Shirley on the Camino

The Camino Through La Rioja...Viana to Grañon

Jun 27, 2009
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Here are more photos from the Camino...our walk through the beautiful vineyards of La Rioja, the lovely capital city of Logroño, and the delightful village of miracles Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

Logroño was a wonderful surprise. I felt great about this town the minute I laid eyes on it. There, circling over the church towers, were the storks I had heard so much about, and had been looking forward to seeing. I felt welcome by them, crossed the river and entered the town. Logroño is where we were invited to join the Gastronomic society for dinner...I blogged about that earlier...

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I took a lot of photos of Navarrete because of my friend Cynthia Navarrete! I wanted to show her the town that has her name... I walked to Nareja...I was walking alone that day. Jana wasn't feeling well and stayed in Logroño that day to rest. I arrived in Nareja on May 1, Labor Day, only to find that there was a huge festival happening and not a single room or bed available anywhere. I scrambled, found the bus stop, called Jana and she got on the computer and found me a room in the next town while I boarded the bus.

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Fortunately, the next town was the beautiful village of Santo Domingo de la Calzada. A town with its own miracle, its own saint, and a centuries old tradition and history related to the Camino and the pilgrims. I arrived on a Friday night and stayed at the new Parador...quite possibly the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. The next morning, while I waited for Jana to join me, I went to the farmers market...it was filled with such beautiful food. We ended up staying two nights in Santo Domingo, waiting for the Labor Day weekend crowds to subside before proceeding with our walk across La Rioja. The miracle, by the way, has to do with a rooster coming back to life after it was roasted, which saved the life of some wrongly accused pilgrim. There are a chicken and a rooster in the cathedral, and it crowed the whole time we were in the church. It was delightful...

The Camino through Basque Country...St. Jean Pied du Port to Estella

Jun 11, 2009
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Now that I'm home on my comfy couch watching a baseball game and with the laptop on my lap, I finally have time to comb through the 1300+ images I shot on the Camino and try and post a few of them. I'll try not to repeat too many images, but also show what the Camino was like, and show the variation in weather, terrain, flora, food and people...the beauty we experienced as we slowly traveled across Spain, 13 - 19 miles a day. Walking across a country is a wonderful way to really get to know a place. I feel like I know what Spain smells like and tastes like. I know what the light looks like at different times of day. I know how the air feels on my skin, and how the sounds of the church bells change from one part of the country to another. It's a lovely way to travel...

This is the Camino from the point at which we began in Basque Country, starting at the border with France in the mountain village of St. Jean Pied du Port, climbing up and over the mountain pass through the Pyranees Mountains into Spain at Roncesvalles, continuing down the foothills to Pamplona, then across the beautiful vineyards of Navarra towards the border of the next province, La Rioja.

I began my trip flying to Madrid and then traveling to Pamplona, where I worked a couple of days, consulting with a film crew was preparing to shoot a documentary about the Camino. It was great to get some extra time in Pamplona, which is an incredibly elegant old city that looks just like the movies. Jana and I met in Pamplona as well.

Once Jana arrived we were off to St. Jean Pied du Port, a lovely little mountain town just on the other side of the border with France. And fortunately, Jana speaks French! Because in all my preparation for this trip, and thinking about speaking Spanish, I forgot that I was going to need a little French for a couple of days...

We were excited, and up early the next morning and we walked out of St. Jean at 8 am in a cool misty fog. Our destination was a place up on the mountain called Orrison. We decided not to walk the entire long walk up and over the mountain to Roncesvalles on our first day.

After spending the night in Orrison, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise. As we walked up the steep hill through the mountain pass, the fog cleared and we had a gloriously sunny day and a brilliant blue sky. There were snow capped mountains all around us, and as we reached the top of the hill above Roncesvalles, we had a picnic lunch in the sunshine and a nap in the grass. Inevitably, we ran into the film crew along the way.

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Then we walked down into Roncesvalles...the place where many Spaniards traditionally begin walking the Camino. The 12th Century church was the first place we stopped when we arrived.

The next morning we walked out of Roncesvalles and for the next few days we walked through bucolic countryside and the vineyards of Navarra. It was so beautiful.

