El Camino Frances

We will be walking on part of the Camino Frances -- the route that actually starts in France and goes over the mountains. Normally it takes about a month to go from Frances to Santiago. In medieval times, pilgrims might start in Paris or in Arles. Both Arles and Avignon were required stops on the pilgrimage.

However, we are walking an abbreviated portion of that route and starting in Astorga, Spain. The web link to the usual stages of the walk will show you the different towns -- scroll down a bit. At a point before Triacastela we are taking a detour to Samos - which is still part of the Camino route, but not visited as often as it was. John and I stayed in Samos last year for several days and loved the old monastery with Padre Augustin, the porter, who gave us a tour. Two German pilgrims and a Dane joined us, but spoke no Spanish - so Padre Augustin had me translate into English (the lingua franca of today) for them from Spanish.

The American Pilgrims on the Camino have a nice overview of the routes.

It's exciting to think that St. Francis of Assisi and Jan van Eyck made this pilgrimage hundreds of years ago.

Buenas noches -- we leave early tomorrow morning for our flight.