Day 38 and 39. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

This is a museum of modern art. My ankle did not allow me to stay for too long so I came back twice. The space, and much of the art, are marvelous.

  

How can you not be intrigued by a building that looks like this?

This big dog is outside with flowers painted all over him. 

From an upper level, looking down on a bunch of tulips and a bunch of people. 

Part of their permanent collection Richard Serrat's The Matter of Time. These plates of steel are about three inches thick and 14 feet high. Notice the people walking around and in. 

A giant spider. 

And I guess this is the end of the blog. I come home on Saturday, June 25. The end of this adventure. The beginning of whatever comes next. All I can say is that I'm so ready to be back home. 

Day 38. Trip to Bilbao

It is difficult to express my delight as the dry plains of Madrid yielded to the green hills of what I find I have come to think of as "my Spain" the northern area through which the Camino France's runs.

A stained glass window in the Bilbao train station. 

Day 37. Trip to Toledo

I took a half day bus trip to Toledo, because this is one of the cities that still shows lots of signs of the time when Spain was largely ruled by the Muslims and there were Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities coexisting.

The Spanish do like thei pork and ham. These are ham sandwiches stuffed with pork. 

One of the most beautiful and interesting buildings in Toledo was the White Synagogue. 

These are alabaster windows. 

The detailed decorative carving at the top of the columns in the white synagogue was striking. 

The most disturbing part of the day was the attitude of the guide. She seemed to regard the expulsion of Jews, Muslims, and Gypsies from the country and the establishment of the Inquisition in 1492 as something that had been a beneficial and necessary thing. She also kicked a Sikh member of our party out of an active church since he could not remove his turban. "I understand that it is because you are a Hindi, but this is a Christian holy place so...out". 

He left graciously, but when several of us approached him later to express our dismay at the  actions of the guide, he pointed out that Sikh holy places always have four doors to symbolize their openness to everyone. It was hard to know how to respond to the guide's actions. 

Day 36. El Prado and the Mercado de San Miguel

I got a late start in the morning by waiting until my roommates checked out so that I could claim one of their lower bunks. Not going to make that climb for the next two nights here.

As expected then the line for the museum was quite long. What I did not expect was for the museum staff to seek me out and allow me to jump the line because of my walking sticks. I felt a little fraudulent taking them up on this but about two hours or less in the museum did me in, so I was quite grateful.

They stopped me from taking pictures in the museum, so I have little to show.  One of the works that really struck me was one I am quite familiar with, Fra Angelico's Annunciation. Picture here. Either I had seen other versions of this, or they had been cropped to show only the main scene. Anyway, this version of the scene shows Adam and Eve being kicked out of the garden in the background--the problem to which this moment bears the solution. Across the bottom are key scenes from Matys life--a scene that might be Joseph discovering that she is pregnant, visiting Elizabeth, the birth of Jesus, the presentation in the temple, and the dormition of Mary at the end of her life. I really liked the increased richness of the painting with all the additional detail

I enjoyed the museum but was tired and sore quickly. In the evening I discovered the Mercado de San Miguel. Think a smaller version of the Reading Market in Philadelphia.

A display of different olives. 

Sausages in paper twists like one might sell candied nuts. 

Various artistic tapas. 

Day 35. Train Ride to Madrid

As I walked to the train early in the morning, the old city was shrouded in mist and looking lovely though my picture didn't catch what I was seeing

The train ride was uneventful. The landscape gradually shifted from the green hills of Galicia to the dry plains in the middle part of Spain surrounding Madrid.

As the comedy team of Flanders and Swann noted, despite everything you may have heard to the contrary, the rain in Spain stays almost invariably in the hills. 

Arrival in Madrid was a shock. This is a big city! (Duh!). With two main railroad stations, both a metro and an intra city rail system. I was nowhere near my hotel, and unprepared to navigate. But the information center got me straightened out and I found my way to The Hat, a hostel fairly near the sites I thought I might like to see. This is a hostel and I'm paying for a room with two bunk beds. They've given me an upper bunk, which proves torturous to climb into given my ankle. The last step is about 18 inches high and I have a hard time with it. Tomorrow I'll arrange for a lower bunk. I'm glad I paid for the smaller room. There are huge tour groups of college and teenagers using the big rooms and I'm seeing some serious horseplay through the windows in the hallway. My room is older young career folks, wanting to save money while traveling. On the Camino I was frequently in rooms with many fellow travelers but people were extremely courteous to letting fellow peregrinos get rest. We all knew how exhausted we felt. 

