Córdoba is very historic

Hello, everyone. Our visit to Córdoba fell in the hot season, and this year we were able to readjust to Texas temperatures during our few days here.

We visited the Cathedral, the Alcazar which had been a royal palace, the Botanical Garden, the Archeological Museum, and various parks and eating places. We also were able to attend Mass at San Juan y los todos Santos, a beautiful Baroque church near where we stayed. 

A quick snapshot after Mass was over at San Juan parish church 

View of street trees (jacarandas) from the train station 

This impressive thistle, with its little buggy visitors, is a relative of artichoke, Cardo, which is grown for its stems. That bumblebee was really big!

People in Córdoba are really into potted plants as outdoor wall ornaments. These are geraniums (pelargoniums type) and someone comes around to keep them watered, so they're very nice.

The tower at the Alcazar. It has a good view of the royal gardens and the whole area. We went up there and the stairs are a real workout.

Arzua to Pedrouzo and on to Santiago!

Hello, everyone.  This is another of the catch-up posts.

Arzua to Pedrouzo (O Pino) is about 20 km. We had great weather. 

Entering Pedrouzo

Pilgrims' Mass at Santa Eulalia de Arca

We stayed at Albergue Porta de Santiago,

 where we have stayed before. The laundry facilities are okay on washer, great on clotheslines. The upper bunks have ladders, of course, but these ones are much less uncomfortable to climb.

Rolling out before 7 today!

This little chapel is at the Monte de Goyo, the mountain of joy. It is said that, during the early centuries of the Santiago pilgrimage, when arriving pilgrims viewed the Cathedral in the distance from this height, they were overcome with joy to be actually arriving at their goal. From here, it's only 5 km (3 miles) to the Cathedral.

After going to the Pilgrims Reception Office and getting our Compostelas issued, we had a celebration lunch next to the Mercado. 

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.

Atapuerca to Burgos, in cold rain

Hello, everyone. We got into Burgos yesterday about noon. The walk was wet but otherwise okay. We turned off the Strava at the McDonald's at the edge of town. (We go to McDonald's if we need to use internet, and the ones in Spain have good cafe con leche, too.) Then we looked at our info on the place we had reserved the day before and thawed out a bit before going on into the main part of the city. 

Breakfast was at 0800 at an open cafeteria/bar on the way, just before the rain started. 

The first church we came to, after McDonald's.  The crucifix inside is really nice, but when I tried to add it in here Blogger turns the photo sideways. 

Today, we are having a rest day. We went to the Museo de la Evolution Humana, where the artefacts from the Atapuerca Mountains archeological discoveries are still being made. The museum is really neat, the anthropology museum we have been in. 

This nifty fellow is an atmospheric decoration near the entrance. He and his buddies (horse, rooster, wolf, maybe some others) are just fun. The exhibits about the geology and archeology are really neat. And by consolidating all of the work from the area together, over quite a collection of cave discoveries, they are able to build an exhibition about the continuum of the people and animals over the epoch.

The gift shop had a cute fabric tote with a print of the cave but I thought about carrying it for 300 miles to Santiago and left it in the shop. 

Merry Christmas!

Hello, everyone. I just realized that the Christmas season has been so busy that I hadn't posted in a while. Sorry about that!

This is our Flight Into Egypt ornament. That actually took place a good some months after the birth of Jesus, but the photo came out better than the glass Holy Family ornament.

We're expecting a traditional South Texas Christmas, enjoying the official food of the season: tamales! We shouldn't even need jackets for going to Christmas Mass as the cool air of these few days is supposed to slide on out.

I wish for all y'all a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.🎄🪅

Pilgrims' Mass at the Cathedral (edited for spelling)

Hello, everyone.  Yesterday,  after my post, we went to the 1930 Pilgrims' Mass. We should have gone into the church earlier...like a whole hour early. But we were only about 25 or 30 minutes early. So we were Standing Room Only. (Have the Cathedral people cut down on the available seating? I think I remember more seats than there are now...) I was going to put up a photo of the Altar area from the place we were standing, but the Blogger app keeps turning it sideways...

My Spanish isn't super, but Mass was still very edifying. I was so grateful to be there and to have completed our pilgrimage. 

This is kind of wonky, but we were standing under the pipes of the great organ. As y'all can see, the Botafumeiro is out of action. I saw a post on the Camino Forum that they had brought it back after the renovation but a bit of hardware fell off and it's back in the shop until they craft a new replacement piece--remember that these ancient things predate standardized parts, you can't run down to Ace Hardware to get a new 6x25 screw to put into it--and the rumor on the Camino Forum runs toward months before it flies again.

Nonetheless I was purely grateful to have completed our pilgrimage. The distance certificate says 1,007 km. (Over our two seasons of progress!)