Walking the Camino de Santiago
Pilgrim reports from the Camino.
It is the eleventh hour of our twenty-hour Atlanta layover. We spent much of it getting our Madrid boarding passes, getting to a hotel, and sleeping. Before that, however, and before our flight, our Camino began with one of those crazy bits of rhyme the Lord seems to love throwing our way. We took a Lyft to Sea-Tac airport. Pedro […]
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Give me my scallop shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope’s true gage, And thus I’ll take my pilgrimage. (from “The Passionate Man’s Pilgrimage”, attributed to Sir Walter Raleigh)
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Just after the Noon Mass at our parish of Holy Rosary, Deacon Jim Fish bestowed the traditional Pilgrims’ Blessing on Francine and I – not to mention our “rucksacks”, “staves”, and shell and rosary. The blessing itself is ancient. In its current form it appears the Missal of Vich Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain, dated to AD 1078. We’re extremely grateful to […]
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Next to our lunch spot and across the street from the Iglesia de Santa María, Francine poses with a fellow pilgrim. I swear I saw this guy sitting here on my first Camino, too… Date: 16 April 2016 Place: Villalcázar de Sirga (Castilla y León, Spain) Today’s Map:
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The Camino turns into pleasant a tree-lined lane, and in the distance we see San Antón. This was once a great monastery and pilgrim hostal. Though it is now a ruin – and we’ll have some rather more spectacular photos of it in the coming days – in recent years a new albergue has been built among the ruins. Sadly, […]
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In every city, town, and village along the Camino, you will find restaurants, cafés, and bars that serve a “Menú Peregrino” (pilgrim menu). Usually, this is a three-course meal featuring a starch, an improbably large amount of meat, a small dessert, and a half-bottle of local wine, all for about €8 to €12. So here we have Burger King trying […]
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This is the main street of old Logroño. It has apparently seen a lot of improvement and refurbishment over the past few years. The street is lined with historical building after historical building. Perhaps I’ll post a few in the coming days – bodegas, grand old houses, religious sites, police barracks, even an old town hall. Date: 07 April 2016 […]
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Praise God in His angels and in His saints! At about 3:00 PM on the Memorial of Saint Athanasius, the second of May 2016, we arrived at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. On the way in we met Anita, who escorted the three of us – Francine, Rebecca, and myself – to the cathedral Plaza. Afterwards, secured beds […]
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Galicia has been uncharacteristically cool and sunny, enabling us to do some fairly decent long-distance days. Oh, the forests of Galicia! So beautiful, and so otherworldly. As we came down from crossing our third mountain range, the clouds poured into the valleys below us like the sea lapping on the shore. Stories and poems have tumbled through my head […]
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Only 17.5 km today, but the last 8 km included a rough, rocky climb of almost 700 m as we left El Bierzo behind and entered our fourth Spanish kingdom: Galicia. We left early and had our second breakfast in Vega de Valcarce. By the time we stopped for a drink at a funky albergue/bar in La Faba called “El […]
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