The Plaza Mayor is right up the street from me and I got dinner there. 

Day 34. The End of the World

Here I am at the end of the world, Finisterre in Spanish and Fisterra in Galician which is the official language of this part of Spain. The Romans decided this was the end of the line, as far west as one could go on land.  It's also been an end point for the Camino in addition to Santiago and pilgrims used to burn their clothes here.

The fishing village of Fistera. I ran into fellow pilgrims here and had lunch with them. J 

These grain storage bins are all over Galicia, in everyone's backyard if the house is old. They are no longer used according to our guide. I was particularly struck by what she said about the symbols on top. The cross is obvious but the other things flanking it are a symbol for the fertility of the fields!  A pretty old symbol, if true. 

Day 33. Santiago day 2

I spent most of the morning planning out the rest of my stay in Spain. Walked to the train station and bought tickets from here to Madrid on Monday morning and fron Madrid to Bilbao on Thursday. Came back and sat on the front steps of the Albergue (not allowed in the rooms from 9:30-1:00), using the Internet to book hotel rooms--a hostel for Madrid, a real hotel for Bilbao. Booked a half day tour of Toledo from Madrid. Wasn't able to book a bus tour of Fonisterre in the morning, but ran into someone in the afternoon who happily signed me up.

Then I set out to be a tourist. I toured the Cathedral and discovered that I have had enough of churches for right now. I skipped the Cathedral museum. They are repairing the front of the Cathedral and I think some of the traditional pilgrim stopping points were in the area being repaired.

I was amused by all the little cherubs playing around the organ pipes. I wonder who decided that angels should be represented by naked babies. And I wonder if this picture of baby angels has been comforting through the years to parents who have had babies die. I don't believe people become Angels after death, but if you thought so, maybe baby angels would be a comforting idea. 

Gold, gold, and more gold. I'm tired of it for now. 

A closer look at the botafumero that they swing. 

Probably the most interesting thing that I saw was the bishop, a full hour after the pilgrim's mass was over, chatting with a pair of pilgrims. I don't know who they were or what they were talking about but it felt like the man must have a pastors heart to be so engaged with individuals. 

Everywhere I go I am running into people who recognize me and remember me from earlier in the trip. "You made it!  We wondered about you. When did you get here?"  

Day 32. 7:30 Mass

I was looking forward to attending this mass because it is the one where they swing the giant incense carrier.  Sorry for the varied fonts in this post. Not sure I can fix it from the phone. This is taken from a letter I wrote to my family right afterwards.

I got to the Cathedral by about 5:30.  There was a line which I promptly joined, behind a nun who was shepherding a classroom full of third or fourth graders.  To be honest I thought I was in line to buy tickets. I knew mass would be free but thought I might be too early for that. I figured I would stroll around the Cathedral sight seeing and be in plenty of time to grab a fairly good seat. Hah!  

The line I was in turned out to be the line where you go behind the altar to touch the statue of St James that is the central figure behind the altar. I dutifully touched my head to the figure and murmured a prayer of thanks but it was fascinating to watch the faces of some of the kids as they did this. By the time I got out into the main Cathedral seats were beginning to fill up. I grabbed a seat at the front side where the thurible crew were going to start. The seats were marked reserved for people with a pilgrims credential though no one came by to check. Still most of us look pretty battle worn or at least a bit grubby by now. 

By six there were almost no seats in the 1000 seat Cathedral. By 6:30, people were sitting at the base of the pillars and standing at the back. The people in my pew spoke English but it was a LOOONG wait because about every 10 minutes a man in an official vest would advance to the mike and say "shhhh!" And something in Spanish that seemed to boil down to please respect this place and the mass by waiting in silence.

We more or less ignored this and chatted quietly for a while but there was a long time of silent waiting. 

About 10 minutes before the time, a nun advanced to the mike and patiently taught us a three line chorus to a processional and a response to the psalm of the day. This would have gone somewhat better from my point of view had I had any idea what the words actually were. But together we managed to produce a respectable backup to the nuns clear and powerful lead. 

