Spain and Camino De Santiago
Visit to Spain and a “pilgrimage” along part of the “Camino De Santiago”.
Intro to June 2019 trip to Spain
Sue and I are visiting Spain partly because we have never been here but more importantly as part of a “pilgrimage” that 16 of us from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church are taking along part of the “Camino De Santiago”.
A quick explanation would be that “Camino De Santiago” is known in English as the Way of Saint James (among other names). It is a network of pilgrim ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James, the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain. Lots of questions about truth and reasons behind the pilgrim ways but these pilgrim trails have been used since about the 9th century with their hay day in the 12th and 13th centuries and is now having a resurgence in popularity both hiking/biking and for a pilgrimage experience. The route was declared UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993.
The map below is screen shot of where we will be traveling.
Madrid, 6/3/19
We are in Spain to walk part of the El Camino trail with our church group. Our first stop is Madrid for a bit of site seeing and to drink up the culture. We arrive in the morning after the usual, long flight with little sleep. Heidi Johns came over with us and is spending these few days with us until we all meet up with the rest of our group from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church for our walk on the Camino.
Madrid is a large, bustling city. When we flew in it looked like a sea of red roofs. We are staying in the central city which is full of museums, gardens, cathedrals, restaurants, shops and a palace or two. Today we walked around the old city and numerous plazas enjoying the food along the way and visiting the market place which was pretty deserted. The old town area is full of tourists. The architecture is interesting and streets are narrow and mostly windy. You need to be on the lookout for an occasional car or truck. This place is much easier to walk than it would be to drive. The café that we stopped at for lunch had no one who spoke English and we spoke little Spanish. Google translator helped us choose our lunch items and the waitress was so friendly, that it was a fun and tasty experience. We even met a couple of dogs there who seemed to understand both Spanish and English. Oh, to be as smart as the dogs! After a nap to recharge our very tired batteries we set out for Retiro Park. It is as large as Central Park with a huge lake complete with row boats, acres of grass and trees, a rose garden, a large glass Crystal Palace and another old palace that was set up as an art gallery. We found a shaded spot in the park to have pizza and adult beverages before walking back to our hotel and sinking into bed.
Madrid - Day 1
Madrid, 6/4/19
Day 2 in Madrid found us in our usual mode of lots of walking. This is a city that wakes up late and goes to bed late. Luckily, there are lots of Starbucks here so we can get breakfast. We toured Montasterio de las Descalzas Reales, a nunnery built in the mid 1400’s for blue blood nuns and is still an active home for nuns. It was beautifully ornate with detailed, carved wood, colorful frescoes and many tapestries and paintings. No pictures were allowed, so we will have to just the information in our memories. The Palace Real was extremely ornate. It reminds one of Versailles or the winter palace in St. Petersburg. One walks out with visual overload. Not only is there a Palace Real, but several other buildings with the title ‘Real’ as part of the name. We never did find out what it meant. The cathedral next to the palace has a different kind of beauty. It was finished in the last 10 years and has vibrant colors in its modern stained glass windows and it’s intricately painted ceilings.
After a day of visual overload, we decided to walk to a park to relax. It contained an ancient Egyptian temple that had hieroglyphics carved into the walls. This temple was a gift from Egypt to Spain after Spanish archeologists helped with a project to catalog and move multiple temples in the Nile River valley to protect them from being lost in flooding waters. It seemed at home sitting on a hill overlooking the hills of Madrid. Tonight we found a tapas bar sitting on one of the many plazas here (there are many, many tapas bars to choose from) and enjoyed a relaxing evening. There are many street vendors in Madrid and they entertained us and tried to sell us about anything as we sat and enjoyed the evening. Many vendors appear to be immigrants especially those hawking their wares. One surprise is the number of people who smoke. Smoking isn’t allowed in public buildings so many people stand on the sidewalk or sit in the outdoor cafes and smoke. This made it tough to find an outdoor table that wasn’t downwind from someone’s smoke.
Madrid - Day 2
Madrid, 6/5/19
We were quite fortunate today as it is the first Wednesday in the month and that is the day of the official changing of the guard at the palace. It was 30 minutes of pageantry complete with a marching band, soldiers, soldiers on horses and horse drawn wagons. The horses were beautiful creatures and the soldiers were finely dressed. At noon the cathedral bells rang which was included in the ceremony. We walked a lot today. We wanted to walk through the palace gardens. Due to the ceremony only a small part of the gardens was accessible. This part was quite formal and nice with the large park section being closes. We walk all around the edge hoping to find an open gate. No luck, but we could enjoy the seeing the park as we walked. We saw lots of people getting dressed and preparing the horses but were not aware that it was for the changing of the guards. We happened to get back to the palace just as the parade was starting. Great luck! We found the Cathedral crypt which was as ornate as the palace and cathedral. Since the folks buried here spent their lives in one of the two place, this makes sense. It was beautiful and serene.
