Sunday, October 24, 2010

A note from the author

I am not happy with this year´s blog and will edit and add more later. Today, Sunday, Oct24, we are at Bilboa Airport waiting for a flt to London -- a change in itinerary due to the strikes in France. The blogging has not gone as I had hoped.Thanks for hanging in with me!

Tuesday, Oct 19 - Estella to Los Arcos

Tuesday, Oct 19 - Estella to Los Arcos

Dear Readers-
Posting has been frustrating due to lack of internet cafes and I am way behind. I hope this has not been as irritating for you as it has been for me -- grr!

It was difficut to find a place to sleep in Estella - and there was no internet. But we left the next morning forLos Arcos - the bows as in bows and arrows. The archers from the town helped win a battle in the middle ages and the town was named and bows were put on its town crest.

We wandered through vineyards to the Monasteryof Iranche where since the 1990s there has been a fountain of wine for pilgrims to drink from for free!Delicious red wine -- vino tinto.

It was very warm and sunny today -- short sleeves and sun screen.

Hasta luego!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Monday, October 18 - Puente La Reina to Estella

Posting from Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Monday, October 18
We left town later this morning --we met up with Swiss friends again who have done so many different routes of the Camino.

There was a fork in the road - two possible routes at one point and we took the less traveled. It was an adventure and led us to Ciriguiz - and the Church of San Roman. A wonderful old city with twisting medieval streets. Our art-archaeology book told us of the delightful church interior, but it was closed. So we decided to sit on the bench by the church and eat the bread and cheese we had bought earlier at a store in the village. It was another clear day and the stones by the church wall were warm from the sun. The village was very quiet -- the homes also looked shuttered and empty, but we had seen a few people in the tiny grocery store. Most of them much old women.

As we were eating, an old women in a red fleece bathrobe over her clothes and wearing slippers came out of a house looking onto the church and approached us. She asked if we would like some wine. We of course said yes. And I assumed we would pay for two glasses. She brought out half'-bottle of green glass with no label and one some drinking glass. She poured the wine and explained that she made in her basement. It was 5 years old and had won a gold medal in Madrid at a wine tasting. It was delicious. I asked if we could pay, but she said no. Then we ended up chatting about the time she did the Camino, she was 80 years old and had been born in the village. She said everyone worked in Pamplona and it was only 15 minutes by car -- they kept an apt in the town and were here in the village on the weekends. We told her how lovely the homes were nonetheless -- they all had lush window boxes and containers of geraniums and other plants. She laughed and said this was nothing -- everything was dead now, we should see it in the summer! Sra. Teresa was a delight. We thanked her for the wine and headed out -- then I quickly went back and asked for her address thinking I could write her a thanks note. She carefully wrote her name and address in my journal and smiled. So off we went -- then suddenly we heard this sound like "tsk, tsk, tsk." We turned and there was Sra. Teresa with the wine bottle insisting we take it with us for the trip! Ah, the Camino is full of such incredible moments!

As walked out of town, we were suddenly on ancient cobblestones -- the Via Traiana -- the Roman road! And we walked on through fields and garden with grapes, figus, and asparagus. Suddenly no sheep or cows -- and few other pilgrims. The landscape became treeless and there was no shelter from the north wind that came up.

Then there were olive trees and we happened on the church described in our bok -- built in 1062 -- before the Norman Conquest!

More later!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Adios Pamplona - Hola Puente La Reina

Sunday, October 17 -- posting this from Los Arcos

We left our hotel in the casco antiguo of Pamplona this morning for our walk to Puente La Reina. As we meandered through the modern part of town, we encountered many high rise apartment building, lots of local bakers, florists, and cafes -- all of which reminded us of New York City and its small neighborhoods. It was a quiet Sunday morning and soon we were at the outskirts of the campus of the University of Pamplona -- a gorgeous mix of new and old architecture. A friendly sign directed us to get a stamp at the building dedicated to the Jacobean University. As we approached a very formal pillared entry way we saw several security guards. The doors of the building were locked, so I approached and asked about a stamp. He simply motioned us back to the building and as I turned to follow his arm I saw an open window high above the sidewalk with bars. The keeper of the stamp was inside -- so we stood on tiptoes to give him our credencials and behold we got a stamp!

