Rebajas and trip to Toledo January 21

I forget if I brought this up in a blog post yet. If I did, you all will get a bit of a refresher. From the month of January until the end of February there are sales at the stores called “Las Rebajas.” Nearly everything in every store is over 50% off. The reason for this is because the stores are getting rid of their winter stuff so in March they can put out all their spring stuff. I couldn’t help but take advantage of this opportunity. I made a killing! For less than 70 euros I bought a pair of boot-like shoes(10), a pair of flats(8), two dresses(19), a purse(15), and an amazing leather jacket(17)! The cool thing about Spain is that taxes are already figured into the price. That means when something says “10 euro,” that is the amount you pay at the cash register. It’s nice not to have to try to figure out in your head what the tax would be. As amazing as “Las Rebajas” are, I think I am done shopping for awhile. UPDATE: just kidding, I ended up buying a scarf in Toledo ;D. 

I did more than just shop this week. The University plays a free movie every week. Last week when I tried to go to the movie they had technical difficulties so they moved the movie to this week Monday. That meant I got to see two movies this week! The first movie I saw was called “Flores de Otro Mundo.” This movie was about a town in Spain that was filled with all men. The only women that lived there were very old. Because of this, single women were brought to the town on a bus. This movie was pretty slow and it was hard to understand. The second movie I saw was “Te Doy mis Ojos.” This movie was about a woman trying to escape her abusive relationship. During this movie they had subtitles on so it was a bit easier to understand. It’s easier to read Spanish than it is to listen to it. 

streets of Toledo

The trip to Toledo was a long one. We got on our bus at 7am and drove for over 3 hours until we were there. Toledo is a really pretty city. The streets are really small and made of cobblestone. All of the architecture is really old and pretty. The reason why Toledo is such an interesting city is because it contains 3 religions. The city has a mosque, synagogues, and a giant catholic church.

The first place we went by was the “Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz,” which is a mosque. It was a small, boxy place. We were unable to go inside because it was converted to a catholic church when the Muslim people were kicked out of Spain. At least the outside of the building wasn’t touched. We were able to see the architecture of the mosque; that contains a unique type of arc on the windows. 

 

The next place we went to was the “Catedral Primada de España.” This church was absolutely enormous. It used to be the site of a mosque but that was torn down to make this cathedral. From the outside the cathedral looks like a small palace. The inside is extremely cold. As pretty as churches are, I am starting to get sick of going to see them. The interesting part of this church was that in the center there are the choir stalls. This part is cool because the chairs fold down and are made out of walnut. The carving in the wood was really interesting. The reason why this church is so important is because this is where the bishop gives mass. In the back we got to see the bishop’s robes and his hats.

choir stalls

In my opinion, the reason why this church was worth seeing was because of the paintings in the back room. Most of them were painted by the famous artist, El Greco, in the century XVI. I was really excited because on Friday in my art class we started studying El Greco. The painting I was really excited to see is called “El Expolio.” This is a painting of Jesus when he is walking and getting ready to be nailed on the cross.  The interesting thing about this painting is that when the church had El Greco paint it they negotiated a price. When the painting was done the church thought the painting wasn’t very good and only paid El Greco half of the amount negotiated. The reason they didn’t like the painting was because Jesus’s head is supposed to be higher in the painting then all the other people’s heads. This is because of a hierarchy type of thing. In this century the most important person in the painting had his head above the others. The second reason the church didn’t like the painting is because of the soldier. The soldier in the painting is wearing roman armor from the current time period. The church thought this was crazy because of the mix of time periods.

After this we went to the “Sinogoga del Tránsito.” The synagogue was pretty plain compared to the Catholic church. It was nice. Part of it is a museum that had costumes and artifacts.

The last thing we saw was “El Monasterio San Juan de los Reyes.” It was a cool little monastery with a little plaza in the middle. In it there was a little garden and a big orange tree. Hanging on the outside of the building were many sets of ancient handcuffs. This is because when the Christians won the fight against the Muslims, and the Christian prisoners were set free, they came to this church/monastery to thank God and hang up their chains. 

There was a lot to see this week. Next weekend all the people that are staying for only 1 month go home. It will be so weird to have to say goodbye to 17 people, leaving just 11 of us here for the rest of the semester.