We found a nice outdoor café for lunch and finished the day at the Basilica of San Francisco. We had to wait for the afternoon siesta time for the church to open. We decided to walk to the marketplace and discovered it was closed, too. Not only is our eating schedule getting adjusted for the culture but we need to take into account that some of the major buildings are closed for a couple of hours in the afternoon. When we got into the national Basilica it was worth the wait. It was a round building ornately painted on every square inch with scenes from the Bible. The Spaniards rival the Italians and French in their love of gold, silver, marble and other stones, and elegant painting to decorate their grand buildings be it to the glory of God or the king.
We met up with many of our fellow travelers today as we toured the city and it was great to see them all. Soon we will spend our days walking together. We moved to the hotel where our tour starts, ate a long dinner with about half the group catching up with each other and sharing our experiences so far on the journey. Tomorrow we leave for Sarria. Rain and cool weather is predicted.
Madrid - Day 3
Travel to Sarria, 6/6/2019
Our first day of travel was using 20th century transportation. We rode through dry, arid rolling hills for hours. Finally, after about 5 hours of driving, it started to pour and the landscape changed to lush, green rolling hills. The hills started getting larger and a couple of times we saw pilgrims walking on paths in the pouring rain. Will this be us tomorrow? Are the hills really this big in this part of Spain? Will it rain all day tomorrow and will it be as strong a storm as today? We will find out tomorrow. After arriving in Sarria and checking into our rooms we walked around Sarria and saw the Camino markings, ducks and geese swimming in a river and lush, green plants. This sure is different from central and southern Spain! We met with the tour leader, Elba, to hear about our week on the Camino Way and had a nice dinner together which included regional favorites of pumpkin soup, squid and octopus pasta, fish and pork and rice pudding. Some in the group went to a cloistered nunnery in Madrid before we left and bought yummy shortbread cookies that they shared with us. This walk is really going to happen. Tomorrow morning we will begin.
Day 4
Sarria to Portomarín, 6/7/19
We have a large breakfast and watch it rain outside. The rain gets weaker and stops before we start out at 8:30 am. Our goal is 14 miles to Portomarín with a 200 ft. elevation change up followed by 300 feet down. It rains lightly off and on all morning. We walk for an hour in silence to have time with God then we talk with each other and others on the Way throughout the day. Highlights included amazing vistas, learning to navigate the Camino trail by following stone markers and yellow arrows, meeting up with part of our group and finding a restaurant with yummy food in a quaint stone building part way down the trail and meeting people from all over the world. I witnessed strength and bravery in my fellow travelers especially when a strong storm blew in and we were pelted with rain and sleet, and right after the storm when we descended very steep, and wet and slippery steps to get down a steep hill to a river at the end of our walk. Physical challenges and the fact that the stones that made up the ancient path were well worn and quite slippery made navigating the steps a challenge, but folks in our group showed great love and compassion by working together to help everyone who needed help get safely down the steps. Portomarín is a town built high on a hill in the 1960’s after a dam was built that flooded the town, so it is very new looking. We were high on a hill on one side of the river and it was on the other side. The ancient steps down were a bit treacherous, but the ones going up to the small town were modern and not overly steep, just regular stairs. One of the few old buildings in town is the church that was taken apart stone block by block and rebuilt on the hill. It was good sized and quite simple. Nothing like the ornate cathedrals we saw in Madrid! I really liked it for its simplicity. Our evening practice is to meet at 7 pm to worship and discuss the day. We each shared our highs and lows for the day which was interesting and touching. There were challenges, there were times folks were uncomfortable, there were times when folks felt blessed and lots of moments of joy. This was only day one and it was quite eventful.
We found a restaurant that served simple food including yummy pizza. This was a pleasant change for our American pallets. Exhausted, sleep came easy.
