La Laguna to O Cebreiro, then Triacastela

Hello, everyone. We left La Laguna in the freshness (not to say "chill" at that altitude) of early morning. It's about a 5 kilometer (3 miles) walk to O Cebreiro. This mountain  top church was blessed with an Eucharistic miracle, some centuries back, when a layman's faith, and grace, scolded a disbelieving priest. The layman's, who was known in the area for his devotion, struggled through a horrid snowstorm and cold to make Mass. The priest asked why he would go through all this effort for, as the priest at that moment believed, a bit of bread and some wine. The host and the liquid in the chalice were promptly transformed into a more-obvious version of themselves, meat and blood. (For my non-Catholic readers, this is what the Church teaches about the Eucharist.) 

When we had passed through O Cebreiro in 2014, we forgot to visit the church to get a sello. This time we remembered. 

We also saw the tomb of Father Elias, the man who did so much or revive interest in and knowledge of the Camino de Santiago. This is the one who started painting the yellow arrows along the trails.

The is the only modern grave I have seen in a church. (Father Elias died a few years ago.) All of us pilgrims owe him a great debt.

After visiting O Cebreiro, we walked to Triacastela.  As this post is long, I will stop here.

Camino memories

Hello, everyone.  Today a little remembrance of our visit to Me Gusta Comer in the village of Rionegro del Puente.

This is the beautiful card the chef gave each pilgrim at the end of our meal. He wrote the date out in Roman numerals. (Of course this means that it really is still important for our children to learn this system of notation!) 

This was the table setting when we sat down. 

DH, who misses the Camino Trails already, decided to make a little touch of Rionegro del Puente for our dinner.

I can see Me Gusta Comer in my mind's eye just looking at this.

One more Madrid meal

Hello,  everyone. 

We strolled out after dinner this evening and washed up on the shore of the place with the lovely tapas the other day. (Next door to the McDonalds)

They had a daily special that wasn't on the menu: merluza, grilled, with salad and mixed cooked vegetables.  (Potato, green peppers and red peppers.) There was a "dressing kit" consisting of a little cup of wine vinegar, a  larger cup of olive oil, and a packet of salt. I sprinkled all of the vegetables with the vinegar, sprinkled everything on the plate with the olive oil and salt. Oh, by the way, bread service was on the table but it wasn't included with the meal. Unlike in Portugal, they charge for the whole basket.

 In Portugal, they only charge you for the bread that you eat,  and they do count the untouched rolls left in the basket while writing the tab. These guys, and some other parts of Spain we have been in on this pilgrimage just charge for the "bread service" whether you eat it or not. Tacky! I chalk it up to another of the unfortunate hangovers from the lockdowns a couple of years back; the hospitality industry just about died altogether and parts did die. (We had a lot of One Meal A Day days on our Salvador and Primitivo walk in 2021.) So the survivors look at things differently. 

Almost forgot to take a picture!

I wasn't in love with the...it looks like a drizzle of balsamic vinegar scattered over the plate. But that's just me. The merluza is the fish steak.

Things happen sometimes

Hello, everyone. 

In the last couple of days it has become clear that this is not the year that we complete the Camino from Seville to Santiago. A few days back, we started from Mérida, heading north as always. We hit the only two possible intermediate stopping points before noon. The more viable one, Aljucen, according to the books, was pretty much a dead zone at just before noon. We didn't see the albergue,  nor did any bar/restaurant/Cafe look like it was open. As it wasn't 12 yet, we just headed on. This was a mistake; the remaining 19 km were a solid stretch of no rest stops, only a few trees and rocks, and very little shade. When we got to the next place, Alcuescar, and found the monastery, we had racked up 39 km for the day. Oops. 

We stayed at the monastery overnight, enjoying a communal meal that involved pasta salad, hot dogs, cold tomato soup, and rennet pudding. (Thanks to the hospitalero and fellow travelers who put that together!) Then we crawled into bed. 

The next morning,  my leg was bothering me, but we were in the back end of nowhere so I just soldiered on.

Found an open bar for coffee, there was an albergue there but my brains hadn't caught up from the previous day, so we continued on to Valdesalor, for a day total of 26 km.

The next day it was obvious that no walking would happen. We took the local bus the 10 km into Cáceres, found a place, and settled in gor a couple of nights to see if the leg would settle down. It didn't. We have decided to accept reality and suspend our Camino for this year.

