On the Camino: One Day at a Time, one Photo at a Time 10.0

[Yoyo]

Catedral de Santiago de Compostela. Monumental organ.
June 2023 September 2022

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
Logroño
municipal albergue

photo taken February 6, 2009



All who have walked a long day can empathize with this weary pilgrim who years past sat by the main interior staircase in the Logroño municipal albergue

 

[SabsP]

Morning in Corcubion.March 2016.

 

[Yoyo]

On the way from Monte de Gozo down to Santiago de Compostela.
CF, June 2019.

 

[Kirkie]

Camino Frances
Logroño
municipal albergue

photo taken February 6, 2009

View attachment 143208

All who have walked a long day can empathize with this weary pilgrim who years past sat by the main interior staircase in the Logroño municipal albergue

Oh, yes! And nearby, a game set in tiles on the ground? I remember so well, I have that same photo, deep within the brains of my dormant old laptop!

 

[Rowena]

April 6, 2022
Rabé de las Calzadas, CF

 

[Theatregal]

Nearing Sobradelo on the Invierno. June 11, 2019

 

[Anne&Pat]

Triacastella, view from our balcony, back along the way in , including the horses and buggy we had first seen in Herrerias. June, 2022.

 

[Anne&Pat]

Catedral de Santiago de Compostela. Monumental organ.
June 2023

View attachment 143188

June 2023?
This is what it looked like in June, 2022.

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
Villovieco

photo taken November 14, 2012



This "art brut" pilgrim stood firmly within a meadow near Villarmentaro de Campos on the way to Villalcázar de Sirga.... I wonder if he still is there.

 

[SabsP]

April 2011. Somewhere on a shop window in Leon.
Unexpected royalty...

 

[VNwalking]

Rabé de las Calzadas

One of my favorite pueblos on the Francés. From 2019, its church steeple was a very welcome sight after the long day from La Brujula on the Via de Bayona.

 

[Yoyo]

June 2023?
This is what it looked like in June, 2022.
View attachment 143256

Thank you for the observation. Don't know what I was thinking.
My picture was taken in September, 2022.

 

[Yoyo]

After 1,900 years, this "Miliario" or Roman distance marker can still be admired today on the Camino Portugués, between O Porriño and Redondela .
September 2022.

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
Santo Domingo de la Calzada
Cathedral
musician

photo taken November 1, 2012



The musician seated between two pillars amidst the lavish riches of the Santo Domingo de la Calzada cathedral is King David

 

[Anne&Pat]

Mosteiro de Samos, June, 2022.

 

[SabsP]

On this day six years ago. In 2017 I started this short Camino from Carrion de los Condes.
Almost in Calzadilla de la Cueza. Stopped in Ledigos that day.

 

[Rowena]

April 7, 2022
Hornillos del Camino in the distance

 

[Yoyo]

Entrance to Tui cathedral.
Camino Portugués, September 2022

 

[Anne&Pat]

Sarria, just before 10am. We walked from Samos that morning and stopped for second breakfast/ early lunch, before heading to Barbadelo for the night. It felt like we were the only pilgrims in Sarria that morning! June, 2022.

 

[Theatregal]

The curtain just rising on a free noon hour concert with Banda Municipal de Música de Santiago de Compostela in the beautiful 182 year old Teatro Principal on Rúa Nova in Santiago. A wonderful way to spend an hour the day before beginning my walk to Finisterre. March 19, 2017

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
León
plaza de San Marcelo
sculpture of Antonio Gaudi

photo taken November 11, 2011



Impeccable in bronze the architect Antonio Gaudi sits on a bench sketching while facing the Casa Botines the fabric warehouse/factory he designed c.1892 which is now a museum.

 

[SabsP]

Six years ago on this day. Walking towards Sahagun.

Etapa from Ledigos to Bercianos del Camino.

 

[Josep Montserrat]

Padrón.

 

[VNwalking]

Impeccable in bronze the architect Antonio Gaudi sits on a bench sketching while facing the Casa Botines the fabric warehouse/factory he designed c.1892

One of those touching things to see. Very sweet:

 

[Yoyo]

Newly-weds posing in front of Pamplona town hall in May 2017.
I do hope they lived happily ever after.

