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shear size of the cathedrals, the cost to build
something like this back then, and the man hours it
must have taken is mind boggling. There was also
a smaller organ toward the front of the church.
Next to the console of the “double organ” there
was a choir loft, also in a “U” shape with another
huge podium made of wood situated up three or
four steps. I purchased a CD of the del Seo organ
with a brief history included.
We ate lunch outside at the big square adjacent to
the two huge cathedrals. I had a chicken combo
platter, and Adam had the meat platter. It cost
more to eat outside than in, but we were into the
ambiance of the moment. While we were eating a
concertato player - a small accordion, serenaded
us. After lunch we went shopping...lots of religious
trinkets at every shop. Then we came back to the
hotel and got online to upload info about our
France segment of the trip.
I called Alexander Gardner, a new friend I met at
Fry’s Electronics in Indianapolis while he was on
vacation in the US. We were invited to dinner.
They eat very late there 8:30 pm or later. So we
took a taxi to his house at 8 pm. Dinner with Alex
and Carmen was nice. They have a 19-year-old
son, Daniel, who spent a lot of time visiting with
Adam. Alex now, living in Spain, was originally
from Elwood, Indiana and is a friend of Julie. Julie
is a friend of Roger who is a friend of Steve.
Remember the six degrees of separation theory
about relationships? Small world, he lives in
Zaragoza. Anyhow, now they are our friends as
well.
For dinner (served at 9 pm) we had what they
called a toritta, which is really more like a quiche
with potato and onion. Also we had ham that
looked like bacon, white asparagus and salad.
Dessert was an assortment of cakes...wonderful.
We visited until around 1 am. They were so
friendly and just delightful to talk to. The time
passed quickly with our new friends from Spain.
We boarded the train for Zaragoza in the early
morning and had a terrific scenic view of the
Mediterranean portion of the trip. It was interesting
to see the climate changes as we traveled from the
more cool and humid climate of Toulouse to the
hot dry climate of the Mediterranean. We ate
cheese and bread with water for lunch that we
purchased from a local grocery. We had a train
switch from the border of France and Spain...then
a bit longer layover and change of trains at
Barcelona. Lots of palm trees there ...very
beautiful.
Finding our connection at Barcelona was a bit
tricky. We saw our train on the board, but they
didn't post the track number until less than 15
minutes before we were scheduled to depart. At
the Barcelona station they had the highest security
we had seen on the entire trip. Maybe because of
the bombings in London they had screening
machines just like at an airport. Once we got
through security we boarded a train, one of those
high speed ones, and for most of the journey we
were going 200 plus kilometers per hour. We got
to Zaragoza at around midnight, took a cab to our
hotel and crashed for the night.
08 July 05
We slept late, and then got up to do laundry. Then
we took off for the churches I wanted to see. The
first was a small church, Iglesia de San Pablo. It
had a smaller organ. Next we went to Cathedral de
Pilar. It had a huge organ at the back of the
church. The console was at ground level with the
pipes above. The choir loft was also on the
ground level in a sort of terrace surrounding a
LARGE wooden podium with several steps to getup
to. After that we went to Cathedral de Seo. This
was an enormous church with a large organ
situated in the middle of the “worship area.” This
organ was actually two organs situated back to
back. Evidently both organs could be accesses by
the one console. Both of these were huge with the
trumpet pipes sticking straight out. Adam says it
looks like a fighter ship from a cartoon.... massive.
The church also had a tapestry museum upstairs
so we visited it as well. We saw paintings statues
and huge Renaissance that was amazingly ornate.
We also saw ancient papa robes that had jewels
decorating them. Of course, no photos were
in 1469 by Joan Ximenez Garces
built in the 1600s, reconstructed in
the 1800's by Juan Antonio Turull