After a cup of cafe con Leche at Aldea del Cano, we saw the cutest young horse.

Raciones, table-sized tapas dishes. Cured meats and fried cod. Yum!

Low-tech heating pad. No electricity required! 

We are going to cut the trip short and do some determined resting and healing. God willing, we will return to this Camino.

After the long walk

Hello,  everyone. 

The day after our very long walk was less long. Not great, but less long. Today, in need of rest, we took the bus to Caceres, our next town. 

This is a thematic sculpture about the historic sites in Caceres.

The weather is getting warmer. 

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.

Villafranca de Los Barros sights

Hello, everyone. 

We had a pleasant stroll around Villafrance and toured the Ethnographic Museum on the square. (It doesn't open until 7 pm after siedta.) They had a fascinating set of exhibits on prehistoric remnants in Extremadura. They also had several antique sewing machines, some hand-crank and some treadle models. They should really get new belts for the ones that have none.

A prehistoric tomb that was found near Almendralejo. (Diorama)

Embroidery worked by hand on a frame, by a lady of Villafranca de Los Barros. There was a short video, too, with an actress talking about needlework. She talked very well, but was clearly unfamiliar with a hand needle and floss. ;-)

The museum also had a fascinating exibit--probably temporary--of Lego Lord of the Rings dioramas.

The Battle of Helm's Deep, rendered in Legos and displayed on  flat surface. There were many dioramas, including the Black Gates of Mordor and the Ents going to war.

Today we walked 27 km to Torremejia. The weather was clear with a light cool breeze the whole day, very comfortable for walking.

Zafra, and then on to Villafranca de Los Barros

Hello, everyone. 

Yesterday we were tired and went to bed without making a post. We had walked to Zafra, and walked around looking at things, and after supper we just crawled into bed.

One of the beautiful chapel Altar pieces in Nuestra Sonora de la Candelaria in Zafra.

We stayed at the albergue in the former Franciscan convent. The hospitalera was very friendly and helpful with directions to things in the city.

Today we left the albergue at about 7 in the morning and headed on down the road through Los Santos de Maimona, passed about a half million of grape vines, olive trees, and almond trees, and arrived at Villafranca dexlos Barrose around 1:30 pm. En route we both saw a hoopoe sitting on a fence;as soon as he saw me reaching for my camera he took off.

Tapita we were served along with our manzanilla (chamomile tea) and soda.The pork sausage bits were very tasty! 

Fuente de Cantos

Hello, everyone.  

Today we took a wrong turn and walked about 5cextra kilometers. It happened when we crossed the line between Monasterio and Fuente de Cantos. There were large flocks of arrows, most pointing to the right along a road. There were also these spiffy granite cubes that had arrows and a graphic sculpture of the Arch of Caparra and their arrows pointed straight ahead into a pasture. Whoops.

In the end we found ourselves walking along a (newly asphalted) road for about 9 kilometers into Fuente de Cantos, our stop for the night. Strava tallied our walk as about 26 km, about 5 extra kilometers,  and we learned from locals that if we had followed the spray painted yellow arrows we would have had only the scheduled 21 km to do, and skipped that last hot stretch. 

Apparently the powers that be have been investing in marking a new, different walk that is said to stick more to the old Roman road, but adds mileage and also has some really long stages.

One of the granite cubes of the new version of the walk. It was explained to us that the new version is Via de la Plata, and the old version remains Camino de Santiago. 

Today, while we saw a lot of cattle and sheep--actually, cows and some calves and sheep--we didn't see pigs. We also left behind the beautiful Dehesa that reminds us so much of the Texas Hill Country.

Staying at a shared apartment in the beautiful Zaguan de la Plata in downtown Fuente de Cantos. 

Monasterio, and a little more about yesterday

Hello, everyone. 

Yesterday it was impossible to post from my phone as the wifi at our sleeping place was not working. 

We walked up to the restored medieval castle, viewed the town of El Real de la Jara, washed a lot of clothes by hand at the patio of our sleeping place, ate and went to bed.

Today we headed out at 0715 en route to Monasterio.

The famous pigs of the Dehesa, running to (maybe) their breakfast. There must have been more than 50 of them.

