Rest day in Mérida

Hello, everyone. 

We scheduled a rest day in Mérida because there are a number of things to take in. We therefore didn't stay in the pilgrim albergue in the town. Albergues typically limit a pilgrim's stay to one night. We will always figure out a place that accepts  a two night stay if it's a rest day.

As I mentioned yesterday,  we hit  Mérida during the festival. There have been people in Roman-like costumes everywhere. The city had gone all-in on this, apparently for a number of years. School groups trekked across town in Roman-style dress with little banners to the Amphitheater (an actual Roman place) and watched presentations and cheered that they're the sons of Augusta Emerita. Which they actually are. There have been bands of "Roman soldiers" marching around the town, dressed in Roman legion-like costumes. Every toddler, almost, has a tunic and either a draped shawl (for girls) or a sword or shield and maybe greves (for boys) and they're all having a wonderful time.

Today we visited the Amphitheater,  where we saw part of the elementary school stuff, then we wandered over into the arena, then over to the shrine basilica of St. Eurlalia de Boveda (of the arch) which was lovely, and the nice man there had a sello for my pilgrim credencial. Then we wandered some more, found a grocery store and picked up some hand sani (great for cleaning a blister too) and sunscreen and cheese slices and local wine. With all this loot we went back to the hotel to eat at midday and rest during the siesta. 

Tomorrow we head out again for a long day, probably, and it's possible I will be too tired to post after arriving. 

You don't see a costumed plastic pig very often. 

The explanation of where St. Eulalia is buried.

The actual spot of her tomb.

The temple of Diana, fixed up for the Fiesta.

Walked into Mérida

Hello, everyone.  

Today, after yesterday's 27 km walk into Torremejia, we had a shorter 15.5 km walk into Merida. The sun was out at sun up and the sky remained clear all the way until almost 4 pm...when we were heading out of our hotel to the laundromat. While we washed clothes, it rained vigorously and slacked off just as we got the laundry folded. It's very obvious that the local area was having a dry spell, so I suspect that they're happy to see the moisture.

Merida is having a Roman fest this week. Lots of folks in all ages have dressed up as sorta-Romans and gone down to the tents and palisade by the Alcazaba to view the re-enacting and explaining of such things as Roman colognes, weaving, Roman weddings, and so on. Mostly explaining, but they all had copious amounts of visual aids to show. There were tents inside the (temporary) palisade set up as they might have been. 

Other Roman soldier kit items.

There were even some costumed fellows inside the Alcazaba with more tents and an eagle on a stick.

The Alcazaba was very interesting. A military site here actually goes back quite a way before the Moorish conquest. The Moors rebuilt the site with blocks taken from the former city wall, some of them ended up with carvings from their former use still visible.

We're going to have a rest day here to build up our energy after 9 or 10 days of walking.

Israel pilgrimage, tenth in series

Hello, everyone.

On this day, the fourth (?) day of visiting, we were in the area of Jerusalem. We began by walking from the road to the Ottoman walls, which were installed centuries after Jerusalem had become a Christian pilgrimage site, and which enclose not the ancient city of Jerusalem in Jesus' time--that had been destroyed in the Roman sack of Jerusalem--but the later built-up area around sites relating to Jesus' crucifixion. The "old city" is, therefore, actually the less-old city!

The Ottoman walls are in surprisingly good shape for their age. Of course nobody has taken a mind to tear them down since they were built.

Another reminder of how everything is close together. Our first stop was Dormition Abbey, the Church of the Dormition of Mary.

An aside here: Mary, being protected by Jesus from original sin when she was conceived--remember that God is outside of time here!--is taught not to have died in the regular fashion. This teaching is because death is the fruit of original sin. She did, however, "fall asleep" when her days on earth were completed. This falling asleep, the Dormition of Mary, is remembered by our Orthodox brethren as a separate feast from the Assumption of Mary.

 Above the memorial statue (below) is a mosaic meditation on women of the Scriptures. Here are two: Judith with the head of Holofernes and Ruth holding wheat sheaf from the threshing floor.

Below the mosaics, the statue of Mary.

After visiting this place, we walked through the gate of the old walls to the Church of the Last Supper, which is not the site but a nearby place that could be acquired for a shrine to be built, and the Room of the Last Supper, which is administered as a historical site by the Israeli government.

