I
decided to type out my diary that I wrote on my trip to Spain in the summer of 2013. Unfortunately,
a bunch of something sticky dripped on it, so I'm not sure what all
of it says....
July
18th, 19th, 20th- NYC to Toledo: 2013
After
a failed attempt to get to the flight on time, a miracle allowed
Delta to get us on an air Europe plane. Well. We thought it was a
miracle....until we actually got ON the plane. TEENY tiny and
crowded! But what do you expect from Air Europe?! Both the process to
get up in the air and the flight itself were pretty harrowing, but we
made it to Madrid in one piece! At that point, we needed to take the
RENFE, the really super fast train, to get to Toledo. We bought
tickets, intending to take the bus, but realized the only way we'd
get there on time was to take a Taxi. We managed to get to Puerto de
Atocha (the train center) with minutes to spare. We then easily found
our way to Toledo.
Upon
arrival, we found ourselves in a beautiful train station, followed by a beautiful hotel- the Princesa
Galiana:
Complete
with tiled walls and gorgeous winding wood and tile staircases. Our
room was small, but comfortable. Although it took us some time to
figure out how the clever air conditioning and lights worked. Sort of
forced, "green" behavior. When you left your key in the
slot, everything in the room operated. When you took it out, there
was about a ten minute wait, and then the air and the lights shut
off. Pretty clever! We spent some time napping (as the turbulent and
cramped plane did not allow for that so much!) and woke up up around
9pm. We wandered around the outskirts of Toledo, familiarizing
ourselves with the area and taking in the beautiful views. We were at
the bottom of a
mountain!!
http://www.mostbeautifulpages.com/2012/10/toledo-spain-photo-by-manuel-lancha.html
From a close by bridge, (and from the outside of our hotel) you could see the hills, roads and buildings above. Some lights and reflections, and many gorgeous homes. We were taken aback by how clear the top of the Catedral was in the middle of the city! It was so far away! We managed to find a little joint with some food and drink- this would be our second meal in Toledo (I skipped writing the first- it was a quick one- we all ordered a tomato and onion salad with oil and vinegar and a thin layer of tuna- BEST BREAD I've ever had.) Dinner was, ironically, a little joint with American and Turkish food! It was the closest for the best price....and open! Surprise: it was both delicious AND the service was great. I had this awesome sandwich with grilled chicken.
The next day, we decided to go to El Sinagoga de Transito and Santa Maria de La Blanca.
A little history:
http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/Spain/Central_Spain/Toledo/Transito/Transito.htm
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sinagoga_del_Tr%C3%A1nsito_interior2.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Sinagoga_del_Tr%C3%A1nsito_interior1.jpg
El transito is the oldest Synagogue remaining. It was built in 1391 (the date is contested) by Samuel Ha Levi and included the congregation of Jews that had been in Spain since the 7th century. Inside is now the main shul and the woman’s gallery. The rest had been turned into a gorgeous museum filled with relics from the ancient times, including siddurim, torah scrolls, torah covers, various shabbat items, items for chagim, etc., which were lovely. There were also some old items of clothing there. All in all, it was a nice experience- but not a particularly emotional one. For some reason, while the shul itself was a beautiful site, the fact was that, to me, it didn't seem right that in the Juderia....there were NO JEWS! Very weird. I took loads of pictures though- more for the beauty of the visuals.
We then got some lunch- keep in mind that we had a heck of a time finding the actual bus that we were supposed to be on....so at this point, we'd been walking (from the bus stop....alllll the way around Toledo) for a few hours in very high heat. Although it's a dry heat, which I don't mind at all. We got a snack and some water, I had a very yummy strawberry fruit bar, mommy had a white chocolate Popsicle, and Eevry had a brownie ice cream sandwich (what?!) We then continued on (without GPS this time, the phone died! Uh oh!) and got quite lost looking for Santa Maria de la Blanca- we gave up at one point and decided to sit down for lunch. We found a cute little restaurant and had some salad....then chicken and potatoes....it was beautiful, truly, but I'll give the taste about a 5/10. Mostly because I'm not a fan of rosemary or so very much butter...! Potatoes were delicious though, and I truly enjoyed them. It seems many restaurants here have a flat price for 2-4 courses and you can choose what you want from a list. Interesting idea! After we asked the man where we could find SMDLB, and he showed us .