The rest of the day we climbed up on wonderful hiking trails full of people through woods and residential areas. The hills in front of us were full of windmills -- ah, Don Quixote! Continuing to climb, we passed through tiny hamlets, stopped for breakfast at one, then out once again into the wind -- ah, that is why there are so many windmills! The wind was fierce, but the sky sunny, as we climbed up to the Alto Perdon --the summit of pardon. On this peak there is an enormous metal sculpture of various pilgrims walking and fighting the wind on the top of the hill. A great photo op I will have to share later.

The descent was less windy and we found ourselves in the town of Obanos where the Camino Aragones which comes across Southern France intersects with our route, the Camino Frances. Our Camino crosses the Pyrenees at St. Jean Pied de Port and the Camino Aragones crossed at Somport. Where the Caminos converge is an ancient church -- most fitting.

The way into Puente La Reina -- bridge of the queen -- so called because a queen caused the bridge to be built in the 11th century to capture traffic to Santiago and increase commerce - it worked! -- is down a very narrow medieval street full of ancient stone houses that have been restored and reformed over the years. Our hotel was in one of these old houses with stone arches in the lobby and dining room and gorgeous wooden beams throughout. The church named after Santiago has an incredible gilt retablo -- enormous wooden sculpture that takes up the entire wall behind the altar -- and we stayed to say the rosary.

Later that night at dinner we met a retired couple from near Zurich who have walked the various Caminos -- the route people took from England, from Seville, from northern France, from southern France -- over the past 10 years. Fascinating -- and very inspiring.

NOTE - It grows late and we have a very long day tomorrow so I will say buenas noches to you all. Hopefully I will be able to find another internet connection in the next town and try to catch up on my postings! Thanks for your patience! And the foot is still holding up!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

The sun also rises in Pamplona

Saturday, Oct 16

Hola from the city that Hemingway made famous!

We trudged into Pamplona bout 4:00 pm today after a day that was more arduous than we had anticipated. It was supposed to be 15 miles - about the same as the day before -- but the way was not marked well. We got lost and ended up adding at least of hour of walking onto the route. Normally you always can find an "flecha amarilla" - a yellow arrow -- or a scallop shell pointing the way. Sometimes the arrow or scallop shell is painted on the road, curb, a house, or there is a special marker with tile. All of the sudden the arrows starting pointing in different directions, for a time there were no arrows, and the route guide we had was confusing. We ran into two men we had seen earlier and they pointed a way to go.

That was our mistake -- we should have sat down and re-read both route guides and then we would have stayed on the camino. So we wandered or rather meandered for along time by the side of a river -- we entered a town still looking for yellow arrows. We stopped to ask directions and were sent to the local albergue -- pilgrim lodging -- but it was closed for the season. So off we went again and found another nice person to ask and finally we started seeing yellow arrows and were back on the camino.

I can´t find the parentheses on this keyboard-- European keyboards are setup differently -- but this is a parenthetical -- As I try to type, our elderly concierge at the hotel has the TV blaring and switches between a soccer game and a reality show that looks and sounds like a Spanish Jerry Springer. It is driving me nuts, and I may not be very coherent.

When we walked in this afternoon through the ancient gate that still has the original chains and mechanism from the 16th century drawbridge there was no one in the streets. It was like a ghost town -- it was the time that all the shops are closed. By 5:00 pm the plazas and street were teeming with people, and we literally were having to push our way through crowds as we looked for a place to recharge John´s camera battery and have a bite to eat. We were not forceful enough to make any real headway until one Spanish couple in front of us just charged throug, and John said, "Follow them!"

The chill wind is in Pamplona -- not Ava Gardner or Tony Quinn -- but we did walk into the Hemingway Pizza and Kebob Restaurant. Rather a forlorn place so we wandered back out. Pamplona is a big city -- the casco antiguo -- old part of the city -- is wonderful with six-story homes refurbished in the 1700 and 1800´s. There are several churches, and we went to San Saturnino to have our credencial stamped. Por desgracia, no stamp person there, but we did sit through part of the rosary, and I noted the wonderful statues of St. Catherine of Alexandria with her spiked wheel and St. Barbar with the 3-windowed tower.

It is late and I must get to bed. But I wanted to thank everyone for their comments -- I am thrilled that you take the time to read my postings and even more thrilled that some of you feel prompted to post a comment! ¡Muchisimas gracias - Ustedes son muy amables!

