Halfway to Toledo

With the paintings of El Greco as a departure point, background, and destination, Martin Burke went to visit Spain to see the paintings in their full glory. Halfway there was a staging point, a stepping stone which also took in the writings of Nikos Kazantzakis –who also being from Crete identified with El Greco to the extent of writing his ‘biography’ as a letter address to the master. These two figures formed themselves into a unity that was for the writer vivifying and enlightening. Halfway To Toledo is an impression written at a pause in the journey; a stepping stone to the arrival that was planned for and for which the halfway stage proved to be both a backward glance and a forward looking moment.