Walking the Camino de Santiago
This is a closeup of the shrine of Saint James (Santiago) in the church I mentioned yesterday. Note that it appears to be located in front of an altar to Saint Michael the Archangel. We will need the prayers of both in the coming days. Date: 16 April 2016 Place: Carrión de los Condes (Castilla y León, Spain)
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We stopped in the first open church – I think it was the Iglesia de Santa María del Camino – to pray and thank the Lord for arriving in Carrión de los Condes in one piece. Here you can see the main altar of the church. To the right is a side altar dedicated to Saint James. You will note […]
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As I’ve mentioned before, as a region Castilla is not nearly so Catholic as Navarra or Galicia. Nevertheless, there are plenty of places that buck the stereotype. This sign tells the tale of Carrión de los Condes: a small town with half a dozen churches and a monastery. In fact, we stopped in a couple on our way to finding […]
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We arrive at the outskirts of Carrión de los Condes. This is a pilgrim town. There are a plethora of eating, drinking, and sleeping options for weary pilgrims here. Why? It’s one of the true bottlenecks of the Camino. Most every pilgrim walking the route through Carrión stops here. The next village beyond is 17.5 km across the Meseta. In […]
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The Meseta is generally quite flat. The section between Villalcázar de Sirga and Carrión de los Condes is particularly flat and featureless. This was the section in my first Camino where I walked for over an hour without seeing another human being from horizon to horizon. The Camino was a little more crowded this time, as you can see. I […]
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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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This massive sculpture is part of the “porch” of the Iglesia de Santa María in Villalcázar de Sirga. The upper register shows Christ in majesty, surrounded by angels and the apostles. The lower register depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Christ child, surrounded by Old Testament kings and prophets. It’s possible that the two statues on the lower right […]
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This is the rather impressive entrance to the Iglesia de Santa María in Villalcázar de Sirga. We had lunch directly across the street, in a quaint, local place I’d had lunch with Eamon three years previous. I’d love to explore this church, but it hasn’t been open either time. Date: 16 April 2016 Place: Villalcázar de Sirga (Castilla y León, […]
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After some hours of walking, we approach the village of Villalcázar de Sirga and its monumental Iglesia de Santa María. The rain has been replaced for the moment by a driving wind. Fortunately, the Way was relatively flat and straight, so it was pretty much head down and forge onwards to lunch, which we absolutely planned on having in this […]
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Two important things you will notice in this photo. First, it’s raining. Still raining. Secondly, the village of Villarmentero de Campos appears a little run-down. Many of the rural villages of northern Spain we walked through have similar issues. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a depopulating as many left the villages seeking work in the cities. With the […]
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