Walking the Camino de Santiago
The church of Santa María de Eunate is a wonder, no mistake. Leaving aside a moment its octagonal floorplan, one is struck by the surrounding colonnade of pillars and arches. These have no roof and seemingly no purpose at all. Those who have studied this church say they were almost certainly repurposed from an earlier cloister. Unfortunately for the theory, […]
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The church of Santa María de Eunate is basically in the middle of farmland. Other than the church itself, there’s only one other building on the site. I understand that this building, now a retreat center, was once an albergue. It’s too bad that it wasn’t still, because we certainly would have stayed here. This first glance immediately reveals something […]
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You can see these kinds of door plates and knockers all over Navarra, a testament to the Catholic faith that runs deep through this land. Many, like this one, are old and worn as the countryside these villages inhabit. They speak to tradition and permanence. Others, however, still have their crisp edges and shine – a reminder that the faith […]
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Arriving in the village of Muruzábal, we are confronted with a plethora of signs, including one pointing to the Ermita de Eunate. Several people had recommended to us to take this detour. It’s 2km out of the way, though the road back meets up with the Camino at the village of Obanos further along the Way. It’s 4:30 now, and […]
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Probably an appropriate subject, as we’ve been five days since the last photo! The Camino, like every other part of life, can throw you a curveball. Sometimes, you look up from walking to discover an unexpected challenge in your path. Best this is to just get on with walking. There had been a blizzard a few weeks back, and the […]
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After Uterga, the Camino heads back out into the rolling agricultural hills of Navarra. It was about four in the afternoon, with intermittent rain and wind gusts. We were beat from our climb of the Alto del Perdón earlier, which I recorded in my journal as “probably the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done”. And yet, we were now […]
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At 3:30 in the afternoon, we finally stopped for some sustenance. Here you see a good cross-section of our ever-expanding Camino family: Eamon, Charlie, Cliff, Kristof behind him, Ali, and Petra. According to the sign outside, we’re 697km from Santiago. It’s cold and rainy, and I’m drinking café con leche. Date: 04 April 2013 Place: Uterga (Navarra, Spain) Map!
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We saw several homes for sale in Uterga. They tended to be run down and probably simply abandoned due to the flight to the cities that happened over the last generation. Here, however, is a lovely little home on the Calle Major that exudes all of the homey charm of Navarran village life. I mean, I’d live there! Date: 04 […]
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Here Eamon points out where we are on a map of the Ruta Del Vino de Navarra – the Wine Route through Navarra, just in case the Camino wasn’t enough. The two routes intersect in Uterga, so you could interrupt your Camino for a week or two with this! Date: 04 April 2013 Place: Uterga (Navarra, Spain) Map!
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Our Camino family make it at last to the next village, Uterga. From left to right we have: Cliff from Massachusetts, Ali from the French Alps, Petra from Bavaria, and Charlie from the U.K. Quite the international group! And where is Eamon from New Zealand? I suspect his quick pace has carried him ahead of the rest of us! Date: […]
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