They say that time can do everything and heals everything, but there are times when it, undoubtedly much more forgiving than men, seems to look the other way and allow, with unusual generosity, that some cities, such as Toledo, continue to conserve their ancient privileges.

In such a way, that the great poet Rilke was not mistaken at all when, undoubtedly seduced by her irresistible beauty, he commented in a letter to his teacher, the French sculptor, Rodin, that Toledo continued to be the capital of forgotten empires.

This happened, to give you an idea, at the beginning of the 20th century and a century later, even with pandemics such as Covid-19 - comparatively similar to the plagues that devastated cities in the Middle Ages - Toledo continues to be little less than the same as how the poet knew her or how other great characters in the History of Art and Literature knew her, such as the members of that mysterious Brotherhood of Toledo, formed by three thunders dressed as Nazarenes -metaphorically speaking- such as Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca.

Spearhead of a land, La Mancha, made known worldwide by Miguel de Cervantes through the fantastic vision of his eternal knight-errant, Don Quixote, Toledo continues to be that enchanted maiden, asleep by the side of the music of a river Millennial, the Tagus, which in times of heavy rains continues to deposit remains of History on its banks.

Some riverbanks, connected by archaic bridges, such as San Martín and Alcántara, that attend as silent witnesses to the passage of generations, who still admire them with eyes of respect and veneration, perhaps not ignoring part of their hermetic symbolism, adopted even by the Supreme Pontiff of Christianity, as an intermediary between two worlds.

Possibly more spectacular in its design than that of San Martín, the Alcántara bridge sinks its roots in the sophisticated Roman construction technique, of which at least some foundations remain that were consolidated over the centuries and modified with the different cultural currents that at certain moments in history, made Toledo one of the greatest cities in the world.

Thus, in its conception, to a greater or lesser extent, the traces of Roman, Visigoth, Arab and Christian engineering are appreciated, which successively and until reaching the period of the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, left some marks that make of he is a curious hybrid of styles, as if to turn him into a cicerone of those others that we are going to meet once we leave behind its boundaries and give free rein to our curiosity, walking through a city, which apart from beauty, if there is something left over it is Art, Architecture, Enigmas, Mystery and above all, Culture.

The only difference that you will observe, if you decide to visit it, is that, after the Christmas festivities, which will end tonight, with the parades of the Magi, is that you will be able to see it if the Christmas decorations and the lights, which during these last nights have made of her a decked out firefly.

NOTICE: Both the text and the accompanying photographs are my exclusive intellectual property and therefore are subject to my Copyright.