A little bit more about Bilbao

Hello, everyone.

We stayed a couple of days in Bilbao, just to rest and recuperate a little, and since there have already been some posts about the city, this will be brief.

En route from Larrabetzu, a kind lady invited me to borrow her restroom. This was entirely unexpected, but very gratefully received. She was a true Camino Angel for me. After that, feeling somewhat unsettled, we took the train into the city.

 This is a baptistry, the place in the church where people are baptized into the faith. The Easter candle is there, convenient for use during the rite. (I think I remember this as being in the Church of St. Nicholas.) There is a sculpture of the First Luminous Mystery of the Rosary, Jesus being baptized in the river Jordan by His cousin St. John, in the niche behind the basin.

This is a very, very old tabernacle. It may be of white stone with bronze doors, but the people of that time beautified it with carvings.

This was my first time to eat the very traditional Spanish breakfast food called Pan con Tomate: toasted bread with fresh tomato (chopped or shredded) and olive oil. It was wonderful!

When we left Bilbao, we rode the metro over to Portugalete and began walking there.

Recap of Camino del Norte, First of a series

Hello, everyone.

As we are recovered from our long walk, and long plane rides home, it is time to begin the recap of the journey.

We landed in San Sebastian on the 16th of May, caught the bus into the center of town, and found a place to stay. (The Oficina del Turismo is very helpful here.) Then we strolled around the city a bit and visited the Museo San Telmo, in an ancient former church, and the church of San Vicente, which is still an active church. 

The museum was a little bit of the city attic, but as often happens even with the tiniest museum, there were things to be learned. There was a neat display of medieval hats recreated on plastic heads, for one thing.

 One thing I noticed about all these medieval hats is that they cover the ears and many of them have a way to wrap the neck and face. Perhaps these were local area hats and adapted to the chilly weather of the northern coast of Spain? We were certainly chilly.

And for my SIL's enjoyment, we photographed the city's merry-go-round. It wasn't operating, but it was certainly pretty! It is right on the waterfront, so the riders will have a view of the sea as well as of their friends waving at them as they spin past.

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.

A photo from our last day of walking on this year's pilgrimage

Hello, everyone.

Things have been busy around here--not in an interesting way, just busy--and there just hasn't been much time for the blog this week.

This photo was taken, after DH injured his leg, at the parish church in Deba:

The only thing that was done to this photo was to use the color correction thingie in Photoshop...the medieval carvings are all inside the narthex (covered entryway) of the church and there is just a whole lot of color left on the stone.

I think you're supposed to read it from the bottom up: bottom row, from the left, the Annunciation with an angel, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation in the Temple (these four are all part of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary) and at the right the homage of the Wise Men. Middle row, from the right, the Dormition of Mary (when she died, or "fell asleep" in the term of St. Paul in his epistles) and apparently the whole rest of the row is about the Assumption of Mary, with the heavenly court as witnesses (?) The top is the Coronation of Mary, with the Holy Trinity represented (Jesus and the Father on thrones and the Dove of the Holy Spirit placing the crown) and accompanying angels. These last two are part of the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.

The figures next to the flat portion appear to be the heavenly orchestra with instruments. Outward from that, a floral row (the red part) and some other figures that I don't know.

We noticed that it was really neat when we saw it, but the distraction of the injury kept us from seeing just how neat it is until we looked back at pictures later. I have noticed that a lot of the Camino pictures have more in them than we realized when we took them--one benefit of using them for computer screen background!

Returning to our first day of walking in Spain

Hello, everyone.

The last post left off at lunchtime. One would think that lunchtime was only half or maybe three-quarters of a walk day. But if the pilgrim doesn't elect to stay the night at Pasajes/San Juan--some do, and after the difficulty of the first half, it's probably far from a bad idea--the route carries on into San Sebastian. (Sorry, the Basque name of the city escapes from me at the moment. Anybody who knows and wants to put it into the comments, feel free.)

There are a couple of marked ways out of the little port town of Pasajes-San Juan. At least, that's what the guide books say. One is said to be easier (meaning less steep) and the other is said to be scenic.

We followed our noses and didn't look around to find the easier way--even though we'd talked about not wanting to climb the very steep stairs to the lighthouse, that was what we ended up doing. There are some pictures we took, early on, on the stairs. Later on there were more decrepit steps, some with rebar poles to steady the risers...and some of the steadied risers and even treads had disappeared over time. This is not a staircase to run up!

Before the stairs began: the water is so clear, the rocks are so neat!

Near the bottom of the endless stairsteps

You can almost tell here that the size of the treads and risers varies. It varies more later on. At the very top of the steps, there was a picnic table. I'm not ashamed to say that we lay down on the benches to rest a minute before continuing on.








There were some really pretty views. There was a bit of paved road, and then the trail went off pavement and continued on along the sides of the hills.

