SPAIN: THE CATHEDRAL OF SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA AND THE CATHEDRAL MUSEUM

 June 29-30, 2022

As noted in the previous post, the current Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was built in Romanesque style in the 13th century, with Gothic and Baroque additions in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. It is a massive structure, and no doubt gets its notoriety from being the reputed burial spot of St. James (aka Santiago) the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. However, it is a magnificent edifice of its own accord.

By the way, the only other churches in the world built over the tomb of an apostle are St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica in Chennai, India, and the Basilica of St. John in Izmir, Turkey.

A sign of the importance of this cathedral is that it was visited THREE TIMES in a span of 28 years by two different popes--Pope John Paul II in 1982 and 1989 and Pope Benedict in 2010.

The interior of this cathedral is about 310 feet long, has a transept that measures 206 feet, and stands 72 feet high, making it the tallest building in Europe when it was built. Today it is still the largest Romanesque cathedral in Spain. At first glance it looks rather austere.

But then you see the main altar, and the closer you get, the more opulent it is.

PORTUGAL TO SPAIN: SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA - THE CATHEDRAL PLAZA AND THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO

 June 29-30, 2022

We left Porto around 9:00 AM and headed north to the Spanish border and Santiago de Compostela on the other side, a 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hour drive.  The scenery was really stunning--hills became mountains, and forests and farmlands were dotted with homes and towns.

I made Bob stop so I could photograph the profusion of colorful wild flowers. I also liked the sign for those on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail recommending the use of reflecting material: "See and be seen."

PORTUGAL: PORTO, PART IV - ORDEM DO CARMO AND RIBEIRA

 June 28, 2022

We were nearing the end of our crazy, too-fast day in Porto, but we still had a couple of places on our list.

The first was Ordem do Carmo, or the Order of Carmo, a rococo church built between 1756 and 1768 as a convent for the Carmelite Order of the Roman Catholic Church. 

Like several other churches we saw in Porto, the exterior walls are covered in blue tiles that are not original to the structure but added in 1916.

 In this case, the tiles depict the history of the Carmelites.

PORTUGAL: PORTO, PART III - CAPELA DAS ALMAS, IGREJA DE SANTO ILDEFONSO, MAJESTIC CAFE

 June 28, 2022

After lunch we made our way back to the more interesting part of town. When we passed the church on the left, I thought, Wow, how beautiful is that! But then we came up on the church on the right, Capela das Almas (Chapel of Souls). Oh. My. Goodness. 

Yeah, take a look at those tiles. How can you not be overwhelmed at the first site of THIS?

PORTUGAL: PORTO, PART II - CATHEDRAL, CLERIGOS CHURCH AND BELLTOWER, AND A LUNCH DETOUR

 June 28, 2022

The Portuguese word Sé is used to mean "cathedral" or a diocese with a bishop. Typically, the word Sé is reserved for the main or ruling church of the community. 

We could see the Romanesque Sé do Porto, located on a hill in the middle of the historical city center, from all over town. 

On our way there, we passed the Fountain of Mouzinho da Silveira, built in 1875 as a monument to a Portuguese statesman who died in 1849. This landmark was dismantled in 1920 to make room for two businesses. In 1966, however, the businesses were gone and the fountain was reconstructed after a model of the original one. I'll bet it is beautiful when it has water in it (if it ever does).

Did you notice the cool reflection on the vehicle in the lower left corner of the photo above?

PORTUGAL: PORTO, PART 1 -- SAO BENTO TRAIN STATION, PALACIO DA BOLSA, IGREJA DE SAO FRANCISCO

 Tuesday, June 28, 2022

We got up early and drove just under two hours to Porto, a city I was very excited about. According to many sites, it is loaded with interesting things to see and one of the best places to visit in Portugal.

However, once we got to the city, it took us almost two hours to get to our hotel because of construction in the area. We called the hotel twice for advice for how to get there because our GPS kept sending us to the construction zone and blocked streets. When we finally found a way around the mess, we had to park our car several blocks from the hotel in a parking garage. 

The street on the left (as seen from our hotel room) is the way GPS really wanted us to access the hotel, but the street on the right is the way we were finally able to come in. It was blocked off to cars, but they let us in to unload and then sent us away to park.

And then Bob forgot to grab his camera, and I left my sweater, and we our nerves were already frayed by the driving, and both of us were unhappy.

The huge delay meant that we got to the first place on our list 2.5 hours behind schedule, and it felt like we were playing catch-up all day, speeding from venue to venue. It was a great disappointment for me. Porto is a city where "meandering" would be fun. We did very little of that.

However, the very first place we took a look at was NOT on the schedule--the São Bento (St. Benedict) Train Station, built in the early 1900s. About 20,000 exquisite azulejos cover the walls and are topped by a border of polychromatic tiles. Together they tell the story of Portugal's past.

PORTUGAL: AVEIRO, THE (NOT) VENICE OF PORTUGAL

 June 27, 2022

Our last stop on a very full day was the city of Aveiro. Photos of the city that we saw online were beautiful, and we were excited to visit. However, Aveiro turned out to be the biggest dud of our trip.

First of all, we parked in an underground parking garage that at the end of the day we had a very hard time finding. We would learn more than once on this trip (or maybe we DIDN'T learn) that we need to pay more attention to where we leave our car. We rarely had main streets or grid-like streets to help us navigate. Luckily, I took a photo of the above-ground portion of the parking garage, which saved us in the end.

As we made our way from our parking spot on the hill down to the canals that the city is famous for, we passed some interesting sites. The sign on the left let us know that this city is on the pilgrimage trail to Spain's Santiago de Campostela Cathedral, a place we would visit in a few days.

Like every city we visited in Portugal, there were churches with beautiful azulejo tile facades and streets with intricate cobblestone patterns.