The day began well. Breakfast, with orange juice and ample coffee. The landlord had put on a DVD showing the sights of Avila, and it was a lovely morning for sightseeing, sunny but cool. We walked over the bridge, along the wall, and through the old town, and found our way to the cathedral, arriving just before 10 when it opened. Being among the first visitors, we found it a quiet and peaceful place, unlike Toledo the previous Saturday afternoon. I prayed my way round the cloisters, and then got lost in the museum and had to ask for the way out back into the cathedral.
Then to the tourist office for a better map, and along the wall to the church at St Teresa’s birthplace. A side aisle leads to a room with the bed she was born in. We discovered that there would be a Pilgrim Mass at 13:00, and went back to the cathedral plaza to look for souvenirs. I found a fridge magnet with the words of Teresa’s prayer Nada te turbe, so that I can sing the Taizé chant without lapsing into Swedish, and a small icon of Teresa, and Gordon bought the DVD we had seen at breakfast.
On the way back for the mass, we visited an interpretation centre with displays about mysticism. Although everything was in Spanish apart from an introductory guidebook at the front desk, there were striking visual images, and it was fun working out what they meant: a large, rough net; a tree hanging upside down, with bare branches on the lowest floor and ribbons with the names of mystical philosophers one floor up. We never did find the roots of the tree.
We joined the queue waiting to enter the church for the mass. Someone was singing (probably recorded) a different setting of Nada te turbe until the priests entered, and we were given prayer cards for a prayer to be said together after communion. It was wonderful to be part of a large worshipping community.
Then lunch outside a hotel on the city wall. The Menu del Dia was only available Monday to Friday, so we shared Gordon’s choice, a salad with goat cheese and quince dressing, and mine, white beans and pork. Then Gordon went back to the hotel, and I visited the Basilica of St Vincent
then Teresa’s two convents, the Incarnation and San José, when they opened for the afternoon at 16:00.
They were both outside the old city, and I hurried back to meet Gordon at the place where Teresa and a little brother were retrieved by their uncle when, as small children, they ran away to fight the Moors. This is close to our hotel, where we returned before seeking a supermarket for our journeys tomorrow and a restaurant for more tapas. Then a final Teresian evening prayer, and packing.
Gordon left for the bus station at 7 this morning. I shall go to the 11:00 mass at the cathedral, and have booked an afternoon train to Madrid and checked in to my flight to Santiago.
emeritablog: life after work 