Santo Domingo de la Calzada

This morning was a nice slow one. A little sleep in, some nutella toast, a sit on the couch. What luxuries!!! I really do love love love experiences (e.g. travel) that make you remember just how much joy and comfort the little things can bring. I'm a homebody at heart, but sometimes I lean into those comforts a bit too hard and neglect other interests. Too much of anything ain't good, but when you haven't had them for awhile, a little taste of those creature comforts sure is nice!

I also had the chance for a phone call with Eva, who's worth her weight in gold. Again, nothing like being away from your life to be reminded of all the things within it that bring you joy. It might just be a 'getting older' thing, or another of the lessons that's come to me over the difficult last 12 months or so, but it's started to reach me on a whole new level just how absolutely crucial and central human connections/relationships are. I know, I'm a genius, what an idiotic thing to say. But I spent a lot of my life trapped in a hyper-independent bubble, enjoying my relationships with others, but not quite recognising how truly precious they were. I sure do now. It's a lesson I'm glad to have learned. I treasure my family, my friends, and I love being a teacher and working with people, forming relationships everyday. I never thought I'd be a person who felt dependent on social interaction, but hey I guess I'm getting soft in my old age 🙂‍↕️

Anyway, enough with the journal entry, the POINT of this post is to share with you the lovely historical sights of Santo Domingo. This morning, after my laze around, I rolled out the door of my apartment to the jaw dropping cathedral and bell tower, practically 50m away.

The first, the cathedral, was a wonderful mix of amusing old art and stunning old architecture. This cathedral also has a famous story that associates it with chickens... In honour of this, you will notice they keep two live chickens, in the cathedral, in a cage, in the ceiling... I didn't know they were there until the rooster crowed. I'll tell you, with church acoustics, that got my attention. In a 'jump out of your skin, what the fuck was that' type way.

The bell tower was particularly cool. 18th century, spiral staircase, original stone steps, no one else there, I mean, come on, I primarily read historical high fantasy, I LOVE a stone tower. I went right on opening, so had it all to myself, and yes, I did pretend to be Fitz walking up the tower to Chade's chambers. That's a reference to Robin Hobb's great work, the Farseer Trilogy, don't worry about it.

- BrannaRead more