A little history....
http://carolkiecker.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/spain056.jpg
SMDLB is an old synagogue turned into a Church by the Catholic Church. I assumed, based on the fact that it's called a, 'sinagoga', on the list of Jewish things to see in Toledo that it would feel like more Judaism. You walk in, the ceilings are a million feet high...frankly, it takes your breath away. After a few pictures of things, you take a real look around....again, in an attempt to connect, Jewishly. Nada. Nothing. Nothing good, anyway. Although the Church is kind in keeping it up, I felt physical pain on those walls. It felt like the church whitewashed the blood of my ancestors right off the walls and washed their hands of the inquisition by making a museum out of it. I love all of my friends of different faiths, and my religious Christian friends are often the most supportive of my Judaism, but this felt NOTHING like that. And it hurt. At some point, we noticed that there was artwork on the walls, and a nun who had a kind face, sitting with books around her. A cursory glance at the images and the language,\ would lead you to believe it was celebrating Toledo Jewry. No such luck. Although it reference Judaism- Sefaradi- "The Jerusalem of the Sephardics"- it actually was in the context of Messianic Judaism, not Judaism. Even asking, in nicer terms when, "Israel would figure it out". Using the word, "unity" and so on. Upon even closer inspection, the paintings were mostly depictions of Jesus himself. A few were of Israel, and there was a rendition of Eshet Chayil. However, overall, I felt a bit cheated. It was nice that within the Juderia, you saw remnants of Jewishness- names of streets, etc. It was lovely to see chai in Hebrew and the seven pronged menorah on tiles on the ground...but I'm not sure that the whole show did the suffering justice. Nor did the fact that what was preserved gave any inkling to the amount of suffering that the Jews of Spain and Portugal experienced.
The Museo de Sefaradi- El Sinagoga de Transito- attempted...with a laminated history and Jewish lessons in many languages in each room. But they virtually changed history. There was little mention of torture or thieving of Jewish land and belongings. Little mention of how we were the scapegoat in the wars between Moslems and Christians (AND they white-washed those wars....especially Cordoba!) Virtually NO mention of forced conversions. If I had gone to that museum with no prior knowledge, I would have left thinking that the Spanish Inquisition and the years prior were anywhere from an inconvenient nuisance, to an unfortunate mishap.
However, I will say: They CAN'T take away what is ours. I will always know the incredible strength that it must have taken to be those people. To go from being hard workers, educators, translators, business men- to being tortured in a room, told to give up your own family so that they could be tortured, too, or simply suffer, until a slow death was your best option, if only to make them STOP. THAT was reality. And if they don't want to upkeep history, it is up to us to do so. Not just Jews, but others who understand the truth of history.
http://www.mostbeautifulpages.com/2012/10/toledo-spain-photo-by-manuel-lancha.html
From a close by bridge, (and from the outside of our hotel) you could see the hills, roads and buildings above. Some lights and reflections, and many gorgeous homes. We were taken aback by how clear the top of the Catedral was in the middle of the city! It was so far away! We managed to find a little joint with some food and drink- this would be our second meal in Toledo (I skipped writing the first- it was a quick one- we all ordered a tomato and onion salad with oil and vinegar and a thin layer of tuna- BEST BREAD I've ever had.) Dinner was, ironically, a little joint with American and Turkish food! It was the closest for the best price....and open! Surprise: it was both delicious AND the service was great. I had this awesome sandwich with grilled chicken.
The next day, we decided to go to El Sinagoga de Transito and Santa Maria de La Blanca.