 

[Rowena]

April 7, 2022
Between Hontanas and Castrojeriz

 

[mspath]

Santo Domingo de Silos
Cloister
Doubting Thomas, detail

photo taken January 23, 2013



".... reach hither thy hand, and thrust into my side and be not faithless, but believing."
John 20: 27

Especially splendid at Silos was the two story Romanesque cloister embellished with extraordinary sculpted panels such as the Doubting Thomas. ...Perfection to remember forever.

 

[SabsP]

Today six years ago. From Bercianos to Reliegos.
Bitter cold but sunny in El Burgo Ranero.
March is perfect on the CF. So quiet.

 

[VNwalking]

Santo Domingo de Silos, seven years ago today.
Sorry, breaking my own rules. But @mspath is right. The cloister of Santo Domingo de Silos manages to be both sublime and spectacular.

 

[Anne&Pat]

Between Barbadelo and Portomarin, June, 2022.

 

[Rowena]

April 9, 2022
Canal de Castilla, Fromista

 

[Yoyo]

On the zig-zagging railway overpass, approaching Astorga.
CF, May 2019

 

[lalaone]

Chickens, 2012
Santo Domingo de la Calzada

 

[Bradypus]

A bit of a cheat! Photo taken by my wife 5 years ago today. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. 23 March 2017.

 

[mspath]

Camino Argones
Muruzábal
Santa María de Eunate

photo taken October 22, 2014



On the slope just beyond the albergue at Eunate is this enigmatic stelle. I have never learned when, why or by whom the stelle was carved. Do you know? If so please tell all.

 

[Anne&Pat]

Entering Portomarin. Those stairs! We didn’t stay in Portomarin in 2014 and we didn’t go into the town. We did stay in June, 2022, so we had to climb those stairs and we are glad we did. A very nice town.

 

[VNwalking]

I have never learned when, why or by whom the stelle was carved. Do you know?

No idea, nor does the web. I did a reverse image search and only got someone else's photo on Almay, with no information.

A modern runestone? With a stylized Basque symbol at the top. Someone knows who made and placed that there.

 

[SabsP]

Today six years ago. Leon.

 

[VNwalking]

Seven years ago, one of the best camino days ever. A circuitous mostly off camino route from Santo Domingo de Silos to Mambrillas de Lara. The circuitous part was not intentional but it was sublime.

This is the view looking north from the ridge immediately above the filming site of the Sad Hill Cemetary. When I took the photo I didn't know that yet - this dead end viewpoint was the first of many surprises. And this is one of my favorite camino photos ever..

 

[Bradypus]

On the slope just beyond the albergue at Eunate is this enigmatic stelle. I have never learned when, why or by whom the stelle was carved. Do you know? If so please tell all.

Just speculation on my part but it looks like a fairly random assortment of stonemason's marks. Modern work. Perhaps a tribute to the stonemasons who built the church? Another speculation - perhaps the partly cut-off group of two symbols bottom right are the modern mason's own "signature" mark?

 

[Kathor1]

Just speculation on my part but it looks like a fairly random assortment of stonemason's marks. Modern work. Perhaps a tribute to the stonemasons who built the church?

I did not think that you are right with this speculation but apparently you are. On Wikiloc, someone posted not only a photo of the front of the monument but also of the back. The stela shows indeed the stonemason marks in the Eunate church. Here is a link to the original marks.

 

[Bradypus]

@Kathar1na Thanks for the photo. I Googled the name on the plaque and I think this gentleman is the sculptor: https://eu.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pello_Iraizoz

The Wikipedia article confirms that the stylised fern and star at the base of the carving are the sculptor's personal signature mark.

He also appears to be the artist responsible for the memorial stone circle at the Alto de Perdon. Item 10 in this list of tourist sites: https://www.komoot.com/guide/1532882/attractions-around-muruzabal

 

[Rowena]

April 10, 2022
Inside the Semana Santa museum, Carrion de Los Condes

 

[Yoyo]

Dinner in Villafranca del Bierzo.
CF, May 2019

 

[mspath]

@Kathar1na Thanks for the photo. I Googled the name on the plaque and I think this gentleman is the sculptor: https://eu.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pello_Iraizoz

The Wikipedia article confirms that the stylised fern and star at the base of the carving are the sculptor's personal signature mark.