Complejo Leo, Spain's answer to Buc-cees! Excellent coffee, 2 restroom areas in the self-serve cafeteria, also anything a Spanish person might want for breakfast. Y'all should have seen all of the buses pulling in. There is also a 3 star hotel and a more formal restaurant. 

It rained off and on from when we left there until we reached Monasterio. We're staying in the municipal albergue Las Moreras tonight.

Reverted to "classic Blogger" and now photos work

Hello, everyone.

I tried again with the new Blogger setup. The photo upload was still not working. How these people managed to tangle up photo upload with google docs is beyond me. Maybe they should try proofreading their work.

I reverted the blog to the older format, which worked.

Now I can upload the photo of the two new Camino walking guides. They contain maps, suggestions for lodgings, brief descriptions of towns and areas of the path.

In this case, the path is the Camino Frances, which is the second-oldest of routes taken by pilgrims that begin roughly near the western Pyrenees. We walked it in 2014, going over the high route in the Pyrenees, called the Route Napoleon. (Blog posts from 2014 discuss this walk.) We would like to return to it and walk the lower route through the Pyrenees, called the Valcarlos route.

The very oldest Camino route to Santiago is the Primitivo, first taken as  royal progress/pilgrimage by the court of one of the Kings Pelayo when the relics were first rediscovered. It began in Oviedo, where his court was, and took a mountainous route to Santiago. We have not walked this route, but would like to in the future.

The oldest route from the Pyrenees (at least I think it is the oldest!) would be the Camino del Norte, which runs along the edge of the ocean. The villages are in little fjords and the path goes up and down a lot. Steeply up and down! (We walked this in 2017 and 2018, and blog posts from that time period discuss it.) The older routing connects to the French route at Arzua, and that is the way we walked.

I am not sure of the age of the Camino Portugues--interested readers can chime in their advice in the comments--but it used to run from Porto north to Santiago. Lately quite a number of people have been starting out in Lisbon. Like the Spanish routes, there are various walking options that allow one to either go inland or along the sea. We walked this in 2015, and blog posts from that time period discuss it.

Another old route is the Via de la Plata, the way of the platted road. (These days everyone remembers that "plata" means silver in Spanish and some call it the Silver Road.) This one is longer. We hope to walk it in the future.

As y'all can see, the go-slow retreat/pilgrimage on foot becomes an addiction. Also I have been privileged to visit Our Lady of Covadonga, the cathedral at Oviedo, and many other edifying churches.

It is not too much to say that I long for the days when we can walk the Camino again.

A wonderful mail delivery

Hello, everyone.

A couple of days ago we had a wonderful mail delivery: (Blogger refuses to allow me to upload the photo!)

Sadly I cannot show you the picture of the two new (current-year) Camino Frances guides. Blogger is messed up and will not let me upload a photo. It keeps hanging up in google docs...which is not where the picture is!

You know, the old Blogger worked fine most of the time. It never gave me problems with uploading photos. It never gave me problems with putting links in the posts either. And I didn't have to interpret strange symbols to begin composing a new post. 

It's ridiculous!

We got our new guide books for the Camino. These were new ones because the last time we walked the Camino Frances was 2014. (And with the China plague this spring, we had to postpone our Via de la Plata walk that would have begun right after Easter.) We decided to see if we could do a slightly shorter one later on, when Spain is again ready for visitors. We ordered the new Camino Frances guide books from Ivar Revke's shop in Santiago de Compostela. (Ivar is the proprietor of the wonderful, informative Camino Forum, which is linked in the sidebar.) 

We ordered two different books because, as with finding a new recipe, it's always good to read more than one and compare them. 

Perhaps in a few days Blogger will be working better and allow photo upload. I certainly hope so!

In Santiago, third day

Hello, everyone.
After tending to the Compostela paperwork on Wednesday afternoon--there was a line but it moved right along--and tons of educational stuff yesterday, today we got down to the whole reason for the pilgrimage. We visited the tomb of the Apostle and went to Mass. Your blogger also got into the line for the traditional embrace of the Apostle's bust, and spent some precious moments in the Capilla del Sanctissimo, adoring and giving thanks. (Not even thought of in various guide books, but highly recommended.)
While in line to embrace the bust, a longer line than to reverence the Apostle's remains, your blogger happened to notice glass windows in the elaborate structure of the altar. One appears to show the top of the tomb chamber. Unfortunately the line was moving just a little too fast to use the tablet for a photo, so that picture is not in this post.
Instead, a picture of the cross above the Holy Door, which is shaped just like the Cross of Victory from Covadonga. The cross on the roof of the Cathedral above the tomb is also this same, distinctive shape.