The mass was con celebrated by about 12 backup priests and the bishop. I think some of the priests 

were pilgrims from various countries. Some came from the place I'm staying. ( I can follow a very little bit of Spanish). They explained who the priests were and welcomed assorted delegations that had been seated in front. They then proceeded to welcome pilgrims who had started from various cities by nationality. Only Americans from Pamplona today--so that's me, and my sister by proxy. 

We went into the mass proper. Someone from the delegations read the Old Testament reading. I did not manage to follow it well enough to pick out what story it was except that there were kings and priests and the people of Israel. The gospel reading was from the sermon on the mount and by the second half of the reading I managed to understand a few verses. The nun sang the psalm. Then to my dismay we had speeches by representatives of five delegations. 
These were addressed to the bishop, who then 
personally greeted each reader and hugged them or 
blessed them in some other way (very personal and based no doubt on the 30 second private. conversation he had with each one). This was clearly immensely powerful for the folks in the delegations and especially the speakers. Less so for those of us whose Spanish was not up to the task. 

The sermon related pilgrimage to the scripture of the day and I couldn't follow more than one word in twenty.

They used English as well as Spanish to say don't take communion if you are not a Catholic. 

The incense thing didn't happen until the very end. While they were getting set up the bishop explained that this wasn't just something to attract tourists but an act of worship with the incense representing the prayers of the people rising to God.

The thing with the incense in it is this huge silver contraption maybe about 24 inches in diameter at the base. When it gets flying back and forth it's like a huge wrecking ball and they loft it high up into the space at the sides. You smell surprisingly little of the incense. The nun sang the whole time the thing was flying. The said no photos during mass but no one was obedient during this thing. 

I left and sat down to dinner alone but a fellow pilgrim I knew stopped in to introduce her mother and we ended up three at a two person table. It was lovely and I was able to have a small portion of octopus (its ok) and some other things too. Got back to my room at 10. 

Sorry this is so long. Trust you can skim and glance at photos. 

Love, 

Becky

Sent from my iPhone

Day 32. Arrival in Santiago

I stayed last night at Monte de Gozo, the first place travelers used to be able to see the Cathedral of Santiago. I wanted to arrive in the city fresh. I arrived in the rain, but was too lazy to go back up the hill to try to see when things cleared up in the evening. And this morning as I start, the valley is shrouded in mist.

Last night I did have a good conversation with one of the young folks working at the desk. She is from Poland and last year walked the last 100k of the Camino. And found that on the walk, the faith she had been raised in became real to her and became her own. This year, she and a friend returned to walk for 13 days (the Camino del Norte, a different route than the one I took, and then to serve at a hostel for an additional 13 days.  B

This is the monument on the top of the Monte de Gozo, the Mount of Joy. 

Artwork on the way into the city. I'm not sure whether this is meant to be a dancing star it an octopus, but I liked it. 

Pilgrims entering the city.  There is a steady stream of ones and twos and tens and forties. Two days before I arrived, over fifteen hundred pilgrims completed their pilgrimage in the city. Yesterday 1300. 

This strange and cheerful fellow was begging near the Cathedral. The beak clacks. 

I tried to go into the Cathedral museum but they sent me off to collect my Compostela certificate. I'm glad I went when I did.  There was a long line for the many folks who sit to inspect your credential booklet with all its stamps and issue certificates. It was a long line when I got there but it got a lot longer. Ozone one told me that they talked to someone later in the day who waited more than five hours. I waited less than an hour for which I am grateful. 

They give you the Coompostela for free if you have gone more than 100k by foot or 200 by bike and will say that part of your reason for doing this was religious. They hand out a different certificate of completion of it wasn't religious. For 3e they will certify how far you have walked, and for 2e they will sell you a cardboard tube to get these documents home. I happily paid the 5e.  The fellow behind the desk was willing to add up the different segments I had walked, but I had trouble remembering the name of the endpoint of my shortest event, 7.5k. Because of the length of the lines behind me we just left this out. So I am certified as having walked 469k. 

It turns out you need to leave your backpack outside of the church. I decided to head for my Albergue, the Seminario Menor where I have reserved a single room (shared bathroom) for three nights at 15 e per night. My room turns out to be on the third floor of a building that I enter on floor -1. No elevators and it feels like I have to walk about a mile to get to my room. Seriously, the building is about the size of a football field. But it is nice to have the privacy of a room to myself. 

