Spellbound by the Mezquita

Lorraine and I decided to try the hotel breakfast this morning.  It was excellent if a bit pricey, but it was a buffet of cooked breakfasts, and all the coffee you could drink, which turns out to be quite a bit if you put your mind to it.

Off today to the mind-blowing experience of the Mezquita. It is a huge mosque, which has, which, after the reconquest of Spain, had a lofty cathedral built inside it, and it became a Christian building. The Cathedral part seems full of bling, and crowded and bright. What you notice in the Cathedral is the faces, and the representations of Christ, Mary and God and so on. My two favourite things there were a painting of the annunciation and the mihrab, which was one of the most spellbinding things I have ever seen in my life.

After this excitement, we headed back to the hotel to sit by the pool and chill out, and enjoy a cold beer.

In the evening, during our walk I suddenly had the idea of eating pizza, and Lorraine gamely agreed on a pizza hunt. We found ourselves in an obscure part of town, and entered a pizzeria that had miraculously appeared. The waitress was surprised to see us, and the place was utterly empty. We had two pizzas however, which were perfectly nice. We asked for two beers too, tubo, which were short fat glasses with about half a pint in them. There was no music and had all the atmosphere of a small asteroid. As we walked home, we decided that we weren't going there again.

Below  light from a stained glass window falling on the marble, the dramatic light inside the Cathedral; the annunciation; a gorgeous bible; the mosque's double arches; a geometric glass; and the miraculously beautiful mihrab.







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