Madrid, Spain: Almudena Cathedral

Actual date of this event: 16 May

As always, I have too many pictures, so this just had to be a single post!

For a long long time, Luke and I would bypass visiting churches. Sure we would stop and snap a few pictures from the outside, but we kept seeing the same interior over and over, so we stopped going in. While in Madrid, we knew there wasn't a whole lot to see, so we decided to stop into Almudena Cathedral. Perhaps it was a little too hot for our liking that day, and perhaps the sun was causing Debbie's-ghostly skin to boil and frying more hair off of Luke's head... a indoor stop somewhere was in order. Let me tell y'all, this church was gorgeous! And sooooo different than any other church I had seen.

From the outside, it was like any other church we see. But stepping inside was like Disney World - a very happy place. Really. I felt happier inside! (The parents are probably thinking we need to move to Madrid that way we will actually go to church! Sangria and tapas? Okay! Oh, is that not the purpose?) Anyway, the interior was crisp and clean and so amazingly colorful! It was like the Burano of churches.

The most amazing part was the stained glass. The sun actually shined through and actually made color on things inside. I had never seen that before! Maybe I have visited too many places where the sun barely makes an appearance, but this was amazing. I could have stared at it for hours! (Again, the parents are probably thinking the priest should begin mass at some point during those hours while I'm in there.)

Have you ever seen stained glass shine like that? It's magical!

RANDOM FACT:
Almudena Cathedral (complete name: Santa María la Real de La Almudena) is a new church. It was consecrated in 1993, but construction began in 1883.