Category: Photo of the Day 2016

The Camino leaves Saint-Jean for the hilly French countryside of the Pyrenees. We left on the morning of the 30th of March and elected to walk the lower pass into Spain: the Valcarlos. Mostly, this was due to the fact that the upper pass, the Route Napoleon, was still closed by the Spanish authorities. Something about snow. In any case, […]

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We stayed in Saint-Jean at a pilgrim hostel named Beilari. You must reserve the night well in advance, and you must eat a communal dinner there with your fellow pilgrims. Our genial host Joseph made sure that we felt very welcome – our bunks even had mints on the pillows! Date: 29 March 2016 Place: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (France) This photo was […]

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After exploring the town a bit and purchasing our staves and Opinel at the aptly named Boutique du Pelerin, we sought some sustenance. We wandered a bit before talking with a lovely woman at the tourism office. We asked her to recommend a local place, and we weren’t disappointed. Date: 29 March 2016 Place: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (France) Café Ttipia is on […]

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After exploring the town a bit, Francine and I climbed up to the old citadel that looms over Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. The original medieval castle was knocked down in one of the innumerable border skirmishes between France and Spain in the Renaissance era. The current structure was built in the seventeenth century using the very latest in modern anti-cannon design. Date: 29 […]

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I hesitate to call the Rue de la Citadelle the main street of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, but it is the street that the Camino takes through the town. Most of the buildings date to the mid-18th century, and many of them have the date carved in the stone lintel above their front doors. The citadel itself looms over the little town – […]

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