A little history:
http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/Spain/Central_Spain/Toledo/Transito/Transito.htm
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sinagoga_del_Tr%C3%A1nsito_interior2.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Sinagoga_del_Tr%C3%A1nsito_interior1.jpg
El transito is the oldest Synagogue remaining. It was built in 1391 (the date is contested) by Samuel Ha Levi and included the congregation of Jews that had been in Spain since the 7th century. Inside is now the main shul and the woman’s gallery. The rest had been turned into a gorgeous museum filled with relics from the ancient times, including siddurim, torah scrolls, torah covers, various shabbat items, items for chagim, etc., which were lovely. There were also some old items of clothing there. All in all, it was a nice experience- but not a particularly emotional one. For some reason, while the shul itself was a beautiful site, the fact was that, to me, it didn't seem right that in the Juderia....there were NO JEWS! Very weird. I took loads of pictures though- more for the beauty of the visuals.
We then got some lunch- keep in mind that we had a heck of a time finding the actual bus that we were supposed to be on....so at this point, we'd been walking (from the bus stop....alllll the way around Toledo) for a few hours in very high heat. Although it's a dry heat, which I don't mind at all. We got a snack and some water, I had a very yummy strawberry fruit bar, mommy had a white chocolate Popsicle, and Eevry had a brownie ice cream sandwich (what?!) We then continued on (without GPS this time, the phone died! Uh oh!) and got quite lost looking for Santa Maria de la Blanca- we gave up at one point and decided to sit down for lunch. We found a cute little restaurant and had some salad....then chicken and potatoes....it was beautiful, truly, but I'll give the taste about a 5/10. Mostly because I'm not a fan of rosemary or so very much butter...! Potatoes were delicious though, and I truly enjoyed them. It seems many restaurants here have a flat price for 2-4 courses and you can choose what you want from a list. Interesting idea! After we asked the man where we could find SMDLB, and he showed us .
A little history....
http://carolkiecker.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/spain056.jpg
SMDLB is an old synagogue turned into a Church by the Catholic Church. I assumed, based on the fact that it's called a, 'sinagoga', on the list of Jewish things to see in Toledo that it would feel like more Judaism. You walk in, the ceilings are a million feet high...frankly, it takes your breath away. After a few pictures of things, you take a real look around....again, in an attempt to connect, Jewishly. Nada. Nothing. Nothing good, anyway. Although the Church is kind in keeping it up, I felt physical pain on those walls. It felt like the church whitewashed the blood of my ancestors right off the walls and washed their hands of the inquisition by making a museum out of it. I love all of my friends of different faiths, and my religious Christian friends are often the most supportive of my Judaism, but this felt NOTHING like that. And it hurt. At some point, we noticed that there was artwork on the walls, and a nun who had a kind face, sitting with books around her. A cursory glance at the images and the language,\ would lead you to believe it was celebrating Toledo Jewry. No such luck. Although it reference Judaism- Sefaradi- "The Jerusalem of the Sephardics"- it actually was in the context of Messianic Judaism, not Judaism. Even asking, in nicer terms when, "Israel would figure it out". Using the word, "unity" and so on. Upon even closer inspection, the paintings were mostly depictions of Jesus himself. A few were of Israel, and there was a rendition of Eshet Chayil. However, overall, I felt a bit cheated. It was nice that within the Juderia, you saw remnants of Jewishness- names of streets, etc. It was lovely to see chai in Hebrew and the seven pronged menorah on tiles on the ground...but I'm not sure that the whole show did the suffering justice. Nor did the fact that what was preserved gave any inkling to the amount of suffering that the Jews of Spain and Portugal experienced.
