Day 396: Monastery of Guadalupe

Lots of driving today! Headed north of Seville, firstly on freeways and then on back roads, heading for the tiny town of Guadalupe. Arrived around 1pm where we had some lunch and a poke around the town.

The monastery here is quite large and important, and received royal patronage for hundreds of years. It's got quite an interesting story - a local shepherd found a statue of the Madonna half-buried in a riverbank in the 13th century, so a chapel was built around it. According to legend the statue had originally been placed by people fleeing the Muslim invasion further south.

Later, King Alfonso XI prayed at the statue before a key battle against the Muslims, and when he was victorious he returned and greatly expanded the chapel into a church and then a monastery. Later still, the royal document sponsoring Columbus's expedition to the New World was signed here, and Columbus himself came here in pilgrimage after returning. It's still a popular pilgrimage destination for Spaniards and Latin Americans, since worshipping the statue (known as the Black Madonna since it's made of black wood) was exported to the Americas by Spanish colonists and conquistadors.

We waited around and filmed the exterior while waiting for it to re-open after siesta, which it finally did at 3pm. Paid our money and joined a group of 50 others, mostly Spanish though at least two other confused Americans. We went through various parts of the monastery, but of course all the explanations were in Spanish and my skills are nowhere near good enough to keep up. And of course - no photos in most of it! Frustrating.

At the end we got a close up view of the black madonna, after a lengthy spiel from a local monk. Most of the group gave him some money and kissed his hand too; I just felt incredibly awkward and gave him a nod. They get money from the Spanish royal family, they don't exactly need it from me.

Back outside where it was freezing cold. Finished our filming and checked into the hotel which was only a hundred metres away - the town is basically the monastery and a couple of extra streets. Nothing to see or do otherwise, so we just sat in our room with the heater blasting and did internet stuff.

Headed downstairs to the restaurant for dinner and the 10 euro set menu. We haven't cooked much lately, though eating out in Spain is pretty cheap so we don't mind so much.Read more