I now have five blogs on some of the lesser traveled Caminos. So I thought I would link them all together in case you are looking for some suggestions. Each of these Caminos is special in its own way, and I would happily walk any of them again. If I am really lucky, I will!
2010: Via de la Plata http://laurie-ontheviadelaplata.blogspot.com/
2011: Madrid to Sahagun (Camino de Madrid) - Sahagun to Ponferrada (Camino Frances) - Ponferrada to Santiago (Camino de Invierno) http://peregrina2000.blogspot.com/
2012: Santander to San Vicente (Norte) - San Vicente to Potes (Camino Lebaniego) - Potes to Leon (Camino Vadiniense) - Leon to Oviedo (Camino de Salvador) - Oviedo to Santiago (Camino Primitivo) http://caminovadiniense.blogspot.com/
2013: Camino de Levante (Valencia to Zamora) - Camino Sanabres (Zamora to Santiago)
http://levante2013.blogspot.com/
2014: Camino Olvidado (Bilbao to Ponferrada) and then onto the Francés into Santiago:
http://caminoolvidado.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Friday, June 25, 2010
Links to my pictures
I was going to try to figure out how to embed my pictures into these posts, but decided that I had many better ways to spend my time. So, I broke them down into four different albums and you can see them here:
Sevilla to Caceres http://picasaweb.google.com/laurie.reynolds/ViaDeLaPlataSevillaToCaceres#
Caceres to Zamora http://picasaweb.google.com/laurie.reynolds/VillaDeLaPlataCaceresToZamora#
Zamora to Santiago http://picasaweb.google.com/laurie.reynolds/ViaDeLaPlataZamoraToSantiago#
Santiago to Muxia http://picasaweb.google.com/laurie.reynolds/ViaDeLaPlataToFinisterreAndMuxia#
Sevilla to Caceres http://picasaweb.google.com/laurie.reynolds/ViaDeLaPlataSevillaToCaceres#
Caceres to Zamora http://picasaweb.google.com/laurie.reynolds/VillaDeLaPlataCaceresToZamora#
Zamora to Santiago http://picasaweb.google.com/laurie.reynolds/ViaDeLaPlataZamoraToSantiago#
Santiago to Muxia http://picasaweb.google.com/laurie.reynolds/ViaDeLaPlataToFinisterreAndMuxia#
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Back in Santiago, peregrina no more
Yesterday about 3 pm, we arrived in Muxía, a village on the Costa de la Muerte about 30 kms from Finisterre. The high point of the walk for me was finally finding out that I could in fact cross a river on slippery submerged stones that were more than a stride apart without falling in. It was a bit hairy, the water was up to mid-shin, but I made it. And Yolanda tells me she got it all on her camera, but luckily they will be still photos, nothing to show how precariously I was walking. We read in the newspaper yesterday that the authorities have finally budgeted the money to replace the stones with a foot bridge. Those of us who have gone on the stones hope they will leave that option open for the intrepid pilgrim. My Spanish companions could not contain their disgust when they read that the budget for this bridge is 237,000 euros. The guy, who works in construction, said that amount puts one bridge over the river, and the equivalent in the pockets of at least four politicians.
Muxía is the site where the Prestige dumped its oil. There was an exhibition of photos of the spill and the clean-up, and we could still see oil on the rocks pretty much everywhere. It boggles to mind to think what must be going on in the gulf if this one little boat´s contents did this much damage.
So my albergue nights are over for a while. I got a goodbye concert last night, snoring in stereo from three different corners of the albergue. Up at 6:30 to get the 7:30 bus, and here I am back in Santiago.
We have heard that the numbers of peregrinos arriving has suddenly shot up, the newspaper carries the headline that in the last two days more arrived than in the entire two months of January and February. Headline hysteria, since the numbers in January and February are minimal. But it is true that the city is mobbed. The noon pilgrims' mass is going to be held outside to accommodate 3000 disabled pilgrims who arrived this morning. So I will wait till the 1:15 mass, when I can see the botafumeiro swing. Having the compostela (the official certificate that you have walked), entitles you to use a special side entrance with reserved seats for the mass -- so this compostela is worth something!
