Friday, August 15, 2014

August 15, 2014 -- Seville, Spain

If I hadn't given up my Catholic faith decades ago, I would have realized that today is an important Catholic holiday and therefore an important Spanish national holiday, as well. For those readers who are as ignorant as I am, I will explain that today is Assumption Day, the day when, according to Catholic dogma, the Virgin Mary ascended into Heaven. If I correctly remember what nuns told us in catechism when I was in my early teens, the Catholic faith teaches that Mary is the only person to have ascended into Heaven, body and soul, without having died first.

I walked into town despite my injured leg and was surprised to find the doors of the cathedral wide open with thousands of people inside. A high mass was in progress, and because there were so many attendees that not everyone could see the altar, the mass was projected onto overhead TV screens. Naturally the Giralda or bell tower was again closed, so I once again failed to get inside. Tomorrow, perhaps?

 Because I walked instead of taking the bus, I saw things that I hadn't seen before such as the beautiful parkland stretching along the Guadalquivir River. Even though Seville is not on the coast, it is a seaport, because the Guadalquivir is navigable. It was an important starting point for voyages to the Americas during colonial times.

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