The Catedral de Sevilla

Spain, Travel,

Apr 8 – the center of the Old City is the Catedral, which is the the third largest church in the world, and the largest Gothic cathedral in the world.  Completed in 1506, it is said that the builders declared, “Let us build a church so beautiful and so grand that those who see it finished will think we are mad“. It is way too large to capture in one photo.

Inside are the bones of Christopher Columbus (at least some of them).

The main altar is gloriously gilded:

As compared to the Altar de Plata, which shimmers in silver:

We climbed the Giraldo Tower, which predates the cathedral, as it was part of the mosque that previously stood on this site.  Instead of flights of steps, you climb the tower in a series of ramps.  It was built this way to make it easier to ascend on horseback.

The views of the city from the top were spectacular:

While we were up in the tower, one of the bells pealed the quarter hour.  I may recover my hearing someday!

The cathedral is flanked by a garden of orange trees.  I heard a tour guide tell his group that the water used to wash people’s feet in the cathedral drains out to water the orange trees. As we didn’t see any foot washing going on, I question this assertion.

For some reason, there is a stuffed crocodile hanging outside the garden.  I believe it was a gift.

There were many little chapels around the sides of the cathedral.  The Capilla de San Antonio held a baptismal font large enough to swim in, and a famous painting of the Vision of St. Anthony.

Here is a vision of Jim and me, amid the silver and gold!

Palm Sunday in Sevilla

Spain, Travel, , ,

Apr 9 – Since we arrived in town ,we’ve been seeing lots of preparations for the Holy Week celebrations that Sevilla is famous for – Semena Santa de Sevilla.  They have been hanging red bunting, cordoning off roads, and setting out wooden chairs by the thousand.

Today, Palm Sunday, the crowds are out in their Sunday best, getting ready for tonight’s processions.  By early afternoon, we saw many children and adults in long robes and tall masks with eye holes called capriotes.  Although these are chillingly reminiscent of KKK attire in the US, we are told that this is the costume of penitents (nazarenos) who are repenting of their sins in anonymity.  

Every community wears a different color.  Here in Triana, the capriotes are blue and purple velvet.  It’s a hot day, and they must be sweltering under those hoods.  By 5 pm, the penitents, holding long candles that will be lit after dark, proceeded down the Main Street to the beat of a drum.

The streets were jam-packed.  Children stood on the sidelines and some penitents gave them candy or Saint cards. The youngest penitent:

Perhaps the oldest:

Next we could hear a brass band, and we could see our community’s float (paso) in the distance.  Each parish displays a float depicting a different part of Christ’s Passion story. The floats are kept all year in the parish church.  Our float showed Jesus, perhaps at Gethsamane, with a praying Jesus in the front and a Roman soldier in a red robe and feathered helmet, behind.  As the float approached, a thousand parents shushed a thousand children, so the float could go by in silence.

The float swayed from side to side as it moved down the street, and a closer inspection revealed that it was human powered.  This also explained the burly, sweaty guys (costaleros) in the weight belts, who walked close to the float and switched places with their peers from time to time.  We are told that the men of the parish may wait many years before getting a chance to carry the paso, and they practice together for weeks to learn to properly hoist and walk with the heavy floats.  To get to the Catedral, they also have to walk up and down curbs and steps.

Then, the brass band.  They only played one song, repeating it at each corner.

Finally, more penitents (nazarenos) carrying black crosses.

The procession continued over the Triana Bridge toward the cathedral, where it will merge with all the other floats from the other parishes later tonight.  The chairs for viewing down by the cathedral are very expensive and must be purchased months in advance.  We were happy to see our neighborhood pageant and then return home.  The streets are full of revelers and there has been lots of drinking all day.  I wonder if we’ll sleep tonight?

Sevilla – the Real Alcázar (or the water gardens of Dorne)

Spain, Travel, , , ,

Apr 9 – Another beautiful, sunny day.  We walked half an hour across town to experience the Real Alcázar, a Moorish palace built during the period when the Muslims ruled Spain in the early 12th century.  