The Museo de Sefaradi- El Sinagoga de Transito- attempted...with a laminated history and Jewish lessons in many languages in each room. But they virtually changed history. There was little mention of torture or thieving of Jewish land and belongings. Little mention of how we were the scapegoat in the wars between Moslems and Christians (AND they white-washed those wars....especially Cordoba!) Virtually NO mention of forced conversions. If I had gone to that museum with no prior knowledge, I would have left thinking that the Spanish Inquisition and the years prior were anywhere from an inconvenient nuisance, to an unfortunate mishap.
However, I will say: They CAN'T take away what is ours. I will always know the incredible strength that it must have taken to be those people. To go from being hard workers, educators, translators, business men- to being tortured in a room, told to give up your own family so that they could be tortured, too, or simply suffer, until a slow death was your best option, if only to make them STOP. THAT was reality. And if they don't want to upkeep history, it is up to us to do so. Not just Jews, but others who understand the truth of history.
Purely
for the visual- the fact that we were up very high, in beautiful and
crowded streets, (well.....riiiiight up until siesta...) I enjoyed
it. I loved the walking, the people were interesting- pushy, but
nice. There were a lot of really lovely shops with Jewish items,
which I loved. Conclusion- if you are going for a tour, to SEE some
nice places and things- go! If you're looking for REAL Jewish
history, you must go with a Jewish tour group. Preferably
religious/sefardic, if only because it's older, no other reasoning
here.
We
managed to get ourselves back to the bus in one piece (during siesta,
so most things were closed) I definitely feel good about my sense of
direction, even after getting lost after that trip. Back at the
hotel, we cooled down and we rested. Then we got food, showers, and
sleep. The next day, we were off to Barcelona!
_____________________________________________________________________
After
a quick bite in the hotel, we were off to catch our train. The way it
works is, you must take a train from Toledo back to Puerto de Atocha
in Madrid. From there, there is a 3 hour train to Barcelona. (Toledo
and Madrid are in the central part of the country, while Barcelona is
closer to the coast of the eastern part of the country.) The train
ride (which I'm writing from right now) is gorgeous. Spain is a
mixture of plains and mountains. Some places are very green (now
yellow! it's HOT!- but not terrible. Very Mediterranean climate.) and
almost sandy/rocky areas. Between the hills are little
houses/cottages, as well as small villages. Cities often seem to have
those plains and mountains as their backdrop.
Things I'm learning:
Things I'm learning:
People
here seem inquisitive and hard working....
1. If you don't go green here, it's okay, they'll make you green- this attitude applies to other things as well.
2. This is a gorgeous country with mostly gorgeous people. However, aforementioned attitudes mean I would not choose to live here myself. 'MERICA!
.....HOWEVER....
1. If you don't go green here, it's okay, they'll make you green- this attitude applies to other things as well.
2. This is a gorgeous country with mostly gorgeous people. However, aforementioned attitudes mean I would not choose to live here myself. 'MERICA!
.....HOWEVER....
3.
Americans could learn to have more respect. Period. Here, people take
care to make sure things are kept clean (even in the huge, crowded,
busy train station). Aside from cigarette butts, people put
garbage....IN the garbage! Little things like that. Also, waiters and
workers give more of a crap to do their job well and respectfully.
They are serious about getting the job done and are not immediately
lazy (as I've come to expect from MOST places in the States). This
makes for a generally more relaxed, and in some ways polite
environment (hot country polite. Not Southern Belle polite.)
July 21-22: Barcelona
Upon arriving in the airport after the train ride (where someone stole our seats...so we stole someone elses. Didn't end so well. Apparently the Spanish are strict about those things.) We ended up at the Barcelona train station. It was HOT and, unfortunately, we couldn't figure out the bus system. Sooooo....we took a taxi. That night, we mostly rested, explored a bit and desperately tried to find food.
July 21-22: Barcelona
Upon arriving in the airport after the train ride (where someone stole our seats...so we stole someone elses. Didn't end so well. Apparently the Spanish are strict about those things.) We ended up at the Barcelona train station. It was HOT and, unfortunately, we couldn't figure out the bus system. Sooooo....we took a taxi. That night, we mostly rested, explored a bit and desperately tried to find food.
