Buen Camino!

This is the greeting we exchanged with anyone we encountered on the walk to Santiago Compestella. We began our trip in Bilboa where Diana and I walked around the Guggenheim Museum early in the morning. It is really a special building that stands out as my favorite of the trip. Fourteen women and two guides boarded a mini-van there and headed along the Camino Del Norte. We would drive for an hour or more each day and then walk for two to four hours along this trail.

The group was organized to celebrate several women’s sixtieth birthdays but there were others who ranged in age from 32 to 75. My friend Betty, was the 75 year old who led most of the walks and always had more energy that the rest of us. The youngest woman spent extra time in the day running long distances to prepare for the Portland Marathon. I just tried to stay on my feet as we walked at least 6 miles daily and several days we walked 13 miles.

We would also visit churches, beaches and even spent one day at the European Picos riding a cable car to the top. In the churches we listened to priests, waited in long lines to kiss (a) part of the original cross of Jerusalem, (b) a salt and pepper shaker that was a gift from Ferdinand and Isabella and finally we put our arms around a gold statue of Saint James and observed his bones. These were all in different places and in each place we also saw many Virgin Maries while in several places we observed her being carried through the streets in long processions. One church was high in the hills where several hundred cars were parked to observe a special day and the lighted candles left in the church covered a large section of the floor acting as a giant heater in the 80 degree weather. The vendors there were busy selling everything you could think of and I suppose the next day it was a quiet mountain top again with only an empty church.

We walked a total of 100 km and stayed at nine different hotels where we would dine in your favorite style. The meal would begin at 9 or 9:30 p.m. finishing about 11:30. Every meal had wine and many courses of food so we had plenty of energy for the walking. We arrived in Santiago through the traditional Pilgrim’s gate which every pilgrim since the 800’s has walked. The cathedral was an old Romanesque church where we toured even the roof tops walking down the tiles and across the different levels.

I think I was the only one without a camera so I have no photos but I’m certain that some of the 1000’s the others took will end up on this site soon.