Un...

• ....expected: Snow on the last day of April!

• ...planed : On today's agenda, Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross). Originally, this was possibly a place to worship Hermes, the Greek god of travelers. For thousands of years, people leave here a stone taken back from home. For Christians,this symbolizes that at Judgement Day, the stone hopefully will weight in favor of their good deeds. For others, this is the dropping of a "soul weight" i.e. something to forget, to leave behind. I am Gemini, so both, just in case! I planned to wake up when everyone had left my hotel, but before the pilgrims from the previous village catch up, and so be alone at the Cruz de Ferro. But I had not counted on the group of 40 Polish bikers that arrived just when I was having my mini-spiritual moment... At least, I got a pic taken by them!
• ....expected: After the plains from Castilla y Leon, landscape has become more varied and challenging to walk:

• ....likely: In Manjarin a village situated 9450km from Machu Pichu, already mentioned in XI century history books, but that somehow never took off, I met the only man living there with 2 cats, a dog and some chickens, caiming to be a knight of the Templars!

 

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Astorga (Asturica Augusta)

11'000 inhabitants, build on a hill surrounded by green fields on the foot of the first mountain since the Pyrenees. After 400km of plains, the Meseta has definitely come to an end today. Astorga has old churches and a house built by star-architect Gaudí for the local bishop: However to me, this could be the home of the Addams Family.

 

Sleeping again in a nuns convent tonight, however this time they are not secluded and do talk to outside world.

 

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SPICE PILGRIMS

One can classify pilgrims by nationality or by characteristics, similarly to the Spice Girls:

- Posh Pilgrim: Talks constantly money, prices and how successful they are in their carriers, how hard it was to get time off. They say they need to do the Camino asap, wear only label, colorful clothes (normally their rucksack is disproportionately large)

- Sporty Pilgrim: They do 2 recommended legs in one day. A home, they go to fitness regularly and have seen higher mountains than the Pyrenees. However, suddenly Sporty realizes this is a different way of walking and discovers -surprise- blisters and tendinitis. Often has to return back home, not making it to Santiago.

- Ginger Pilgrim: Likes to party, very loud and gregarious. Always first in the bar, if possible outside on the sun. Drinks local "vino" (color not important). The younger ones forget that their hostel has a curfew at 10 and you will find them desperately knocking at midnight to get in, sometimes at the wrong door.

- Baby Pilgrim: Minority, as this attracts the after-30 generation. Often walking with their mother, marching ahead and carrying large books in their hands.

- Scary Pilgrim: Very boring (avoid if possible.) Constantly talking about themselves, weather and how great they are to walk with two artificial knees (they explain operation also). Often knows and understands Spain better than the Spaniard, surprisingly without speaking a word of Spanish.

And then, there is Me pilgrim ... not on the picture:-)

 

 

 

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León: Repeat

Friday evening and León is heaving with people! Start of evening drinking cava with two Canadian pilgrims I have become friendly with, before hitting the Barrio Húmedo for a tapas dinner. When my colleagues left for the hotel, I went for a last drink to my regular bar (i.e the one I went yesterday). There were more people than the night before and next to me two girls talking about sushi. As my new favorite bar tender was busy working, I started to talk with them about sushi and sake. Conversation got more interesting, after an hour very personal also: It's amazing how people open up when they know they won't see each other ever again... Surely wine helped :-) Anyway, we became best friend for an evening, they showed me several bars, including "Glam" the in-place for the rich and beautiful. There I was with my (clean) sport trekking wear, talking and dancing (despite tired feet) up to 5am...

Foto con las chicas más guapas del "Senso"

 

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No Leons in Spain

The next cathedral after Burgos is in León (english: lion)....and what a cathedral! Built in the XIII century, when León only had 5'000 inhabitants, according to my guide "it is a pearl of neo-gothic architecture". According to my humble understanding, this means basically that the architects at the time discovered more lofty, higher ways of building than the Romans, resulting in more windows, light and higher towers. Also according to the guide, in that century alone, 200 cathedrals were erected in Europe.

After visiting the historic center including well preserved city walls, palaces, churches, a basilica (by importance: chapel, church, basilica and cathedral) and all the history of the ancient kingdom of León -covering in XII century half of Europe, from today's Portugal to Switzerland- Leon invites people to visit its Barrio Húmedo, humid quarter: 5 streets full of bars, pubs and restaurants, serving -what a surprise- original and fresh tapas and good local wines: After all, we are getting nearer to El Bierzo, a region that produces excellent wines, not yet commercialized abroad, but arguably as good as La Rioja. Back to Barrio Húmedo, infamously famous in northern Spain for going out. Hence, I was looking for a bid of party (Saint Jakob, forgive me!) and in good Spanish tradition, I started a pub crawl at 23h, just after dinner .... and found all the Barrio rather empty: Talking to bartenders (rather than myself, or walls for instance) they said it was very quite today, also due to economic crisis, people don't go out... it's shockingly sad .... Well, I will see what happens today, Friday. PS. You may ask yourself, why I talked to bartenders and not other pilgrims: There are none at that time of the night, 98% sleep in hospices and have curfew of 22h, if religious hospice 21h even....Basically when Spaniards start to dinner!

