Iglesia de los Salesianos

The text below is an exact transcription of the notice at the door of the church:  

It's considered the masterwork of architect Joan Martorell Montells (1833-1906), son of Barcelona and Antoni Gaudi's teacher.  

The church has got a Latin cross ground, with dome and heptagonal apse.  A peculiar trait to this church is that the bell tower located in front and the main entrance is through the base.  The work combines materials from different sources, architectonic language used afterward by Modernism.

The building was built as a monastery for the order "La Visitación de Santa Maria"; in 1878 the nuns moved in, but the church's construction was finished in 1885, on which date it was solemnly consecrated.  

During the events of the "tragic week" of 1909 and, specially, during July 1936 (Spanish civil war) the building suffered great damage, and the nuns abandoned the monastery.

In 1942 the monastery was again occupied when it was acquired by the institute "Maristes Brothers" who attempted (previous reconstruction and remodeling) to convert it into a school.

In 1945 was founded the parish which with time passed to the Saleses' temple, and is still there today.  

The passing of time has deteriorated the structures, which even became worse due to the fire that took place in the 80's which darkened the walls and the arches.  

From 1991 on, the interiors have been properly restored.  It's now time to tackle the consolidation and restoration of the exteriors, so this work, so important to our neighborhood, regains its old splendor.

Mijas

Mijas is a town in Málaga that sits up in the hills overlooking the Costa del Sol.  We spent a few hours wandering around the streets surrounded by houses all painted white.  From the higher points, we could see the faint outline of Africa to the south and Gibralter.

With our friends, Carlos and Natasa...they're goofballs.

Steps

Ermita de la Virgen de la Peña

A view from on top of the city.

Ermita de San Mames (Asin de Broto)

We took a hike up from the village of Asin de Broto, in the Pyrenees mountains, to a distant peak.  Edgar explained to us that, as history goes, many years ago, people were bringing a statue of Christ through the mountains and the donkey carrying the statue stopped at this point and would not go further.  The people built this small church here.  Now, the Christ statue inside is under lock and key.  The government wants to remove it to restore it because it is one of the few where Jesus' feet aren't crossed, but the people of Asin de Broto want the restoration done on the spot for fear of the government never returning the statue.  Here is a picture of it, although we were not able to enter.

The Approach from a Distance

Walking Up To It

A View From the Top

The Church in Sant Pau d'Ordal

The church in Sant Pau d'Ordal was located directly across the street from where we stayed.  When we first arrived, the bells chimed to signal the changing of the hour and the half hour.  How charming you might say.  It happened every hour of every day, and there may have been a glitch in the system because it went off twice for many of the hours.  And it wasn't even the big bell, there was some other smaller, weaker bell chiming.  The church was beautiful, we never saw it opened nor anyone coming or going.  Being a tiny town, it wouldn't surprise me if the church opened up for Sunday mass, then all of the official church business was done elsewhere.  These pictures were taken at night as the sun was just about gone.  The saddest thing, in my opinion, with the whole landscape is the addition of the street lamps everywhere, hence the orangish color that is so present when using the slow-shutter speed.

Candles at Montserrat

Montserrat is a beautiful place to photograph as well as a place for many to connect to God.  It holds deep spiritual meaning for many.  There were thousands if not hundreds of thousands of candles lit out of faith holding so many prayers and pleadings.  The whole experience is awe inspiring and I would love to spend much more time wandering and exploring the mountain.

The sun was so intense that I had to abandon any hope of capturing this dark alcove with the text at the top, so I exposed for the inside and let the outside blow out.  I was surprised by how much I liked the result.