February 24, 2014 – Miami

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It is officially over!  We left Madrid on a cold, rainy morning, spent 10 hours in flight, and arrived in …

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February 23, 2014 – Madrid, day 3

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Things are winding down!  Today is our last day in Europe – for a long time, I imagine.  We decided …

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February 22, 2014 – Madrid, day 2

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We are in the perfect hotel for this city.  It is in the center of town at the Puerta del …

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February 21, 2014 – Madrid

Train ride up to Madrid

I can not believe this is our last train ride in Europe!  We are never so happy as when we are on these trains on our way to a new place to see.   The trains are very comfortable and enjoyable and they usually bring you right downtown to where you want to be.  It took about 2 hours to get from Sevilla to Madrid, and once we arrived we found the metro which took us directly to our hotel on the Puerto Del Sol.  We then spent the rest of the day walking through the plaza’s and getting the layout.  It is very busy here and everyone is out on the plaza’s including numerous street entertainers.  The pictures I took are just scenes of Madrid on a sunny Friday afternoon.

February 20, 2014 – Sevilla

From the bell tower

Spain’s most valuble crown – 11,000 precious stones and the world’s largest pearl(just under the angel)

Columbus tomb

Mural of St. Christopher from 1584

Columbus tomb – pallbearer

Oldest art in this church- dating back to 1248. Gilded fresco of the Virgin Antigua

Huge organ

work being done on this largest altarpiece

Cloister which was once the mosque’s Court of Orange trees. This and tower are the only remnants from the mosque

Cloister – the mosque was made of brick and the cathedral is built in stone

View of cathedral

Peacocks

Baptism of Christ by Murillo – 1656

Alcazar Palace

ennce

Palace – 10th-century

Palace gardens

Garden pavillion

Lots of Oranges but very sour

Underground baths

Cold tomato soup tapas

seafood Paella

1685 stained glass

Huge silver altarpeice

The ramp that gets you up the tower and that they would ride up on a horse 5 times a day for the call to prayer.

Bull fighting arena in the distance

The orange tree cloister of the cathedral

The cathedral Treasury – the 16th -century chapter room where monthly meetings take place with the bishop.

Painting by Murillo

The Cathedral entrance

Awesome first look as you walk in.

The Choir

Massive candlestick holder dates back to 1560

Pennant of Ferdinand III, which was raised over the minaret of the mosque on November 23, 1248, as Christian forces finally expelled the Moors from Sevilla.

We had two goals to achieve today and that was a visit to the Sevilla Cathedral and Bell Tower and the Alcazar Palace.  Today was not as pretty as yesterday – overcast and a little cooler.  Both of these places are next to each other in the old town area so we headed down there about mid-morning.  Sevilla’s cathedral is the third-largest church in Europe (after St. Peter’s at the Vatican and St. Paul’s in London) and the largest Gothic church anywhere.  In 1401 the Reconquista Christians ripped down a mosque of brick on this site and it too  120 years to complete.  It has an amazing organ with 7,000 pipes but unfortunately we were not there at 10:00 am to hear it being played.  They are also still working on the high altar (going on for several years now) which is the largest altarpiece ever built.  A highlight of the cathedral is Christopher Columbus’ tomb.  He has also traveled a lot posthumously.  He was buried first in Spain, then in Santa Domingo, then Cuba, and finally- when Cuba gained independence from Spain – he sailed home again to Sevilla.  Columbus died in 1506 and 500 years later, DNA samples proved it to be his remains.  We also did the Bell Tower climb which was our easiest out of all the towers we have climbed.  It is a ramp instead of steps and goes 330 feet up.  The ramp is wide enough to accommodate riders on horseback, who galloped up five times a day to give the Muslim call to prayer.  The Bell Tower and the Cloister are the only remnants of the old mosque.  After a short rest (touring is a tiring business) at one of the numerous Starbucks in town, we went into the Alcazar Palace.  Originally a 10th-century palace built for the governors of the local Moorish state, this building still functions as a royal palace – the oldest in use in Europe.  The core of the palace features an extensive 14th-century rebuild, done by Muslim workmen for the Christian king, Pedro I (1334-1369).  Spectacularly decorated halls and courtyards have distinctive Islamic – style flourishes.  This mix of Islamic and Christian elements is a style called Mudejar.  In this palace Queen Isobel debriefed Columbus after his New World discoveries, Columbus recounted his travels, Ferdinand Magellan planned his around-the-world cruise, and Amerigo Vespucci tried coming up with a catchy moniker for that newly discovered continent.  The gardens are beautiful and extensive and it was late afternoon by the time we did the whole palace visit justice.  While in the old town area we stopped for a bite to eat and had some typically Spanish Tapa’s.

February 19, 2014 – Sevilla

 

The Cathedral

 

Bull fight arena

 

The royal box for the bull fights

 

Matador’s chapel for prayer before the fight

 

The old Jewish Quarter’s small streets

The cathedral bell tower

Bull fighting arena

Scenes from the 5 hour train ride

Studying about Sevilla on the train

After a five hour and about 500 mile train ride we are in the southern city of Sevilla.  We love those train rides and this one went quickly.  It is very comfortable and fast.  I think Bruce clocked the speed at almost 186 MPH.  Once we dropped our bags at the hotel we hoofed it (about 2 miles) to the old downtown area.  After wandering through some pretty cool little streets we came to the riverfront and the Bullring where we toured the Bullfight Museum.  Bullfights only take place in March, April, and September so we did not get that opportunity.  But the museum was interesting.  From there we walked along the river and the afternoon was so beautiful and warm- everyone was out enjoying it.  The two main sites – the Cathedral and Alcazar Palace – we will tour tomorrow.  So today was our self-guided walking tour around the area – mainly the Barrio Santa Cruz.  This is the area of the once-thriving Jewish Quarter with tangled streets and Old World ambience.  The streets are very narrow so it is a comfortable walk without cars.  In 1391 anti-Jewish sentiment flared up and Christian mobs ransacked the city’s Jewish Quarter.  Around 4,000 Jews were killed and 5,000 families driven from their homes.  In 1492, the same year the last Moors were driven from Spain, Ferdinand and Isabel decreed that all remaining Jews convert or be expelled.  Spain emerged as a nation unified under the banner of Christianity.  It was a lovely late afternoon and evening with the sun going down at 7:30 which we have not seen the day last that long for a long time.