He also appears to be the artist responsible for the memorial stone circle at the Alto de Perdon. Item 10 in this list of tourist sites: https://www.komoot.com/guide/1532882/attractions-around-muruzabal

Bradypus and Kathar1na,
Many thanks to you both for providing these answers! Your sequencial detective finds are such a great example of how info can be happily shared on this forum.

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
Cirauqui
Iglesia San Román
detail

photo taken October 23, 2013



This small figure wearing the robes of a bishop is amidst the extraordinary carved Romanesque archivolt which enframes the major doorway of the San Román church.

 

[lalaone]

This photo from Pamplona (2012) might be of a politician or a comedian. I've done some basic research and am still unsure whether Carlos Latre was serious or ironic! "Yes, We Spain." In any case, the graphics were admirable and striking, clearly modeled on Barack Obama's successful 2008 campaign.

 

[VNwalking]

Seven years ago today, the highlight of the day was the (about)1500 year-old Santa Maria de Lara. Sadly it was closed for Good Friday becaise I'm told the best parts are inside.

Even as a fragment of the original it is spectacular.


(Sorry another rule-breaker. I will desist after this.)

 

[Anne&Pat]

Portomarin, June, 2022. Great wall art and the real thing, Iglesia de San Juan.

 

[Josep Montserrat]

Camilo José Cela, born in Iria Flavia, near Padrón.
1989 Nobel Prize in Literature

 

[Josep Montserrat]

This photo from Pamplona (2012) might be of a politician or a comedian. I've done some basic research and am still unsure whether Carlos Latre was serious or ironic! "Yes, We Spain." In any case, the graphics were admirable and striking, clearly modeled on Barack Obama's successful 2008 campaign.

View attachment 143509

Carlos Latre is a comedian. "Yes we Spain is different" was the name of a theatre play, is ironic.
He made a mix whit " Yes we can" and "Spain is different".
This last slogan was used to start tourism in francoist Spain, but it still resonates.
Now used to highlight something old or retrograde.

 

[lalaone]

Carlos Latre is a comedian. "Yes we Spain is different" was the name of a theatre play, is ironic.
He made a mix whit " Yes we can" and "Spain is different".
This last slogan was used to start tourism in francoist Spain, but it still resonates.
Now used to highlight something old or retrograde.

I was unfamiliar with the "Spain is different" slogan from the Franco era. I am reading about it now; informative (and sombering). Thank you very much!

 

[markie6]

Always a welcome sight on day 1

 

[SabsP]

Six years ago today.
Villar de Mazarife.

 

[Rowena]

April 11, 2022
Leaving Carrion de Los Condes

 

[Yoyo]

A Salceda, Galicia, Camino Francés.
May, 2019

 

[Anne&Pat]

The early morning skyline of Portomarin from our bedroom window. June, 2022. The Iglesia is also known as San Nicholas, as well as San Juan.
It was rebuilt from its original site now submerged under the waters of the Belesar reservoir and is meant to have been built by the workshop of Master Mateo who carved the Portico de Gloria in Santiago. Built as both a place of worship and defence.
We knew Mass was meant to be at 20.00hrs and we sat in the square for about half an hour before but the main door was closed, we eventually discovered the side door was how you got in!!!!

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
Burgos
cathedral
interior detail

photo taken November 8, 2012



Within the magnificent riches and richness of Burgos Cathedral is this simple, almost charming memento mori featuring a child/putto holding a skull. Thus the themes of this infantile combo are not playfulness and childhood but life's fleetingness and the universality of death.

 

[VNwalking]

life's fleetingness and the universality of death.

A lot has changed since that was sculpted, but not what it points to. Life is short and no-one is immune from death.- these facts are both galvanizing and gratitide-inducing. That we have walked the camino and/or can still walk - theses are huge things to be grateful for. Thank you @mspath , for this reminder.

