Cervantes – Velazquez – Asisi. A walk around town took us past Cervantes’ home and a door or so away there were 4 small cushioned chairs with a small sign saying “you can sit and put your feet up on stool provided buy a drink and eat your own food, we’ll heat it up if you require”. We’ve seen no-one but us take up the offer. I love those little touches but must take a book with me next time.
Prado again to see another Spanish Painter, Velazquez. I find it hard to appreciate art when I have a problem with the content and a lot of his paintings are about horses with armoured men on them. As well as that, I am reading a book called ‘The hand of Fatima’ by Ildefonso Falcones where she describes how horses reacted nervously to carrying such heavy weights so that didn’t help. I can’t explain his style of painting but I did enjoy his ‘La Meninas’, as did the gathering.
Then it was St Francis, who built a grey basilica in the neo-classical style when he came to Spain in 1214 on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James in Santiago de Compostela. It has the largest dome of any church in Spain (third biggest in Europe), and is adorned by stunning chapels, beautifully designed and painted by famous artists, including Goya whom we will visit tomorrow in the Prado.