The streets of Santiago are filled to the brim. Of all the street entertainers, the ones that stick out in my mind are the two who are dressed up, one as Jesus and one as Santiago. They stand on pedestals about four feet from each other, motionless till you drop coins in their buckets. Then they will lean towards each other and you can step in the middle, hold each one's hand, and have your picture taken. Jesus and Santiago in one fell swoop.
Muxía is the site where the Prestige dumped its oil. There was an exhibition of photos of the spill and the clean-up, and we could still see oil on the rocks pretty much everywhere. It boggles to mind to think what must be going on in the gulf if this one little boat´s contents did this much damage.
So my albergue nights are over for a while. I got a goodbye concert last night, snoring in stereo from three different corners of the albergue. Up at 6:30 to get the 7:30 bus, and here I am back in Santiago.
We have heard that the numbers of peregrinos arriving has suddenly shot up, the newspaper carries the headline that in the last two days more arrived than in the entire two months of January and February. Headline hysteria, since the numbers in January and February are minimal. But it is true that the city is mobbed. The noon pilgrims' mass is going to be held outside to accommodate 3000 disabled pilgrims who arrived this morning. So I will wait till the 1:15 mass, when I can see the botafumeiro swing. Having the compostela (the official certificate that you have walked), entitles you to use a special side entrance with reserved seats for the mass -- so this compostela is worth something!
The streets of Santiago are filled to the brim. Of all the street entertainers, the ones that stick out in my mind are the two who are dressed up, one as Jesus and one as Santiago. They stand on pedestals about four feet from each other, motionless till you drop coins in their buckets. Then they will lean towards each other and you can step in the middle, hold each one's hand, and have your picture taken. Jesus and Santiago in one fell swoop.
Friday, June 18, 2010
In Finisterre, the End of the World
Three days' walk from Santiago, here I am at the End of the World, at least according to the Spanish (Portugal also claims to have the westwardmost point of Europe). It has been three beautiful days, we have had glorious weather -- today the sky was sunny and cloudless as we reached the top of the hill where we could see our first seaside town, beach and cove. Some of the trip was kind of tedious, a fair amount of highway walking, but all in all it has been stunning countryside, lots of small towns and dirt paths.
Walking along the beach into Finisterre was a total change from all my Camino walking days. We went straight to the albergue and got our Fisterrana, a pretty certificate (suitable for framing no doubt) that confirms that I have extended my pilgrimage from Santiago to the end. As I was hanging up my washed clothes in the albergue, I looked out in the plaza and thought -- gosh, that guy looks familiar. I ran downstairs, and sure enough it was Mattias, the very first peregrino I met on this walk. We had first met over coffee together in Itálica, the town with the Roman ruins right outside of Sevilla, and we had seen each other off and on until about Salamanca. It was a nice reunion, and we shared a few moments of nostalgia looking back over the six weeks.
I have had my first great fish meal, reminded me of Portugal -- grilled fish, salted and fresh, served with good potatoes. And with the US playing fútbol against Slovenia in the background while we sat out on the terrace watching the activity in the fishing port.
This is a beautiful seaside town, and tomorrow we leave it to head north on my last walk-- 30 km on the coast, down to the beach, up to the headlands. Tomorrow night in Muxia, then the bus to Santiago on Sunday, and that's that.
But the piece de resistance today will no doubt be the sunset -- we will walk up the hill for 3 kms to the lighthouse, and the tradition is to burn a piece of clothing, but I don't have any to spare. Then back to the albergue, the only one on the Camino to be open all night (most lock up at 10 pm), up at 6 am, on to Muxia.
Walking along the beach into Finisterre was a total change from all my Camino walking days. We went straight to the albergue and got our Fisterrana, a pretty certificate (suitable for framing no doubt) that confirms that I have extended my pilgrimage from Santiago to the end. As I was hanging up my washed clothes in the albergue, I looked out in the plaza and thought -- gosh, that guy looks familiar. I ran downstairs, and sure enough it was Mattias, the very first peregrino I met on this walk. We had first met over coffee together in Itálica, the town with the Roman ruins right outside of Sevilla, and we had seen each other off and on until about Salamanca. It was a nice reunion, and we shared a few moments of nostalgia looking back over the six weeks.
