Vacation in Spain - Toledo, a paradise for photographers!

On my return from vacation in Spain, I brought back a box of marzipan (mazapán) for my friends and coworkers. While having a bite, many would ask, what is marzipan? And that would be a good starting point to talk about Toledo, the former capital of Spain with a history of more than 2000 years. A daytrip to Toledo was day 4 of our vacation. Toledo was a 35-minute train drive from Madrid. We lived in the Sol area in Madrid - a quick 3 minutes’ walk from our stay to catch the local train to reach the main station.

 We grabbed our breakfast and settled on the train bound for Toledo. Very convenient and frequent trains ran between these two cities - we got to see the beautiful views of Spanish countryside. 

 Our Tour Guide was right there when the train reached the beautiful Toledo station with amazing facade. The fact that Toledo, the entire city itself has been declared a national monument and since millions of tourists flock to this ancient city, it's not easy to be a professional guide without going through the rigorous academic process. The guides can narrate every monument with very high percentage of data accuracy. The first look of the city as one steps out of train provides a scene straight from the History Channel. As our cab took turns in and out through Toledo streets, each panorama provided a unique view of the city. On three sides, Tagus River embraced and probably provided the security from enemy in old times. We stopped at a vista point and our guide clicked a family portrait against the backdrop of the Cathedral, the old city, and the river.

The Fresco!!!

craftsmanship!

A little bit on history as a UNESCO World Heritage Site - Toledo boasts a rich history dating back to ancient times, with evidence of human settlement found as far back as the Bronze Age. Over the centuries, it served as a prominent city under various civilizations, including the Romans, Visigoths, Muslims, and Christians. Its strategic location on a hill overlooking the Tagus River made it a vital center of commerce, culture, and religion. 

At current times, the city allowed only limited vehicles into the old city to preserve its charm, architecture and culture. Walking was the primary mode of transportation to see most of the old city. For centuries, Christians, Muslims, and Jews enjoyed this city together. We saw the Synagogue with Moorish architecture which was later converted to a church. The city can distinctly be separated into three sections - Jewish, Catholic and Muslim. 

 The Toledo Cathedral, also known as the Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo (Catedral Primada Santa María de Toledo), was spectacular, with gold and woodwork. This is one of the most iconic landmarks in Toledo, Spain, and one of the most famous cathedrals in the world. 

Construction of Toledo Cathedral began in 1226 during the reign of King Ferdinand III of Castile and was completed in 1493. It is a prime example of Spanish Gothic architecture, although it also incorporates elements of Mudejar, Renaissance, and Baroque styles due to the lengthy construction period. The cathedral houses an impressive collection of religious artworks, including paintings, sculptures, and altarpieces by renowned artists such as El Greco, Titian, Velázquez, and Goya. One of its most famous artworks is El Greco's "The Disrobing of Christ" (also known as "El Expolio"), which is located in the Sacristy. The Cathedral also houses masterpieces of Francisco de Goya, Titian, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velázquez, Caravaggio, Giovanni Bellini, and of course El Greco on the walls.

 Talking of El Greco, whose real name was Doménikos Theotokópoulos, was a renowned painter of the Spanish Renaissance. He was born in Crete in 1541, which was then part of the Republic of Venice, and later moved to Toledo, Spain, where he spent much of his life and produced some of his most famous works. As I mentioned earlier, Toledo was a melting pot of cultures, with Christians, Muslims, and Jews coexisting, influencing El Greco's art with their diverse traditions and beliefs. El Greco's artistic style was distinct, characterized by elongated figures, intense colors, and a spiritual atmosphere. His works often depicted religious subjects, such as saints, martyrs, and biblical scenes, infused with a sense of drama and mysticism. 

Toledo's rich cultural and religious heritage provided El Greco with ample inspiration for his paintings. One of El Greco's most famous works, "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz," located in the Church of Santo Tomé in Toledo, exemplifies his unique style and mastery of light and color. The city of Toledo itself is often depicted in his paintings, with its iconic skyline and landmarks serving as backdrops to his religious narratives. Overall, Toledo offered El Greco a conducive environment to thrive as an artist, providing him with patronage, artistic freedom, cultural diversity, and spiritual inspiration—all of which contributed to his decision to make the city his home and establish his legacy as one of the greatest painters of the Spanish Renaissance. 

 The next element that attracts a visitor is the river Tagus (also known as ío Tajo in Spanish). This beautiful river has been the lifeline of Toledo since time immemorial, as Toledo is situated atop a rugged hill, this river provides the city with strategic advantages and serves as a barrier by naturally fortifying, throughout its history. During the ancient and medieval periods, this river provided transportation and helped economic growth and prosperity. This also supplies the drinking water and of course for all the crops and pretty flowers within the city walls! The river was probably the most important geographical feature which helped the landscape to inspire artists, poets, and writers. 

