The REAL Cathedral De Santa Maria 💒 (Still in Caceres…)

As we came out of the “Nativities Around The World” place, Dave spotted (just around the corner) the REAL Cathedral De Santa Maria (so we had just been round some random church 💒 😂 but I’m SO pleased we did 😊 – and maybe (shhhh) I might have even enjoyed it more than the Cathedral…)

So we THEN paid us €5 (including an excellent audio guide 🎧) & explored the REAL Cathedral De Santa Maria which is actually known as the Co-Cathedral Church of Santa Maria.

{It is the most important church in the city as it was granted the category of Co-cathedral in 1957, sharing episcopal headquarters with the Cathedral of Coria, some 67km north of Caceres.}.  

As ever – see piccies below of the phenomenal mahogany altar backdrop (which I’ve just found out is called a reredos) and which took 4 years to carve – in the 16th century – and which is dedicated to The Assumption of the Virgin Mary depicting scenes from her life…

I also particularly liked the painting of the Virgin showing compassion to the souls in Purgatory… (as I know I’ll be there for a long time one day…)

We then wandered into the Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo.  When we asked if we could buy tickets (as this WASN’T free) an attractive looking Spanish couple announced that we’d missed the last tour, it was ages until the next tour and it was only in Spanish 🇪🇸 so we left…