What to See in Yucatán, Mexico One of the oldest cathedrals in the Americas may be found in Mérida, Mexico. Known as the Cathedral of San Ildefonso, the cathedral dates back to 1598. Commissioned by Pope Pius IV, the cathedral was built on the Mayan site known as T’hó. Construction began in 1561. (The Cathedral…
Category: Churches
A Lesson in Colonialism at Cusco Cathedral
Of Gold, Guinea Pigs, Last Suppers, and a Somewhat Swarthy Jesus So many visitors are in Cusco, Peru either on their way to or from the nearby main attraction, Machu Picchu. My own stay in Cusco is little more than an afterthought, an interim point as I make my way back from Machu Picchu and…
Books about the Great Depression: Mont Saint Michel for Changing Times
Looking for a book about the Depression? Roger Vercel’s 1938 novel about the mount still entices What I like about Mont Saint Michel is that the closer you climb to the top of the mount, the farther you are from the touristy crappiness that can accompany any highly popular destination. Ascending the mount in France…
A Double and the Duomo
A View on a Budget in Florence Our quick stay at the Soggiorno Battistero in Florence is just long enough to appreciate anew the place across from the Duomo referred to as the Baptistry. So thrilled with our view right on the piazza we keep the windows open long into the night. Yes, the voices…
Christ of Many Colors
On this Palm Sunday, marvel at the varied images of Jesus depicted in churches and other places around the world. Sometimes he is a baby with the face of someone far more mature, sometimes he is an adult, sometimes with white skin, sometimes not. I am always surprised that societies try to remake him in…
Nordic Jesus
The Bashful Adventurer learns that Jesus looks like a Viking. Finding Nordic Jesus in Iceland.
Newport: Trinity Church, Where Were You in the Revolution?
Visiting Trinity Church in Newport, RI, the Bashful Adventurer can’t help but wonder how religion and politics intertwined during the American Revolution.
Making Field Trips More Fun: Gargoyles and Grotesques
It’s Wacky Wednesday! One favorite travel oddity is a certain grotesque at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The difference between a gargoyle and a grotesque, I have learned, is that gargoyles have spouts as part of a building’s drainage system. Grotesques apparently are merely decorative. Who knew gargoyles served such a practical function?…
The Ups and Downs of Mont Saint-Michel
I both love and loathe my experience at Mont Saint-Michel. I’m enamored of its history—how the Archangel Michael appeared to a priest some 700 years ago and told him to build this church in the water, how the priest equivocated right up to the point where the angel put a hole in his head, and…
Paris: Don’t Skip Sainte Chapelle
During this season of renewal, my mind floats to my favorite churches in Paris. I can’t help but marvel at Sainte Chapelle, stuck next to a courthouse, the little sibling of its competitor, the grand Notre Dame Cathedral. With each located on the Ile de la Cité, and with time in the capital limited, the…