 The weather was crisp, and sky was perfect blue color, and the mood was quite festive. The city was gearing up for its annual Corpus Christi festival. A procession is taken out through the streets of Toledo - One of the most famous highlights is the Monstrance, a priceless work of craftsmanship in gold and silver dating from 1515 and weighing about 160 kilos. During the Corpus Christi procession in Toledo, the monstrance containing the consecrated Host is prominently displayed, often atop an ornate float or carried by clergy. 

The monstrance is a priceless work of craftsmanship, crafted from gold and silver with intricate detailing and embellishments. Wreaths, lanterns, and tapestries from the 16th/17th centuries are taken out and decorated all over the city. Overall, the monstrance plays a central and revered role in the Corpus Christi festival in Toledo, serving as a tangible manifestation of the city's rich religious and artistic heritage and inspiring profound spiritual devotion among worshippers and spectators alike. 

 The picturesque city has attracted many Filmmakers too! Some of the well-known movies are The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Kingdom of Heaven, The Blind Sunflowers, Knight and Day, The Raven, and Doctor Who. Interestingly, Toledo is known for craftmanship in sword making and some renowned movies have used swords made in this city - Conan the Barbarian, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Excalibur, The Three Musketeers, Braveheart... 

Toledo's craftmanship in swords

 We had reached the very end of the city and so was the guided tour. We appreciated our guide for his thoroughness. We were so hungry, though full of eateries, most of them had a long wait time. We chose a Mediterranean place for lunch (one of the best foods so far in our vacation)! Before we left this ancient city, we made sure to purchase a few boxes of Marzipan for everyone back home - Toledo is the original home of Marzipan! 

The city is also known for the amazing porcelains and the swords of every artistic kind (most of the famous movies with notable swords are built in this city) - Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, Kingdom of Heaven, etc. 

Our day was coming to an end. Toledo definitely needs more than a day trip! We had to get back to the station on time - we took one of the loveliest and the most scenic walk ever, crossed the Alcántara bridge (which dates back to Roman antiquity) over the river Tagus- about 10 minutes from the city center to Toledo train station. We reached just in time to head out back to Madrid.

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park is in 29 Palms, a city in San Bernardino County, California.

The best part in traveling with kids these days, one no longer gets asked, “are we there yet?” Instead I ask, “Where are we going?”😀

The second day on itinerary was 29 Palms, about 200 mi from Ventura. With LA traffic, it took us longer than expected. But it gave me sufficient time to look up and learn a few trivia about the town.

One thing I learned, Paramahansa Yogananda, had a desert retreat in Twentynine Palms. I remember, Bapa had given me to read “Autobiography of a Yogi” in my college days, which for some reason I could never complete.

Steve Jobs had ordered 500 copies of the same book for his own memorial, for each guest to be given a copy.

We reached around 3:30 in the afternoon. As per Rijul’s plan, we had to reach the trail head and take a hike about a mile and reach the arch rock before sunset (so that he can get some good pictures). A quick check for sunset time revealed Sun goes down in that desert place by 4:30 pm!!!

Lo and behold, when we reached there, the landscape felt as if we got dropped by a space craft in an alien land😀

Believe me, my girth simply refused to pass through crevices between rocks…haha. By the time I could figure out the arch rock, sun had already set.

But looking at the rock scape surrounded by mountains and the orangish violet sky, the place felt quite divine. Very quiet and beautiful- the Joshua tree looked magnificent with a distant orange glow from Sun.
Rijul and Romil had already at the arch and were shooting pictures of each other. Ranjan also made it with ease. I was happy when my watch said, “seems you are working out” 🤣🤣🤣never made it to top!

We went back next day and saw a few more interesting rocks, such as split rock, skull rock and an interesting garden - Cholla Cactus Garden!
The visit was quite a fun one!

Santa Cruz Island

A day in Santa Cruz island

Air was clear and crisp in its true sense when we started out in the morning in Ventura, CA. The Channel island harbor was barely less than 5 minutes away.We had reached pretty late into the night. Ranjan had already ordered breakfast to grab in the morning and reach the marina in time to check in!

Pacific water looked gorgeous and sky couldn't be more blue-er! Crew was courteous and friendly. the boat slowed down if we came close to something that would delight the passengers. I grabbed a cup of coffee and watched through window mostly, as we cruised along. We went past group of dolphins, seagulls and even a few oilrigs!

Santa Cruz island is one of the five islands of this national park(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Islands_National_Park).The visitors must take back everything they brought in to the island to leave this pristine clean...no trash can to be found. Very well maintained.

Ranjan & Rijul had already opted for kayaking and go see some of those beautiful painted caves. Myself and Romil decided to go for hiking so that we can see the California sea coast beautiful vistas.

