Church at Eze #2

Church at Eze altar

The Church of our Lady of the Assumption is a Catholic Church at Eze, France. Tucked in a mountainside with fresh air and the scent of incense, this Church is a visiting stop for many tourists to the French Riviera. Eze is one of those special places, a walking town not far from the ritz of Monaco - but worlds away. The Church is from 1772 and more information on it can be found here.

Statue of St. Francis

While there, I chose to light some candles and say some prayers. In my mind, there is no better place for this.

Good place to pray

La Sagrada Familia: Home of Gargoyles

La Sagrada Familia at Barcelona

 The last time before this trip I visited La Sagrada Familia was in 2009 at 8am. I can't remember if I bought my ticket ahead of time or not. I don't think I did, but there was no line. A few people arrived as I was walking through. It is a sight to see and I missed it the last two times I was in Barcelona, so I decided to go back again. I heard in the metro that the lines were forever long, so I opted to just take some photos from the outside.

Cleaning of La Sagrada Familia

Even though the Church is not completed, restoration work is going on now to clean it. From the photo above, you can see what has been cleaned and a part that remains. It is still as magnificent as ever. This time though there were hundreds of people waiting to get in and a line of people waiting to buy tickets that wrapped around the front and both sides.

Getting there was half the fun. I decided to use the metro as I had a T-10, a ticket for 10 passes and had only used 2 yesterday. I could have walked but after my excursion to the MNAC yesterday, I realize how out of shape my legs really are. So I walked to the Passeig de Gracia station and tried to get on the L2 to the Sagrada Familia exit. Just as I went to board the train, an announcement was made that the L2 was down. So I was lost in underground hell for about half an hour. In the end, I took a round about way but finally made it to my destination. When I walked out of the metro, there I was, right in front of one of my favorite places on earth - La Sagrada Familia (the Sacred Family.)

Another view of La Sagrada Familia

Man speaking French and waving in front of La Sagrada Familia

As I took photos of the front, a man speaking in French said something to me and waved for the camera. The crowds were everywhere. I especially loved seeing all the young people around.

Young people in front of La Sagrada Familia

More information on this wonderful Gaudi creation can be found here. It really is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and a great home for gargoyles. 

Girona Part 2: Cathedral and Gargoyle Sentiments

Pigeon homes at Girona Cathedral

The Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary of Girona has some superb architectural features. The pigeons who live there agree. According to wikipedia, St. Mary of Girona was started in the 11th century in the Romanesque style, and later continued in the 13th century in the Gothic style. More great information on this great Cathedral can be found here on wikipedia. I always love the fascinating story of all the European Churches and Cathedrals.

Another pigeon home at Girona Cathedral

It is definitely a place where gargoyle-sentiment abounds. Note the following architectural details.

It is also a spiritual place. The aura is quite lovely!

From Sex Shops to Spirtuality in Gdansk, Poland

Welcome marching band in Gdynia, Poland

Street along the way to Gdansk

We were met by a marching band when we arrived in the port of Gdynia, Poland on our Baltic cruise. We left the port for our excursion to Gdansk. Along the way, we saw McDonald's hamburger shops, lots of traffic and a peep show and sex shop. Our tour guide gave a running commentary all the way to Gdansk and back, explaining to us about the "exploding balls" (cannon fire) during the war, and a few other things that made us chuckle.

Traffic and our guide going to Gdansk, Poland

We arrived in Gdansk and bus loads of people got off. It had a Disneyland feel and doing further research when I got back home, I found out that Gdansk was mostly destroyed by the Second World War and rebuilt after. It was definitely rebuilt for tourists as every imaginable flavor of ice cream, type of souvenir and amber jewelry was available here. The amber is especially nice though and reasonably priced.

I found the tourists of particular interest and even more astonishing, there was a woman who sat in a cotton candy booth in the hot sun all day. She was barely visible behind the spun confection.

Tourist in front of fountain in Gdansk

Cotton candy lady

But by far, the best part of our tour in Gdansk was St. Mary's Church. Touted as the largest brick Church in the world by our guide, I was not that impressed by the size. Supposedly 25,000 people fit in this Church at one time, but I would have hated to be in the crowd on the day that many were there. What I loved about the Church was the gargoyle effect. It is loaded with both spirituality and medieval touches.

Also inside St. Mary's Church is the tomb of Maciej Plazynski, a revered leader of Poland.

Palma de Mallorca: A Magnificent Place

Cathedral at Palma de Mallorca

Detail of the Cathedral

Palma de Mallorca was everything I expected and more. The day was hot in the sun and cool in the shade. We took a taxi from the Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam to the Cathedral before it opened and waited. The first few hours were sheer bliss. As the day wore on, it got hotter and way more crowded, so we actually returned to the ship early. That is the blessing of doing your own thing and not going on an organized tour. It was the last stop of our cruise, and I think we were all pretty tired.

