Bones
December 2
Day 52
Faro, Portugal
Hello Dear Reader,
This trip has been great! Our brains are so stretched that we are sleeping very well at night. And some afternoons!
But not this day.
This day we learned that you can’t rent a car in Portugal and return it in Spain.
So Tony rented another car in Seville and we drove there together to pick it up.
Tony is a great driver. He has had Emergency Vehicle Operations Training. I am the navigator. I raised multiple children. That is my training.
As you may have deduced, Reader, I had to drive one of the cars back through Seville and the roundabouts and a freeway to Faro airport to return the Portuguese vehicle.
Tony was a champ finding a place to rent him a car without an Internationl drivers license, and places to pull over and re route in Seville as our GPS failed us a few times.
The whole ordeal took us about 5 hours.
But…landed us in Faro, which you may remember, houses the Bone Chapel!
Yes. It’s off of this spectacularly wood carved, decorated Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo church.
When we walked in, the host at the door knew we weren’t just there to pray. We paid our Euros and entered the Igreja.
I did have some prayers to say, so took care of that.
Then on to the Bone Chapel.
This was built from the bones of 1000 or so monks buried in the cemetery.
Above the door it says,
“Stop here and consider, that you will reach this state too.”
Really, who woke up and thought, “Hey! I know where we can get the materials to build that chapel! And for free!”
The best part is that there’s a daycare playground right outside that door. The sounds of the kids running and laughing was a fantastic backdrop.
I honestly think there are the ‘bones’ of a SitCom here.😆
It was a great way to end the long day!
2 Responses
Holy cow! Or… um… monks. Holy monks- that is what I meant.
OMG! That's just wrong! But you look so vibrantly alive in those colors against that wall of deadness. I don't need to worry about ending up like that someday. I will be decomposed are roasted before I let somebody hang me on a wall. That really is the thing to ponder isn't it, the planning meeting! Hilarious!