Urban piety

After finishing off and printing out my sermon for Sunday, in an office busy with people preparing for the church's Autumn Fair tomorrow, I decided to walk the length of the promenade, all the way down to the bridge across the rio Fuengirola, a distance of about four kilometres. There was a small number of people sunbathing, a couple paddling, but I saw nobody swimming in the sea. The temperature of the sea makes it inviting to only the hardiest swimmers now, and today's air temperature was some degrees lower, very pleasant for walking out in the sun. And there are always plenty of walkers out here.

There's an arroyo - a dry stream bed - that marks where Los Boliches beach ends. It boasts a large statue of Our Lady clad in agreen robe and the Christ child,  above the title 'Queen of the Sea'. 

Nearby, on the bank above the arroyo, nestling next to El Presidente holiday apartment hotel is a small shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima bearing the legend 'Fatima en Los Boliches' , with a statue of the immaculata in the outside enclosed garden and within. 

It's evidently a popular place, not only with visitors but with local people. The walls and ceiling of the shrine are covered with passport sized photographs of individuals, people I imagine being prayed for.

It's an interesting application of now readily available technology as an aid to intercessory prayer. I couldn't see any little silver votive thank-offerings inside, as is traditional in many places of devotion associated with miracle cures, but there were hundreds if not thousands of photos, suggesting an intense piety which is both public and personal.

I didn't notice this the first time I walked in the vicinity. I left both my proper cameras back at the apartment so used the Sony Experia phone camera again, and was quite pleased with the result.