We chose Potato harbor trail as the map said "Moderate". Romil would probably have preferred a more strenuous one, he decided to give company to mom. The entire trail was 5 mi, initially it was slight steep but then quite flat.

Each vista looked amazing! At a distance, the pacific fog provided a nice backdrop against blue pacific warm waters. Hundreds of birds took rest on those beautiful rocks. Looking from top, the beauty of waves breaking and bottom emarald water against some black rocks, took our breath away. The hike was so much of worth!

We paused at every vista to admire Nature. The trail packs that Ranjan had packed tasted delicious. Both mom and son enjoyed our little picnics and chit-chat. We saw those magnificent ravens whose intelligence made rounds of stories - they can unzip your backpack if left unattended, take out food and other shiny objects like keys and be kind enough to zip up, as if nothing happened.

Descending the trail was quite comfortable and took us less time. As we were waiting for Dad and son to return from sea caves, Romil suggested to sit on one of many benches near the campground. We devoured the last batch of trail mixes and took a good sip of water. Sitting near the Eucalyptus trees, provided a nice breeze and a beautiful fragrance! Finally, we saw the group of foxes, who over time had evolved to look much smaller like cats.

Ranjan and Rijul had returned, I saw some of their beautiful pictures of caves, pelicans and blue sea.

Pretty soon we boarded our cruise right on time. The sea looked golden as Sun was setting on west. Suddenly, the boat slowed, lo and behold, the boat was surrounded by hundreds of dolphins - what a show of synchronizing dolphins splashing golden water at us, and rejoiced by thousands of bird!

Another annoucement came soon for moon rise. The last full moon of 2021 was peeking out behind the mountain, ready to illuminate the sky, as the boat anchored, the parking lot was full of cars and festivities for the town's annual boat parade and fireworks.

This morning, as we went to starbucks, decided to catch the first ray of sun and took a detour to the beach - the micro moon was still in command and was saying goodbye, as slowly the Sun was transitioning, some of fishing boats had returned and the sky looked amazing with a mix of twilight colors!

Aspen - Maroon Bells

  I had just finished the scenic and upper scenic loop and came back to the base of Maroon Creek. Ranjan had left for Crater Lake, another beautiful hike that I chose not to undertake. While waiting for Ranjan to complete the loop, I adored the enormity of nature’s creations. I was utterly in awe, looking at the most photographed mountains in the US. Both are fourteeners (used for mountains with a height of 14,000 ft or more).

The scenic loop hike is the easiest and most beautiful one in the entire trip. The path was almost hidden amid beds of gorgeous wildflowers and the cascading maroon Creek. Our guide, a wonderful college student, gave us much helpful information. 

Crater Lake

The maroon color comes from mudstone, which is quite fragile. Once upon a time, the height of maroon bells was more than Himalaya! We saw a flower throughout our vacation, which we came to know as monument flower which blooms once in at least 20 years and dies after one-time bloom only. A single plant may have some 600 flowers and can grow quite tall. 

Monument plant bigger than me!

Maroon Creek 

 I loved the flow of the creek. We sat down under the footbridge to enjoy the soothing falling of clear water. As we finished the loop, we had a lovely picnic at the base while watching the trouts beneath the water and the geese taking dips to cool off. The Emerald green water created quite an ambiance when the sun was right above our head.

The park had a regular stream of visitors. The shuttle came every 15-20 minutes (the park doesn't allow cars, one has to book in advance and be on time so that you don't miss your much deserving trip!)

With this visit, we concluded our stay at Aspen and prepared ourselves for the subsequent two beautiful train journeys; I will be writing in another post.

Crested Butte - Oh Be Joyful Trail

 Crested Butte has a plethora of wonderful trails; each one being distinctly different from others. One afternoon, we decided to go check out Oh Be joyful campground. The trail was very close to our condo, a few miles on dirt road. We could see the river from the road and the bridge, looked lovely. We parked a little higher ground and decided to hike from there.

A few campers were busy fixing dinners. We went past them and started walking as not to lose much time before sun sets in. I was still getting used to altitudes in Colorado and I do not consider myself as a serious hiker, very soon I felt tired. I paused, had a sip of water and almost decided not to proceed further. While I was resting, Ranjan went a little further to check out and, then he returned. He was all excited and told, one shouldn't miss the valley for a little more hike!

I was reluctant but the lure of getting  a few good pictures was enough reason to push me to hike again. It was absolutely, beautiful visual treat – A valley full of wildflowers and from the side of the mountain, there was the gorgeous river which was falling down with roaring noise. The sun was shining brightly.

As it often happens in mountains, we felt droplets of rain. Ranjan is always prepared for the hikes, he got rain gears out. The slopes were thirsty for water and created the lovely smell of dirt and rain. We rushed to the river. Though drenched, rain was short. As we hiked up to the vehicle, we saw the double rainbow on our back! Hope to return someday to complete the trail.