Interestingly, there is a sink in my room (cold water only) and no sinks in the bathrooms. 

Days 30 and 31. What has the Camino Taught Me

As I walked through these days there was sin and rain. Sometimes there were hordes of people on the path. Amazingly, a lot of the time I seemed to be almost alone on the path. I found a walking partner who was almost as lame as I was and we walked together a good deal.
The path went by farms and gardens and through woods. Some of the woods were lovely, but no lovelier than the woods back home.

But it seems to be a good time for taking stock. What have I learned on the Camino?  What has this trip done for me or to me?  I've had momentary flashes of insight, some of which have been recorded here, but if I am like a computer, this trip has not been filled with spiritual software downloads. I do not have any life changing insights for the way ahead. At least, not yet.

Physically, I'm a lot stronger. Hopefully I've lost some weight.  My pants sure seem looser.  My diabetes has responded well to the increased exercise--my blood sugar has been wonderfully under control on this trip. And in exchange, I'm somewhat lame. My ankle will take weeks to finish healing, absent a healing miracle. I'm confident that the blessings on this trip have been well worth the pain. I've gained some increased facility in starting conversations with strangers, whether or not I speak their language or they speak mine. I'm much more competent at living out of a backpack. But how well those skills will translate to life at home I have my doubts.

One small lesson in competence hat I hope too be able to hang on to is that how easily you start in the morning is directly related to how well you planned for that the day before. Had to do this on the trail. But I'd like to keep doing it in regular life.

The most important thing that I think I have gained I don't have good words for, and I'm not even sure I'm right about it. If we return to the computer analogy, I think I may have gotten an upgraded operating system. I suspect that there is an increased breadth of mind and heart. Only time will tell if that's real--and maybe I won't be the one who sees the changes.

I will say that whatever I have gotten, I am very grateful to have been able to do this trip. One Tshirt I saw said "The Camino is Ike riding a bike--you never forget".

The one souvenir I am eager to purchase is a small magnet that says. "Aqui vive una peregina". A pilgrim lives here. Not so much as a boast that I have done it (though make no mistake--it is that) as a reminder of the real pilgrimage we are all on. As one old song says, "This world is not my home, I'm just a-passing through..."

I added it up, and found that I've walked 475 k from city to city.  295 miles. Despite the shortening of the trip due to ankle problems I am pleased and proud.

Day 29. The First Day of Real Rain

Apologies for being so delayed in posting. For some reason, the interface with the phone is making it harder and harder to work with pictures and these posts. But I am well and will see what I can do to add things I wrote at the time.

This is the first day that I got up and had to get ready to go out in the rain. It drizzled and even did a little more than that all morning. But it was really lovely walking.
The real problem with rain is that it's a tricky balance between staying dry from the rain and being soaked by your own sweat. I have a very fancy raincoat with all kinds of vents, which I have unzipped-- I still get sweat-soaked. But it was cool, and not too slippery underfoot.

At Palas de Rei, they had a lovely route marker:

And I also liked this statue encouraging Camino walkers. 

Day 28. Galicia is Different

I have moved into a land of hills once again. Free range chickens and cows everywhere. Spanish beef is on the tough side. I suspect that this is because it is all grass-fed. Seems like a much better life for the cows. Passed a whole bunch of calves out grazing with their mothers. Lots nicer than seeing the calves in little houses, separated from moms for maximum milk production.

A stone cross, featuring Mary with the dead body of Jesus in her arms.

And chickens in the rain. 

By the time I got to my Albergue it was drizzling and I'd gone a little further than I'd predicted in the morning. I'd promised myself to stop at the next place, having already stopped at one place that was full up. As I approached I heard dogs barking and a horrendous noise that brought to mind Dantes Inferno. Not auspicious but I stopped anyway, since yesterday was one day too many of going farther than was wise. Exploring after I checked in I discovered that there is some sort of soccer camp happening across the street. In addition to soccer fields they have a gym. I was hearing cheers magnified by the cavernous gymnasium and funneled through the open door. 