The circle framing the cross is additional. The Alpha and Omega symbols hanging from the arms, however, are part of the original.

The Cathedral has Masses running at frequent times, in an assortment of common pilgrims' languages. We went to the English language Mass. It came just after the Italian and possibly the French. (With all those side chapels they can do that.) I saw a sign advising pilgrims of a German Mass in the evenings, too.
There are a number of confessionals along the side walls, too. They are all of the enclosed seat for the priest, open kneeler for the penitent variety. Often the priest has a sign posted giving the languages he is able to hear penitents' confessions in.
It is said that arriving in Santiago is not the end of the Camino, but the beginning of the rest of the Camino, which the pilgrim enters when departing for home. Certainly the pilgrim who looks at himself will find he has growth to continue.
Ultreia.

In Santiago, 2nd day

Hello, everyone.
Today, one of our planned rest days, we put walking shoes back on our feet and went discovering things.
We visited the church and museum of the Benedictinas, San Paio Antealtares, on the Rua Sacra. The church was using a tabernacle veil--a cloth in the seasonal color that covers the Tabernacle. There were a number of Benedictine saints depicted in paintings in their museum.
We went to the Cathedral Museum, something we had never done before. It is in parts, and the ticket gets you into various things. (Pilgrims who have their credencial get a discount.)
We went to the train station. Yes, it still has about a hundred and ten steps to get down to the actual station level.
Then we walked over to Sta. Maria de Saa, the parish church of the city. This is one of the parts included in the Cathedral Museum ticket. They close at 2 pm for siesta but we saw a number of interesting things there.

These buttresses were added to counteract the soggy soil in the area, which is near the river

The altar of the church. There is a remnant of medieval painting on the dome above the altar.

And for the capstone, we took the rooftop tour of the Cathedral roof. This was very interesting. Also quite athletic as there were many, many steps to ascend and descend.
Instead of eating formal dinner we ate tapas at Abaste (sp?) which is adjacent to the mercado of Santiago. We shared some really wonderful food there, a "ceviche" which was really a Spanish version of sea bass sashimi, and grilled octopus. These tapas filled us up and we called it a day.

In Santiago!

Hello, everyone.
Yesterday we crossed paths with a "gran colegio", a student group. Today we were intermittently in the midst of the about 100 Italian teenagers. They were going as a group, walking the last 100 km, with their bags transported and snacks provided. Before we all say, "must be the life," I think we should remember that this multiday walk covering about 62 miles is probably the longest walk the kids have ever had. All the same, one of the girls alternated between spinning her hiking pole like it should be a baton and trying to jump over it. Ah, youth!
We call groups like this The Childrens' Brigade. We're so used to being mostly alone and with the people walking with us going quietly as they each strive for the goal that it's hard to remember that the Camino is for everyone.
We got into Santiago today around noon.
Routes in the area of Lavacolla are not what we remember from 4 years ago. There is road construction in the area.
A little photo I want to share, the front facade of the Cathedral  here in Santiago. The big cleaning project is moving along and the difference is amazing.

Ultreia.

O Pedrouzo, also called Arca dos Pinos

Hello, everyone.
We walked about 20 km this morning and reached O Pedrouzo about 12:30 or so.
It's a lovely, warm day out, so I hung all of our socks and towels on the line when I put the rest in the dryer.
We're staying in a nice albergue on the main street here. We're even next to a grocery store. There is a decorative almost-atrium in our dorm room.

The proprietor likes to play calming music--not elevator stuff, it's a little more elevated--so I am lying on my bunk being soothed while typing. (This is a nicer place than the state run albergues.)
We were having a rest break today and watching our fellow pilgrims walk by. As it was the second to last day of walking for everyone and most of the routes have blended into one, it was a parade.
Tomorrow about 20km to Santiago.
Ultreia.

Pilgrimage 2018 is heading out

Hello everyone.

I think it was Bilbo who is supposed to have said "It's a dangerous thing to go out your door" and then reflected on how the road goes on and on.

The Camino is like that, too. It calls, and when you have answered sometimes you discover that it has built a homing beacon into your heart.