Looking down at San Sebastian, just before the trail began its steep descent into the city

Art in Pamplona

Hello, everyone.

From 2014, La Pieta.

This three-dimensional painting/sculpture is at the Museo de Navarra, in Pamplona. It is well worth your time to visit. Among the many exhibited items are many works of devotional art that have been collected from outlying parish churches. Having walked through many tiny villages, I don't know whether the works were conserved because of existing building issues (roof, etc.) or because the parishes were consolidated and couldn't maintain as many chapels as they now had, or some other reason.

One of the beauties of going at walking-speed is the opportunity to see the many different ways that a given theme has been treated by various artists. There are loads of, for example, Pieta depictions in Spain. Most look to me like they are medieval in period. It's not the same portrayal as the Renaissance sculpure by Michelangelo, by a long shot--but each portrayal of the theme has something to share with us.

A refreshing bit of memories: Montes de Oca

Hello, everyone.

Yesterday was very busy, with a large party for many children, and the pleasure of working with wonderful ladies! Today I find myself needing to rest a little--rest mentally, that is, with memories of one of our 2014 Camino days.

We departed from the parish albergue in Villambistia at our usual crack-of-dawn time. We walked along seeing the dew on the flowers and watching the cloudless sky change colors. The trail wasn't a completely abandoned place, but we weren't in a huge clump of people, like you may have seen in various Camino movies (like The Way when characters depart from St. Jean.) By the time you get as far as the area of Tosantos and Villambistia everyone is thinned out and less crowded. We got to Villafranca (one of the many Villafrancas, but I can't remember which one just now) about 9:30 and had coffee.

Then we started walking over the range of hills called Montes de Oca. According to the wonderful guidebook The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook (This book is highly recommended--get it on Kindle, read it before you go and refer to it as needed on the way.) the Montes de Oca had at one point been a nest of bandits. It's not at all flat, and there's loads of cover, and when there was only horse travel, feet travel, and slow clumsy wagon travel it was probably perfect for the robbers to hide in. These days there is a marked trail which connects to some dirt roads that were put in to service windmills. There are no services between the last village before this and San Juan de Orbigo.

A waymark on the side of the road

This looks remote, but in the distance there is another little group of pilgrims.

The bridge at the bottom of the ravine. This bit is steep, both going down and coming up. Note arrows painted on bridge.

Just for pretty!

Another pretty flower

At the end of this forested bit, you come to the old monastery of San Juan. San Juan is one of the Engineer Saints of the Camino. He had been a disciple of Santo Domingo de Calzada. After Santo Domingo (another Engineer Saint) died, he came to this place and made a monastery. Santo Domingo and San Juan were responsible for getting roads and bridges built that would never have been there at all back in the middle ages. The monastery is currently being restored. We saw the casket where the saint's remains rest and the church. The monastery was listed as an albergue in various guide books, but it was too early to stop so we ate bocadillo at the little cafe and took pictures of the church and headed on down the road.

The monastery of San Juan de Orbigo

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.)

Returning to the Santiago route

Hello, everyone.

The day we rode the bus to Tomar was a feria day: a holiday. (I asked, it was something to do with celebrating communities. I guess.) Probably explains why the organizers had picked it for a big youth shindig in Fatima.

More relevant to us, however, was that the feria bus schedule to Tomar was only 2 departures. We left on the early one and got to Tomar around 9 in the morning. The sidewalks were still rolled up!

Morning in Tomar. Templar castle on hill behind the square.

In July, they have a bread festival. Young women walk around with these 15 Kg. headdresses!

Baldachin of the Templars' church (honorary structure over altar)

Ceiling frescoes in the aisle around the altar of the Templars' church

View of baldachin with surrounding frescoes

The arrow loops are crosses.

An angel. St. Michael? This predates the Reni painting that has become the standard for St. Michael Archangel statues.

View of one of the staircases in the castle courtyard. The stairs are a spiral.

A building in Tomar. Pretty tiles!

The day we spend in Tomar was hot, as they had been, but the weather broke that night. In the morning it was delightful and cool.

Lisbon sights

Hello, everyone.

While we were recuperating from the flight over, we saw interesting things in Lisbon.

There was the Castello de Sao Joao, dedicated to St. John the Baptist who is extremely popular in Portugal.

You have to climb a lot of steps and slopes to get up there, but the view is great.

The staircase alone was over 100 steps. And then there were sloping lanes! Clearly this castle had an excellent view of the surrounding countryside when it was built.

There were some archeological investigations inside the complex, too. A prehistoric Celtic village and a historical era compound occupied by Muslim administrators (who had stayed over from the previous regime, I think) were excavated and labeled for the visitor to see.

Just imagine doing this stair in a hurry, with armor on!