Portomarín to Palas de Rei,
Today we walked from Portomarín to Palas de Rei. It was a 15-16 mile journey with a elevation change of 350 feet up followed by gentle ups and downs ultimately dropping 150 feet, so it wasn’t quite as much of a climb but was a longer walk than yesterday. Today’s weather was perfect for walking. It was about 50 degrees and quite foggy when we started. Portomarín in on a large river, so this is most likely a typical morning. It warmed to about 58 degrees with partly sunny skies. It was a very comfortable day! After breakfast we started our walk at about 8:15 and walked in silence for an hour. Dean says that he was walking for a while in an area where there were no other people. He found the silence to be quite comforting. Sue had the song “They’ll know we are Christians by our Love” rolling through her head all morning, quiet time and after. Today we walked together more than yesterday and had a very interesting day. We encountered young herons (ferrets) playing in a tree at the edge of the road. A kind Spanish man told us about the critters with the help of Google translator. Then he told us about the numerous corn cribs around the area. He couldn’t speak English and we couldn’t speak Spanish but we communicated with the help of technology! Another highlight was a blind priest that we watched crossing a country road to a small chapel, opening it with a large key and inviting anyone within earshot in. The inside was tiny, no benches and a simple alter. He talked to all who entered, and stamped our Camino passports. We are to get a minimum of two stamps per day but they recommend three. We have been getting 6-7 as we visit different coffee shops (bars in Spanish), restaurants, historical places and churches as we walk. Along the way today we stopped at an active archeological site. They have uncovered a town from the Roman era and are carefully excavating it. They have found many buildings with walls about 4 feet tall and still in tact. People lived in these homes thousands of years ago and they still exist because the homes were built of stone. Many homes, old and new, are built of stone as this is an extremely rocky area. It is so rocky that all of the cemeteries have graves built above ground, family condos full of drawers for the various family members.
This part of Spain is beautiful. Lush, green rolling hills filled with either forest or farms and , occasionally, a village. There are cruceiros, tall stone crosses, in most towns or near the local churches. Some are ornate and some are quite simple. Some have been around for over 800 years. They all stand tall.
We arrived in Palas de Rei about 4 pm, walked around the town, visited the church, had our evening discussion and devotions and then had a nice dinner at a local restaurant. The food is good, with generous proportions and it is a great way to get to know your fellow travelers better. It has been a long day and tomorrow will begin early.
Palas de Rei to Melide, 6/9/19
Today will be a light day. We are walking 15 km, only 9 miles. We start our walk through Palas de Rei. We are to walk in silence for an hour, but we spend the first 20 minutes surrounded by people as we walk through town. Did everyone decide to start on the Way at the same time this morning? Lots of noise and little peace. There was a sign in town that tried to relate the chemical table to music and physics to our emotions. Interesting. After walking to the edge of town we started to enjoy the Galacian countryside. We have passed so many vegetable gardens over the last few days. Lettuce, kale, cabbage, onions and potatoes are growing prolifically. Many fields have newly planted corn but it is still quite small. The cooler and wet weather is perfect for these crops. We have noticed more salads here than anywhere in Europe that we have traveled. The ensalada mixta with a variety of veggies, tuna and eggs is a popular salad and always good. Dean and I have made this our lunch meal most days. The vegetables vary and sometimes the tuna is fresh and sometimes canned but it is a good meal. Combined with the crusty white bread that is served with everything, it is a filling meal. On cooler days, the Galatian soup, a type of potato soup, can taste quite good, too.
We walk through a lot of forested areas today. One thing that we notice is the birds. They were loud and plentiful in the forests. Here was peace. Here was where we delighted in their songs. We also traveled through three small villages. The Camino travels right through villages where paths meet up with small roads. We walk by peoples farms, by their front yards or back yards and see how they live. It is very intimate. There are ruins of old buildings right beside current residents. The homes are built mostly of stone. Some walls are small stacked stone, some are cut blocks and some are large mortared stone. Occasionally, there are stucco homes covering up the stone base that look like those in Italy, but mostly homes are built of the readily available resource, rock. Most towns have a simple, small church that was built hundreds of years ago. The graveyard is usually around the church. People are buried above ground in drawer systems that are nicknamed condos. Also, tall, ancient, stone crosses, cruceiro, from the 14th-16th centuries are in most towns. Some are simple and some are carved with a holy scene. There were also many, many horreo’, the ancient corn cribs that seemed to be in most yards. We wondered what they looked like full of corn cobs. Did being elevated with the stone bases really keep the mice out the grain? There are a number of streams and rivers in this area. Lots of rain leads to lots of water flowing and the need for bridges. We have had the pleasure of using and admiring the Roman and medieval era bridges that are still used daily here as foot bridges. These are stone bridges, some quite long and were definitely built to last.