Tomorrow we are off to Puente La Reina -- who knows about the internet?

Roncesvalles to Zubiri

Saturday, October 16

¡Saludos!

To return to where I left off -- posting this from Pamplona

October 14 -- after crossing the Pyrenees we stayed the night in Roncesvalles at a delighful inn called La Posada. The steam heat in the room was great for drying some laundry! For dinner, The management sat all the pilgrims at the same table and about eight of us chatted -- English being the lingua franca most of the time, but we also lapsed into Spanish periodically. Our table included a French airline dispatcher in his early 40´s from Paris who had done the camino before, a Dutchman from The Hague - about the same age -- who was on a bicycle and camping in Roncevalles, an Australian mechanical engineer in his 30´s who was on an extended holiday due to his firm being bought out, and two middle-aged couples from Navarra, Spain.

I mention the ages because John and I were both amazed at how tired the younger guys were, how much they talked about the difficulty of the ascent and descent, and how all of them were aching. John and I both felt pretty good, and neither of us was had an aches. But we also had very light and comfortable packs -- mine being even lighter because John very graciously was carrying some of my stuff. John, of course, has great strength and stamina, but I can only be grateful that I trained by hiking toward Peak 2 and 3 several times a week, hiked out to Hidden Lake twice -- always with a pack-- and did Wolverine to the top, my first time to summit. Previously I had made it as far as the cairn. After doing Wolverine with a pack, the Pyrenees were not nearly as daunting as I had imagined. The younger fellows were all carrying packs that were heavy to begin with -- and lots of stuff. While in St. Jean, we had watched at the Pilgrims´Office as one of the staff had helped one young man empty his pack and started suggesting to him what stuff he should send home by mail and send poste restante to Santiago. The woman helping us also weighed our packs and was pleased -- they actually hand out information about pack weight, gear, etc. Gettin caught in the pass because of snow or fog happens -- and there was one part of the route that you could easily miss in bad weather and end up going over the wrong pass.

The next morning we took a few moments to see the ossuary that supposedly holds Roland´s bones and those of his fallen comrades. It also holds the bones of pilgrims who died at Roncesvalles.

October 15 -- Roncevalles to Zubiri -- we were mostly descending and did about 14 miles that day. Those of us who had left St. Jean the same day ran into each other on the street. And we saw our friends on horseback again. A couple crossed the Pyrenees riding beautiful horses -- truly a marvelous spectacle to see them galloping across the grassy pastures and up the pass. They are from Cognac, France --yes, like the drink -- and had started in Cognac.

Zubiri is a tiny town and we happened on an unprepossessing looking hotel. Inside was warm and delightful -- very rustic with lots of antiques and a very reasonable price! The room had a steam radiator and it was on! Did I mention it´s been colder than last year and colder than we had anticipated? Luckily we have layers and when we are walking it is not as noticeable. But I have worn cap and gloves a lot! Bright overcast, some sun, and no rain! So we are not complaining. I am running out of 1 euro coins for the machine -- so I have to stop shortly!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

We crossed the Pyrenees!

Hola gentle readers!
Well, I made it! We crossed they Pyrenees from St. Pied de Port in France over the high Napoleon route and into Roncesvalles where Roland met his fate. St. Jean was delightful. We arrived about 7:oo pm after getting a bus from Bayonne. We flew London to Biarritz, all the time wondering if the trains would be running due to the ongoing French strike. It was wonderful to find out in Biarritz we could still get a bus to the Bayonne train station and there we would find out. Et voila they had put on a bus to take us from Bayonne to St. Jean.

It was darkish when we arrived, but we still walked a bit around the old town and the wonderful ancient gates. In the morning we went to the Pilgrim office for our credencial and the delightful woman there gave us all kinds of information about the route encouraging us to take the high pass because it was so beautiful. The weather was truly fine, my foot felt good, so I told John we should go for it. And it was a terrific hike with an elevation gain of 4,500 feet over 16 miles of sheep and horses and high mountains and beech trees and rock outcroppings.

We descend today and John is telling me we have to go. It will be long day.

Hopefully there will be an internet connection in our town tonight. It was impossible to find one even in London, hence no posts from there. Everyone has iPhones! Hasta luego!