Se Velha -- the Old Cathedral

If I had told my younger self that I'd be staying in an apartment just a half block from a cathedral built in the late 11th through mid-12th century, I would have said I'm living a charmed life.  Well, I guess I am living a charmed life, because we did.

It was our final stop on our walking tour with Nadia.  The location had been a sixth century Visigoth holy spot (not Christian).  Moors tore it down and built a mosque in the 8th century.  In 1064, Christians conquered Coimbra, tore down the mosque, and built the cathedral. 

It looks like a fortress from the outside, primarily because it does double duty as a church and a defensive fort of last resort.  Romanesque in its design, it has crenellations along the roof, because they didn't know when the Moors would try and make an epic comeback.  If it happened, would be called the Re-reconquista? (Editor: Now you are just making up words.  Writer: Fact check?  True!).

Okay, so not as ornate as a lot of

religious buildings in Portugal,

but, c'mon people, it was 

consecrated in 1184!

Not sure if this is an original

part of the church, but if it

is not, it's still pretty darn old.

Nadia pointed out the mason's marks on the stone blocks of the side of the church.  You got paid by the number of stones you carved (this work was too important to be left to slaves -- they did the manual labor, not the skilled).  She then pointed out some Arabic writing, which likely means that the conquered Moors (who survived) worked within the largely Christian population. 

The interior had many old tiles (16th century) imported from our MFSCITW: Sevilla, Spain.  Faithful readers of the blog know that MFSCITW stands for My Favorite Small City In The World.  Unfaithful readers of the blog just learned that now.  

As a sidebar, the original MFSCITW for me was York, which held the championship belt from 1984-1989, when Perth, Australia took the crown away.  But, after a 12 year reign, Seville took the title in 2001, and has held onto it for 20 years.  It's likely Seville will hold retire as champs (can't happen until I die or stop traveling, which hopefully will occur at the same time).  Anyhow, dear readers, would love YOUR emails with your own MFSCITW so I have new places to add to an ever growing list of trips to make.

(Editor's Note: Now you are writing about your own death.  That'll boost readership!  Writer: All of my advertisers want me to boost my readership!  Editor: You don't sell any advertising.  Writer: Hmmm, no wonder I go to my mailbox every month and come up empty on the ad commission checks!)

I'm back after that diversion.  Anyhow, there are cherubs, three altars (one Gothic, one Renaissance, and one "I don't remember" style).  The cloister is the oldest Gothic cloister in Portugal.

Tiles from Sevilla

Cherubs from the Renaissance

Double eagle

Gothic cloister

Afterwards, we invited Marta to join us for lunch.  We ate outside just below the Cathedral at a place that was maybe twenty yards up the road from our apartment.  It really made us appreciate the location of our VRBO. (I still call it V-R-B-O despite company rebranding itself as Ver-BO).