February 18, 2014 – Barcelona, day 2

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After yesterday I did not think I liked Barcelona. But after today, walking around and 2 two hour city bus …

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February 17, 2014 – Hola Barcelona!

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We rose early to catch our flight from Rome to Barcelona.  Weather is great and it was an uneventful flight.  …

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February 16, 2014 – Arrivederci Roma!

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There is a church on every corner here in Italy.  We know this because we have gone into most of …

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February15, 2014 – Rome/Appian Way

 

Where we had lunch along the Appian

 

Appian Way

 

Looking south along the Appian

 

San Sebastiano church and catacombs

 

Looking north along the Appian

 

Miles and miles of burial sites down here that look like this

 

Most people could not read or write so they would draw Christian symbols that can be seen clearly on this stone.

 

Down in the catacomb where Saint Sebastian was first buried

 

A Bernini sculpture of Saint Sebastian next to his original burial site

 

Private mausoleum-type burial sites down in the catacombs for the wealthier families.

 

The area where the apostles Peter and Paul were buried for a time – until Constantine moved their remains back to Rome.

 

In the church above the catacombs where Saint Sebastian is now buried.

 

A Bernini sculpture in the church

 

The ceiling – another portrayal of Saint Sebastian.

 

The Villa and Circus Maxentius ruins along the Appian Way

 

Maxentius ruins

 

A private drive to a villa.

 

Tomb of Cecilia Metella

 

A ruined church along the road

 

close-up of a roadside villa

 

The old Rome wall at the San Sebastiano gate

 

The beginning of the Appian Way from the San Sebastiano gate/wall

 

Our hotel is on this street

 

Our hotel down the street and the water fountain where we fill up our bottles.

 

Roman wall

 

 

Tomorrow we leave Rome and the day after we leave Italy, so today was our last day of touring in this great country.  So this morning we once again headed to the Metro and got to the main terminal where we found a bus to take us out to the Appian Way.  This is out 4 miles from the Colosseum and past the Rome walls to a stretch of road where the original pavement stones are lined by interesting sights.  This Appian Way was ancient Rome’s first and greatest highway, which once ran from Rome to the Adriatic port of Brindisi.  Built in 312 B.C. it stretched 430 miles.  Along this road are many catacombs since back in those days you could not be buried within the city walls.  The most visited catacomb is the San Sebastiano catacomb. Saint Sebastian (died 288 AD) was an early Christian saint and Martyr.  It is said that he was killed during the Roman emperor Diocletian‘s persecution of Christians. He is commonly depicted in art and literature tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows. This is the most common artistic depiction of Sebastian; however, according to legend, he was rescued and healed by Irene of Rome. Shortly afterwards he criticized Diocletian in person and as a result was clubbed to death.^[1] He is venerated in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.  During emperor Valeriano’s  persecusion (258 a.D.) Christians were not allowed to pray on the tombs of the martyrs and of their dear ones; according to a Church tradition they moved the reliquaries of the Apostles Peter and Paul to this catacomb and built a “Triclia” , a closed place in which you could get into by a small stair; it was made of a big arched room with a banquet  for the prayers where, for about 50 years, people could go and honor the reliquaries of the two Apostles.  This is witnessed by some inscriptions (which we were able to still see) dedicated to the two Apostles on the far end wall; they were in Latin and Greek (about 600 inscriptions) and they show the passage and the devotion by the hundreds of pilgrims coming to Rome. The emperor Constantine in the 313, with the Milan edict, proclaimed the freedom of the Christian worship and begun to build the huge basilica apostolorum(the present St. Sebastian church), right above the “Triclia” to honor the place where the two Apostles had been temporarily buried.  The reliquaries were then moved to their original places: the Vatican necropolis for St. Peter and in the cemetery on the via Ostiense (St. Paul). Once out of the catacombs we walked a ways along the Appian to enjoy a bit of countryside.  So much has happened along this road including crucifixions and returning marauding troops marching into Rome.  We stopped at a little countryside café for a Panini and cappuccino.  On the way back we hopped off the bus at the San Sebastiano Gate and walked along the Ancient Rome wall to eventually get back to the Metro.  Emperor Aurelian of Rome in 271 AD recognized the threat from Germanic tribes near the borders of the Roman Empire, and decided it was time to build a wall to protect the city. The Aurelian Wall was originally nineteen kilometers long (twelve miles) and about six to eight meters high (twenty feet). It had 3.5 meter thick walls (eleven feet). The wall included a square tower about every thirty meters (about one hundred feet), 381 in total. It also featured many grand gates – eighteen in total – including the Porta Latina and Porta San Sebastiano which were covered by arches and protected by semi-circular towers. Today, about two-thirds of the Aurelian Wall remains intact and quite well preserved.  So, another full day although not quite over.  Tonight we will find a cute little restaurant to partake of our last glass of Chianti Classico here in Italy!