Walking the Camino de Santiago
I‘ve often said that Galicia is a Catholic country. Here’s Exhibit A: the coat of arms of Galicia is the Blessed Sacrament. Most of the regional arms also feature the Eucharist in some way. You see it everywhere. Sometimes this is a little disconcerting, especially when the local municipality embosses their trash and recycling bins with their arms, but overall […]
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Somewhere in the fog, we missed a marker. We ended up walking on the highway for considerably longer than strictly required. I’ve a sneaking suspicion that we did the same thing in 2013. In our most recent Camino, we actually managed to follow the correct route, which came as something of a surprise. Date: 29 April 2016 Place: Somewhere between […]
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Welcome back! When last we visited our Camino Photo of the Day series, we were saying good night in Portomarín on the evening of the 28th of April 2016. We rejoin our plucky pilgrims the next morning as they set out from Portomarín into a dense and clinging fog. Here we see the striking Igrexa de San Nicolao o San […]
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It’s one month since we arrived in Santiago de Compostela as pilgrims for the third time. Every pilgrimage is different. You’re a different person with different concerns and worries and joys each time. And the Lord gives you different graces and consolations each time. It normally takes me a month or longer to process our Caminos. Re-entry is difficult. This […]
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Our first view of the city and the cathedral spires came on Monto de Goza – the mountain of joy. We sang “Holy God we Praise Thy Name”, and a rainbow broke out over the city. We fairly well bounded into the city, despite the urban slog. So many people! There are several conventions and a festival happening in the […]
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This portion of the Camino seems to be a near constant series of bars and cafés. They have certainly multiplied since the last time we were here! After a most delicious breakfast at the albergue – and the Albergue Santa Irene is probably the finest on the Camino – we set out before dawn. This is only the second time […]
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Yesterday began with rain and getting ourselves lost, adding two kilometers to our day before we even left Melide. Morale was low, and this cartoon posted on the wall of our lunch spot in Castañeda captured it perfectly. But then we ran into a delightful Australian family that we had been meeting up with now and again over several days. […]
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So the plan always was on this Camino that we would take short days. I’m not sure what happened today. This is what happens when I leave Francine in charge. (I kid, I kid!) Today we walked 26 km. We’ve several longer Camino days over the years, but that was not the plan for this year. Oh, well. Today was […]
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We left Portomarín in fog and mist that persisted for several hours. There’s something magical about the misty Galician forests that even highway walking can’t dispel. The dew condensed in hair and beard, and fell on us from the trees. The day was constant hills. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly exploring the Celtic pre-Roman ruins of Castromaior. Inhabited […]
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Of the 30,000 or so steps we took today to arrive in Portomarín, these 58 were probably the most difficult, coming as they did at the end of the day. The Camino climbs these steps into the town. They are made from the remaining stones of the ancient Roman bridge that used to cross the river here. Speaking of bridges, […]
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