We met folks today from England, Ireland, Spain, Italy and France. Sometimes our ‘conversations’ take place via hand movements, sometimes with the help of Google translate and sometimes in English. One poor lady from Great Britain was waiting patiently to use a women’s restroom at a bar (coffee, beer, sandwich shop). You have to be a customer to use the facilities and she was. This one was in a separate building by the outside seating area. What she didn’t know is the owner had locked the women’s restroom a few minutes before she started waiting in line. She waited patiently, knocked a few times, and kept waiting. Sue felt bad for her and also wanted to use the facilities. So, she went inside and asked for a key. The person working there told her where the men’s restroom was (it was in a rather out of the way place) and said to use it. The poor lady was still standing at the women’s door so Sue convinced her to leave which wasn’t easy as she didn’t want to lose her place in line. After showing her where the other bathroom was located the lady was very grateful. Little things can mean a lot. Bathrooms are few and often far between, so they are much appreciated when found. We generally found one midmorning and took a coffee/tea break and then stopped for lunch on long walk days or waited for lunch at the end of the walk. Lunch is served from 1-3 pm generally in Spain.
We walked together, mostly just the two of us today. It made for long, philosophical talks. Also, for quiet, peaceful walking. Dean commented, when told that one of our goals each day would be to walk for an hour with no talking, “Only an hour?! I usually spend several hours doing this..”
We wait for a late lunch at Melide and enjoy a local café. We try to get into all three of the historic churches. It is Pentecost and we thought they would be open in the afternoon. Nope. It was a nice town to walk in and it was full of people as the streets were turned into an open air marketplace. They sold everything from clothing and underwear to used items to fresh vegetables and bread. After our group time a large number of us went to the large cathedral and found it open. The design over its alter is that of the Pentecost flames. How appropriate.
Dinner was at a restaurant called Pulpo, Octopus. This is one of the specialties in the area. Many tried or had this for dinner. Dean enjoyed it, Sue thought is was ok, but they did have very good Galatian soup and cheese. The local goat cheese is mild and buttery. Quite good!
Melide to Arzúa, 6/10/19
Our hotel for the night was very simple and we ate at the restaurant next door. We have learned that a Pension is a very simple, spare hotel. All of our hotels have been simple and clean. These are a bit simpler. Most of the hotels have found a way to fit a shower, sink and toilet into a tiny space. We feel that we could design the perfect tiny bathroom now that we have used a number of them and have learned the pros and cons of various designs.
We start out early walking out of Melide. Not far out of town we come to a simple old (14th century) church like many that we have seen. It has a beautiful alter, frescoes on the walls and several stations on the sides to honor Christ or Mary. What made this church special was the zeal of the young man who wanted to tell us the significance of the 800 year old alter and other aspects of the church. He even offered coffee and cookies. He spoke three different languages fluently while we were there and had as much joy and zeal in each language.
It seems that all of Melide left the same time as we did. We are well out of town before the crowd starts to disperse and it begins to be quiet to start our quiet hour of walking. We had two times where we could choose to take the regular path or an alternate. We chose one alternate as a man told us it was one through a more rural area. As in other days we experienced quiet forests full of birds chirping, vistas of rolling hills and mountains and walking through villages and by farms. We see many new calves today, kittens, a puppy and sheep. We find an ancient church with a clock, which is unusual. If you climb the steep stairs to the loft you can get a close up view of the clock and its workings. This church is a bit more elaborate that some of the others we have seen, maybe because it is not as old.
One of the ancient bridges that we crossed had two men sitting by the stream with their hiking boots off, just resting their tired feet. They were quite friendly as they rubbed their tired feet. One guy’s feet were bright red! Ouch! It hurt to look at them. We hope he gets some relief this afternoon. This is a peaceful and lovely place to walk. The small bars/coffee shops along the trail offer a welcome drink and a very welcomed bathroom. These are great business opportunities for the local residents. We wonder how they graciously offer food and drink to so many every day. Many only speak Spanish and the crowd passing through often don’t speak that language. It all works and we head out for more walking.
When we arrive in Arzúa the sidewalks have brass shells leading us along the way. Our very own breadcrumbs to follow! This is a larger town, small city. When we find our hotel we are quite pleased to have a large room and, even better, a very large shower! What a luxury. We had another luxury, a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant, the best so far.
A former traveler had recommended this restaurant which we discovered was in a residential area. It was fun to walk through neighborhoods to get to the restaurant. Our dinners were the typical three courses, a first, a second and a desert, but the culinary skill of the cook was way above most. Dinner was at 8:30, which is typical or a bit early in Spain and by 10:30 we walked home full and happy.
