I think that title must be true. Whether it is a holiday place, meeting a partner, wedding, birth of a child, a sporting occasion, personal success, the death of a loved one or celebrity, etc. I bet most of us remember where we were when Princess Diana was killed, or President Kennedy (for those old enough). I suspect we all remember these events in our lives and remember the special places where they occurred. For a lot of us there will probably be a spiritual feeling about those places as well.
The church in Dolores Spain is one of those places for myself. In 2008 my father died and we visited this church for the first time just after the funeral, with my mother. This place is understandably one of those special places for me. Whether my experience and emotion makes a difference to my view of this lovely church is open to debate. I think I’ve hinted on my blog entries before that personal feelings have a lot to do with what makes a place ‘holy’, so this for me does emphasise that point. However it is all the same a lovely place.
This church, or to give it its full title The Church of Out Lady of Sorrows, is typical of this area of Spain. White exterior walls, Red and blue roof tiles, round blue tiled dome and white interior walls with elaborate statues and gold high altar. It is set at the centre of the town, in the main square at the heart of the community, is so obviously well looked after and more than once whilst we have been visiting there over the years there has been someone tending the flowers or dusting, showing love and devotion for this place of worship. I have even stood outside during Holy Week and witnessed the Semana Santa procession of barefoot women carrying the statue depicting the Samaritan woman at the well on ‘pilgrimage around the town, but all that aside, it is the feel of the place as you walk in and around that makes it, for me, special.
Holy Places - a journey of discovery 