Valencia
So this weekend I went on a trip to Valencia, the capital of our autonomous community here in Spain. I took a ton of photos and I will put some explanations with them. I will also include some professional taken photos so that you can see some of the things I saw that I wasn't able to capture very well. There are quite a few so I suggest you give the page just a second to load and be patient with my explanations. Thanks again for reading!!
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| My room in the hotel were we stayed |
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| More room, yes, that's my Loras shrit. Go Duhawks! |
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| Views from my window |
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| I didn't know about these, by the door of your room, you have to insert your room key for the electricity to function in your room. |
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| On our way to get something to eat, first views of the Cathedral of València, which I would visit the next day. |
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| Plaza and another church |
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| Saint Michael statue in an old public garden |
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| This arch is part of the old city walls of València |
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| The old city gates of València, "Els Torres dels Sarrans", built in 1392! |
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| My photo from the exterior |
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| Large statue of Colón, Christopher Columbus |
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| Plaque commemorating His Holiness, Pope John Paul II's visit to València |
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| We ate dinner in a Basque restaurant, the food was AMAZING! In case you're wondering, the Basque Country is a region in the north of Spain. |
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| Us! Next to myself is Ryann, the Canadian girl, Mario, my Rotary tutor, and his wife. |
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| The Cathedral! (professional photo) |
Though I was not able to take many photos of the absolutely stunning cathedral, built in 1238, what I was able to capture is here as follows:
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| The arm of Saint Vincent the Martyr, who died for the Faith in the year 304. |
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| Close up his arm! |
Next was the highlight of my trip. We got to visit the chapel of the Holy Grail. Yeah, you read that right, the Holy Grail. According to tradition and recently vindicated by science, the chalice used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper is kept here in this chapel. We arrived early for a chanted Mass in Latin, the choir stalls to the left and right in the picture were full of priests chanting the Divine Office (a set of prayers prayed by Catholic priests and monks). It was a great honour to be able to chant with the priests and see this amazing relic. I can honestly say I have never been so moved in my life.
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| The chapel after Mass. |
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| A few close ups follow, and then some professionally done photos |
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| His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI celebrating Mass with the Grail in 2007 |
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| And finally, a pretty cool painting done with our Lord holding the Grail |
Next I've included some photos of some of the Cathedral's side chapels, an explanation in Spanish before each one:
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| Add caption |
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| Relics of Saint Louis the Bishop |
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| The main altar from the side |
Next I went up the Cathedral's tower, El Miguelete. Built in 1381.
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| (Professional photo) |
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| The entrance |
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| The winding staircase, it was barely wide enough for one person, meeting someone who was descending while I was going up it was extremely difficult to cross without falling. |
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| One of the slit windows |
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| The tower's bells, seen through the grate |
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| View from another window |
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| Getting to the top |
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| Bell on the roof |
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| One of the many views! |
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| Me one the top! |
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| The way back down |
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| Leaving the tower |
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| Another commemorative plaque of the Pope's visit |
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| Metal model of the Cathedral outside |
Next I took a stroll through the University of València
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| Statue of Joan Luis Vives, a Valencian philosopher and scholar |
Interesting story with this next photo. During the trip, I spoke mostly Valencian with the locals. I kindly asked an older couple if they would take my photo, "Perdoneu, em feu una foto?" and they stared at me blankly saying and asked in Spanish, "Uh, what?." I then asked them in Spanish, they said of course they'd be happy to. Turns out they're from the middle of Spain and had no idea what language I was speaking!
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| Myself |
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| More of the University |
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| Cool other tower I saw |
We then stepped in old church to check it out, turns out a wedding was going on so we didn't linger long! The church was one of the churches belonging to a group called Opus Dei or "Work of God".
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| Statue of Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, Opus Dei's founder |
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| One more quick pass by the towers |
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| Market where we ate dinner |
Now some professional photos so you can see some of the stuff I saw that I wasn't able to get photos of:
Thanks again for taking the time to read this really long post! As always, if you have any questions about what I saw or did, leave them in the comments and I'll be happy to answer.
Pax & Bonum,
Sean