The palace is so strikingly gorgeous, it has been used as a set in many films from Lawrence of Arabia to the Game of Thrones.  (Pix courtesy of Google images)

There are so many buildings and gardens, one could wander about all day.  The palace:

The gardens:

The tiles and ceilings:

So much to see!  The Lannisters got nuthin’ on us!

 Sevilla and the Casa de Pilatos 

Spain, Travel, , , ,

Apr 8 – We are fairly recovered from our jet lag, and ready to do some exploring.  Did you know that there is an Andalusian palace here in Sevilla once thought to be a replica of Pontus Pilate’s house?  It is not a replica at all, but is named for Pilate nonetheless, and is a beautiful place to spend a sunny morning.  Built in the early 1500s, the duke who lived here went on pilgrimage to the holy land, and the rooms were named for events in the life of Christ.

The palace walls are tiled with the gorgeous ceramics this area is famous for.

The ceilings were pretty ornate too.

The gardens were watered by the municipal water supply; a rare thing for a private dwelling.  The pink roses were blooming today, and the aroma was delightful.


Up the stairs is a small painting of the cock that crowed while Peter denied Christ three times.

A lovely way to spend the morning!

We walked around the narrow streets of the old city of Sevilla and admired the colorful buildings.

We were serenaded by Spanish guitarists.

Our hotel is across the bridge in Triana, and we get to walk over the River Guadalquivir (Great Valley in Arabic) to get to the old city.

Sevilla is known as the home of Flamenco, so the tourist souvenirs run to flouncy dresses and fans, as well as ceramics.  There is a bull ring here, but no bullfights scheduled this week.  Not sure if we would go to a bullfight if one was offered.  Would you?

We are here at an exciting time, as Sevilla celebrates Easter in a big way, and we are seeing lots of preparations for tomorrow’s celebration of Palm Sunday.  Stay tuned!

On the Road Again

Camino Via de la Plata, Georgia, Hiking, Spain, Travel

Apr 5 2017 – It’s time for Jim and me to get back to Spain and walk another Camino.  We left home on Wednesday with a flight plan to go through Chicago and London to Madrid.  Unfortunately, our flight from Chicago was canceled after two hours on the tarmac, due to mechanical problems.  We overnighted in a nice hotel courtesy of American Airlines, and rebooked to go to Boston, then Madrid.  When we packed for Spain, we did not foresee being out in the cold and rainy weather of Chicago and Boston.  We were so happy to get to Madrid and warm our bones!  Then we hustled through Customs to our separately booked flight to Sevilla, where we will spend four days seeing the sights and recovering from jet lag before starting our Camino.

We walked our first Camino across northern Spain in 2011, then the Camiñho Portugues in 2014, and part of the Jakobusweg in Germany last summer.  This time, we’re going to try the Via de la Plata, which runs 621 miles (1000 km) from Sevilla to Campostela de Santiago.  Come walk with us!

The guide we are using gives mileage, elevation, and suggests places to stay and eat.

Freiburg back to Frankfurt

Germany, Travel,

8/15 – The reason we came south to Freiburg was so that Jim could spend some time with his professional colleagues.  So today at 8am we met with Gerhard and Eberhardt, two psychologists that Jim has worked with and shares parapsychological  interests with. They had a lovely two and a half hours doing what professors do, and I was happy that he had the opportunity to meet up with his friends.

Then it was off to the train station for the three hour ride back to Frankfurt, a final doner meal, and a good night’s sleep (with air con and wifi) at the Ibis Hotel.

8/16 – woke up before the alarm and were all ready to go before our 8am hotel departure to Heathrow – plenty of time for us to get a cup of coffee and make our 11am flight.  Ha!  I’m not usually one to complain, but the Frankfurt Airport needs a major efficiency upgrade.  We stood in one long queue after another for the entire morning, just making our flight with about three minutes to spare.  On the upside, we had some nice conversations with a young engineer on his way to a conference in Phoenix, and a man on his way home to Philadelphia from Helsinki.  Nice people everywhere.

