Ita's Columbus Day Post!

Hello!

Ita here!  In honor of Columbus Day, I thought I would tell you about my visit to Christopher Columbus’ tomb in the Catedral de Sevilla, or Cathedral in Seville, if you want to use the English spelling and pronunciation.  It is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world.

Debbie and Jim decided to go visit the cathedral when we were in Seville since, according to the books, it was beautiful and because Christopher Columbus’ tomb was supposed to be inside.  Let’s face it, with a man who loves sailing as much as Jim does, you just have to go see the tomb of the man who sailed half way around the world and discovered the western world!

We went inside the cathedral, and, WOW, was it beautiful.  From 1401 to 1507, Spain built one of the world’s largest cathedrals on the site of Seville’s old main mosque.  They kept a beautiful minaret, or tower, called La Giralda from the original mosque, and incorporated it into the cathedral’s design.  You can easily climb all the way to the top of La Giralda because it was designed with a big ramp up to the top so the guards could ride their horses all the way to the top.  Once up there, they could look out over the entire countryside and make sure no one was sneaking up on them to attack.  You guys should definitely look at the pictures of the cathedral on Google.

Then we walked over to Columbus’ tomb.  It’s a huge, beautiful statue of four noblemen carrying a coffin with Columbus’ remains inside.  You probably know this, but Columbus left Spain in 1492 and after putting down a near mutiny when the sailors lost sight of land, they sailed on and finally arrived on an island in the Bahamas. 

You should find the Bahamas on a map.  Then you will know just how close Columbus came to discovering North America.  But, he missed!  Columbus then sailed on to find Cuba and Hispaniola, and then returned to Spain only 8 months after he left.  Considering the boats he was sailing, that was really fast.  Do some research for fun on Columbus’ boats.  Figure out what their names were, but even more fun, figure out how big they were, and how many people were in each ship.  Go out to the playground and chalk out how big the boats were.  Then try to imagine that many grown-up men all living together in that small space for 8 months.  Wow!

I think you all will be reading a book called “The Great Horn Spoon” this year.  It’s a really good book about a boy who sails away on a ship sort of like Columbus’.  You will really enjoy that book.  I know Jim and Debbie’s boys did when they were in 4^th grade!

That’s all for now!  I’ll write again next week!

Read a Book!

Ita