2025 Stevens Family Calendar: May

Beautiful churches

Scott and I are not religious – at all. So, it’s a bit odd to have an entire calendar section dedicated to cathedrals, chapels, churches and the like. But, let’s face it, regardless of your position on organized religion, the Church has created some spectacular architecture (often with some spicy history associated with it).

Almost every city, town or village in Europe is dominated by one or more churches. And, often these houses of worship are open to the public, many for free and some with modest admission fees.

Some are still operating as churches with active congregations and some are historic landmarks. With Europe’s interesting religious history, some have flip-flopped between being Catholic and Protestant, sometimes even serving as Mosques in the mix.

Europe is full of cathedrals, chapels and churches

In my two trips to Europe in 2024 – the United Kingdom with Caty and France with Scott – we visited quite a few magnificent churches. And, we ended up with lots of photos to consider. 

Main Page

The May page features a few of the outstanding churches we visited, starting some incredible ceilings. The upper right photo was taken at Cardiff Castle in Wales (I think it was in a church setting, but am not really certain; still, it looks churchy). This was was one of many fancy ceilings we saw throughout our trips.

The left photo is on the calendar; others of ceilings in St. David’s Cathedral in Wales
and Église Saint-Louis-en-l'Île and Saint-Germain-des-Pres in Paris are not;
Left and upper middle: Caty Stevens; Lower right: Scott Stevens

Another photo of a different ceiling in St. David’s is on the calendar page

The next photo on the main page is one of those that could have been on this page or on the February section covering castles. It shows the Dome of The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Lourdes, France, in the foreground with the Château Fort de Lourdes, the city’s castle, on a mountaintop in the background.

 

The golden crown and cross were a gift from the people of Ireland; Photo: Scott Stevens

I am going to share more pictures of the multiple churches in Lourdes a little later.

Next up is a nighttime shot of Strasbourg Cathedral, a Catholic church, in the Alsatian city of Strasbourg in France. 

We had a lot of great (and some funky wide-angle) shots of this church;
I will also share more later; Middle photos: Scott Stevens

The lower left photo on the main page is of St. David’s Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The still-active Anglican church is adjacent to the ruins of an expansive Bishop’s Palace and not too far from Pembroke Castle, which were both were featured on February’s page. This is a beautiful church well worth visiting. The photo is the viewpoint of the cathedral from a ruined window in St. David’s Bishops Palace.

The right is on the calendar; the left photo of the cathedral wasn’t used; 
Right: Caty Stevens

But the calendar page featured an even more expansive look at this
magnificent church; Photo: Caty Stevens

The middle photo on the bottom row on the main page is Mont Saint-Michel in France. This castle/town/abbey was a favorite place on our trip to France. I mean, just look at it!

The natural rock island is capped with a spectacular Abbey, which, in the past,
also did time as a prison; Photo: Scott Stevens

Finally, the lower righthand photo is the pretty white Romanesque Church of Saintes Maries de la Mer in the town of the same name. The tall church is in the middle of the sunny little Mediterranean village and is tricky to photography because of other structures in the way.

The right photo is featured; we didn’t use the left ones; Right and lower left: Scott Stevens

Here’s another that didn’t make the cut

Calendar Page

The calendar page returns to some of the churches I already mentioned and introduces a few more. I already talked about the first two squares. The third is a wide-angle shot Scott took of the entrance to Strasbourg Cathedral.

In addition to the Strasbourg photo on the left; he used the same technique on the entrance to
Église Notre-Dame d'Alidon in Oppède-le-Vieux, France; Photos: Scott Stevens

We took additional photos of Église Notre-Dame d'Alidon, a smaller chapel and a Catholic graveyard in Oppède-le-Vieux, an abandoned hillside village in Provence, that we didn’t use in the calendar.

Église Notre-Dame d'Alidon's bells and graveyard

Graveyard

Pathway to Église Notre-Dame d'Alidon

The abandoned Chapel; Photos: Scott Stevens

The next photo is also a chapel, this tiny one found in the town of Chamonix in the French Alps.