The long leg of our trip was fine too – got the bulkhead seats so we could stretch our legs, and a TSA pre-check upgrade so we didn’t have to take off our shoes or stand in the long line.  The kink came on the last leg – when we arrived at JFK, there was no power in Terminal 8, so we had to go through manual customs check (I think it was actually faster than the automated system), find our luggage in a heap in the dark (no baggage carousels) then drop off our luggage again and jog to our gate, only to find our 7:30pm flight to Norfolk was delayed, delayed,then canceled due to weather somewhere.

The only option was a $30. shuttle bus to La Guardia, to wait for the last flight of the evening scheduled for 9:05, which was delayed, delayed, gate changed, but finally took off at 11:30pm.  Got a chance to hear about a missionary couple’s trip to Gambia.  They’ve been traveling home for three days, and this was their last leg too.  A very long day,but happy to be home!

Unfortunately, our backpacks were still at JFK, so we had to file a claim to ask for their return.  Happy to say that at 2am on Thursday, our bags arrived at our door.  Reunited – all ‘s well that ends well!

Offenburg to Freiburg 

Germany, Travel,

8/14 – Closed on Sunday.  Everything.  We thought we were being smart by not ordering the buffet breakfast at our Offenburg hotel when we checked in yesterday.  We’d had enough cheese and cold cuts, and we passed a very classy looking McDonalds (the first we’ve seen) on the walk from the train station.  Surely we could get breakfast there on Sunday?  Nope. When they say everything’s closed on Sunday, they aren’t kidding. Even the McDonalds.

So we checked out a little early and made our way back to the train station.  Train to Freiburg: canceled.  This may turn out not to be our day!  Luckily, there was another train due in a half hour, and we just had a little wait.

Freiburg is a much bigger city, with plenty of places open on Sunday.  Thank goodness!  We dropped our bags at the Pension Paradeis, and went out to explore.  We heard there was a big cathedral here.

A ten minute walk brought us to the center of the Altstadt. 

A man blew bubbles for the children


Young girls sang Christmas carols in harmony, accompanied by a recorder


 The Freiburger Münster Cathedral was started about 1200, in the Gothic style.  It escaped the bombing of 1944, although all the buildings to one side of it were destroyed.  


The stained glass windows, donated by the workers guilds, were removed before the bombing and preserved.

We asked the information docent if there was a statue of St. James in the cathedral.  Are you pilgrims? Follow me.  She brought us back into the oldest part of the church, not open to the public without paying for a special ticket. There in the dark is a relief carving of St. Jakob blessing a pilgrim. See the shell on the pilgrim’s bag?

James is also represented in a life size statue on an interior pillar – see his wide-brimmed hat, walking stick and the shell?

The main entrance has carved, painted wooden figures in high relief all around the dome.  Beautiful.

There were many other ornate and stately buildings in the Altstadt. This is the house of Erasmus, 15th century theologian:

The ornate Historische Kaufhaus, or Historical Merchants Hall, now used as a conference center:

Happy to say, we also found souvenirs!  I think my friend Dave B. will like this Harley Davidson cuckoo clock – only $2000! Shall I get one for you?

Gengenbach to Offenburg

Germany, Hiking, Travel, ,

8/13 – Well, today is the last day of our pre-booked hike.  The summer has returned, and the weather forecast is for sun and temps in the mid-eighties.  Our goal today is Offenburg, and when we were planning, we left this as an open day.  We could walk to Offenburg along the river carrying our big packs – it is only seven miles or so – or we could bag it and use our free Schwarzwald pass to take the train and get there in 15 minutes.  Guess what we chose?


You are correct!  After a week on our feet, we opted for a “zero mile” day, slept in, used the excellent free wifi at Hotel Blume to catch up on the news and my blog (sorry for releasing so many posts on the same day), then took the train to Offenburg.  We arrived at the Hotel Union by noon, in time to experience a little bit of their famous Saturday outdoor market.  We asked our host what we could expect to find at the market.  Traditional food, was his reply.  How about souvenirs?  Yes, he said, souvenir food also.   Germans are all about food.