 I'm not entirely sure if this altar is in Dormition Abbey or in the Church of the Last Supper. At the time, I knew, but now the memory is a little confused.

The room of the Last Supper, which was openly venerated for centuries after Constantine made Christianity legal in the Roman empire, was included in the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem. The Muslims decided to make a mosque of the site. At the left, the mihrab which indicates for them the direction of Mecca so they can kneel in the proper direction for their prayers. The alcove on the far side, I think, was where the imam stood to preach. When the Israeli government came into authority over the area, they commenced to administrate the site as a historical place. None of the various changes made over the centuries were disturbed. The guides point out what was added by the Persian or Arab or Ottoman governments and what was original.

For lunch, we walked into the Muslim Quarter, past a Turkish shop or two, crossed the road a couple of times, turned into an alley, and came to a nice restaurant. After the mezze course--the appetizer plates that are spread out on the table first--the restaurant served a lovely chicken and saffron rice dish. At the end of the meal, they gave us Arab coffee. Cardamom is ground in with the beans and so the finished, thick coffee has a nice spicy flavor. Like with espresso, the coffee is good but you want to be careful not to drink the residue that forms in the bottom of the little cup.

Matosinhos and the Boardwalk

Hello, everyone.

Passing along from Porto, where we stayed for two nights, and picking up with the walk, we rode the bus to Matosinhos. (Reading the destinations on the glowing light board while hearing them read aloud by the automated announcer was always a trip. There was no correspondence that we could see between the letters appearing and the sounds heard. Though the pilgrims who already had French language skills did a lot better than we did at following what they heard!)

We got to watch a ship go under the moving bridge at the port. 

One of the many beaches--they were all coves like this one, separated by rocks and little peninsulas.

This is the boardwalk that we walked for most of the day on. The cool breeze from the Atlantic operated like an air conditioner, taking much of the heat out of the bright sunlight.

Some of the boardwalk was still in process. (Note the path alongside.)

Ancient salt works, either Roman or older.

This was the day we saw a McDonald's. That was all we did, though, because it was around 9 in the morning and the sign clearly said that the McDonald's would be open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.! No coffee, breakfast, and facility for you, traveler! Fortunately, even though they open somewhat late, there are a lot of coffee shops along the Atlantic coast.

Stations of the Cross

Hello, everyone.

In my last post, I showed some sculptures of the Stations of the Cross at Mission San Luis Rey. It occurs to me that some of my readers may be wondering what in the misty hills are Stations of the Cross.

The Stations grew out of another ancient Catholic Christian custom, the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. (Pilgrims to Jerusalem and the Holy Land became known as “palmeros” for the souvenir palms they picked up.)  While the pilgrims were in Jerusalem, especially if it was Holy Week,  devout pilgrims would walk the path of Jesus’ route to the Cross and His death. They would stop and pray at various points along the way.

Over time, the set of stopping points became a list of fourteen events that ends with Christ’s death on the Cross at Golgotha. And, over time, the custom became well-known. As the Church had declared that there were great spiritual benefits from accompanying Christ in spirit during His Passion, it became apparent that only people with the wherewithal and time to go to the Holy Land and travel about could do this. Beginning (I think) with the Franciscans, the people began going in heart to the Holy Land and accompanying Christ on his walk to the Cross in their own churches. Since this is a spiritual journey to begin with, crossing time back to the first century AD, crossing space as well as time doesn’t matter.  

Catholic churches almost always have a set of Stations for the faithful to spiritually follow Christ to Golgotha. There are a number of published books of meditations for a person to use, as well, such as the ones by St. Alphonsus of Liguria. These days one can not only get them on a Kindle, one can go to either indoor ones or outdoor ones in various places.

From Rome, Jesus is taken down from the Cross

From Mission San Luis Rey, Simon is conscripted to help Jesus carry His cross

From Pamplona, Spain, another view of Simon's conscription to help Jesus carry the Cross

From Madrid, Jesus is nailed to the Cross

From St. Paul's in Mission, Texas, some of the Stations. Left, Jesus is crucified, showing also the Blessed Virgin and St. John and one other figure at the foot of the Cross.

As you can see, over the centuries, different artists have approached the depictions differently. In future, as opportunity comes, I will collect more pictures of the Stations (in various settings) to share with you all.