[Gocamino] Fwd: Rosina on Zaragoza

[David Hough on gocamino]

Sorry about the misformatting:

 Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 14:48:03 -0400
From: blaroli at aol.com
Subject: Zaragoza


Hello you all,
The City of Zaragoza is the capital of the province and is quite large (800,000 or so inhabitants). It possesses an enormous history of Roman times and=20=
is full of Roman ruins and statues of Augustus.  It is also a City of Mary and Santiago.
You may remember that it is beleived that when Saint James was going through=
 Zaragoza on his way back to Palestine, returning from his failed apostolic=20=
attempts in Galicia, totally  defeated, wounded,  and absolutely discouraged, the Virgin Mary appeared to him atop a Roman column (Pilar) and revived his spirits and apostolic resolve.  The appearance was momentous not only because it was the first time that the Virgin appeared to anyone, but it happened while she was still alive.
Spain, like Italy, is a very Marian (devoted to Mary) country, and, I think,=
 outside of Seville Zaragoza is the most Marian of Spanish cities.  There ar=
e churches dedicated to Santiago and, or, Mary everywhere, and they are some=
thing else.  The Pilar Cathedral is not to be believed.  It is huge, it has=20=
four towers (all different) and three =C2=A8chapel-naves=C2=A8, each of whic=
h could be a large church on its own. There are statues and paintings of San=
tiago everywhere inside the church..... including the most beautiful one tha=
t I have ever seen. Among the others, there is Santiago faintly smiling, or=20=
crying, or pensive, and in a huge Marble =C2=A8retable (altar-piece), he is=20=
shown quite angry..... truly the son of Thunder.  The particular nave-chapel=
 dedicated to the Virgin width a latticed round cupula above, looks like it=20=
is made of the finest silk..... yet it is all marble.
In the middle of the church there is what=C2=B4s left  of the old pillar; it=
 is completely covered except for an oval space, of about 12 inches, where t=
he faithful can touch  and kiss it..... and they stand in long lines to do s=
o, more so since Pope John Paul II prayed by it and kissed it, reportedly wi=
th tears in his eyes.
The Pope was extremely devoted to Mary (as I am); if you were among the bill=
ions who watched his funeral you may remember that his simple pine coffin ha=
d no adornment, except for an M at the bottom, for Mary.
The Pope lost his mother when he was a child; I lost mine as an infant .It s=
eems that those of us who grew motherless have an intense affection for Mary=
 that might appear somewhat excessive to others.
But even I was awed by the adornments at the Pilar church, and around it.  (=
I saw a wedding there: the beautiful bride had a fan, which she used constan=
tly, and her own mother as bridesmaid!)
There is a square alongside the church which is a combination of Obradoiro a=
nd Piazza San Marco. It has some outside eating cafes along one of its sides=
 and a huge open square with, (yup!) an artificial waterfall at one end! At=20=
the other end there is a lovely all white marble smaller church which is a j=
ewel in and by itself.
Those of you who are Catholic and more comfortable with the devotion to Mary=
 may want to hear my private feelings about the Virgin of Pilar church and i=
ts surroundings (they are positive). Let me know.
As to other things:  I am not a food-oriented person, but strictly a =C2=A8f=
ood is fuel=C2=A8one. But in Valencia I heard a heck of a lot of grumbling,=20=
everywhere, from visitors about the badness of the food.  It seemed to be a=20=
ubiquitous commentary on the part of the zillions of Italian and French visi=
tors there.
Zaragoza, however, appears to be the Vienna of Spain (you=C2=B4ve heard it said that those who love good food don=C2=B4t have to die to go to heaven, that all they need to do is go to Vienna); well, visitors in Zaragoza couldnt stop talking about how good the food is there.  There certainly seemed to be quite a good-looking variety of it, and one couldn=C2=B4t but be very conscious of the smiling faces of so many happy eaters.
Lastly:..... surprise, surprise, the Euro is up and the dollar is down.  The=
 economy in Spain is super-booming.
It is expected that the Euro will be up to $1.50 US Dlls. by year=C2=B4s end=