Arzúa to Pedrouzo, 6/11/19
The dining room was filled with two groups of very boisterous Italians at breakfast, a cycling group in their tight biking clothes and a walking group with their layered clothing. It is easy to pick out the mode of travel of fellow travelers at breakfast. Today is a longer walk and is through a pleasant, modern town punctuated by an occasional ancient stone building for about 20 minutes before getting back into the country. The brass shells disappear with the paved sidewalks. We continue in the rolling hills with forests and farmland and an occasional village. We have chosen some days to walk with friends who have dubbed themselves as the poky pilgrims. They hold up the back of the group and are fun. We seem to meet more people when we are with them. Today, about half of our group have decided to walk slower and enjoy the countryside. It seems that the uphill climbs are much more frequent than the downhill, but that is most likely our tired legs protesting. The saying in the group is that that this is the ‘grim’ in pilgrim. We have walked long enough that we are beginning to recognize fellow walkers from around the globe. We wave and talk a bit before separating. There is a group from Colorado State doing a three week course in Spain that includes a week walk on the Camino. The kids and the leaders are all friendly and talkative. We pass a family with three small children, one in a back pack and another with two in a double stroller. These are hardy parents. The children particularly like the animals especially the cats and calves. They protest when they need to walk on.
One not so welcome experience occurred when a tractor with a manure spreader passed us and pulled into the field by us. The farmer opened the valve and started spraying manure over the field. The odor was unbearable! This brings new meaning to the phrase ‘let the shit fly’! We ran down the road but it was a long way before the aroma got to be bearable. We all feel like we need a shower. Now.
One fun experience was when an elderly man leaning on a cane was waving to the pilgrims in one town. We stopped to ‘talk’ to him. Between hand signals and a few Spanish words that we knew, we had a very pleasant conversation. We decided he was the town’s welcoming committee and he was doing a great job.
The creativity of the people who live on the trail brought smiles to our faces. Today we saw two bars/restaurants decorated with thousands of beer bottles that were each signed by the pilgrim who consumed the product. We saw old boots and shoes filled with flowers, lawn decorations made from wood or old machine parts, hand carved walking sticks that the carver was selling for whatever you wanted to pay, and gardens with beautiful flowers including huge fuchsia bushes and hydrangeas. One other fun site was sheep being led from one field to another. You never know when the path will suddenly be full of cows or sheep being led to the field or barn. Had to watch where you walk, but seeing the animals was fun! One unusual item that we saw was the fountain to Saint Irene. Irene came to an early and tragic death because she wanted to become a nun against the wishes of others, and the water in the fountain is said to have curative powers for crying babies and monthly cramps. Interesting combo!
We stay at a pension again, so rooms were simple and small but clean. Sue had devotions and shared with the group that the white sweatshirt she had worn almost continuously due to the pleasantly cool weather had belonged to her mother. She found it when cleaning out her Mom’s room after she died in January and decided to bring it along so that her mom could ‘experience ‘ a long walk for the first time and to feel the love wrapped around her as she walked or she would carry it in her backpack to feel like she was giving love and help as she did when her Mom became ill. It has been very good to have the sweatshirt and now the group knows why. It is getting rather dirty as it was the only long sleeved shirt she brought. It was supposed to be much warmer this week but a cold front sat on top of us all week which was a blessing as walking was much more comfortable. We expect warmth once we return to Madrid in a few days.
Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela, 6/12/19
We started in the fog which burned off several hours into the walk and became a beautiful day. We walked alone, just the two of us from our group, most of the day. The first half was through the countryside that has become so familiar to us. The last 10 km was through town and city. One disconcerting thing is that the signage became more scarce. Every once in a while we stood at an intersection searching for a sign as to which direction we were to travel. We were warned that signage would get more scarce and that some signs were stolen. We found sign posts that named the trail but people had stolen the arrow and kilometer marker! This was maddening! Once you get into town, brass scallop shells in the sidewalk pointed the way, but a number of those had been dug out. So, we followed the perfectly round holes that we the size where a shell should have been. Man! We made it to the center of Santiago as it began to rain, but found our way to the pilgrim office where we waited in a long line for about an hour to get our credentials and certificate of completion. The Catholic Church has declared us officially pilgrims. The walk to our hotel was maddening because the outside of the building did not have the name of the hotel! After circling one area several times we found it and decided to stay in and rest and write the evening blog for the church site with adult beverages to help. After this, we met up with our group and found restaurant with the typical three course meal for dinner. The food on the trail has been very inexpensive, 3 courses for under 15 Euros. After dinner we fell into our tiny bed, we are in a Pension again. This one is an old monastery. It is a huge, cool building made of stone with small rooms. It will be nice to be in a bed again where we each have our own pillows. We are told the single pillow across the bed is a Galician tradition. No crunching up the pillow here. Not only do we get to fight over the blanket, but the pillow.
