Toledo Old Town

Toledo stands on a rocky hill about 70 km south of Madrid, wrapped on three sides by a deep bend of the Tagus. It was the capital of Visigothic Spain, and for centuries Christians, Jews and Muslims lived here together, earning it the name City of the Three Cultures. The court stayed until Philip II moved it to Madrid in 1561, and the historic centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986.

The Gothic cathedral, begun in 1226, marks 800 years in 2026. In the Jewish quarter, the synagogues of Santa María la Blanca and El Tránsito stand a short walk from San Juan de los Reyes, the Catholic Monarchs' monastery hung with the chains of freed captives. El Greco lived in Toledo from 1577 until his death in 1614; his Burial of the Count of Orgaz hangs in the church of Santo Tomé.