Pilgrimage to Andalucia (1)
This was my second “Spiritual Sojourn” with Sr Jeannine Gramick SL. The first, nearly two years ago, had been to Austria and Bavaria, which I had very much enjoyed, but this pilgrimage to southern Spain was even more uplifting and enjoyable.
The group of 23 pilgrims was under the care and control of Elke Lehmann as tour guide, who did an exceptional job looking after us all, and under the spiritual leadership of Sr Jeannine herself and Fr Marty Demek of Baltimore. I was the only non-American on the trip.
We all met at Malaga airport and were taken straight away on a coach tour of Malaga and a visit to the Picasso Museum. The museum is beautifully laid out but I must admit I struggle with Picasso: a lot of his work just seems crude and slapdash to my eye.
We stayed our first two nights in a luxurious hotel just outside of Marbella. Our first proper expedition was to Gibraltar. We started our visit there with Mass in the Cathedral, a not very exciting building. It was nice that the Bishop of Gibraltar appeared at the end of Mass to give us words of welcome. I couldn’t help wondering if his welcome would have been quite so friendly if he had known who we were or if he had seen Sr Jeannine reading the Gospel and preaching during Mass.
I had very mixed feelings about Gibraltar. I loved St Michael’s Cave, with its spectacular stalactites. I would have liked to experience it when it is used as a concert hall. The Great Siege Tunnels were interesting and atmospheric. The town itself I found dreary. It reminded me of an undistinguished British provincial town of forty years ago. To try to enter into the sprit of things I ate fish and chips in the main square.
Day 3 was a Sunday and we made an early start for a walking tour of the old town of Marbella: charming and picturesque. Then it was into the coach for the drive to Granada, the first of the three great cities of Andalucia on our itinerary. We had an afternoon tour of the cathedral, with its wonderful gold and white interior and spectacular High Altar. We had hoped to have Mass in the cathedral but it is now used only for very large events. This seemed to b a theme of the larger churches we visited. I assume that, a bit like the Church of England, church attendance has fallen so much in Spain that the cathedrals are kept more as historical monuments (complete with admission charges) than as working churches. In Seville even an event presided over by the Cardinal Archbishop was taking place in a small chapel rather than the main Cathedral. Our Mass then was in the church attached to the cathedral, which was nonetheless very attractive. I sang for the first time at this Mass (“Adoro te devote”) and was very grateful for the warm appreciation of my fellow pilgrims.
In the afternoon of Day 3 we had been taken to the Albaicin, the old Moorish quarter of Granada and from there we had our first glimpse of the Alhambra, gleaming in the afternoon sunshine. Day 4 was our tour of the Alhambra. This was as remarkable as I had been led to expect: the exquisite Moorish rooms and courtyards, the beautiful gardens and the massive palace conceived, although never used, by Carlos V. Our guided tour ended up at lunchtime so I took the opportunity (with two of my fellow pilgrims) to have lunch in the Parador within the Alhambra. After a glass of fino I had Gazpacho (what else?), then fish, followed by small local cakes, the last washed down with a glass of “Malaga” wine, a sweet, strongly flavoured, almost sherry-like wine.
Our evening Mass in Granada was in a Church dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. This proved to be ornately decorated and to have the status of something of a shrine – it was visited by Pope John Paul II on his visit to Spain. A significant number of elderly Spanish ladies filled the back few rows of the Church during our Mass. Just before Mass started most of the lights in the Church were turned off and took some time to come back on. Then just as I started to sing during communion the light above me went off. This not only made it very difficult to see the music but was generally rather intimidating so I fear my ”Ave verum” was not a vocal highlight of the trip. At the end of Mass Sr Jeannine had the inspired idea that we should sing the “Salve Regina”, which had the elderly Spanish ladies singing along.
The group of 23 pilgrims was under the care and control of Elke Lehmann as tour guide, who did an exceptional job looking after us all, and under the spiritual leadership of Sr Jeannine herself and Fr Marty Demek of Baltimore. I was the only non-American on the trip.
We all met at Malaga airport and were taken straight away on a coach tour of Malaga and a visit to the Picasso Museum. The museum is beautifully laid out but I must admit I struggle with Picasso: a lot of his work just seems crude and slapdash to my eye.
We stayed our first two nights in a luxurious hotel just outside of Marbella. Our first proper expedition was to Gibraltar. We started our visit there with Mass in the Cathedral, a not very exciting building. It was nice that the Bishop of Gibraltar appeared at the end of Mass to give us words of welcome. I couldn’t help wondering if his welcome would have been quite so friendly if he had known who we were or if he had seen Sr Jeannine reading the Gospel and preaching during Mass.
I had very mixed feelings about Gibraltar. I loved St Michael’s Cave, with its spectacular stalactites. I would have liked to experience it when it is used as a concert hall. The Great Siege Tunnels were interesting and atmospheric. The town itself I found dreary. It reminded me of an undistinguished British provincial town of forty years ago. To try to enter into the sprit of things I ate fish and chips in the main square.
Day 3 was a Sunday and we made an early start for a walking tour of the old town of Marbella: charming and picturesque. Then it was into the coach for the drive to Granada, the first of the three great cities of Andalucia on our itinerary. We had an afternoon tour of the cathedral, with its wonderful gold and white interior and spectacular High Altar. We had hoped to have Mass in the cathedral but it is now used only for very large events. This seemed to b a theme of the larger churches we visited. I assume that, a bit like the Church of England, church attendance has fallen so much in Spain that the cathedrals are kept more as historical monuments (complete with admission charges) than as working churches. In Seville even an event presided over by the Cardinal Archbishop was taking place in a small chapel rather than the main Cathedral. Our Mass then was in the church attached to the cathedral, which was nonetheless very attractive. I sang for the first time at this Mass (“Adoro te devote”) and was very grateful for the warm appreciation of my fellow pilgrims.
In the afternoon of Day 3 we had been taken to the Albaicin, the old Moorish quarter of Granada and from there we had our first glimpse of the Alhambra, gleaming in the afternoon sunshine. Day 4 was our tour of the Alhambra. This was as remarkable as I had been led to expect: the exquisite Moorish rooms and courtyards, the beautiful gardens and the massive palace conceived, although never used, by Carlos V. Our guided tour ended up at lunchtime so I took the opportunity (with two of my fellow pilgrims) to have lunch in the Parador within the Alhambra. After a glass of fino I had Gazpacho (what else?), then fish, followed by small local cakes, the last washed down with a glass of “Malaga” wine, a sweet, strongly flavoured, almost sherry-like wine.
Our evening Mass in Granada was in a Church dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. This proved to be ornately decorated and to have the status of something of a shrine – it was visited by Pope John Paul II on his visit to Spain. A significant number of elderly Spanish ladies filled the back few rows of the Church during our Mass. Just before Mass started most of the lights in the Church were turned off and took some time to come back on. Then just as I started to sing during communion the light above me went off. This not only made it very difficult to see the music but was generally rather intimidating so I fear my ”Ave verum” was not a vocal highlight of the trip. At the end of Mass Sr Jeannine had the inspired idea that we should sing the “Salve Regina”, which had the elderly Spanish ladies singing along.
posted by Alnwickian at 5:27 pm
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