Pilgrims on the Way

Just after crossing the Río Carrión, Eamon and I walk past the Monasterio de San Zoilo. This was once one of the largest and wealthiest Benedictine monasteries in Castilla y León, and the building itself was the “first architectural works of Cluniac Romanesque in the Iberian Peninsula“. Sadly, these days it’s a hotel. The relics of Saint Zoilus are entombed here. […]

This pillar is outside one of the many churches found in the town of Carrión de los Condes. Unfortunately, I’m not sure which one. It might the the Iglesia de Santa María del Camino. The image is striking, and I’m not exactly sure of what it’s meant to depict. If you’ve any idea, let me know! Date: 16 April 2013Place: […]

We were out the door before 7:30 on the morning of the fifteenth day of my Camino, having spent the night in the town of Carrión de los Condes on the Meseta. Here is the Plaza Piña Merino, just after sunrise. We wanted to get an early start, both because we expected the afternoon temperatures to be hot, and because […]

For reasons I can’t adequately explain, this random ram relief in Carrión de los Condes is, for me, emblematic of my entire Camino. It’s literally just stuck, by itself, on the side of a building. Where did it originally come from? Some forgotten church or monastery? And why was it placed here? Date: 15 April 2013Place: Carrión de los Condes […]

And here we have the Reason I Love Spain, #432: Christianity in the public sphere. How many places in the United States have statues of the Immaculate Conception in a town square? OK, I get that here we’re a secular culture with a constantly litigated separation of Church and State, but I find this beautiful and moving. Sometimes I think […]

This pilgrim seems to be walking in the wrong direction. He’s located in the Plaza Piña Merino, and behind him you can see the Iglesia de Santa María del Camino. This is, of course, Santiago himself welcoming us to the old center of town. He’s definitely looking pretty windswept! I took a much better photo of the statue in 2016. […]

The end of my longest Camino day – something like 33km – is finally in sight! After the eternal final 6km, Eamon and I arrive in the town of Carrión de los Condes. This place has been inhabited since at least Paleolithic times, with the Celto-Iberians, Romans, Visigoths, and Moors at various times living here. Despite the plethora of history […]

The six or so kilometers between Villalcázar de Sirga and Carrión de los Condes is a dead straight shot along a mostly empty highway, with oceans of grassy Meseta to each side. Even small differences in length of stride and pace add up quickly here, and Eamon soon pulled ahead of me and over the horizon. For about an hour, […]

In the end, we decided to push on to Carrión de los Condes. This section is dead flat, dead straight, and next to the P-980 highway the entire time. This long, lonely stretch of the Camino is the place where many pilgrims, alone with their thoughts, experience the toughest mental portion of their pilgrimage. Date: 15 April 2013Place: between Villalcázar […]

I think every pilgrim walking through Villalcáza takes this photo. I know Francine certainly did in 2016. It’s pretty clear we’re struggling in the heat – I’m wearing shorts! This statue, dedicated to longtime hospitalero Pablo Payo Pérez (1920-2003), is directly across from the Iglesia de Santa María la Blanca. It’s also right next to the café where Eamon and […]