Walking the Camino de Santiago
I stepped into the abbey church of Sainte-Foy, still wearing my pack. After the quick morning pace and that last steep descent, my legs felt like rubber. Nevertheless, when I stepped into the church, with monks preparing the church for Mass and people already starting to gather, all of the aches and fatigue faded into nothing. Here’s what I later […]
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Today is the first anniversary of my arrival in Santiago following my thousand-mile walking pilgrimage on the Via Podiensis and Camino Francés. From August 18 through October 23, 2023, I walked from Le Puy-en-Velay in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain on pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostle Saint James the Greater. I received my pilgrim blessing from […]
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Ten years ago today, I got on an airplane to go to a country I’d never been before. I didn’t speak the language. And I was going to walk 500 miles across the country, mostly alone. The plan was to meet up with Francine in León, which is more than halfway to Santiago, a couple of weeks into the walk. […]
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May you have a happy feast of Saint James! For today’s photo of the day, I thought we’d do something special. Many years ago, I posted here about the Camino tattoo that I planned to get someday. Well, “someday” happened this year in Santiago. Thanks to Callie actually scheduling for us, all three of us got some ink to commemorate […]
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May the second looms large in my life. On this day in 2013, Francine and I walked into Santiago de Compostela for the first time, at the end of our first Camino. At this point, Francine had been walking for almost two weeks, and me for more than a month. I can’t describe the joy of that day. Arrival in […]
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Francine stands in front ofthe tiny Benedictine monastery in Rabanal. Here, with four monks, you can pray Vespers, Compline, and the Mass, often on the same day. From my journal of the previous day: … we’d hoped to find a Mass at Rabanal, as we had been told of a 7PM Mass, but in the event it proved to be […]
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Here, Eamon takes a moment to contemplate his breakfast churros. After waiting around for the place to open, it did not disappoint. I have a distinct memory of the first time I ate churros in Spain, and how utterly delightful they were, warm and dipped in chocolate. I’m not entirely certain if it was here or a little later on […]
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The Felisa stamp has been described as “one of the most sought after on the camino“. What’s odd about it is that Felisa isn’t a place. Felisa is a person. Or, rather, Felisa was a person; she died in October 2002. She sat for many years at a weatherbeaten desk beside the Camino just before Logroño, offering water, figs, a […]
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Sometimes Francine refers to the Camino as “eating your way across Spain”. It’s only partly a joke. Since you’re walking 20 to 30 kilometers on any given day, you quickly develop an appetite well out of the bounds of your usual eating habits. Couple with that the amazing regional varieties of cuisine, and even the lowly menu del día or […]
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The interior of the Iglesia de Santa María de Eunate is lit by sunlight shining through alabaster windows. Apologies for the poor quality of the photo. Someday I pledge to get a better one! The inside might not look like much, but here’s what I wrote in my journal that day: The rough pews faced a plain altar, and a […]
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