I have had my first great fish meal, reminded me of Portugal -- grilled fish, salted and fresh, served with good potatoes. And with the US playing fútbol against Slovenia in the background while we sat out on the terrace watching the activity in the fishing port.
This is a beautiful seaside town, and tomorrow we leave it to head north on my last walk-- 30 km on the coast, down to the beach, up to the headlands. Tomorrow night in Muxia, then the bus to Santiago on Sunday, and that's that.
But the piece de resistance today will no doubt be the sunset -- we will walk up the hill for 3 kms to the lighthouse, and the tradition is to burn a piece of clothing, but I don't have any to spare. Then back to the albergue, the only one on the Camino to be open all night (most lock up at 10 pm), up at 6 am, on to Muxia.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
First day out of Santiago
Yesterday I was so lucky to be able to visit the Pórtico de la Gloria of the Cathedral from the scaffolding. If you are not a fan of romanesque architecture, you will not know what I'm talking about, but it was awesome. There is a several-decades-long study/reform/preservation effort going on with the 12th century Pórtico de la Gloria, one of the jewels of the Spanish Romanesque, and for some reason, the company doing the work has decided to let several groups of ten people per day up there, hard hats and all, to see the incredible statues up close. It was awesome, and I was just lucky to be able to find an open slot on the day I arrived -- other people told me that they had made reservations months in advance. Anyway, it was amazing.
Today I met up with my Spanish friend Yolanda promptly at 7:30 am in the Praça do Obradoiro, the square in front of the cathedral. It was eerie, there was absolutely no one in the square, and I had a few minutes alone with the cathedral from afar. We had a relatively short 22 km day, to Negreira, where there is a very nice albergue.
It was kind of a shock for Yolanda and me, having walked the Via de la Plata, because we have seen today more people than we saw for weeks on the Vdlp. Instead of the Germans on the Vdlp, there is now a predominance of French people. All of us are going to Finisterre, the end of the world, and some of us will continue on to Muxía, a beautiful fishing village about 30 km north of Finisterre. I am still not sure where I will go, but I know I will be in Muxía on Saturday, and back in Santiago on Sunday.
This town has a very touching sculpture, which I remembered from the last time. It is kind of a 3-D thing, on one side you see the man leaving to go find work, with a child reaching through the window trying to pull him back. On the other side, there's a woman inside the house holding a small child and crying -- so many people from this part of Spain left to go find work elsewhere, and most have never come home. It makes you think about the immigration debate in the US and elsewhere -- no one, or very few, WANT to leave their homes, they do it for their families. We should remember that, and we should recognize that we would do the same thing if we were in their situation. Enough preaching.
Today I was able to soak my feet in icy water in the most beautiful spot of the entire camino. A wide river, with beautiful old homes all around, right next to two very old mills with the millstones still there, an ancient bridge, some white water, it was just amazing. And great for the feet. I guess my time here is growing short, only three more days of walking.
One of these years, I am going to arrive in Santiago and say -- enough, already, I'm done with the Camino. But it won't be this year, I'm sure of that.
Today I met up with my Spanish friend Yolanda promptly at 7:30 am in the Praça do Obradoiro, the square in front of the cathedral. It was eerie, there was absolutely no one in the square, and I had a few minutes alone with the cathedral from afar. We had a relatively short 22 km day, to Negreira, where there is a very nice albergue.
It was kind of a shock for Yolanda and me, having walked the Via de la Plata, because we have seen today more people than we saw for weeks on the Vdlp. Instead of the Germans on the Vdlp, there is now a predominance of French people. All of us are going to Finisterre, the end of the world, and some of us will continue on to Muxía, a beautiful fishing village about 30 km north of Finisterre. I am still not sure where I will go, but I know I will be in Muxía on Saturday, and back in Santiago on Sunday.