We had our first rainy day walking out of Pamplona. We climbed some high hills where the track was made all of clay, and the clay clung relentlessly to our boots. I hated the clay...I had packed my backpack so carefully to be as light as possible, and suddenly I had one kilo of mud on each boot. It made me mad. I tried to shift my foul mood by attempting to dance the mud off...finding a grassy spot and vigorously doing "the twist." Finally we were passed by some tall french guys who just tromped through the mud as if it were no problem. I decided the mud was "no problem" and amazingly, it wasn't a problem anymore! The rest of the day was great! Once we were on the other side of the tall hills the countryside was lush and beautiful...fields and fields of yellow mustard and peas. I began snacking on mustard flowers (the smaller the plant, the sweeter the flower!). We were headed slightly off the Camino to stay at Eunate, where there is a beautiful small 12th Century ermita (chapel).

After spending the night at Eunate, we walked to Puente La Reina, which was a beautiful little town with a very pretty church. We sort of wished we had stayed in Puente La Reina instead, it was so lovely. It was artichoke season in Navarra, and we tried to order tiny freshly cooked artichokes every chance we got.

It was springtime, and the wildflowers were in bloom everywhere we went. Between the fact that it was wine country and Basque Country, the food was wonderful. They take their pork very seriously in Spain...if you love ham and sausage, it could be a pork pilgrimage. There are water fountains in each village for the pilgrims to refill their water bottles...one of the things that over the centuries has made this pilgrimage possible. Irache winery outside of Estella has a wine fountain for the pilgrims, free of charge, where pilgrims are invited to partake of their wine and promised that it will keep them strong on their journey. We were served a LOT of Irache red wine as pilgrims...it's almost the official Pilgrim wine in Navarra. Across from Irache is a beautiful old monastery, and the cloisters are open for touring.

It was bud break in Navarra, and the grapevines had their first tiny leaves. I love the bare head-pruned vines. They always look like little old people to me.

Up next...the wine gets more delicious and the food more glamourous as we walk into La Rioja...

Fisterra, The End of the Earth...

Jun 10, 2009
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A lot of pilgrims arrive in Santiago, get their compostela, and then keep right on walking to Fisterra ("fin de tierra"...."land's end"). After walking across a whole country, there is something very compelling about wanting to walk all the way to the edge of the continent...and to what was the very edge of the known world, back in ancient times. It was from these shores that Christopher Columbus sailed his ships off into the unknown. And thousands of years before Christ and the "discovery" of St. James' tomb, the Celts practiced their pagan sun worship here, at this westernmost point where the sun sank off the edge of the earth, beyond the deep blue sea.

Personally, I didn't feel my journey was complete until my toes touched the Atlantic ocean, and my feet, which had logged so many miles, were finally barefoot and buried in wet sand and sea. While I was there, I saw many familiar faces...several other pilgrims who I met along the way who had either walked the additional 88 kilometers from Santiago, or who had driven or taken the bus to the coast. A lot of them, like me, had planned a couple of days at the coast to rest and take time to sit, stare at the ocean and think about their journey, while sipping a crisp, cold glass of Albariño, the wonderful white wine of Galicia.

I was tempted to walk to Fisterra, but in the end, I accepted the offer of a ride, and was lucky enough to get to stay to watch the sunset at 10 pm, as millions of pilgrims had for centuries.

After 800 KM of walking, a little beach time

Jun 9, 2009
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Walking the Camino was a reward onto itself, and when we finished, it really was a little hard to stop walking. A part of me was ready to keep going...to map out another destination, put on my backpack and head out for another day of adventure in the unknown. So suddenly, it was a little hard to be "off the Camino," and back to our civilian selves. We were super lucky to have a few days at the beach after our walk to relax and wash our clothes, cook some simple meals, take some easy walks and sit quietly and think about what lies ahead. We were in the tiny villages of Bon, Bueu and Belusa, just north of Vigo, the largest city in Galicia, and the biggest fishing port in Europe. Vigo is only 33 KM north of the border with Portugal. What a beautiful city! The whole area reminded me of being in the San Francisco bay area...only with white sand beaches and an ocean that was SLIGHTLY less cold.

I could live in Madrid...

Jun 5, 2009
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I made it home safely after a LONG travel day yesterday and now I'm in my studio in Dallas going through 1000+ images from my trip. Almost 2 months ago I began my travels in Madrid...what a city! I had never even thought of going to Madrid, and ended up there more or less by chance as my arrival point in Spain. I feel head over heels in love with this town! Madrid is a spectacular city full of amazing art, food, music & culture. I can't wait to get back there. And I would move there in a heartbeat if the opportunity arises. So, I am putting that idea out there to the universe and the powers that be!

More pics here...mostly from the beautiful old neighborhood that surrounds the Museo Reina Sofia, which houses Picasso's "Guernica," and near the spectacular Museo del Prado.

