Churches and relics

So today I decided to give some attention to Spanish Catholic Granada. First I went into the Church of St John of God. St. John of God was the founder of the Knights Hospitallers. The church was very ornate - every surface was covered with frescoes, mirrors, paintings. The saint is buried in a raised room behind the altar. Impressive - a giant reliquary of silver that glows in the sunlight streaming through the windows behind it. From the back of the church, you can see the reliquary high above the altar - it is supposed to resemble a giant candle, the reliquary in its golden room is the flame. The custodian took me and another visitor up to the reliquary room. Again, very impressive, with every surface covered in pictures big and small. On closer inspection, I discovered that all the little picture frames affixed to the walls contained bone fragments. Then I noticed glass boxes full of skulls, and suddenly felt ready to leave. On my way out I saw a ghastly painting of John the Baptist - or rather his grimacing head, on a platter, the sinews and veins of his severed neck depicted in scientific detail. An informative sign stated that this picture was a gift to St John of God that he liked very much. Yeesh. I wasn't able to take pictures here unfortunately - it really was beautiful, even with all the skulls and bone fragments stuck to the wall.

Next I went into the monastery of St. Jerome. Much nicer, and far less gruesome. The towering wall behind the altar shows life-size dioramas of the stations of the cross, plus the greatest hits from the lives of the saints - saint whoever giving his cloak to the beggar, some poor guy being boiled alive, stuff like that. At least the central courtyard was full of orange trees, not dead bodies on display.

Time for a snack - I bought a cake donut that was dusted with granulated sugar. It looked ordinary, just a bit dark. I bit into it - cloves! Not nutmeg like we use in donuts. Very strong clove taste, interesting and good. It would be perfect with coffee.

This week has really been like boot camp. I've been walking about 8 miles a day, maybe more. And a lot of it uphill. I decided to wander around the Albaycin neighborhood, since I haven't done much hill work today. I stopped in to the Arab Baths (non-functioning), and found a lot of interesting old buildings. Tonight we have to pack, and tomorrow we go to Madrid.