Seven short years ago today. If you walk the San Olav backwards, the last stretch into Biurgos is on a Via Verde, and there's a nice long tunnel. It felt longer than it was. Tunnels feel long, life feels short - go figure.

 

[SabsP]

Six years ago.
Between Villar de Mazarife and Villavante.

 

[Corned Beef]

Via Francigena 2019. Bolsena Lake and Castle.

Weather and views were just fantastic and Rome was another day nearer.

 

[VNwalking]

Six years ago.
Between Villar de Mazarife and Villavante.

View attachment 143590

OMG, the dreaded straight road that never seems to end!
Early in the moring it's fine.
In mid-afternoon heat it's a hell realm!

 

[Rowena]

April 12, 2022
Sahagun

 

[Yoyo]

View from the fortifications of Valença, Portugal, over the Minho or Miño river to Tui, Spain.
On the bridge, cars drive in the middle, pedestrians walk on either side, trains go on top.
Camino Portugués, September 2022

 

[mspath]

View from the fortifications of Valença, Portugal, over the Minho or Miño river to Tui, Spain.
On the bridge, cars drive in the middle, pedestrians walk on either side, trains go on top.
Camino Portugués, September 2022

View attachment 143611 View attachment 143612 View attachment 143613

Yoyo,
Your splendid photos of the International Bridge bring back many memories of nightime views from the Pousada within the Fortress. Pelayo Mancebo, a disciple of Gustave Eiffel,
was the 19th c engineer/architect who designed the tri-partite bridge. Read more about him here

 

[Rowena]

View from the fortifications of Valença, Portugal, over the Minho or Miño river to Tui, Spain.

Yoyo,
Thank you for these great photos! I hurried across that bridge in 2019, intent on finding a place to stay in Tui, and didn’t stop to take any photos until I reached the other side:

I’m excited to be walking the Camino Portugués again in October, and won’t forget to take a photo of the bridge!

 

[Anne&Pat]

San Xulian do Camino, good breakfast stop after leaving Palas de Rei early. June, 2022.

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
Atapuerca
sculpture

photo taken November 7, 2013



This contemporary sculpture symbolically represents a Neanderthal who nearly one million years ago inhabited the Sierra de Atapuerca.

 

[SabsP]

Six years ago today.
La casa de los Dioses.
" Con simplicidad y de corazón"

Bienvenido a ‘La casa de los dioses’

David "se cansó del sufrimiento". Ahora sirve a peregrinos a su paso por San Justo de la Vega, "con simplicidad y de corazón". Vive siguiendo las leyes del universo.

ileon.eldiario.es

 

[VNwalking]

Seven years ago today. A favorite landmark on the way to Rabé de la Calzada - the view of the Rio Urbel from the Puente de San Lázaro.

 

[Rowena]

One year ago today, Villatuerta, a rest stop beside the river before reaching Estella.

 

[Yoyo]

On the way to Rubiães.
Camino Portugués, September, 2022

 

[Anne&Pat]

Leaving Melide just before passing Igrexa Santa Maria de Melide XII, very apt sign on a letter box. June, 2022.

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
near Roncesvalles

photo taken October 12, 2011



When walking the N-135 route after cresting the Ibaneta pass it was a relief to stop and sit here to offer silent thanks for my safe arrival.

 

[SabsP]

Astorga.
Today six years ago.
Where I decided to end this mini Camino due to a knee injury. But it was still a wonderful week.

 

[Yoyo]

Bayonne train station, minutes before boarding the train to SJPP for my first camino.
Little did I know about the impact that walk would have on my life.
May 15, 2017

 

[Anne&Pat]

Arzua, waiting for Albergue San Francisco to open. A very good hostel, June, 2022. We also stayed there at the end of the Primitivo in July, 2022.

 

[Rowena]

One year ago today
Iglesia Santa Maria de Los Arcos

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
Alto de Mezkiritz

photo taken October 13, 2011



At the Alto de Mezkiritz where the CF crossed the route N-135 this stele/marker honored the Virgin of Roncesvalles. Weary and wary I walked down from here to Zubiri on the verges of route N-135, not following the more precarious CF.

