We are now in Madrid. The sightseeing around the center of the city in the morning was written in the previous chapter.
We are going to see the sights of Toledo this afternoon.

We made a quick round-trip to Toledo, driving south for one hour to get there, enjoying the ancient city with Islamic culture and back to Madrid in the evening.

Toledo is the city where El Greco lived the second half of his life until his death in 1614 at the age of 72. The scenery surrounded by Rio Tajo seen below from the hill was said to retain the atmosphere in those days.

Cathedral	Alcazar

Islamic culture occupies this city. It is the remnant of the Muslim prosperity which ruled this peninsula for 400 years since 8th century and maintained the power long until the completion of Reconquista of Christianity.

The Alcazar is magnificently composed before us, and on its left is seen the bell tower of Catedral or the minalet of Islam.

We walked around the ancient city surrounded by the river, in the order of Catedral, a row of the streets and Alcazar.

Catedral

This Gothic-style cathedral was completed in 1493 after more than 250 years of construction.
Mr. Tores, a local guide, said, "The additions and rebuildings were repeated since then too, so it is a precious historical heritage mixed with the arts of each era from medieval to modern. Isn't it dignified as the head temple of Spanish Catholic churches?"
To our regret, we did not enter it and only viewed its proud appearance.

We walked through complicated alleys, but that does not mean there was another broad street. On the way, we dropped in at a metal carving site.

Alcázar of Toledo

We entered this fortress and were amazed by the landscape much different from the view of the hill. On one side is the compact-shaped town like in the middle age, and on the other a village in the desolate plains.
Alcazar of Toledo was firstly built in 11th century, but according to the guide, "It has been destroyed and rebuilt repeatedly for centuries until now. Franco's armed forces shut themselves here for 72 days during the civil war in 1936. And now as you can see, it is used as Military Museum."

La Mancha, May 12

We stopped over in La Mancha District on the way from Madrid to Cordoba and Granada on the 12th May.

It was a small village called Campo de Criptana, where were the windmills associated with Don Quixote.
10 seemingly-unused windmills and the ruins of a castle stood in a row along the hilltop. These windmills around La Mancha are said to have built in the middle of 16th century.
We could see the wide view of the whole living area. It was blessing with a little wind.

We walked around thanks to the mild weather and entered the windmill called Infante,

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Allow me to wander off.
Here, my essay years ago comes out to me. I wrote it in April 2000, just before my sixtieth birthday.
In it, there is a pretentious passage as follows.

Spanish Composers and Players

To be honest, I like classical musics. I would like here to write my interest in something in this field around Iberian Peninsula. But to my regret, I don't know any composers or players in Portugal now, so I have to confine it in Spanish artists and works.

As Sevilla stopped on the next day let me recall "The Barber of Seville", I thought at first this column had to be in the next chapter at Sevilla. However, I am going to write it here.

It is well known Rossini is an Italian and the composer of this opera buffa.
I met its overture in the Leonard Bernstein's LP alubum 46 years ago (as of 2015) at Woolworth near the dormitory during my stay at Pennsylvania State University for one year.
The front cover says: Bernstein Conducts Favorite Rossini Overtures, New York Philharmonic --- Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Well, I begin to write about Falla among the Spanish composers familiar to me.

I like such ballet musics of Manuel de Falla as "El Amor Brujo" (Love, the Magician) and "The Three Cornered Hat" all right, but I more often listen to "Nights in the Gardens of Spain".
This piano concerto has a clear tone of piano with orchestra, which makes me feel emotional and see the scene just as the title.
I have 3 CDs and 1 LP. They are:

The following picture is Larrocha's LP, recorded in 1970.

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"Asturius" composed by Isaac Albéniz is one of my favorites too.
It is a piano music, but I met it at the guitar concert of Andres Segovia in Washington D.C. several decades ago.
My eyes were filled with tears of much emotion.
It caused my interest in Albéniz, not to mention Segovia.

The picture (above right) is the cover of the album "The Collected Works of Andres Segovia" with 2 LPs, bought in Japan after that travel.
In addition to Albéniz's "Asturius" and "Granada", the album includes such wonderful Spanish musics as "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" and 3 musics by Tarrega, "Spanish Dance in E minor" by Granados, "Minuet" and 2 musics by Sor, "Sonata" by Giuliani, and more than 10 others by other composers.
Several years ago, a friend invited me to the concert of Hiromi Okada, a Japanese pianist, where I bought his CD "Iberia by Albéniz". I listen to it at times.

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Speaking of Spanish music, I cannot avoid the guitar music after all.
The Spanish composers I recall besides Albéniz are Fernando Sor, Francisco Tárrega, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Rodrigo in the order of birth.
I often listen to them for a change of pace. By whose Playing?
One of them is Narciso Yepes. He is associated with the movie "Jeux Interdits" in my mind, which was directed by René Clément, and the music was in charge of Yepes. The Spanish folk music "Romance de Amor" became famous by his own play in the movie.
The melody and his play inspired me to learn the guitar when I entered university, but had to stop it because of the slight fracture of my right hand.

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Now, Joaquin Rodrigo.
Born in 1901 and died in 1999, he is really a man of the 20th century. In spite of blindness since his childhood, he was a great composer throughout his life.
He is said not to have played the guitar himself, but he contributed a lot to the spread of its classical music.

First and foremost, "Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra".
This music enchants me deeply whenever I listen to it. On a different stage of Beethoven's musics, it gives me the same hope for tomorrow.
The A side of my LP is this music. John Williams plays the guitar with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy.
Rodrigo composed it at his age of 40. Why is it he, totally blind, named the music title as "Concierto de Aranjuez"? Aranjuez is the neighboring place to Madrid.
The B side is also his guitar music "Fantasia para un Gentilhombre" played by John Williams with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Charles Groves. He composed it by Segovia's request at his age of 54. While listening, I associate it with baroque-like music " Antiche Danze ed Arie" composed by Ottorino Respighi, an Italian composer.

Flamenco-guitar music cannot also be detoured either.
When was it I went to the concert of Paco de Lucia somewhere in Tokyo? I became a Paco fan since then.
I'd like to refer to him at the bottom of the next chapter.

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I do not forget about Pablo Casals.
He was not only the greatest cellist in 20th century but also a composer and a conductor. According to Wilhelm Furtwängler, one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century, "The player who has not listened to the cello played by Casals is who does not know how to play the strings."
I am aware that the music Casals loved and played often is "El Cant dels Ocells" (The Song of the Birds). It is said to be a traditional Christmas song and lullaby of his hometown Catalonia.

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I have almost forgotton that Pablo de Sarasate is Spanish. He flourished in the 2nd half of 19th century as a violinist and also composed Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs).
That is all of my knowledge about Sarasate. The following passage of WIKIPEDIA surprised me.