To Grañon

Today Paula and I took a bus to Santo Domingo de la Calazada. As soon as we got off the bus, we looked for a place to eat, and we found a bakery where we tried some of the pastries. But we really didn't like them very much. One of the things I saw were ahorcaditos. 
Their preparation began in 1953 by the artisan pastry chef from Calcea, José Alberto Hernando Aliende, in the Isidro Pastry Shop, where they were created, and it is the only point of their commercialization from the first day. They will soon be spread throughout the province of La Rioja, becoming popular among pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. They take their name from a miracle attributed to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. that of the rooster and the hen.

We visited the cathedral and got to see the chickens and  the story about why they are there. it was nice to hear that they replaced these chickens about every two weeks with a new pair and these are given retirement in a nice big pen elsewhere. 

The church and museum were absolutely incredible and I took way too many photos to post, but I'll show you a few just to give you a taste

The photo above is of the crypt where there are some incredible mosaics of the life of Christ. 

The  windows in this cathedral are much more modernistic to me than windows we have seen in other cathedrals.  It was hard to get a good photo of this, but they are quite beautiful. 

A larger than life-like crucifix. 

The retablo is covered with sculptures from the life of Christ. You have to really blow it up large to see each and everyone.  This photo does not capture how gorgeous the gilding was. It almost hurt your eyes to look at it  

Veronica

The rest of the cathedral was just filled with beautiful artworks. After we left here, Paula took a walk all the way to the top of the tower. There was no way I was going to attempt that. Once she was finished, we went to a China shop so I can get a pair of gloves and we could walk to Grañon. There is a bitter wind blowing, and it is very cold right now.

We have a very nice two bedroom two bath apartment here  We are doing our laundry and Paula has taken a trip to the market to pick up some food for dinner and a bottle of wine  We're thinking to just have a late breakfast here in town tomorrow before our walk to Belorado  

 








more tomorrow, 

Annie