I went to go see the procession of the resurrection of Christ today, that was supposed to start at Catedral de Santiago at noon today. When I arrived, there wasn't much of a procession at all, just church bells ringing all through the city for the beginning of high mass. So, I went to high mass. I was very interested to see Catedral de Santiago as it was one of the churches that inspired Jack on his journey through northern Spain in 'Pillars of the Earth'. It was just as Ken Follett described it, and it felt like I was living in the book. Very interesting! All of the stone carvings also made me think of Jack and how much time would have gone into sculpting each piece of stone to make it look like a continuous arch of leaves, or gargoyle, or saint. After high mass, there actually was a little procession where people with medallions around their necks carried a resurrected Christ through the streets.
Next, I decided to continue on to see the other churches that were on my tourist map, as most of them were in the same area, Casco Viejo. I went down along the Bilbao River to see Inglesia de San Anton, and discovered the neat Estación de Atxuri (1912), which is still a functioning train station, and a church that was not on my tourist map. The church was amazing, dating back before Bilbao become a city in 1301. I was told it was built ~1100. It was what I imagined the original Kingsbridge Cathedral to be like in Pillars of the Earth (but not falling down). It was so dark, with only the smallest windows as builders believed windows weakened the structure during the time the church was built. There were full circle arches everywhere instead of elongated arches that come to a point. Also, there was a tiny chapel inside that was beautiful. I arrived to this church after the service had finished, and a very nice women immediately noticed I was a foreigner and kindly showed me around the relic of a church.
After the beautiful old church, I found Inglesia de San Anton (1433), but unfortunately it is currently closed to the public. Also, I went on to the Inglesia in Plaza de La Cruz back in Casco Viejo, but it has now been turned into a museum. Next, I wanted to see the Basilica de Begoña (1620) assuming that this would be the most impressive of them all as it was a basilica. So, I walked up many stairs from Casco Viejo to get all the way up to Begoña (at least 500 stairs), and then more stairs in Begoña to get to the Basilica. It was an impressive structure from the outside, but was closed. Apparently churches here close in the afternoon like everything else, even on Easter Sunday. It closed at 2:00pm and I arrived at 2:11pm. Also, it started to pour and I got soaked. I was quite disappointed that I had climbed so many freaking stairs just to get rained on and not see the basilica. What happened to church hospitality? But, the gardens surrounding the church were really quite pretty, and I would have enjoyed them more had it not been raining and the presence of a homeless man. I ended up giving my sandwich that I had packed for lunch to the homeless man who I couldn't understand. I became quite biased against the basilica, and decided the catedral was much more impressive.
The rain subsided for a few minutes, and I made it back to Teatro Arriaga in Casco Viejo to see Inglesia de San Nicolás (1756), the last church on my list. It started to pour again, and so I went home to make myself another sandwich. Despite the bad experience at the basilica, I thoroughly enjoyed see the ancient little church and the cathedral. It was so interesting to see what the descriptions in my book come to life! Perhaps, I'll try to see the basilica another day... maybe.
Hasta la proximá vez,
Kathlene
PS. Happy Easter!!
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