This
is where my diary ends. The other pages were ruined in the spill. So
I will attempt to reconstruct the rest from memory....
This
hotel was quite possibly the fanciest thing I've ever seen in my
life. So much so that my mother nearly had a panic attack. After some
very sad attempts to find food, we ended up eating upstairs at the
fancy restaurant in the hotel. I don't know what it was about Spanish
food, but it was really not my thing. We had some fish and so on, and
again, it was gorgeous....but I wasn't a huge fan. Also, in the
salad, there were these crazy yellow tomato looking things and the
waiter said they were amazing....oh, they were awful! Someone find me
some Paella in this country, man!
We had a tour planned for the next morning, so after the food, we went to sleep. We woke up bright and early to pick up our tickets, and this was the very first time we realized that us and Barcelona transportation were not such good friends, we would continue to be reminded of this for the entire trip. After a failed attempt at finding public transport (note we were OUTSIDE the city itself.) and ending up in a little park with drug paraphernalia....we decided to go back the hotel and ask the workers how to get where we needed to go. They sent us to the subway (although to say that it was a simple process for them to explain it would be a lie) Annnnnnnnd....they led us astray. Somehow, at some point....(with a taxi) we finally made it there after walking all over and we got our tickets and waited for the bus. Again, food was scarce. I do not understand the Spanish and their food. And pork is on everything, everywhere. Oh well. Anywho, so we got on the bus and started this really interesting tour where we got to see all of Barcelona! It was gorgeous! We got to take a cable car over montejiuc, the Mountain of the Jews, and it was made completely of glass! Totally amazing. We got to see the ports and the different statues, the loooooong road, Las Ramblas (we would find out later just how long when we inevitably got lost...again.) and a bunch of really interesting historical places, including the Gothic architecture. However, once again, once we got to the King's square....history was white washed. She mentioned, "Kings Ferdinand and Isbella" about a million times....in reference to many different things...explained the history of Castilian Spanish...but barely made any mention of the Inquisition. What, if you ignore it, do you think it's like it never happened? Nice try.
After the tour, we were hot and I was not feeling so well, so we went to a little place for lunch and water. I almost passed out (fun!) and everyone was exhausted, but we realized that it was technically our last day there, and we couldn't leave without seeing Camp Nou! We had gotten tickets ahead of time so we didn't have to wait in any crazy lines.
Getting there....I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Once we finally found the subway itself, we went in the wrong area about 5 billion times (give or take, we were hot and tired, it felt like billions) we almost wasted our fare....then we thought we found the train, but ended up in the wrong direction while a few sweet passengers helped us figure that out. I think normally, we'd see the humor in this, but in this case, it was just torturous.
When we finally got out of the train and started the trek to Camp Nou, it was like a victory march for us. I'm pretty sure there was singing involved. Also, I've never seen my brother walk so fast. What a BEAUTIFUL stadium! And so much history. The museum was amazing as well and we took tons of pictures. After that, we decided to get some food in the food court....they had a Spanish Burger King....or MacDonalds or what-have-you....and it was the only thing open with options that were pork. I hate to say this....but that was some of the yummiest food I ate in Spain. And that's sad.
On our way back, we somehow got off at Las Ramblas and ended up walking almost the entire length of the street. That wouldn't seem like such a big deal....except....well here, read for yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rambla,_Barcelona
On our tour, we were warned about pickpockets and told they were very sophisticated. Eh. Some might be, I guess. But the ones I saw tried to use whistles to distract, while another person scoped out the targets. They didn't get anything though! And I found them right away.
We found the ONE kosher restaurant (maybe in the entire city?) and we headed back to the hotel. We realized that we had about five minutes to eat and sleep before our flight (at 3am), so we ordered room service, had a dance party and tried to sleep a little bit. Of course there were issues getting on the fight, oy. It was fixed, though, thankfully.
