Only recently have I realized how boring it could be visiting Cathedrals. But only reading this post till the end could you understand what I am referring to.
As if we were over a cup of tea or having a beer, I am going to tell you some places I have visited recently. A dear friend suggested to me to go to watch ?Kynren- an epic tale of England?, and I did. I could feel how cold could become a night on July in this area, but it was compensated with the warm welcome people gave me. But this is a subject for a different post.
I will not go into details in order to avoid boring you, but I would like to point out a few things. First, how surprised I was when I found paintings by Francisco de Zurbaran exhibited in the Castle of Bishop Auckland, Jacob and his Twelve Sons. Second, I felt a little embarrassed when after commenting with the volunteer guide how good it was to visit the castle for free, she said to me that it was not free. ?Dear member of the jury (remember my post about Lolita), nobody asked me for money?.
http://www.aucklandcastle.org/
However, the main reason to go to Bishop Auckland was Kynren, and I must say that it is a performance gorgeous, amazing, stunning? I enjoyed it despite my English level. In my opinion the best moment is when Shakespeare and Elizabeth I have a conversation and they refer to characters and messages of Shakespeare?s books ?(It happened in the performance, but probably they never met each other).
All the same, I do not want to use all the limited words of this post writing about Kynren while I started referring to Cathedrals. Close to Bishop Auckland is Durham whose Cathedral and Castle are UNESCO Human Heritage sites, so I spent one day there. It was then, when going into the Cathedral, that an idea crossed my mind: Have I seen enough Cathedrals in my life?
All descriptions of cathedrals and churches, or even castles, tell us how important they were in the past. Probably it is pointed out that it is the largest in Europe, in the country or in the area; that it has the highest ceiling; that it has the greatest number of stained glasses; or the best whatever. Nevertheless, this time I felt like adding a new one to the list of Cathedrals visited.
Conversely I found very interesting all the informative boards where, beside the information showed, you can read a question in the same style that those I usually use to end my posts. What a pity, to take photos was not allowed, so I wrote down only a few. Here you have some of them:
What is the most inspiring experience you have ever had?
What miracle would you like to see today?
Why is hospitality important? How do you make people welcome?
http://www.thisisdurham.com/heritage
If you want to know more about these places you can visit the websites, there you can find better pictures than those I took. However, you have no more alternative than to read the information in English. Probably they think it is not necessary to translate into any other language, or, perhaps there are other reasons. I do not want to demagogue.
I apologise, this post has broken the rule about number of words, but ever other things have been left out. More details in following posts; but one more question, what do you think about visiting Cathedrals?
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I have visited a lot of cathedrals and nowadays, I’m not as impressed as I used to be. However, I am sometimes drawn to go inside one if I haven’t been in one for a while. I can’t explain it but sometimes the tranquil atmosphere in a cathedral is quite soothing.
Thanks Paul for commenting. Actually I have visited another one, quiet and peacefu, for free and whith only a few tourists. I enjoyed it. I really like them.
I agree with Paul, most cathedrals and churches have a pleasant soothing atmosphere. As an exception I would dare to mention St. Peter in Vatican, probably due to the huge number of visitors. Despite that, I found it just superb in many senses, to be honest.
Commonly, I enjoy visiting Cathedrals, churches, castles, palaces, gardens, …for I can always learn new things or remember things I already knew but I had forgotten. In this experience the guide is crucial, who can make the visit memorable. I recall now visiting the Alcazar In Seville in the evening as well as the Alhambra in Granada. Both places I had visited several times, always with pleasure, but those two particular occasions were just gorgeous.