Something Holy Going On!

There must have been something ‘Holy’ going on, on this particular day in Madrid.  I just happened on it and sort of mingled my way amongst the celebrators.  I still don’t know what was going on!!! Hehehehe.

Two things this day….the Holy celebration going on in the square in front of the Cathedral and then the ‘Crypt’ exploration on the backside.

This square is flocked with curiosity seekers and worshippers.  I fell into the ‘curiosity seeker’ category and I’m still not quite sure what I experienced.  It seems that tourist would pay to have their pictures taken in front of the shrine though.

  This is often seen around the churches, cathedrals and religious activities; Elderly Women as beggars.  Up close you can tell they are real, they are not just some panhandlers, they are in need of ‘alms’ and as such should be helped and they should be respected.  In this scene here a young worker with the religious activity moved her on sadly.

I learned something the heart aching way regarding these elderly women.  I’m generous to a fault and I’ll give someone what I’ve got that is down and out and appears that any little bit will help them.  After giving to a much younger gentleman on a particular day, I was unable to help the elderly women that sat before the church entrance.

I’ve never been around so much Holy sites as here in Europe…

I had to take some steps to remedy this and I knew it immediately, I can’t help everyone!  So, here’s what I did and now do.  I carry an extra wallet on me with expired credit cards and no Euros just in case of a robbery attempt (I’ve a hidden undergarment money belt).  So when a much younger beggar approaches me I pull out my dummy wallet and there’s nothing to give, they just move on rather than badger me.  Then I’ve some change for the elderly women at the churches.

Problem solved!

This way for your crypt experience, please….

On the other side of the cathedral is a cripta!  Sounds like something from a horror movie.  And I thought I might see like a  tomb that was enshrined with metal bars guarding it…..nope, quite an eye opener as you’ll see.

I’m sure that this involves money.  I saw some recent entombment here.  I gotta say, this is a lot different than I expected and a very busy site (sight wise, although it did have a lot of people visiting).

The Neorromancia Cripta is located on the backside of The  Almudena Cathedral which unfortunately I wasn’t able to visit.  The catherdral that is…

There are 558 columns, especially the 50 monolithic columns (one-piece) of the central part, facing the altar. It took about 28 years to build this temple, opening in 1911 for worship.

It is rather awkward to get around inside this temple….you basically have to walk on the graves of someone’s loved one’s!!!   I wasn’t too excited about doing that!



It’s a rather complicated temple as there are a number of chapels all concerned with the life and cross of Christ. I think I may revisit this with a more detailed blog a little later.

Here’s a bit more of the inside…  This a rather ‘LARGE’ crypt that is housed within the backside of the Cathedral.

  Can’t forget this dude….Peter clutching the keys to the Kingdom.  This statue is at the front of the square leading to the cathedral.

We’re talking Holy here…..

  Here you can see 2 of the buriels.



More to come tomorrow as I keep things moving along.

Peace, love, and beaches,

John

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