I'm in a jumbo-sized Albergue tonight, apparently built to house 200. But only a maximum of 60 in my room. They had a wonderful coon operated washer and dryer so some of my slow to dry clothes actually got clean. And for 60 people (or maybe 200) they have 2 plugs for charging devices. One each in the men's bathroom and ladies bathroom. But I checked in early so my battery got fully charged. And it looks like our room will not be filled unless we have a late flood of pilgrims. 

Hoping to make it to Santiago by Friday. For those of you who pray I'd appreciate prayers for continued (and complete) healing for my ankle and for wisdom as I figure out each day how much walking is reasonable. I have far more stamina than I had to begin--but because of the ankle it's important not to push it

Day 26. The Last Leg

yesterday I decided that the time had come to head for the final stretch of the Camino. This traditionally starts at Sarria, about 100k from Santiago. Actually, it's more like 113 k and my whole walk today only brought me to a place that claims to be 99.5 k from the destination.

I was out on the road before 5 to be sure of catching the 5:35 am train from Astorga to Sarria.

The city was very quiet and peaceful as I left. 

Sarria has lovely mosaics in the sidewalk to mark the Camino. 

The path wound uphill through woods and past small farms. This was an amazing looking hollow tree. The woman is walking the Camino with her dog. 

A church had quite a few banks of above ground burial slots. 

He or she was not entirely sure about letting me pass but was fairly placid about it. 

Ups and Downs and Decisions

Today I was set to try a short walk without my pack. So I sent my pack ahead to La Virgen del Camino. Despite a late start at 8 am, I got there before 10. Toured the church which commemorates someone's vision of Mary.  It's a modern building.

The Albergue didn't open until noon, and by then I had decided to collect my backpack and take a bus to Astorga, the next largish city on the route. Alas, when they opened it was discovered that the message to the backpack carriers had not gone through. My backpack was still back at the hotel. However, it is amazing how much faster buses are than feet. The bus back to Leon left at 12:45. By 1:35 I was back at the hotel repacking everything and heading for the train station to get to Astorga. I checked into the hotel at 4:00, recovered until 5:00 and "did" Astorga until 7:00, including Roman ruins, the Cathedral, two Cathedral-related museums, and the chocolate museum. It appears that chocolate has been made in Astorga since the sixteenth century. In its heyday there were 400 different chocolate making establishments in the city. I also bought a ticket for a train to Sarria. I had a choice between one leaving at 3 am and one leaving at 5:35 am. Later trains are sold out. So as soon as I finish this post I'm showering, setting the alarm and collapsing into bed. Sarria is the starting point for the last 100k of the Camino which you have to walk if you want a certificate of completion. Because of the ankle I'm going to skip the rest but head for the goal of completion. 

The Astorga CathedrL is probably what the audio guide in Leon called "florid Gothic". Lots of ornate carving, very detailed work. The front altarpiece is filled with naked cherubs between the biblical scenes. I don't know if it's Renaissance or Baroque but these aren't cute little naked babies but naked teenage boys, though posed to avoid showing any genitals. It's still a bit distracting. 

I was impressed at the scenes displayed over the main church door. These are very deeply carved. In addition to a picture of Jesus being taken down from the cross they showed Jesus cleansing the temple and Jesus toting on the ground when they brought him the woman taken in adultery.  Astorga has a history of being one of the few cities along the Camino route that was willing to open up its Albergues to house homeless people when that became necessary. I wonder whether the kind of stories that their church displayed fed into their being willing to help the poor in a special way in a time of need,

Finally, I liked this picture in the Church Museum. The subject is Saint Anthony, one of the first desert fathers. He fought with demons who tried to beat him up, but he ultimately prevailed by the name of Jesus. I kind of like the imaginative detail of the demons here. 

Day 24. More of Leon

I went to three Leon museums today, and did some trivial stuff like buying myself a change purse. (There are one and two e coins that were getting stuck in the bottom of my pouch.

At the first museum there was a whole bunch of school kids going through. And a big exhibit that showed Roman artifacts. Our kids dream of finding Indian arrowheads. Can you imagine the thoughts of finding a Roman coin?  Or something like this stone?

Yes, it's a property market that says "Private". Later in the day I found myself walking along the old Roman walls of the city. You can see the back of the cathedral at the end of them. 

I also went to the Basilica of San Isidora. This was a Romanesque church that must be just before Gothic came in. Anyway in its day it was a pattern that many Spanish churches copied.