  

A short hike to Judd Falls

 It rained the entire day but mountains loved it. They looked fresh and clear. This was our fourth day at Crested Butte and we didn't want to let it go as this was our chance to see the  town in rain. We stayed at the foothills of ragged side of Mt. Crested Butte.  We went to see the ski side of the same mountain  . I could visualize the crowd during spring. One could still clearly see the district mark of ski slope on the summer. The mountain told plenty of stories of how families came from all over and had unlimited fun of skiing during spring. 

The hustle bustle of ski lift, the noise at restaurants or ski rentals couldn't be felt around this time of the year. The ski lift still takes people up to the mountain to get the best view of valleys, meadows and wildflowers. In summer the ski rentals turn to be bike rentals - business continues. This is one of the favorite places for mountain bikers.

We were already on Gothic Road and determined to go see the Judd falls anyway! A few minutes later, an amazing vista of a valley came with full of sunflower which spread till the end of horizon, where mountains began. It was still windy and raining but we could manage to capture the moment. 

The entire Gothic Road, one could see the bluish green mountains as backdrop, the the top to bottom, were filled with wildflowers, predominantly with sunflower but a mix up many varieties of wild flowers. the place just looked like heaven - no word would describe it. Rain almost continued as we drove through lofty mountains, meandering roads, hair clip turns, a few scary cliffs. Below the road, the river flowed like a reptile, no photo would do the justice to the unfolding landscape. 

People are very kind, polite and helpful. Visitors come from all the states in US. Particularly, nearly post pandemic, people are eager to step out in the wilderness, meet people and share stories. We exchanged tips on various trails. 

We came close to the trailhead. This is just right outside the Gothic town. Temperature had gone down and we were feeling cold and put on thin jackets. One could see a spectacular view of Gothic mountain and Mt. Crested Butte. We were standing at 9600 feet. 

I am not used to big hikes! But the trail was quite well defined. As I started warming up, I didn't feel chily anymore. 

Rocky Mountain Biological Research Laboratory does quite a bit of research here, particularly to study the movement of animals. We could spot a few cameras installed strategically. The tiny squirrel or chipmunk (can't ID clearly) were roaming like kings.

I must say, the trail offers a lot of vantage points to take pictures or just admire the grandiose vistas. The trail is carved with flowers all around. One could easily lose the sense of time but the setting sun would remind you. 

Finally, we heard the roaring fall of water and knew the Judd Falls was close. Very comfortably nestled among pine trees, the fall provided a spectacular view.
The rain had almost stopped by the time we reached the parking lot. We took a bit rest with a few snacks and water and headed back home. As sun was behind mountains, this side was getting dark. Glad we made the trip. 

As we were almost out of the park, we had a surprise - a dear munching on sun flower! hahaha...what a moment to end the day! 

A small and wonderful hike of 2.5 - 3 miles will stay in our memory forever!

Hike around Lake Grant - Crested Butte

Crested Butte, is one of the most beautiful small, quaint town in Colorado. Very well known for the scenic lakes, lofty mountains, biking & hiking trails, lovely mountain rivers, fishing...you name it!

We stayed very close to the town of Crested Butte and woke up seeing the varying colors of Whetstone Mountain - the best when clouds touched or a slight drizzle happened after a long spell of heat.

Lake Grant was right behind this community and was strongly recommended to visit by our Landowner. One evening, we decided to go for a hike and see the lake. It was a very easy hike. Particularly, being summer, the valley was full of wild flowers (Crested Butte is known as wildflower capital of Colorado). With a nice breeze flowing, we continued walking as the lake approached. With the mountains standing magnificently tall, the calm lake appeared serene and grand at the same time. For a sec, I felt quite overwhelmed, didn't want to let go a few minutes of bliss in earthly heaven.

and decided to go around it. We were not alone. Many families with kids and dogs were equally enjoying the lovely moments.

I could see the trouts sliding through the water. A goose family with babies was quite a sight. The patches of many different blooms were creating quite a landscape. Sometimes, the meandering path with flowers on both sides created magic. We were hearing the distant thunder signaling rain was coming close.

 We came across a small creek (probably a man made one to enhance the beauty to attract more visitors to the valley) and next to it was a tree (not sure the type) and a humming bird was loving it.

The simmering of Aspen leaves were pleasantly loud and I wondered how pretty they would look in Fall, when they all turn gold!

We had almost come full circle and chanced upon this patch of sneezeweed and luckily, 

Sneezeweed - wildflowers seen everywhere throughout Crested Butte

sun came up for a few seconds providing a magnificent view of mountains, valley and lake.

Soon, the top of mountains were engulfed with clouds. I could feel a few drops on my hand. The thunder in mountains could be scary. We rushed to reach our 'home'. By the time, we reached, rain started and Whetstone Mountain looked very pretty with a shower. A cup of spiced tea completed our evening.