This town has a very touching sculpture, which I remembered from the last time. It is kind of a 3-D thing, on one side you see the man leaving to go find work, with a child reaching through the window trying to pull him back. On the other side, there's a woman inside the house holding a small child and crying -- so many people from this part of Spain left to go find work elsewhere, and most have never come home. It makes you think about the immigration debate in the US and elsewhere -- no one, or very few, WANT to leave their homes, they do it for their families. We should remember that, and we should recognize that we would do the same thing if we were in their situation. Enough preaching.
Today I was able to soak my feet in icy water in the most beautiful spot of the entire camino. A wide river, with beautiful old homes all around, right next to two very old mills with the millstones still there, an ancient bridge, some white water, it was just amazing. And great for the feet. I guess my time here is growing short, only three more days of walking.
One of these years, I am going to arrive in Santiago and say -- enough, already, I'm done with the Camino. But it won't be this year, I'm sure of that.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
In Santiago!
Well, these last few days have been so different than I imagined. Since I last had access to internet, I have been through the city of Ourense, spent the night in a 16th century wing of a monastery, walked through Galician splendor, seen beautiful towns and churches, and wow, here I am in Santiago again!
Since my departure from Spain is set for Wednesday the 23rd, and I have a plane ticket to Madrid on the 22nd, I knew that if I walked a bit faster and covered more distance, I would have time to spend three or four days walking beyond Santiago to the coast, either to Finisterre (the end of the world, though the Portuguese would dispute that) or to Muxía, or maybe both. And I confess that I wanted to ditch a couple of people for a variety of reasons. So, a long day of 35 km meant that they were out of my camino bubble. And it also meant walking to a place that has a monastery, two bars, and three houses. The monastery of Oseira, started in the 13th century, has an albergue of sorts for peregrinos. There are about 40 beds in a huge room that would hold 200 if full, a bathroom and not much more. The room is quite similar to the albergue in Roncesvalles, but with only a fraction of the beds. There are showers, but you have to go to the monastery ticket office, where they take you up and around and finally you arrive at several shower stalls. I never really figured out how it fit into the architecture of the monastery. But the showers were hot, so no complaints. The room where we slept, however, was definitely not hot, in fact I'd say it was cold and clammy. There were two Germans, one francés, and moi, and since I was the only woman, I got the extra blanket that was hidden somewhere in the albergue.
Luckily, the nice monks who live in the monastery will provide blankets to peregrinos, so after about a 40 minute wait for blankets, some finally arrived (in the meantime, we kept seeing the same monk going in and out of the door where we were waiting, every time he asked us what we wanted, we said mantas (blankets) and he told us "No soy el encargado de las mantas." (I'm not the one in charge of blankets). But we finally got them, and even I wasn't cold during the night. But you have to see the pictures of this place to believe it, I think that many of my friends and family would not be happy sleeping there.
Though the weather has been rain rain rain, none of it, or very little of it, has fallen on me. I feel like I'm in a protective bubble or something, and I'm very happy for that. The weather changes from moment to moment, and lots of rain has fallen, but I have had only one day of intermittent rain and one day with some drizzle, so I am not complaining.
This Camino has not been one of immediate human contact, I don't know why. This is really the first Camino in which I have developed strong negative feelings about some of the more ponderous peregrinos, who have scolded me for many things -- I walk too fast, I visit too many churches, I don't wait for them, etc, etc. But Yolanda, the madrileña, is a very nice woman and I'm so glad to have met her. We will have a fine walk out to the coast.
Since my departure from Spain is set for Wednesday the 23rd, and I have a plane ticket to Madrid on the 22nd, I knew that if I walked a bit faster and covered more distance, I would have time to spend three or four days walking beyond Santiago to the coast, either to Finisterre (the end of the world, though the Portuguese would dispute that) or to Muxía, or maybe both. And I confess that I wanted to ditch a couple of people for a variety of reasons. So, a long day of 35 km meant that they were out of my camino bubble. And it also meant walking to a place that has a monastery, two bars, and three houses. The monastery of Oseira, started in the 13th century, has an albergue of sorts for peregrinos. There are about 40 beds in a huge room that would hold 200 if full, a bathroom and not much more. The room is quite similar to the albergue in Roncesvalles, but with only a fraction of the beds. There are showers, but you have to go to the monastery ticket office, where they take you up and around and finally you arrive at several shower stalls. I never really figured out how it fit into the architecture of the monastery. But the showers were hot, so no complaints. The room where we slept, however, was definitely not hot, in fact I'd say it was cold and clammy. There were two Germans, one francés, and moi, and since I was the only woman, I got the extra blanket that was hidden somewhere in the albergue.