 

[SabsP]

This day six years ago. Santiago de Compostela.
I stopped in Astorga, took the bus to Santiago to meet some people there.
A memorable lunch at San Clemente as a result!
Two pics today.

 

[Yoyo]

Resting place with a view on the way from SJPP up to Orisson.
CF, May 2017

 

[tpmchugh]

Newly-weds posing in front of Pamplona town hall in May 2017.
I do hope they lived happily ever after.

View attachment 143351

And the young couple married in Logroño the night before Palm Sunday 2013, in a church just round the corner from the albergue. My son and I wanted to get to Mass so slipped in the back of the church . I often think about them. Hope they also are happy

 

[tpmchugh]

This day, 2013, Good Friday, my first ever Camino. Taken from balcony of albergue in Castrojeriz. Forgot what day it was and had meat to eat in La Taberna. Next morning, cold, tired and completely done out, I gave up, returned to Burgos and went home. Have regretted that decision ever since but my lovely wife convinced me to go back in September that same year. Every March I go over those thoughts and photos. I did however meet an amazing walking companion from Netherlands, Mees V.D.S (name edited by moderator), RIP. Without that break in my Camino I would never have met such a good friend. Every cloud has a silver lining

 

[VNwalking]

This day, 6 years ago, also Castrojerez.
I scrambled directly up from the town to the castle, and it was worth every step!

 

[Anne&Pat]

Igrexa Santiago in Arzua, with statues of Santiago both as a pilgrim and moorslayer. Photo taken before the daily evening pilgrim mass. June, 2022.

 

[Rowena]

Entering Viana one year ago today

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
Rabanal del Camino
Iglesia de la Asunción

photo taken November 17, 2011



Within the Iglesia de la Asunción a niche held this small stone which displays the Order of Santiago insignia, a red cross resembling a sword, with the shape of a fleur-de-lis on the hilt and the arms.

 

[VNwalking]

Approaching Itero de la Vega on a crystalline morning, seven years ago today.

 

[SabsP]

Petiscos do Cardeal in Santiago de Compostela.
Today six years ago. Nice evening before we both left for home.

 

[SabsP]

Entering Viana one year ago today

View attachment 143795

April 2011.

 

[Yoyo]

Looking back at Sansol and Torres del Río at sunrise.
Camino Francés, May 2017

 

[Rowena]

My apologies, the photo I posted yesterday wasn’t Viana at all, it was Estella. Thank you to SabsP for posting your photo. When I looked at it closely, I realized that when scrolling through all those tiny photos, I had mistakenly put in a photo of a vaguely similar scene in a different place. Sorry about that.
Heres what I meant to post:

 

[SabsP]

My apologies, the photo I posted yesterday wasn’t Viana at all, it was Estella. Thank you to SabsP for posting your photo. When I looked at it closely, I realized that when scrolling through all those tiny photos, I had mistakenly put in a photo of a vaguely similar scene in a different place. Sorry about that.
Heres what I meant to post:
View attachment 143853

Again the same mix up I have made .
Weird how the mind works!

 

[Anne&Pat]

Viana, 17, May, 2022.

 

[Rowena]

And another passageway, this one in Navarrete, March 30, 2022.

 

[mspath]

Burgos
cathedral museum
reliquary

photo taken October 20, 2004



Within the cathedral museum is this mid-15th c. reliquary. Roughly 30cm. high, clad in vermeil/ gold plate on silver, Saint James wears a pilgrim hat complete with shell atop his delightfully precise curls. Sainthood is depicted by the flat halo behind his head. He grips his pilgrim staff and from one shoulder hangs a tiny traveling bag known as a scrip also decorated with shells.

...I still fondly recall seeing this exquisite figure for the first time.

 

[Anne&Pat]

A beautiful show of flowers between Arzua and Salceda. June, 2022.

 

[VNwalking]

A beautiful show of flowers between Arzua and Salceda. June, 2022.
View attachment 143866

How funny. I have photos from two caminos at the same place. It's a show-stopper in the spring.
2014, 2015.

 

[Josep Montserrat]

Breakfast at Casa Vella da Rivera. Picaraña.