 

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CH

Lustige Sachen, die ich über die Schweiz gehört habe:

- Eine Italienerin war sich nicht ganz sicher über unser politisches System und fragte, ob wir eine Monarchie seien

- Zürich ist die Hauptstadt (öfters) und dann "Bern? Wie bitte?"

- Was redet ihr für eine Sprache? Ist Schweizerdeutsch wie Katalanisch?

- Ein Hamburger sagte mein Schweizerdeutsch sei klar und verständlich. Ich machte ihn darauf aufmerksam, dass ich Hochdeutsch mit ihm spreche...

- Eine Irländerin erklärte, die Schweiz sei ein Mini-Europa, das funktioniere.

 

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Full seclusion

Having an nun as an aunt, I have slept in a (nun) convent before. However, it is quite different to sleep in a XIII century convent run by Clarisian nuns, who live fully secluded from outside world, only exiting the convent to seek medical assistance, attend important meetings and voting. In Carrión de los Condes, I spent a night in such a convent: The hostel is in a separate wing of the convent and the recepionist is a layman, as the nuns do not normally talk to the pilgrims.

I have a friend of a friend, a young, bright, attractive women from a very wealthy family, well travelled, who decided one day to give up everything and become a Clarisian nun, seclude herself from the outside, including her (devastated) family for the rest of her life.... And whilst I think about ultimate sacrifice, another pilgrim said these women must have been deeply hurt by society: Whoever is right, this place is unique!

(My room is just above the entrance door)

The patio with XIII century columns:

The nuns celebrate a daily mass, open for public. The church is richly decorated, they sing beautifully all along and one can see the 14 nuns living in the convent curently: They sit at the back of the church in a separate room, behind iron bars.

 

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Pets

Today, I crossed San Anton, well, through the ruins of the XV century convent. Saint Anton is the patron of animals, as he used to heal and talk to them. One can easily recognize him on paintings, always pictured with a pig on his side. I found out that on his patron day (17th of January) in some Catholic Churches people are invited to bring their pets along for a special blessing.... Quite nice gesture!

 

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Traer turismo!

Qué bonito los Pirineos, bajar por los valles de Navarra, siguiendo la pista de Hemingway por Pamplona, hasta llegar al Ebro. Luego andar kilómetros entre las viñas de La Rioja, antes de llegar a ciudades preciosas, llenas de historia como Burgos. Cuando oigo a los peregrinos extranjeros maravillarse ante la catedral de Burgos y decir, OMG, no sabía que había ciudades tan bonitas en España, me doy cuenta lo mal que vendemos este país: En otros paíse, construyen una torre torcida y todo el mundo sabe que se trata de Pisa :-)

 

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Tell tale signs

So how comes I have not gone lost yet? The Way is very well indicated:

The traditional signs is an abstract scallop in the colors of the EU. Or just the scallop, carved/painted on stones. In between such signs, hand-painted yellow arrows on the pavements indicate direction.

In La Rioja, the local government overdid it by putting signs every kilometer, indicating how many kilometers to Santiago...T.M.I. particularly considering there are still over 400km to go. In villages, crucial buildings have the scallop painted on the wall, discretely on the corners. With the time one gets a feeling where these signs are, they become very obvious to the connoisseur. As a general roule, info in guidebook suffice to find the way and no additional maps or even a compass is needed.

I read somewhere that there are butterflies along the way and one realizes to be off, when there are none.... Nice legend, which I can't confirm: Too early for butterflies I guess!

 

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Burgos, the white city

Ancient capital of Castilla: No international airport nearby, therefore a bid aside of the normal tourist track, however Burgos (with 180'000 inhabitants the 36 biggest in Spain) is a architectonical jewel, particularly its completely restored city-centre, all in a characteristic white stone:

(Main entrance)

- A visit to the Cathedral (UNESCO world heritage) is like a walk through the architectural history of Europe. Construction started in 1221 AD so gothic mainly: However, as kings queens and cardinals came and went, each gave their personal touch to it, mostly by adding new chapels inside.

