Valencia, Spain - La Catedral

 Today we again drove to the metro station, took the metro and a tram and arrived near

the Serrano Gate.

 

We weren't in a rush. We weren't following a guide.

So I could stop and take pictures of whatever I fancied.

Christine and Kristin going through the Serrano Gate.

3 cafe con leche for 6Euro. Kristin said you can pay $6 for one in Toronto.

We thought we remembered the way we had gone with the walking tour

and we got caught up with a school group but found our way.

The door onto the Plaza de la Virgin was not the entrance so we walked around

to the much more impressive entrance on the other side. Our entrance fee, 6Euro for me as a senior, included the audio guide.

Not the most impressive cathedral I have been in but they all have a quiet magnificence, architecturally solid and delicate simultaneously.

The audio tour directed us to the chapels (there are 24) that line the main church, and described the art, history and religious purpose of each.

The audio guide invited us to sit on pews while it described the magnificent altar area.

The area is lit with a dome of alabaster windows. There are just a few stained glass windows, most are thin, translucent, alabaster.

My favorite part of the whole complex was these beautiful frescoes. They were discovered, during repairs to the apse ceiling, hidden behind the Gothic dome for 300 years. They show angels playing musical instruments and had been painted in the late 15th century.

Of course you could pay to light a candle. Either a real one

or a battery operated one.

The chapels had paintings, statues

and relics (this is the arm of a saint, creepy!)

Once we had circled the church

we went into the Cathedral Museum with its displays of valuable gifts, vestments, old manuscripts and more relics.

Stairs took us down to the foundations of the church and layers of Roman, Visigoth, and Mosque buildings that had all been sited here.

Back upstairs and into

the final chapel

and what this Cathedral is truly famous for;

The Holy Grail

From Christine's "Top 10 Valencia" book

"There are hundreds of claimants to the Holy Grail, the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper, but only the chalice here at Valencia's Cathedral has been recognized by the Vatican." It goes on to give the providence of the item, transported from one location to another, bouncing around Europe, to keep it safe until it was given to the Valencia Cathedral by Alfonso the Magnanimous in 1437.