many of them in Sacro Monte. Their cave-homes are
really quite comfortable. Many have fine copper cooking pots hanging on
the walls and beautiful works of art, and hangings of hand-woven
fabrics. If you go to Granada, you can visit a gypsy cave and the
gypsies will dance for you to a kind of music which is called
"flamenco." Nobody knows where the flamenco came from, but some say it
is as old as the Phoenicians, and some say--even older.

Toledo is another old, old city in Spain--at one time the capital.
Toledo is built on a series of hills above a river, called Tagus, which
winds around the base of the city like a natural moat around a fortress.
Nearly four hundred years ago a Greek painter came to Toledo and stayed
to become one of Spain's--and the world's--greatest artists. He was
known as "El Greco," which means The Greek, and today most people have
forgotten his real name.

Perhaps you have seen his famous painting of the city he loved, called
"View of Toledo." If you have, you know what Toledo looks like today,
for it has changed very little since El Greco painted it. You could take
your crayons or paints to the same spot across the River Tagus where he
stood with his canvas and easel, and you would see the same rapids in
the river, the same arched gateways in the city walls, the same
cathedral spire rising from a hill.

Then you could cross an old bridge, and go through a Moorish gateway
into town. Walking along a cobblestone street, you might pass an old
church which has iron chains hanging on its walls. These are the chains
of Christian slaves captured by Moors, then freed by Christian armies.

At the top of one hill you would discover an old house with red tiled
roof and a garden full of roses, geraniums, mimosa, Jasmine and
oleanders. This is the house where El Greco lived, and you'd see his
easel, his bedroom, his kitchen and furniture just as he left them. In a
small museum next to the house you'd find paintings by El Greco, mostly
pictures of saints and portraits of famous Spaniards of his time. One of
his paintings is in a chapel in town and others are in other churches
throughout Spain, and in the Prado Museum in Madrid, along with those of
other great Spanish painters like Valesquez, Goya and Murillo.

The people of Toledo have a special art of their own--making fine
jewelry called "Toledo ware." The Moors brought the knack from the
ancient city of Damascus. Threads of gold and silver are woven into