a chance to get a great overview of the city.  (The cathedral is a little left of center in this photo).

The weather was fine and we were lucky to have a bright blue sky - here is a closer view of the tower.

On of the first areas we visited was a treasure room.  There were incredibly ornate medallions and crosses.

I think that the designs of these crosses would make interesting cutting files.

The amounts of gold and silver and the precious gemstones used for these items are overwhelming.

I think illuminated manuscripts are fascinating - this Bible was beautiful with lots of gold and great details.

The ceiling in this room was incredibly intricate.

It is tricky to get a good photo of a ceiling - I was leaning back so far that the Japanese tour group was very amused!  You can also try putting the camera on the floor and shooting straight up.

 Here are a few more ceiling shots - they had such beautiful patterns and designs.

These enormous cherub or angel heads along the arches were very interesting.

This was one of the most ornate cathedrals I have visited.

There were incredible carvings in the choir area depicting various castles and fortresses.

Some of the armrests were shaped as imaginary animals.

Here are some intricate inlaid patterns and carvings on the underside of a lectern.

Another lectern with an amazing bird.

I thought this star pattern in some floor tile was very striking.

These look like they could be painted but they are actually done with inlaid stone.

The floral swag border here is one of my favorites.

There are carvings and statues everywhere.

Many different Madonnas can be found in various chapels.

One of the most amazing areas was this section where the statues and painted figures rise to the ceiling and then are continued as painted images and frescoes.

It can be confusing to tell which images are painted and which are three dimensional.  They seem to morph before your eyes.

I hope you can get a sense of this - the contrast in the light made it very difficult to get a photo that shows everything clearly.  It might be easier to get a good photo on a cloudy day.

One more unusual feature was this enormous figure on one section of the wall.  I don't think I have ever seen something on this scale.

This is just a small sampling of images from the cathedral.  I hope you found them interesting.  I am sure I could go again and find many more fantastic things to photograph.

Toledo is also known for marzipan.

We bought some delicious marzipan candy at this shop and they had a model of a city gate - made completely of marzipan in the window!  (After showing gummy bears and a gingerbread house on the first two Saturdays, I had to sneak in a little candy here too!).

I am busy getting ready for my trip and also catching up on posting my Project 366 photos - I sure could use more hours per day!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!


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