We wrote the blog post for today for the church site. Here is the post: `115 km complete! One sign we see along the Way tells us that Santiago de Compostela is our goal on the Camino. We start each day having breakfast together and head out for our walk to the next town spending an hour quietly with God and end each afternoon with the speedy folks coming in quickly and small groups of pilgrims trickling in for the next several hours. Today is no different. We start walking in the fog spending time walking through villages, visiting churches, being amazed at the beautiful countryside and finally walking past an airport and into a cosmopolitan city as we find our way to the final destination, the pilgrim’s office. After about 13 miles of walking some of us arrive in the rain and the more fortunate ones with dry skies. We all had an extra challenge today because as we got within 10 km of Santiago de Compostela people have taken the yellow arrows and kilometer markings and even pulled some of the brass shells out of the concrete sidewalks that mark the way to the cathedral. We have followed directions along the Way having faith that we would make it to the correct hotel in the correct town each day. Today required more faith as many of our guide markers were missing. We wonder what the Spanish people think of pilgrims who do this. But, we all made it! We are all tired and our bodies are protesting the work that has been demanded of them, and we are very happy to have completed our goal and have a beautiful certificate to commemorate the achievement. But, is this really what is most important? As with any achievement, the journey and growth is what our bodies, minds and souls remember. The recognition is nice and this certificate is beautiful. The transformation this experience has made in each of us is what is the most important. We all came to the Camino for different reasons and we all had different experiences along the Way. Some carried very heavy loads and some light. We all challenged our bodies. We have seen our fellow pilgrims show perseverance, strength and bravery along with laughter, love and joy. We have experienced the beautiful rolling hills of the northern Spain countryside and gotten a glimpse into how the folks live and what is important to them. We have shared stories and gotten to know some of the local people as well as pilgrims from around this big globe. We have experienced love and caring and have seen God at work everyday. And we have taken the time to reflect, meditate and dig deeper. Maybe, our real goal was to honor and get closer to God. Our reward is transformation.’
’For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands’ Isa. 25:1
Santiago de Compostela.
We are staying in an old monastery for two nights. It is a large stone building with tiny rooms, large drafty halls and nice big common spaces. Every time you talk the sound echoes down the hall. No secrets in a monastery! Today we had a guided tour of the cathedral and stood on the 0,000 kilometer marker as we learned about the history of the architecture in the cathedral and surrounding buildings. The Galatians beautifully mixed Romanesque, baroque and gothic styles to make beautiful buildings in the 14th-18th centuries. We toured the cathedral and it’s museum but the cathedral is under construction to bring it back to its glory for a big anniversary next year. The front fascia is complete but the inside is filled with scaffolding. Because of the construction, a nearby cathedral a few blocks away held about a thousand pilgrims for the daily pilgrim mass. It was a beautiful cathedral and service but we didn’t understand much of the service since it was all in Spanish. It was nice. After the service we had a true Galatian feast of mostly seafood. Several kinds of crab and shrimp, squid, shellfish…. We were stuffed! After a little shopping, we took a bus tour out to Costa da Morta (coast of death) to visit Muros and Finisterre, the end point for ancient pilgrims as it was considered the end of the earth. We had a light dinner in Finisterre watching the fishing boats in the harbor then traveled to the end of the peninsula and watched the sun set at the rocky point by the lighthouse. What a wonderful way to end our adventure and experience on the Camino! We saw three 0,000 km markings today, three end points. One at the cathedral which is the official end of the Camino and two at different points by the sea where the pilgrims would walk to get to the end of the earth and get a scallop shell which was their official certificate that they had finished the pilgrimage.
Santiago de Compostela to Madrid, 6/14/19
After breakfast we loaded a bus to head back to Madrid. Two in our party left Santiago directly for an extended vacation and the rest will part ways tomorrow morning. Today is sunny and the temperature is warming up as we head south. By lunch at 1:00 we had removed jackets and were enjoying the warm sun. Sue, who is usually cold, has finally warmed up and is down to one short sleeved shirt and capris. After the long ride, we gather one last time as a group for a small Godspeed and part. Some of us head to the bar for some adult beverages, laughter and a hamburger. Haven’t seen anything but seafood and pork in two weeks. It was yummy! Some headed into Madrid for one last night on the town. We say goodbye to all and head up to our large, luxurious room at the Marriott. This will be our home for the next 5 nights. It is sad to part and at the same time, will be nice to be just the two introverted, people who know each other well. Dean has been nursing a cold the last few days and is looking forward to a long night’s rest.
