I went to the tourist office where I found out that I had to call the cathedral (Catedral de Santa Maria) to arrange a visit there. I called and was told that the only open space was on a tour leaving right away. This meant I had to rush from one end of the almond to the other. I arrived five minutes late (I missed some of the digital reproduction video), but was able to join the group as they entered the cathedral. This was a really interesting cathedral because it's under restoration. Since 1994, the cathedral, which was built in the 12th Century, has been closed. The construction team began restoring the cathedral in 2000 when they built a series of metal walkways and staircases through the structure. This allows tourists to visit the space and watch the men at work (I was there on a Friday). It was cool to see the process and hear about the difficulties. They try to use authentic materials, but in some cases have had to rely on more modern technologies. For instance, it take too long for lime and sand to set, so they had to use concrete instead.
After touring the cathedral, I wandered around the old part of the city, stopping into a culture center. I saw a small exhibit of university-level student work, which was unimpressive.
I left the almond and passed the Basque Parliament House while on the way to a park. The park led me to a wide street where the center was pedestrianized. It was both tree- and mansion-lined. The old houses were unlike most I had seen in Spain. These were clearly more European in style than the large houses in Cordoba and Granada.
While walking back toward the center, I stumbled upon a health-food store which stocked the gluten-free pretzels I like. These were easy to find in the Balkans, but have been nearly impossible to find here in Spain where pretzels are not a typical snack food. I was really excited to come across them. Then I stopped at a grocery store for some dinner.
Saturday morning I set off to walk around the almond, but wound up going to an Archeology Museum instead. I don't usually like archeology museums, but this one was intriguing because the building was opened in March. The structure was made of glass and steel. The three galleries were connected by a glass staircase. The galleries had dark-paneled walls and dark floors. They were lit primarily by five white fabric rectangular prisms containing vertical florescent bulbs. These prisms, which were mostly trapezoidal, went from floor to ceiling, except on the first floor where three hung suspended above the floor. To light cases and specific pieces, sensors turned on small, recessed lights. I wasn't too interested in the exhibition in this part of the museum.
I realized that the museum actually had two parts. The other was housed in an old palace across the courtyard from this new building. It contained an exhibit on the history of playing cards. Apparently Spanish cards are made in a factory near Vitoria. The exhibit showed how cards used to be made (the actual presses used), as well as old cards from Spain and the rest of the world. The Japanese and Indian cards were among the most interesting. As were some British cards with proverbs on them (you had to match the words from the proverbs to form groups of cards). Additionally, there was a room on tarot cards which included some Kabalah cards from Barcelona. These combined Hebrew and Spanish, for example, la rueda de la fortuna (the wheel of fortune) was the letter resh; el diablo (the devil) was nun; la luz (the light) was bet; and la fuerza (the force) was kaf. [I know my brother and grandmother would have loved this exhibit.]
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