Day Nine: in Which Rachel was like "I Recognize that, It's From Open Face Beholding"

Yesterday we went and checked out the cathedral of Granada. I stopped at a street vendor on the way and bought some orange rooibos tea for my mom- I love how easy it is to find cheap, quality, loose leaf tea in Granada. They practically throw it at you!

The cathedral was very tall, and very large. One of the largest in Europe, the audioguide said. Inside were standard Catholic cathedral things: pews, altars, carved marble, carved guided wood, giant music books used for the choirs, two huge beautiful organs, giant fancy chairs and pulpits.

It was a no talking tour, so every step echoed quite a bit. The most interesting things to me were probably the side room with art, tapestries, carvings, and giant grandfather clocks in it, and the constant mish-mash of styles everywhere inside. The outside looked Romantic, while some of the gates and door carvings were clearly Gothic, and many of the altars were over-adorned in classic Baroque style. They also really love their Virgin Mary here, in all iterations. Every separate altar featured some version of Mother Mary, and I think there were actually more references to her than to Jesus (although there were also a lot of Jesus references).

The audio guide was helpful if not always entirely historically accurate. Definitely glossed over the whole Spanish Inquisition thing, saying only at monuments to its leaders "their great efforts to bring the teachings of Jesus back to Granada."

I found it interesting how the imagery here incorporated the imagery already present in Granada (the pomegranate) and combined it with Christian iconography to ingratiate themselves with the previously existing history of this place. They had many crosses growing out of the top of pomegranates. Classic Catholicism.

All in all, worth seeing. Lots of history there, some really impressive art, and interesting to see it through the lens of the Catholics are and always were right…

For lunch/dinner, we stopped at what is now basically our community pub, Bar Aixa. They know our coffee orders on sight now. No wonder cause it's just up the street from our hostel! Anyway I had some really great and well-priced ratatouille, and Rachel sampled some deep fried eggplant with honey. Both very good.

Then we headed home after a long day, but not before I picked up some artisanal hot chocolate for my favourite brother in the world who's name starts with a J. :))

Bonus: A dfab devil with angel wings and face boobs, found on the streets of Granada