Walking the Camino de Santiago
In the pre-dawn hours of April 19, 2016, Francine and I took the train from Sahagún to León. It was basically a commuter trip. Once we got into the city, we checked into the Albergue de Peregrinos San Francisco de Asís en León, a former Capuchin monastery, where we got a room. Sort of a tiny suite, actually. Then we […]
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The train station is just a few blocks from our albergue. This photo is here because the time had come to make a painful decision. We’ve been beset by injuries, rain, and the results of epic rain – mud and flood. Several times, two-day stretches of the Camino have taken us three days. Since we had time constraints – the […]
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Francine can tell you more about these lovely German (Austrian? Swiss?) ladies we ran into several times on the Camino. This was the last time we saw them, and I’m glad we got this photo, as they were delightful. They are standing in front of the Irish pub from yesterday’s photo. Date: 18 April 2016 Place: Sahagún (Castilla y León, […]
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Given my posts over the past days, you would be forgiven for thinking that Sahagún was nothing but ruins. It is not! As proof, here is Francine in the only Irish pub we found on the Camino. She’s got her serious face on for the photo, but we had a great time with our fellow pilgrims in Sahagún. Date: 18 […]
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This will be my final photo in this series of the magnificent ruins of the Monasterio Real de San Benito in Sahagún. This time, I’ve provided Francine for scale, as she walks through their stark beauty. They remain a sad reminder of the magnificent devotion of a thousand years of Benedictine monks and their brutal suppression over just a few […]
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Another portion of Sahagún’s ruined Monasterio Real de San Benito. Several stark reminders of the former glory of this great abbey stand throughout the town center, with streets and shops standing in the middle of what was once the great monastic complex and church. Date: 18 April 2016 Place: Sahagún (Castilla y León, Spain)
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In 1820, the Spanish government dissolved the monasteries. The monks were turned out into the street. Moveable goods were plundered. Land and buildings were seized and auctioned off, block by block. Ruins of the various parts of the old Royal Monastery of Saint Benedict rise like ghosts throughout the central portions of modern Sahagún. The medieval town of Sahagún grew […]
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Sahagún is full of public art, old churches, picturesque ruins, and charming bars and cafés. This particular statue may be found near a church on the Camino as you are heading for the town center. If I’m remembering correctly, there’s actually a visitor / tourist center across from it, which I suspect is the first since Pamplona. They would become […]
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Finally, we have arrived in the town of Sahagún – pronounced disturbingly like Z’ha’dum for you Babylon-5 fans. This is where we elected to stay the night: Albergue Viatoris. The place is inexpensive, quirky, cavernous, and comfortable with a great common room divided into pods of two or three bunks each. Sahagún is one of the most pilgrim-friendly and utterly […]
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Today’s photo complements yesterday’s. This time it’s me with the statue of the guy who put Sahagún on the map as an important waystation on the Camino. Bernardo de Sédirac became the first Cluniac Abbot of Sahagún and kicked off a reform of northern Spain’s monasteries. In the statue he is depicted as carrying Saint Benedict’s Rule, emblazoned with the […]
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