Author: Thom

So I’m not entirely sure at what point on the Camino one enters Logroño proper, but I’ve decided that this is it. This long riverside park with its long, narrow pool with Logroño’s Camino logo is surely a clue! The park itself is lovely, and it’s a fine place for a sit and a snack. The park ends at a […]

The Camino is marked all along its length in Spain by the ubiquitous yellow arrow. For my money, though, Logroño has the best route markers around. Their instantly recognizable stylized shell logo appears everywhere. I mean, I wouldn’t get the tattoo, but it manages to be simultaneously traditional and modern. Date: 07 April 2016 Place: entering Logroño (La Rioja, Spain) […]

Throughout the Camino, but particularly in Navarra and La Rioja, you will see houses painted vivid colours. Some, like this one, are a joy to behold in their well thought out and brilliantly executed profusion of bright primary colours, aged to perfection. Others are just garish. This was one of my favourites. Date: 07 April 2016 Place: outskirts of Logroño […]

Other than doors, one of the things I love to photograph is ancient, disused farm equipment, the more baroque the better. Some of it is just beautiful. I once spent most of an afternoon in a ghost town in Eastern Washington photographing tractors from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We saw this by the side of the Camino as […]

We stopped into a little home-shop. The dog was sleeping so soundly when we went in, I nearly thought it was dead. Fortunately, it came to life. Here it’s sort of staggering to its feet, still half-asleep. We saw a lot of animals on the Camino – cows, sheep, dogs, and an enormous number of cats. We never saw one […]

Amidst the fields and flowers and vineyards of La Rioja, we walk an asphalt path towards the capital city, Logroño. Today’s walk was relatively easy, other than the fact that most of the day’s travel was on asphalt or pavement. I always say that a kilometer on pavement is worth two kilometers on anything else. It’s hard on the feet! […]

And just like that, in the quasi-industrial outskirts of the city of Logroño, we leave the Kingdom of Navarra and enter the Autonomous Community of La Rioja. This region was fought over by the Kingdoms of Castilla and Navarra for centuries. The western stretches were culturally Castillan, whereas the eastern parts were Navarrese. Eventually, the region developed its own personality […]

Sometimes, you just need to stop a moment. We’ve been walking several hours at this point, and Francine is pretty clearly in some pain. Thank goodness for socialized medicine! In the distance, you can see the city of Logroño. This is to be our lunchtime destination. I wrote in my journal that today was “walking to Logroño, followed by walking […]

We are approaching the end of Navarra, our first Spanish region in the Camino. Mind you, the next region we enter was part of Medieval Navarra and didn’t really exist in its current form until 1980. But more on that later. Most of the morning on this day was over hill and dale, through the Navarran vineyards, and ever closer […]

Just a little past Viana, possibly at a place marked “Cementerio” on my map, is this church. It’s hard to tell how old it is, since whatever the age it has clearly undergone extensive restoration and remodeling within the past few decades. It’s possible, of course, that “cementerio” refers to the surround fields of the undead, seen here pushing their […]