Also trendsetter, the main stair to an altar inside the Cathedral has been copied by the Opéra of Paris (the picture of Virgin Mary in the middle replaced, of course)

Further, Burgos has a medieval city wall, river, a museum of humankind and also, it is this years the gastronomical capital of Spain.... so again, excellent food and wine, tapas, little restaurants everywhere.....This way is becoming a bit of a gourmet journey!

 

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Cartoons in the church

It still feels like summer coming into Belorado, though temperatures are said to drop tomorrow by 10C. On first sight there is little to see and say about this village of 2019 people, typical for Castilla y Leon. A large market place surrounded by small bars and a couple of food shops, rest homes, all presided by -surprise- a church. A small riverbed with even less water nearby, and on the other side, behind the old center, new blocks max. 3 stores along the Main Street, all in white or ocre colours.

On second look, Belorado resulted very interesting: The tourist information has the nicest and most dedicated girl working there: so passionate about her job - loved that! And the local priest organizes tours of the church for free, explaining with passion its treasures: I now know how to read an altar piece, like a cartoon really: title and hero in the center (also name/patron saint of church) his friends around, above his weapons (symbolic virtues) his good father/mother on top and main adventures pictured around. No more boring moments visiting a church!

 

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Chicken

The legend says that a german cuple with their son Hugonell were on pilgrimage, when they stopped at Santo Domingo de la Calzada. The inkeeper's daughter was besotted by the handsome young men. However, pious as he was, he ignored her advances going to church instead. Unhappy, she hid a silver goblet in his baggage and accused him of theft. Eventually he was found guilty and hung. His grieving parents left the city and when walking past the tree their son was hung, found him alive with the cord still around his neck. They went back and told the story to the bishop, who was eating lunch. He laughed and said: Your child is a s dead as this chicken in my plate and the chicken in his plate became alive and started running around. Since then, the judges Santo Domingo carry a cord around their neck and the cathedral has a own hen-house with a hen and a rooster in the nave (PS. The chicken are exchanged every 21 days for their well-being)

Outside of the cathedral: The tower collapsed three times and was rebuilds near to, but not adjunct the cathedral, as the soil was found unstable/sandy.

 

 

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Hotel Marqués de Riscal

MY THOUGHTS TODAY ARE WITH THE VICTIMS OF THE BOSTON MARATHON ATTACK

It is a fact that spanish people like to eat good (and late) and their cuisine, particularly paella and tapas, are word famous -though any Spaniard will explain that there is much more to their cuisine than that. With this in mind, I arrived in Logroño, the capital of La Rioja, which in 2012 was declared the culinary capital of Spain. And for once it is not just a nice title: Rioja is home to excellent meat, fresh vegetables (asparagus, wild mushrooms and artichoke just to name my favorites) and in Logroño they live up to the title with their elaborate tapas, called "pintxos". A typical evening out in Logroño is to walk down the old city center, particularly around Calle Laurel (http://callelaurel.org) where one bar is aligned next to the other, each offering the most amazing pintxos. Hopp from one bar to the next, order fresh fried eggs in puffy pastry, calamares on serrano ham, tower of wild mushrooms or mini-hamburger with asparagus heads.... Everything is deliciously fresh, all served with local Rioja and at very affordable prices.

After a week of walking and loosing 2kg weight, I decided to go a-straight, leave the Way for four days and splash out in the Marqués de Riscal wine bodega cum hotel, designed by Mr. Frangearri as the receptonist told me. I was surprised to hear an italian name, as somehow I thought it was Frank O Gehry, which turned out to be correct - lost in pronunciation!

The hotel is surrounded by centenary wine yards, has a one star Michelin restaurant, modern-design rooms and airy balconies, where one can smoke cigars, enjoy premium wine and beautiful views on El Ciego, the nearby medevial village with a hudge cathedral.

Interesting the name of the villages in this region: El Ciego, "The Blind" and nearby Cenicero, "Asthrey" as well as Ventosa, "Windy". The word Rioja most likely comes from rio (river) and oja (forest in basque language).

Back to the Marqués de Riscal: The main shaholder is indeed the marquis of Riscal and the wine cellar is just impressive: They pride themselves to have good quality rather than quantity - and a tour through their cellars proves right: Imaculatly clean and organized, the more expensive the wine, the more traditional and centenary the cellar it is stored is and the oldest and best wines are stored in a cellar named La Catedral). Also their selling figures: 40% is sold in local market (Spain), 18% in the US and -surprisingly, considering there are only 8mln inhabitants- the third largest market is with 12% Switzerland... All three countries with excellent wine tastes I must add!