Madrid, Avila and Segovia, 6/15/19
Dean and I are in Madrid alone for the first time. Today we are up early and discover the amazing breakfast buffet at our hotel. Two fruit stations, a huge bread station, vegetables, cereals, and eggs including omelets made to order! Then we take a taxi into Madrid to pick up a tour to Avila and Segovia. Avila is an old walled city the size of 38 football fields according to our guide. Sue was so enamored with the view that she paid no attention to where she was walking and an 18 inch tall granite baluster took her out. Thank heavens for long pants as the knee is only skinned but is sporting a good bruise. The ancient town is where St. Theresa lived and worked to convert the convent into one that was more holy. She was a prolific writer and worked to turn more convents into places where values of poverty, chastity, and service. She insisted sisters go barefoot and only wear sandals even in the snow. For her work she was made a saint about 45 years after her death. The Catholics dug up her grave and took hair and body parts to be relics in various churches. Her home church got her ring finger with the ring. Digging up someone to remove body parts hardly seems like a way of honoring someone to us. Oh well. We enjoyed the church, old buildings and walking on the top of the wall. The view was amazing! This is brown parched land but it has trees and mostly brown grass. The sky is blue and it is only in the 70’s today. Beautiful day! Tomorrow the typical 80’s temperatures return.
Next stop is Segovia that had a statue of a man with a row of pigs by his feet in the square and a saint with a pig at his feet in the cathedral. Guess what we had for lunch. Bean soup with pork, pork medallions in gravy and beans and peas cooked with pork. Only the desert, ice cream, had no pork. There is a huge Roman aqueduct that was extremely impressive especially since it was almost entirely intact. You could climb many stairs on a cliff to see it from the top. What a view! We visited the Cathedral which is know as the ‘Lady of Spain’ as it is the tallest cathedral in Spain. Seville has the biggest and the one we saw in Madrid seemed larger, but this gothic styled building was definitely impressive. It was odd in that there were pews and then a large walled area behind where the priests and nobility (choir) sat. Then behind was the area was the area where the poor could listen to the service but not see it. Seems the rich didn’t want to see the poor. To this day some older Spaniards say they are going to church to listen to the service even though they can now sit wherever they choose. For centuries you were forced to be Catholic or executed. The Jews and Muslims who chose to stay in the country had to convert. They made them do things like eat pork and work on Saturday to make sure they really converted and didn’t do so just in name. It was a hard place to live for about a thousand years. Now all religions are allowed and you are no longer forced to be Catholic. Thus, the church has seen a decline although 85% identify as Catholic. Forced belief known as the Spanish Inquisition didn’t work and was said to be more cruel than the church inquisition in rest of Europe. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand were not open minded or kind. So, they were much more feared than anything els.
We spent the evening in old Madrid enjoying our first cup of house-made Vermouth which is a Spanish specialty, enjoying a long, slow meal of paella and local wine while watching a group taking a silent disco tour. About 40 young people with headphones on followed a couple of dance instructors in the middle of Plaza Mayor. Only they could hear the music. It was a hoot. We finished the evening watching the sun set over the mountains from the Templo de Debod park high on a hill. The sunset is late, about 10 pm, and was beautiful! We got back to our hotel near the airport by using the very efficient metro and bus system. This will be our transportation for the next few days. At the end of the day Sue’s fit bit reminded us that we had walked 11 miles. Dean’s comment was ‘and we didn’t even try like the Camino!’
Madrid, 6/16/19
Today is our first day of rest. It is Sunday and Father’s Day, so it is appropriate. We slept in and enjoyed a brunch at our hotel before setting out. We walked around Central Madrid and found a number of open air markets set up on various streets. Sunday’s must be market day all over the country as we found the markets on Sunday’s in other parts of the country. People sold everything from crafts to clothing to antiques. The streets are packed on Sunday morning! We slipped into a church that was full of young and old celebrating mass. It was a simple Gothic style with a beautiful painted front and alter. It was surprising to see a full church as this hasn’t been our experience in other parts of Europe. Italy churches were pretty full, but this one was very full. Then we spent most of the day enjoying the Madrid botanical gardens. For a city that is arid and hot, the gardens were pretty. Lots of irrigation kept the water loving plants alive and the garden had many specimens from Southern Europe and Northern Africa that like this climate. Gardens were divided up by area of the world that they represented. There was a greenhouse that was not very large but was fun to seen more tropical plants in this building. Dean got to take lots of pictures! We liked el Retiro park so much during our earlier visit that we decided to walk through again and spent time enjoying a drink by the lake. The park was filled with people enjoying the beautiful day. The lawns were filled with blankets with families, people read books in the shade, the lake was full of row boats and the sidewalk cafes were full. A road on one side of the park was full of people and looked like there might be a carnival. We walked over to see what was happening and discovered it was full of vendors selling books. Every wagon or booth had books and people were buying! What a lovely surprise. We are off and running tomorrow so decided to have dinner at the nice restaurant back at the Marriott so that it isn’t to late of a night. It was a nice Father’s Day.