Drinking coffee and eating cake


Buying wursts and more wursts- it’s all about the meat!


Listening to buskers in the town square

A violin, bass and accordion playing Mozart – a uniquely German sound!


Now that we were thinking about souvenirs – I must get a plate for my wall – we realized that our entire week has been devoid of anyone trying to sell us anything.  We walked around looking in all the shops; this is a tourist town in tourist season, after all, but there are no souvenirs to be found.  Sorry, my grand-girls, looks like it’s airport candy for you!

Once again, the shops closed at 6 and the streets were quiet.  We found a Turkish kebab restaurant open and had a wonderful green salad with shaved doner meat (lamb) and white sauce, a tall Pilsner, sitting out under an umbrella in the cool breeze of the evening. So fine!

Zell am Harmersbach to Gengenbach

Germany, Hiking, Travel, ,

8/12 – Now, here’s something you don’t see every day!  Our trek this morning took us through a wood carver’s yard, displaying a variety of his/her wares.


A life size nativity and crèche 

It’s still chilly today, and the skies are cloudy, but no rain is expected.  A good day for a hike!  


We walked through open fields and farms until we reached the town of Nordrach. 

Then, it was up and over the mountain!


As we descended toward Gengenbach, we saw signs for another Jakobskappele.


We walked through a grape orchard…


…and found it at the top of a hill, overlooking the town.

This chapel was open, bright and simple inside.


The windows each depicted a verse from the Beatitudes.



Gengenbach is a bustling town, with lots of people out to enjoy the sunshine and food.


Our Hotel Blume is across the River Kinzig, and we crossed the bridge several times as evening fell.


Clouds reflected in the river – a lovely sight.


We found that all the stores and most of the cafes close promptly at 6pm, which we thought unusual for a tourist town.  The streets are very quiet in the evening.  We ate at our hotel – schnitzel and egg noodles, covered in brown gravy.  We watched as the folks at the next table dug into huge rectangular things that looked like pizza without tomato sauce.  These are flammkuchen, evidently the speciality here.  The waitress noticed us looking, and brought us each a piece to try – thin cooked dough, spread with a soft white cheese, onions and pork sausage.  Tasty!

Haslach to Zell am Harmersbach

Germany, Hiking, Travel, , ,

8/11 – 49 degrees this morning – brrr!  Can’t believe this is August!  How cold must it get here in winter?  Walked through some pretty farm country this morning.


Here is a pear orchard.


Lost the shell markers again today, but we’ve decided that as long as we follow some marked trail, we will eventually get to a town.  The signposts with distance to each place are really enabling us to navigate without a guidebook.

Another big hill to climb, with a picnic place carved out of pine for us at the top.  How nice!  Jim had put a styrofoam box of leftover chicken curry from the Asian restaurant into the hotel’s freezer last night, and it was thawed and ready to eat by midday.  What a delicious break from cold cuts and cheese!

A view from the summit.


By mid afternoon we caught up with our pesky shell again. Lots of trails using this mountain!


Zell am Harmersbach is on the Harmersbach River.

There is an old train here.

Thanks to our curry mountaintop lunch, we still had sandwiches from this morning in our bag, so we didn’t have to go out to find a place to eat tonight.  Thank goodness – I’m tired and my feet hurt!

It seems to me that a hiking blog must be boring for those who haven’t felt the peace of a quiet day filled with birdsong, the anxiety of a lost marker, or the elation of reaching a summit.  I realize that many of my pix look similar – what distinguishes one green hilltop or one blue sky from another?  They don’t show the slow ascents in dark woods, my rasping breath, my achy feet or the pounding of blood in my ears.  I share the celebration of mountaintop experiences, and the occasional cow.  I hope everyone gets to experience the joy that these walks give me, whatever your particular passion may be.