Church day…..on a Saturday

It was a rain day so I threw fashion to the wind, dressed in my black city pants, donned my waterproof hiking shoes and bundled up in my rain shell. I definitely was a “Don’t” fashion statement amidst all the scarf clad Spanish women in hip rain boots and trench coats.

We visited two of Seville’s greatest cathedrals. The first, Catedral de Sevilla, is the largest gothic cathedral….anywhere, and the third largest church in Europe. I knew I was in a really special place when I passed the Guinness Book of World Records sign proclaiming the cathedral had the largest area. Even though it was in the shape of a square, I managed to get lost several times, and finally abandoned my search for the silver alter.

We had the first entrance tickets of the day, and headed right to the top of the bell tower anticipating a crowd. That was a good call. You walk up 35 steep ramps (15% grade or more), for a total of 320 feet. Ramps instead of stairs were used so horses could be ridden to the top. We passed a few people on the way up who looked like they would have paid serious money for the horse option. Initially I thought the ramps were like one-way streets, but coming down we realized it was two-way traffic. I’m really glad we started here, I can imagine it was wall to wall people trying to move in both directions an hour later when the cathedral was packed. Not that I’m complaining, but I wish I would have known that this tower was taller than Big Ben. Then I would have carbed up at breakfast – or at least used it as an excuse for one of those sugary pastry shops we walked by.

Two areas warred for showpiece status of this incredibly large and ornate cathedral – the golden bible behind the main alter, and the tomb of Christopher Columbus. The golden bible consists of an 80-foot wall depicting 44 scenes of Jesus and Mary….all in gold leaf. It was behind a tall gated entrance, with only a small section open to see through.

The tomb of Columbus was just to the right. Poor guy did just as much cross-Atlantic traveling in death as he did in life. He died in northern Spain where he was first buried. He really wanted to be buried in the Dominican Republic. He eventually got there by way of burial in Seville, then to Cuba, and then back to Seville. There were questions until 2006 as to whether he was really in the tomb. The bones of his son are in a tomb nearby and DNA matched the bones in the tomb. So I guess I was really looking at the guy who “discovered” America – or at least up at him through the crowd of hundreds of people.

A little aside before I share about the second church of the day. I managed to lose the nose-pad on my fancy eye-glasses. I didn’t really realize they were fancy, until I had trouble trying to replace the nose-pad. In addition to being uncomfortable, they were starting to disfigure my face to the point of striking terror in small children. OK, I’m being dramatic, but I did have an ugly red welt on the right side of my nose, and that coupled with my hiking boots seemed like enough fashion foibles for the day. In the record of marital harmony, I think we note that today was a success. We passed by one eyeglass store, which Peter suggested we visit, but I wanted to go to the larger store a few blocks up. They couldn’t help, so they sent me to another store a block away, that couldn’t help either. They suggested one of two stores that were another two blocks away. The last store, pointed me back to the store Peter had suggested in the first place- 7 bocks behind us. They helped me. Peter to his credit said nothing. That my friends is 23-years of intensive marital training at work.

Now, back to the church tour. The next church was the Church of the Savior, Seville’s second biggest church. This church houses many of holy week’s statues that are paraded through the streets. I noticed that most of the statues have elaborate clothes made of cloth, not wood or marble, and resemble life-like dolls. As I looked at the elaborate carving of the main alter piece trying to take it all in, Peter walked up and said “who do you think has to dust this thing?” Moment of awe concluded.

Even though it was raining, and we had reservations, we ended up dining al fresco and shuffling seats throughout the meal to avoid the wind and the rain. Our hearty Alaskan friends, Mark and Cat, would be proud of us. It seems weather does not stop locals from hanging out at a high table in the middle of a square without an umbrella enjoying their adult beverages even though the wind is screaming and the rain is pouring. At one point, a couple of ladies at a table near us managed to use their umbrellas to bridge a gap in the awning. Then taking pity on their wet husbands at the next table, gave them their umbrellas instead. That is love. A public service announcement – cheesecake, is not cheesecake, is not cheesecake. We ordered cheesecake for dessert, well because I did walk uphill for 320 steps, so there’s that. What arrived was a delicious yummy thing cooked in paper, without a crust, and made with blue cheese. It was more of a savory dish I would serve as an appetizer with bread. The fact that it wasn’t over the top sweet didn’t stop us from eating it all and even scraping the paper of every last remnant. Plus, it gives me an excuse to go foraging for chocolate later.

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