After this, I went to see the hotel's large sister, the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, also design by Gehry. The whole city is worth a visit: large parks everywhere, avenues along the river Nervion, palm trees. A clean and beautifully restaured old city centre full of bars serving excellent food, similarly to Logroño, and the new high tech part: below looks like a computer designed picture, but it's not. I remember back in the early 70ties my parents would not stop their car because the city was constantly covered under a cloud of grey smogg and it was considered a dirty, unhealthy, industrial city. In the 80ties metal industry lost importance and in middle of a recession, Bilbao opened in 1997 the Guggenheim museum: Suddenly tourists started to poor in, reason to clean up the historical city center, build modern metro and tramway, cool design hotels... airlines schedule flights and even cruise ships dog at the cities port....All this is now known as the Guggenheim effect!

 

 

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Last day in Navarra

I slept in the vilage of Torres del Rio, 40 inhabitants and according to a lady carrying a white puddle in her arm (which I happen to ask for directions) "the other 39 people are superfluous": I think I just met the most popular person in the village.

Besides a large church, Torres Surprises with a chapel dedicated to the holy sepulcre:I knew about the crusades and the Knights of the Holy Sepulcre in Jerusalem, but did not expect one here: An octagonal chapel with almost no decoration or furniture inside but a crucifix. The guard is now a talkative lady (the one pictured left) rather than a knight, who charges one euro to explain that last year whilst the main church was being renovated, a woman died in the village, but her corpse was not allowed in for a last mass, as the chapel needed to be kept pure.

Summary: After walking 165km across the kingdom of Navarra, with some snow in the Pyrenees temperatures getting warmer by the day, sun replacing clouds and nature weaking up after this long winter, I crossed today Viana, with its hudge cathedral (where the son of pope Alexandre VI, Cesar Borgia, nobleman, cardinal and military general lays buried) and its beautiful town hall.

....And I am now officially leaving Navarra to enter the autonomous region of La Rioja - yes, it isn't just a wine label :-)

 

 

 

 

 

Publicado con Blogsy

Fuente de Vinos / Wine Fountain

"Over seven bridges you must go"... This one spans above the river Salado (salty river) that according to a XII manuscript said "the water in this river is so poisonous that any horse drinking from it, dies immediately" I had a pick-nick over looking the green water.... "no one can swim in the same river twice " goes a Spanish saying.

Soon after I arrived at Estella Lizarra. In the eleven century, king of navarra invited French colons to come and also channeled the Jakobsway way through it (at the time it passed more south). The city prospered and became the most important stop on the Jacobsway. It boast 4 large churches, a palace of the kings of Navarra (on the picture) bustling city squares and along the curling river Ega, described by the XII century manuscript as "very clean".

On the outskirts, I passed the Fuente de Vinos (wine fountain) where the Bodegas of Iriche invites pilgrims to a glass of their red (and water for the non drinkers, though I have met none so far on the Way)

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Puente de la Reina & Los Arcos

In Puente de la Reina (bridge of the queen) two ways to Santiago merge to one. In fact, there are several ways: the Northern one, the French one, the silver one etc. Depending on which region in Europe pilgrims came from, they passed the Pyrenees at different points. Interestingly, I have not yet marched a third, and people already praise how much more beautiful and interesting other Ways are.It's like being on holidays on an island and you go to the nicest beach: There will always be someone telling you there is an even nicer beach around the corner! Ultimately, all ways here seem to lead to Santiago (better so as otherwise I may get lost...)

What surprises me again and again are the large churches along the Way: Every village has one, always in complete disproportion with the population living there and too opulently ornamented. Unfortunately due to thefts they are often only open for mess, so that we pilgrims can't enter them during the afternoon and have to make the best to imagine the interior based on our guidebooks. Apparently during high season, the churches open for tourist asking. (Picture of church in Los Arcos, 1'200 inhabitants)

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Village of Cizur

Walking out of Pamplona, I passed a tiny village and 30min later my walking baton broke in the middle of a green field.

No village nearby (only some ruins) surely no repair shop in the next village... only one person on my path, a man in his seventies with two batons. Eureka, surely he knows how to fix one! So we got to talk. He asked me where I was from. It turned out he had lived in my hometown, where he worked for a chemical company back in the 60ties. I told him that more likely it was another company, as the company he mentioned only exists since early 80ties.... Surprised he asked me how I knew this. Because my grandfather was a director there. When I said his name, he stopped and with incredible eyes quoted the exact department my grandfather had worked and some family details. My turn to be surprised! Under other circumstances, I would never have talked to this stranger and rather waited to find a repair shop. He also walked to Santiago years ago. We exchanged tips and shook hands, promising to keep in contact. El mundo es un pañuelo, the word is a handkerchief we say in Spanish (referring to size rather than cleaness) PS. He did repair my walking baton.

 

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