San Pedro Regalado

The statue of San Pedro Regalado, in the Plaza de El Salvador

Sunday 13th May was the feast of San Pedro Regalado, the patron saint of Valladolid. He lived from 1390-1456, and was famous in this area for founding (with Brother Pedro de Villacreces) several Franciscan Monasteries of strict observance, devoted to the care of the poor and the sick, eventually he came to be put in charge of these convents of strict observance.  Other interesting facts about him are that he is the patron saint of bullfighters, and that as an incredibly holy priest, he was consulted far and wide by the highest and lowest of society, and even became known for bilocation.

Because of this, the whole city was transformed for their patron saints day, a huge festival, lasting 6 days, and the Monday was a bank holiday (ie Spain was closed, even more than usual!)

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First Impressions of Valladolid

My first impression of Valladolid was that not only was it a lot hotter than the UK, that is was quite a traditional Castillan city, with a long history, and appeared, very Spanish, very Catholic to me.
When we arrvied, everything was closed for the afternoon for the Siesta! Then rather suddenly everything opened on the dot at 5pm, with music and dancing in the streets.
We successfully found a restaurant to eat in called “Le Herbe” – the food was far nicer than it’s odd name luckily! – and has a lovely evening watching all the crazy goings on: there were music bands and parties in the street, and hundreds of people trailing past us all the time, walking the streets. Little did we know Valladolid would continue to be crazy for the rest of the trip!

Immediately outside our Hotel, called Hotel Roma, was a view of the lovely church of Santiago Apostol, lovely inside and out, and which appeared to be part of one of the many Caminos in northern Spain, as across the city was a trail of brass clam shells embedded in the floor, like this one:

Visiting Valladolid

Location of Valladolid

For my first holiday in a little while, we* will be visiting the City of Valladolid in the North of Spain, approx 1.5hrs NW of Madrid.

What does Valladolid hold in store for us?

Firstly, TWO CATHEDRALS await, a cause of great excitement for an avid fan of anything old and religious like me. Valladolid is an archdicoese in it’s own right, and I found it most amusing to find that there are over 20 churches offering daily Mass (Laborables) and still more offering Sunday Mass (Domingos).

According the the Spanish Tourism site (which doesn’t really do it justice!), the Cathedral (the XXX one) is Renaissance, 16th Century, and designed by Juan de Herrera, however, I am sure a few pictures will do more than any words here!
 

*Otherwise known as self and my long suffering boyfriend who will be with me.