The left photo was used; the right with all the flowers wasn’t; Right: Scott Stevens

Churches have lots of details that make for increible shots, often playing with light and dark 

The calendar page features a beautiful rose stained-glass window from St. David’s,
one of many stained-glass photos we considered

We always take lots of stained-glass window photos in churches because, often,
they are they only part illuminated enough to capture

These two groups feature windows from churches and abbeys 

in both Wales and France

The next calendar shot is the pipe organ in Strasbourg's main Protestant church, Église Saint-Thomas.

The Église Saint-Thomas pipe organ is considered one of the finest in Europe

That wasn’t the only organ photo we considered for the calendar. We had quite a few pictures of these gorgeous instruments that just wouldn’t fit.

Of course, St. David’s had a beautiful pipe organ …

... in a beautiful setting (look at the ceiling, again!)

We had a wider view of the Église Saint-Thomas organ; flanked here by additional
unused photos of the beautiful church; Photos: Scott Stevens

The pipe organ in Église Saint-Louis-en-l'Île, a gold-and-white confection of a church in Paris

So hard to choose! But, back to the photos we did use ...

The next shot is the evening procession at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes;
Photo: Scott Stevens

And, finally, this is a country church in the French Alps; we used the right photo
because of the pretty lamppost; Right: Scott Stevens

More Unused Photos 

That was it for photos we did use (plus many we didn’t). But, we had so many more. 

Let’s start with leftover shots from places I already mentioned ... 

The Altar at St. David’s; Right: Caty Stevens

An ornate scepter and whimsical door at St. David’s

Gargoyles at Strasbourg Cathedral

Murals and a stained-glass window at Strasbourg Cathedral

Another window and a statue of the Virgin Mary and Jesus at Strasbourg

Strasbourg Cathedral’s astronomical clock

Lavishly painted walls and columns at Saint-Germain-des-Pres

Two of the churches I have already mentioned has lots and lots of potential calendar shots. I’ll start with Lourdes, which is actually a complex of churches, including three basilicas. The site of St. Bernadette’s visions in the 1800s, Lourdes is a pilgrimage site, with many people visiting the healing waters. 

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in daylight; Right photos: Scott Stevens

The same church at night

After dark, the mosaics and murals are illuminated

The front of the Sanctuary as priests and lay preachers lead the evening procession;
Photo: Scott Stevens

More views of the funky Jules Verne-like Dome of The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary;
Right: Scott Stevens

The plaza in front of the Sanctuary; Photo: Scott Stevens

The sanctuary’s upper towers; Right: Scott Stevens 

If you think that was a lot, hold on. Mont Saint-Michel was probably the most photographed place of our entire visit to France. The dramatic abbey rises above the medieval town.

 

There are many things to see both outside and inside the city’s walls; Photo: Scott Stevens

Most of the time you are looking up; Photo: Scott Stevens

Or climbing up; Right and right middle: Scott Stevens

The Abbey is topped by a tall spire with a statue of St. Michael on the tip

At the top; Photos: Scott Stevens

Inside the Abbey; Photos: Scott Stevens

Leaded and stained church windows

A suspended walkway and windows from the outside

 Stone columns

The mechanism that rings the bells, flanking a spire

Still looking up

Mont Saint-Michel’s Abbey and town are built into the rock; Upper left and right: Scott Stevens

Sunset

Scott and me at Mont Saint-Michel; Right: Scott Stevens 

Yep. That was a lot, but the place was gorgeous, even in nasty weather. We could do a calendar of just Mont Saint-Michel shots.

We visited another Abbey in France that didn’t make the calendar at all, despite its beauty (ironic because this was one of the churches I had actually booked admission to far in advance). Sénanque Abbey in Provence sits in the middle of lavender fields. 

Had the lavender been in bloom, the Abbey probably would have been on the main page

Here are a few shots we didn’t have room for ...

The cloister

Interior detail; Middle two photos: Scott Stevens

Sénanque Abbey

There were other churches along the way. 

Bazas Cathedral in France 

Church of Sant Joan de Caselles in Andorra

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris

When we were in Paris, we stayed about two blocks from Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, which suffered tremendous damage from a fire in 2019. We walked past the construction site many times.

We had hoped that reconstruction would be complete by our visit. Indeed, Paris had hoped to finish by the Summer Olympics two months earlier. But, it wasn’t. 

It did reopen in December, so the construction we saw was the final stages. 

That’s it for churches. Next month, we’ll be in some of the same places exploring the urban side of our travels 

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris; Photo: Scott Stevens