Madrid/Toledo
Today we were up early for a tour of Toledo. The busses run slow at rush hour, no big surprise, but we made it to the tour meeting stop in time. Dean was considerate enough to share his cold with Sue and we are now out of cold medicine. Pharmacies don’t open until 9:30 but we found meds on our trip.
Toledo is about an hour drive from Madrid, It a town of Christians, Jews and Muslims so we saw a huge gothic cathedral, a church, a mosque and a temple in the old city of Toledo. This town is high on a hill and reminded us of Tuscany. The Cathedral is called the Prima cathedral because of its wealth. It has a collection of paintings from the masters all over Europe. We toured the back rooms of the cathedral where they were housed. It looked like a small museum of religious art. The cathedral is gothic which means the choir/clergy section is in the middle of the church as we saw in Segovia. The wealthy sit between the alter and the choir section and the poor sit behind the choir walls and listen to the service. Talk about dividing the classes. We heard a lot more about the inquisition today and the Spanish Civil war. Toledo was severely damaged by bombs in the civil war so the large mosque that we saw at the top of the hill is relatively new. We also toured an ancient mosque that had been turned into a church during the Inquisition. It was interesting to see an Arabic designed church since its original design was for a mosque. The Jewish temple was built by the Arabic people as they were the superior craftsman and it, too, had an Arabic design. Even the stars are all Arabic stars except one which was a Star of David. We had lunch in a house high on a hill that overlooked the Toledo hill and the arid countryside. Today’s lunch had a vegetable soup, very good beef roast, potatoes and ice cream. This lunch was much better than the last one and the view was spectacular. The soil is red so there are red hills punctuated by a few plants that live in the hot, dry climate.
After lunch we drove into the country to one of the oldest family run wineries in Spain. After seeing miles of desert type plants, the olive trees started to appear and then there was a river followed by the vineyard. We tasted three red wines produced at this organic winery along with meat and cheeses to compliment them. It was a very nice day. We returned to Madrid about 6 pm so stayed in the city to shop and then had a light dinner on the plaza de Santa Anna where we ate our second night here. We chose a different restaurant and had surprisingly good salads. Very little entertainment on the plaza tonight but it was quite relaxing and enjoyable. We will miss the outdoor cafe’s when we return home.
Madrid, 6/18/19, and home on 6/19/19
This our last full day in Madrid. We slept in and had brunch at the great restaurant at the hotel before heading into town. It is a hot day, again, almost 90. We decided to get a hop on, hop off tour and rode both the historic district loop and the modern loop. The historic district one went through areas that were quite familiar but gave some of the history that we hadn’t heard. The modern loop took us north into the business district, to see government buildings, to the football stadium and the embassy region. We enjoyed our last lunch in a café in the historic district. It was a light lunch but was on a small quaint street where we could relax and people watch.
One thing that has surprised us both is the large number of people who smoke. No smoking is permitted inside so, people stand out front of stores and restaurants and other businesses to take a smoke break and smoke in the outside cafes. This has made it a challenge for Sue to find a table that wouldn’t trigger her asthma. We wondered what is so different about this culture that has so many people smoking now that the health risks are well known. We saw people of all ages smoking, even high school students were lighting up while still in their school uniforms walking home.
We tried to get into the cathedral museum only to find that they closed at 2:30. We had gotten used to some things closing in the afternoons as people take off work, go home and have their big meal of the day as a family. We refer to it as a siesta, but were told it is mostly family time. Even school children get off mid day to come home for lunch, which is the biggest meal of the day. So, parents must get off work to come home and be with the kids. Since the cathedral museum would not open again today, we decided to head back to the hotel. It is about an hour ride, mostly on the underground metro, and now that we are comfortable knowing our way around, it is time to return home.
We made our way back out to the hotel early, about 5 pm. After packing we enjoyed our final dinner at the hotel. We leave for home tomorrow morning, so it is nice to relax before the long flight home.
We are up early the next morning for our final breakfast in Spain, fly home and arrive to a rain storm. Seems that Cincinnati has been enjoying lots of rain while we were gone. It is nice to be home.