While I feel lucky to have visited Spain, I was very, very happy to touch down in Tel Aviv. There is nothing- especially after days of feeling a disconnect from your people- like walking out to Ben Gourion and feeling like you're finally home.
We had a tour planned for the next morning, so after the food, we went to sleep. We woke up bright and early to pick up our tickets, and this was the very first time we realized that us and Barcelona transportation were not such good friends, we would continue to be reminded of this for the entire trip. After a failed attempt at finding public transport (note we were OUTSIDE the city itself.) and ending up in a little park with drug paraphernalia....we decided to go back the hotel and ask the workers how to get where we needed to go. They sent us to the subway (although to say that it was a simple process for them to explain it would be a lie) Annnnnnnnd....they led us astray. Somehow, at some point....(with a taxi) we finally made it there after walking all over and we got our tickets and waited for the bus. Again, food was scarce. I do not understand the Spanish and their food. And pork is on everything, everywhere. Oh well. Anywho, so we got on the bus and started this really interesting tour where we got to see all of Barcelona! It was gorgeous! We got to take a cable car over montejiuc, the Mountain of the Jews, and it was made completely of glass! Totally amazing. We got to see the ports and the different statues, the loooooong road, Las Ramblas (we would find out later just how long when we inevitably got lost...again.) and a bunch of really interesting historical places, including the Gothic architecture. However, once again, once we got to the King's square....history was white washed. She mentioned, "Kings Ferdinand and Isbella" about a million times....in reference to many different things...explained the history of Castilian Spanish...but barely made any mention of the Inquisition. What, if you ignore it, do you think it's like it never happened? Nice try.
After the tour, we were hot and I was not feeling so well, so we went to a little place for lunch and water. I almost passed out (fun!) and everyone was exhausted, but we realized that it was technically our last day there, and we couldn't leave without seeing Camp Nou! We had gotten tickets ahead of time so we didn't have to wait in any crazy lines.
Getting there....I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Once we finally found the subway itself, we went in the wrong area about 5 billion times (give or take, we were hot and tired, it felt like billions) we almost wasted our fare....then we thought we found the train, but ended up in the wrong direction while a few sweet passengers helped us figure that out. I think normally, we'd see the humor in this, but in this case, it was just torturous.
When we finally got out of the train and started the trek to Camp Nou, it was like a victory march for us. I'm pretty sure there was singing involved. Also, I've never seen my brother walk so fast. What a BEAUTIFUL stadium! And so much history. The museum was amazing as well and we took tons of pictures. After that, we decided to get some food in the food court....they had a Spanish Burger King....or MacDonalds or what-have-you....and it was the only thing open with options that were pork. I hate to say this....but that was some of the yummiest food I ate in Spain. And that's sad.
On our way back, we somehow got off at Las Ramblas and ended up walking almost the entire length of the street. That wouldn't seem like such a big deal....except....well here, read for yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rambla,_Barcelona
On our tour, we were warned about pickpockets and told they were very sophisticated. Eh. Some might be, I guess. But the ones I saw tried to use whistles to distract, while another person scoped out the targets. They didn't get anything though! And I found them right away.
We found the ONE kosher restaurant (maybe in the entire city?) and we headed back to the hotel. We realized that we had about five minutes to eat and sleep before our flight (at 3am), so we ordered room service, had a dance party and tried to sleep a little bit. Of course there were issues getting on the fight, oy. It was fixed, though, thankfully.
While I feel lucky to have visited Spain, I was very, very happy to touch down in Tel Aviv. There is nothing- especially after days of feeling a disconnect from your people- like walking out to Ben Gourion and feeling like you're finally home.
Here
are my pictures from all the trips, if you're my FB friend, you can
see them. Otherwise, use your imagination ;)
https://www.facebook.com/talia.goren/media_set?set=a.932017836829.1073741829.20803283&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/talia.goren/media_set?set=a.932017836829.1073741829.20803283&type=3
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