Walking the Camino de Santiago
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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At the Spanish Camino’s halfway point are monumental statues of King Alfonso VI “El Bravo” of León, Castille, and Galicia (1065 – 1109) and Abbot Bernardo de Sédirac of Sahagún (d. 1125). These two gentlemen can fairly be said to have unified northern Spain and created the Crown of Castille as the premiere economic, religious, and military power in Iberia. […]
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As with yesterday’s photo, we are just outside of the town of Sahagún at the halfway point in the Spanish portion of the Camino Francés. We spent some time resting here, thinking over our progress and the days to come. For today, it would be enough to finish the walk into town and find an albergue. Date: 18 April 2016 […]
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This chapel and its associated monuments, just outside of the town of Sahagún, is the halfway point in the Spanish portion of the Camino Francés. It’s an interesting spot and worth spending a moment to explore, but also to simply sit and rest and contemplate that half your journey is now over. And half is yet to come. So of […]
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Unlike the three signs when we entered Palencia Province, there is only one lone marker telling you that you are leaving. It sits, forlorn, at the base of a snazzy modern bridge over the now much wider N-120 Highway – a bridge that we must cross. It’s a harrowing journey for anybody with a problem with heights. Bonus photo! Closeup […]
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After lunch, we continued our Camino parallel to the N-120 highway, towards our planned evening stop in the city of Sahagún. It remained perfect walking weather: cool and clear. We made pretty decent time today, despite Francine’s continuing issues with her foot. However, a fateful decision looms. Date: 18 April 2016 Place: Between San Nicolás del Real Camino and Sahagún […]
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Liminal spaces. Passages from one place and time to another. They fascinate me. What lies behind this door? What transformation occurs as I pass through this gate? Who lives beyond? I took a lot of door and gate photos on both Caminos – enough for a book, really – and there is no reason to suppose I will ever stop. […]
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The artwork in the bar where we had lunch in San Nicolás del Real Camino was… disturbing. Here is Peregrino Brian from Evergreen being… disturbed. I’m somewhat shocked that I only took a photo of this particular painting, as I’m sure I remember many others just as odd. Date: 18 April 2016 Place: San Nicolás del Real Camino (Castilla y […]
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