More photos from Magical Galicia...

May 29, 2009
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Once I visited Galicia and experienced its natural beauty, I could understand how earth religions thrived here. It feels like magic and beauty are everywhere...

Santiago! We have arrived!

May 28, 2009
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Today, Thursday, May 28, exactly five weeks after leaving St. Jean Pied du Port, France, Jana & I arrived in Santiago de Compostela, along with our friend Emily who joined us in Leon two weeks ago. We are completely happy to be here. Our legs and feet and backs survived the rigors of walking 800 kilometers, and we feel satisfied and pleased and accomplished to be here.

For me it was an interesting day. It wasn´t a big day of emotion for me. I was happy to be walking and happy to be finishing. And it was great to see other friends we had made along the way and share in their success and wish them congratulations. But most of all I found that I just wanted to be a little bit quiet and take it all in. When people asked me today to tell them how it was, or what did I think, I found it hard to find words to describe the experience. I think it will be days and weeks before I can really put words to it all. For now, I can just say how good it feels to have walked these many, many miles and how wonderful it feels to be here in Santiago now.

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We were only 10 kilometers away when we started this morning, so we had a very easy morning. We climbed two good-sized hills, including the Monte de Gozo, the "mountain of joy" that overlooks the city. It was a beautiful, cool, sunny morning and the walking felt easy, even on the steep hillside. We were surprised to pass relatively few pilgrims on the road. We were somehow expecting hoards of people, and the guidebook warned of busloads of pilgrims being "staged" and dropped off on the hillside. None of this ever materialized. Instead, we had a pleasant 6 mile walk and without much fanfare, entered the city limits of Santiago, the three of us walking and chatting. We followed the Camino signs to the old city and finally I could see the top of the Cathedral. At this point the fact that we were finishing the Camino began to feel real to me. Walking into the main plaza was almost dream-like. We have seen many of the biggest, grandest cathedrals in Spain these past few weeks. But the Cathedral in Santiago is truly impressive. Still in our dreamy state, we walked into the cathedral and sat down.

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The 12 pm Pilgrim Mass was about to begin, so Jana & I decided to stay. A nun with a lovely voice sang some hymns and then read aloud a long list of all the pilgrims in attendance by country. It was wonderful to hear how many of us were there together. In the background we could see a long line of pilgrims walking behind the altar, fulfilling the ritual of hugging the statue of St. James before walking into the crypt to pay respect to the relics that are kept there. I had a special errand to run today. My friend J.D. gave me his father´s bible to carry with me on this trip. His father´s favorite saint was St. James. When I told him I was walking the Camino de Santiago, he asked me if I would carry the slim black volume of the New Testament and place it on the altar of the Saint. I have carried his father´s bible across Spain with me, and today I placed it at the top of my backpack so I could easily carry it to the altar.

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The church was crowded after mass, so we decided to check into our hotel, change into city clothes, and have a little lunch. We came back later in the afternoon to find the church much quieter, and no line at all to visit the Saint. With JD´s father´s bible in hand, I walked up the stairs behind the altar. It is very grand...giant golden carved angels watched down over us and Emily commented that this must be what it´s like to enter heaven! I placed one hand on the jeweled golden shoulder of St. James, had a moment of gratitude for a safe journey to Santiago, and placed the bible just next to the Saint´s right shoulder. We then walked down into the crypt where the devout come to pray at the final resting place of the bones of the saint. Back upstairs, we spent some time looking at the thousand year old carved Portico de Gloria, the beautiful walkway that millions of pilgrims have walked through for centuries. The Portico is being renovated, so there is now a barrier that keeps one from touching the worn place in the marble from the millions of previous hands, and there was no "head-butting the saint," as is traditional (sorry, Jeffrey!). But I felt good at having completed my errand, and just like that, I wasn´t a pilgrim anymore. I am off the Camino...back to being just a traveler and a tourist and a regular person. We went out and did a little shopping, met our friends Sonja and Billy for wine, and then had a little dinner.

In some ways it seems a little anti-climactic, but I do believe that the real Camino begins now. What will I do with the tools I have gained over the past five weeks, and how will I put this new knowledge about myself to work in my life? I feel calm, happy and strong, and more than ever, I feel like anything is possible. And what better place could there be from which to approach life?

