Walking the Camino de Santiago
I took a lot of photos at the Grañón Albergue because in my head it is the absolute epitome of what a small albergue should be: intimate, eclectic, homey, and well-loved. This particular photo sums up the feeling of the place. There were guitars and ukeleles, and so of course song broke out! The pilgrims are playing and singing a […]
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This is the exterior of the Parroquial San Juan Bautista in Grañón – both the parish church and the village’s albergue. We slept in the steeple of the church, which is larger on the inside than it is on the outside, as it somehow fits two large sleeping chambers and a kitchen. There is also a beautiful common room with […]
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The actual entrance to the town on the Camino is somewhat uninspiring. Truth be told, it’s a bit depressing with crumbled buildings and trash and bits of discarded concrete pipe. But you go up a set of stairs and just a few streets in, and it looks like this, so huzzah! Grañón is a solid little town with a good […]
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Camino graffiti is by turns inspiring or enigmatic or just plain silly. Wherever on that spectrum you think this particular one sits, however, it has special meaning for me. Partially this is related to the admonition of a priest when I was in high school exhorting me to “seek Truth” – which I proceeded to do for twenty years before […]
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In the distance, you can see our objective for the day, the town of Grañón. To the right over the berm is the N-120. Seated at the crossroads is an exhausted young pilgrim from Germany. He and his father were walking the Camino together, but just a day or two after this photo, his father became injured and they had […]
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You might think this is a painting or a model, but no. This is the actual bridge that the Camino takes over the N-120. Amazing, no? Thereafter, the path (more of a dirt road, really) parallels the highway for quite some time. Date: 09 April 2016 Place: Between Santo Domingo de la Calzada and Grañón (La Rioja, Spain) Maps!
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This monument is roughly halfway between Santo Domingo de la Calzada and Grañón. It commemorates a hand-to-hand fight between the champions of these two towns in medieval times. They were to determine which town had the right to graze their animals on the surrounding disputed field. For their champion, the people of Santo Domingo chose a professional fighter, paying him […]
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The humble saint, Santo Domingo de la Calzada is so-called because be built a calzada – a causeway – over the Río Oja in the year 1044. Well, this is the spot. It’s a much newer bridge, of course, dating to 1917, but this is the spot where the saint built the first one. Well, more or less. The channel […]
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Honestly, I could easily spend a couple of days in Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Indeed, last time, I stayed here for the night. This time, however, it’s mid-day, and there are kilometers to go before we sleep. We decide to push on to Grañón, which is only another couple of hours, and find beds there. Date: 09 April 2016 […]
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Given the long and storied history of Santo Domingo de la Calzada and chickens, I don’t think that this photo needs much in the way of explanation. Date: 09 April 2016 Place: Santo Domingo de la Calzada (La Rioja, Spain)
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