Walking the Camino de Santiago
The other side chapel of the Iglesia de Santa María la Real in O Cebreiro, dedicated to Santiago, contains what many would say is another miracle. This is the tomb of Don Elías Valiña Sampedro. He was the parish priest here in the 1970s, and he was the man who first painted the yellow arrows along the Camino route. He […]
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Enshrined above the tabernacle in the little church of Santa María la Real in O Cebreiro is a chalice, a paten, and six reliquaries containing bloody altar cloths, corporal, and purificators. These are the relics of a Eucharistic miracle that occurred in the harsh, snowy winter of the year 1300. A peasant named Juan Santín made his way to the […]
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Although the village church in O Cebreiro was drastically renovated in the 1960s, the original bones of the pre-Romanesque church remain. It is said to be the oldest church on the entire Spanish Camino. The Holy Grail supposedly spent some time here as the local Christians spirited it away from Valencia ahead of the Moorish invasions. It is also the […]
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The view from O Cebreiro pretty much speaks for itself. The village sits atop a vast ridge overlooking the valley of El Bierzo. Date: 25 April 2016 Place: O Cebreiro (Galicia, Spain)
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After getting some bunks at the Xunta Albergue and showering, we set off to explore the village of O Cebreiro. This is where we will be beginning our 2018 Galician Camino. The shops here have everything a pilgrim (or a tourist!) could want. In 2016 I picked up some mementos and post cards here. In 2018, we plan on getting […]
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Having climbed up the side of a mountain for most of the day, we take a well-deserved moment of rest at the gates of O Cebreiro before entering properly into the town. Rebecca snaps a photo of the church. Although I avoided taking photos of them, tour buses crowd this area off to the left of the photo. The Camino […]
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The sharpest among you will notice a new countdown on the blog. More on that in a moment. The town of O Cebreiro is the start of the Camino in Galicia. The town stands at the top of the long climb out of the valley of El Bierzo, and the views into the valley from here are spectacular. More of […]
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Here we see Francine checking out the first of the new Galician Junta distance markers on the Camino. From here on out, these will display the distance to the Crypt of Santiago down to the meter. How accurate are they? Well, I’ve heard it said that they used GPS to calculate the distance. But unless you walked step by step […]
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Galicia is the last of the Spanish Kingdoms traversed by the Camino. Traditionally the Meseta is very dry, and Galicia is nothing but mist and cloud and rain. This year, however, is not like other years. We had flooding on the Meseta, and nothing but blue skies here in Galicia. Date: 25 April 2016 Place: between La Faba and O […]
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As we approached the marker denoting our entry into Galicia, our last Spanish Kingdom on the Camino, I turned around and took this photo. This is my last photo of the Kingdom of Castilla y León, and of the El Bierzo valley and cultural region. TL;DR – Spain is beautiful. Date: 25 April 2016 Place: between La Faba and O […]
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