WALKING IN “BELEN DE AMERICA” – Huelva, Andalusia: between Rio Tinto and Odiel, looking for a New World

At Mazagon, Spain – a resort on the sea which is 18 km southeast of Huelva – you find a particular hotel, the “Parador Nacional Cristobal Colon”. Perhaps you wonder why that name, in this place that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Walking through the streets of this modern city in Andalusia, between Rio Tinto and the Odiel you will find colorful houses, adorned with tiles and the memory of a distant time, when the land around the city of great historical and artistic importance, had a special name: “Belén de América”. Huelva keeps good memory of its historical past, because a Roman castle (with four medieval towers), along with an Arab aqueduct and the Shrine of Nuestra Senora de la Cinta, were the same that Cristobal Colon had seen, before his Oceanic journey, watching the lagoon and the estuary of the Odiel. http://www.parador.es/en/paradores/parador-de-mazagon

Moving southward, you will need to travel 32 km, along the estuary of the Rio Tinto, before arriving in Palos de la Frontera, where among the pine trees on a hill of the estuary, you can view the same Franciscan monastery where in the year 1486 Cristobal Colon he found hospitality and help. Go to that convent, and you will find a special museum, one dedicated to the extraordinary journey that five centuries ago has changed the geography of the world.http://www.spain.info/en/informacion-practica/oficinas-turismo-embajadas/oficina-turismo/huelva/oficina_de_turismo_de_matalascanas.html

From here August 3, 1492 Cristobal Colon went to the discovery of the New World, doing back here on March 15, 1493. Also here, a few years later – in 1528 – he landed Ferdinand Cortez, after the conquest of Mexico. The ancient port is now silted up, but the church of San Jorge is still there. Come in and see the transept and apse, under its three naves. You can get up to the main altar, where you will see an alabaster statue. Nuestra Senora de los Milagros, venerated by a man who was looking for the way to China, but wrongly, has discovered a New World. http://www.spain.info/en/que-quieres/ciudades-pueblos/otros-destinos/palos_de_la_frontera.html