Luckily, the nice monks who live in the monastery will provide blankets to peregrinos, so after about a 40 minute wait for blankets, some finally arrived (in the meantime, we kept seeing the same monk going in and out of the door where we were waiting, every time he asked us what we wanted, we said mantas (blankets) and he told us "No soy el encargado de las mantas." (I'm not the one in charge of blankets). But we finally got them, and even I wasn't cold during the night. But you have to see the pictures of this place to believe it, I think that many of my friends and family would not be happy sleeping there.
Though the weather has been rain rain rain, none of it, or very little of it, has fallen on me. I feel like I'm in a protective bubble or something, and I'm very happy for that. The weather changes from moment to moment, and lots of rain has fallen, but I have had only one day of intermittent rain and one day with some drizzle, so I am not complaining.
This Camino has not been one of immediate human contact, I don't know why. This is really the first Camino in which I have developed strong negative feelings about some of the more ponderous peregrinos, who have scolded me for many things -- I walk too fast, I visit too many churches, I don't wait for them, etc, etc. But Yolanda, the madrileña, is a very nice woman and I'm so glad to have met her. We will have a fine walk out to the coast.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Short day to Xunqueira
I think I set my record for sleeping in on the Camino today -- didn't wake up till 7:30. Must have been the quiet (only two other people in two huge rooms) and the steady beating of the rain. When I got up, it was still raining, but after drinking two cups of the bad instant coffee that I am carrying (which is made only slightly more palatable when I squeeze in some of the "condensed milk in a tube"), the rain had stopped. We (Herman the German) and I left at 8:30 and had a day of perfect weather. The sun even poked through a few times, and the landscape was more of the beautiful old oak tree tunnels next to stone walls, with bazillions of beautiful ferns. The shapes of some of these trees are just incredible, twisted trunks, branches shooting in all weird directions, kind of reminded me of Hansel and Gretel's forest.
It was a very short 13 km to Xunqueira, and by 12:30 we were in the albergue, and that included a long coffee stop in a bar in some isolated little hamlet and several photo ops. It's a weird looking albergue, you enter through what looks like a rusted tin can, but it is modern and clean. And in Galicia it seems that the bathrooms in the albergues are all sex-segregated. This is GREAT for me, since there are about 8-10 males for every female on this Camino. And they all have electric hand dryers, which is great for trying to dry out your boots or whatever clothes are wet.
There is a beautiful romanesque church in the village, which I will of course visit this afternoon. Plus the town has TWO little food stores, not often the case in these places, so I am hopeful I'll be able to replenish my food bag with yoghurts and fruit.
I am resisting the temptation to look at the weather; there are still black clouds in many directions and the cloud cover is total, but I think the worst is supposedly over, for this front anyway. Maybe some of my wash will dry this afternoon, that would be nice!
It was a very short 13 km to Xunqueira, and by 12:30 we were in the albergue, and that included a long coffee stop in a bar in some isolated little hamlet and several photo ops. It's a weird looking albergue, you enter through what looks like a rusted tin can, but it is modern and clean. And in Galicia it seems that the bathrooms in the albergues are all sex-segregated. This is GREAT for me, since there are about 8-10 males for every female on this Camino. And they all have electric hand dryers, which is great for trying to dry out your boots or whatever clothes are wet.
There is a beautiful romanesque church in the village, which I will of course visit this afternoon. Plus the town has TWO little food stores, not often the case in these places, so I am hopeful I'll be able to replenish my food bag with yoghurts and fruit.
I am resisting the temptation to look at the weather; there are still black clouds in many directions and the cloud cover is total, but I think the worst is supposedly over, for this front anyway. Maybe some of my wash will dry this afternoon, that would be nice!
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