Last night on the Camino...10 km to Santiago

May 27, 2009
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After a day of walking in steady torrents of rain, then two days of walking through magical, lush green forests, then staying in a gorgeous restored 300 year old farmhouse with a delightful family, we are now only 10 km outside of Santiago at a 300 year old country manor. In the morning, Jana, Emily and I will wake up and walk into Santiago de Compostela, into the plaza, into the Cathedral, and perform the rituals that millions of pilgrims for over a thousand years before us have performed. We will be with hundreds of other pilgrims who are arriving at the same time. Some will have walked the 100 km from Sarria, some will have walked from other cities in Spain, some will have walked over 800 km like we have from St. Jean Pied du Port. Some will have walked even further...I have met pilgrims who have walked from cities in France, from Rome...there are even pilgrims who walk from as far away as Oslo or Czekoslovakia. We all come for our own reasons, some religious, many for other personal reasons. But whatever the reason, we have all walked, and now we prepare to stop walking and return to the world at large.

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Jana described it best, "It´s been five weeks of breaking away from all our habits." Whatever my daily habits are: reading the news, checking emails, eating what I eat, doing what I do...I haven´t done it for 5 weeks. And I´ve gotten to feel what it feels like to live without any of the things I take for granted as "normal." And now I guess I get to decide which habits I really want to keep and which habits I can really let go of to make space for new things to enter my life. For five weeks, I have worn the same shirt every day, the same socks, the same pair of pants. I laugh when I think about the fact that I´ve lived with two pairs of underwear for the past month and a half...I must have 40 pairs at home! Whatever else comes from this time on the Camino, I definitely think it´s going to be an excellent time to get rid of excess possessions when I get home.

But I also wonder what other shifts will come after this time in retreat? For me the absolute hardest part of doing the Camino was saying yes and deciding to do it and choosing to leave my life and work for seven weeks. It´s the only time I have ever been away from home this long in my life. It´s the first time in my twenty years of freelancing and running my own business that I have put business on hold, turned the cell phone off and trusted that it would all be there when I got back. It is the greatest luxury imaginable...to give oneself time to just walk and think, think and walk. Eat a little, sleep a little, walk some more. And tomorrow we finish. What adventures lie ahead?

I am hogging the owner of the manor´s computer, so I´ll keep this short...so many stories to tell yet. But there will be lots of time later.

Saludos from Galicia...118 km, or 5 days to Santiago

May 23, 2009
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It´s hard to believe, but we are only 5 days walk from Santiago, just a little more than 100 kilometers away in the town of Sarria. There is a piece of me that feels a pang of sadness when I think about this journey coming to an end. We have taken our last day off here in so I can fix my cell phone (I managed to drop the phone, break it and lose the SIMs card about 3 days ago)...I think it fell in the river in Villafranca del Bierzo. The old woman who worked the bar where we sat drinking coffee overlooking the castle and the river told me it would make a good story when I returned home...for real.

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Galicia is like a separate country from Spain. The language is unique, a Celtic blend of spanish and portuguese. The Gallegos have a reputation for being fiercely independent. The weather is completely different...cool fog blankets the region every morning as cold, wet air from the atlantic reaches the warm valley and the mountains we just crossed. The countryside is spectacularly beautiful...lush green valleys with crisscrossing streams, and now daisies and foxglove and maidenhair ferns. It feels like Mt. Tam state park in Marin County where I used to live and hike...only the ocean is still almost 200 km away.

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Our first night in Galicia we stayed at Alto de Poío...the top of the mountain and the highest point of the Camino in Galicia. For our long day of uphill climbing, we were rewarded with a gorgeous sunset, a beautiful sunrise, and inbetween a 4 am viewing of a spectacular starry sky. As a city person, I rarely get to see stars like this...it was such a treat...clear constellations of bright twinkling giant stars all the way to the horizon in every direction. The Camino supposedly passes directly under the Milky Way, and Jana and I have been longing for the magic combination of 1) being in the campo away from all city lights, 2) having a cloudless sky and 3) actually being awake when it´s dark enough to see stars. It doesn´t get dark until well after 10 pm, which is late for pilgrims who have had a long walk that day! These stars were absolutely worth being awake at 4 am!

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Yesterday we walked down from the mountain and got gorgeous views in every direction as we decended into the valley where the oldest monastery in Spain is in Samos. What a day.

In Galicia, Jana gets her dance...

May 23, 2009
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Actually, Jana has gotten ALL the dances on the Camino...she danced in a tiny village bar outside of Burgos with the owner who played Elvis on the Jukebox. She danced with a cyclist, one of the Estrellas de Galicia, in the albergue in Agés. And in our first tiny village in Galicia, O´Cebreiro, she danced with one of our Austrian friends, Otto.