We hope to make it to Santiago's tomb this year, and to pay respects also to Our Lady of Covadonga and at Oviedo. "God willing and the creek don't rise" as they say.

Here is my personal pack load, except for the Teva sandals, hiking poles, and electronics like this device.

Wear one, pack two, as the fellow who posted his 5 kg pack video to the Camino Forum said: 2 shirts, 2 panties, 2 sock pairs (Injinji low cut lightweight) in the pack. 1 bra in the pack. 1 fleece pullover, 1 windbreaker, 1 pair of shorts--wearing the zip off pants, 1 Icebreaker merino tank dress (splurge), 1 rain poncho. The merino Infinity Buff. The two packed shirts are 1 Icebreaker tank and 1 BCG tee, the shirt I am wearing is a long sleeved ripstop.
Dopp box has toothbrush, tiny powder, razor, ear swabs, toothpaste, hairbrush, a head band and a hair liga, and a small bottle of hair/body/clothes wash. Also a poly fast dry towel. Also the little mesh box with hiking pole tips.
The Fabulous Bag to put the pack in for the flight, a dry clothes bag for the shower, a mesh bag for dirty clothes or shopping, the bag for the sleeping bag liner.
Sleeping bag and liner.
If I remember them all correctly!
Ultreia!

After Rabacal, a sometimes-rainy walk

Hello, everyone.

We left Rabacal early, as usual. The day promised pleasant walking weather, but delivered a mix of that and rain. In consequence of the off-and-on rain, I lost my stuff sack for the rain poncho. User tip: don't just shove the stuff sack into your pocket. It will fall out! And you won't even know it until you try to put the poncho away. (Y'all may remember that after we returned to Texas, I made a new stuff sack for the poncho. They have to be contained somehow!)

A lovely trail side tile sign

We walk in: "Where are we?" The lady at the bar smiles and says "You are here!"

This was after some very scary road walking on the major highway. Which had no shoulder, no 2 foot wide trail in the dirt alongside, no sidewalk--and lots of trucks. It was nerve wracking. And somewhere in the mix of trucks and cars and blind curves, we missed the trail turnoff that would have led us to a path away from the traffic. As it turned out, the houses behind this little place had a connection to the Camino walking trail and we got back onto a quieter trail. (Almost twice as far, probably, but quieter.)

A small shrine in the middle of a parking lot by the road

We always talk about walking on goat tracks. Sometimes it really IS a goat track!

Coimbra is a major city, with a big highway. Fortunately there is an overpass.

I think this was the church dedicated to Santiago (Sao Tiago) in Coimbra. They had adoration going on in there...but we couldn't see any info on where/when Sunday Mass would be.

These were billed as "typical" Portuguese desserts. The one in front is a kind of stacked cookie torte. The one in back is mango custard. Note that the weather was cool enough for me to wear the fleece sweater we got in Pamplona last year!

We ate in a two-story restaurant in the old part of Coimbra, where we chatted with some airline folks that were also eating there. Nice young people, and it turned out that the lady had a relative who had done the pilgrimage years ago.

The next morning, we got lost trying to leave the city. After asking a man who was working for the buses (or maybe trains) we got aimed in the right direction and headed out across small asphalt roads and eventually across a muddy field. (The track had looked drier than it was.)

Pilgrims' Mass

Hello, everyone.

Today was the Friday evening Pilgrims' Mass. I was a little surprised to see that the priests were vested in red, but Father started out by mentioning that today, July 3, is the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. And as we know, St. Thomas was martyred. Thus the red vestments.

The priest gave an excellent sermon which tied together the Camino, pilgrimage, Christian life, and related themes. Then at almost the end of Mass Father said that the symbol of St. James's cathedral, the Botafumeiro, would fly today and spread sweet incense in honor of the Apostle (St. James) and the confraternity of strong men in red robes untied the rope. They loaded charcoal and incense into the burner and started swinging it. We were sitting in the pilgrim benches in the transept and it was quite a sight. (I admit it, my eyes watered. But I'm sentimental and it was so beautiful.)

Afterwards we went to the pilgrims' prayer meeting, where we learned new things: the Hail, Holy Queen we say at the end of the rosary was a gift of Santiago (written by the bishop at the time) to the rest of the Church. It was picked up by French pilgrims in Santiago and carried home and the spread from there.