Nieuw Amsterdam docked at Palma de Mallorca

The day was short but wonderful. My favorite place at Palma de Mallorca was the Basilica of Saint Francis from the 13th century. La Seu is also very impressive, the Cathedral, but I found the Basilica more spiritual. I will report on both Churches in other posts.

More information on Palma de Mallorca can be found here on wikipedia. Here is is a photo below of people returning to the ship.

Bye bye Palma de Mallorca

Palermo Cathedral: Holiness in the Midst of Chaos

Palermo Cathedral

The Cathedral in Palermo is not only impressive, but a Holy Place. It just feels so wonderful to walk in. The guide books say the most impressive part is the outside of the building, but I loved the inside too. Information on the history of the Cathedral can be found on Wikipedia here

It is a jumble of Norman, Renaissance and Gothic elements. Tour groups were everywhere and we made our way in to the Cathedral with a group from the Holland America Eurodam. I couldn't have been happier with the Cathedral. It just felt right. We were on a tour that took us to Monreale, but we stopped first here and I am so glad we did. I loved the Palermo Cathedral so much more than the one in Monreale. I also loved Palermo more. Monreale is a quaint, lovely town but it doesn't have the vibrant nature nor the pandemonium or joy of life of Palermo. 

Palermo Cathedral

Closeup of statue at Palermo Cathedral

Closeup of floor design - interior Palermo Cathedral

Interior Palermo Cathedral

You decide but my vote will be for Palermo! Photos of the Cathedral at Monreale coming tomorrow. 

I was again on a cruise, this time from Rome to Rome, Western Med, traveling solo. I have to admit. I missed my husband a lot this trip, probably because even though I did meet some great people and had a few dinners with them ... it was not like 2011, where I had a group of 2 couples I did almost everything with. I missed you this trip ... Yvette, Ray, Neal and Tiara!

Tour to Montserrat

From the bus approaching Montserrat

There are many ways to get to Montserrat. I went on a bus tour that left early afternoon from Barcelona for a half day tour. You can also get there by train and then a cable car to get to the top. The day was cool and crisp. The sun shone bright and the sky was the most beautiful shade of blue with just a few clouds. 

Near Montserrat

Cable for cable car at Montserrat

Montserrat Lookout area

View from lookout area at Montserrat

Once there, again you have a lot of options of things to see. I chose to visit the Monastery and completely missed the Museum, by accident. The highlight of my visit was the Black Virgin and the beautiful Cathedral. More to follow in another post.

Black Virgin

Montserrat Cathedral

Sunday Morning Spirituality: Vejer de La Frontera

Vejer de la Frontera, Spain

Our second stop on our cruise from Barcelona to Dover was Cadiz, Spain. I had visited before so I wasn’t too psyched about going back. I typically don’t like to revisit places, especially ones I hadn’t loved to begin with. What I remembered of Cadiz was a port town, kind of dirty and getting driven by a 70 year old lunatic named Bartolomeo on the cruise ship pier against our will going 90 miles a hour. Needless to say, I didn’t want to relive that experience, but Cadiz surprised me. It was clean and lovely and not at all how I remembered it. They have done a lot in the eight years since I was there. I took a wonderful tour of Cadiz with a guy I met named Bob, and we had a great afternoon touring Cadiz. (That will be saved for another post.) Since it's Sunday, I want to talk about Vejer de la Frontera.

Vejer de la Frontera was once the border between the Christian and Moorish worlds. We arrived in early morning before the town was really awake. A few old men wandered the streets. One had a loaf of bread in his hand. Another man spoke to a woman above, who opened her window to lean out and chat.

Lady in the window chatting

Our guide walked us through the old town, so charming and beautiful and in harmony. It was chilly and so quiet as the town slept and we had the privilege of enjoying the morning without a mob of people, cars or buses.

Honestly I don’t remember much about what she said that day. I mostly remember how I felt … full of peace and serenity on a Sunday morning.

Cathedral in Vejer de la Frontera

my traveling feet

 I had thought I took the picture of my traveling feet in Barcelona, but actually it was here in Vejer de la Frontera. I love the cobblestones and the wad of paper on the ground.

Last but not least, I didn't notice until my husband pointed it out - that the photo above has graffiti that says, "My name is Bombe."

Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls

Basilica of St. Paul's near Rome

The Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls is built over the burial place of St. Paul. It is one of the four papal basilicas of Rome. More information on this important and beautiful basilica can be found on Wikipedia here.

There are amazing columns, incredible marbles used throughout and a very special ambiance that is extremely spiritual. I loved walking around inside. The outside has some very famous doors, including one that can only be opened on Jubilee years. More on the Jubilee can be found here.

I loved all the architectural details. See a few I photographed below.

The Holy Door only opened during Jubilee years