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They’re Back! Spanish Easter
  • Phil Merrell
  • Phil Merrell

They’re Back! Spanish Easter

We’re returning to Spain at the start of the Holy Week. A couple of weeks in Spain, a couple of weeks in Portugal meeting up with my brother & Debbie’s sister. Then the women head for a Paris and the guys walk a short Camino de Santiago. En savoir plus
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  • Phil MerrellThey’re Back! Spanish EasterVoyageur
    Rainy Start From Roncesvalles
    But the Weather Cleared UpOn the Trail1On the Trail11th Century Monastery in ZabaldikaThe Senior SisterGoing Up the Bell TowerLeft Bell is the Second Oldest in the Province of NavarrePilgrim's Service BlessingThe Sound Goes On and OnEngineering Analysis of Bell Tower StaircaseZabaldika Communal Dinner

    To Zabaldika

    13 mai 2025, Espagne ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    (Posted 6/16/25) It was raining lightly when we started out, but quickly petered out into a mostly sunny day. We are sending our backpacks ahead to lighten our load. We walked around 6 miles. Before getting to a long, steep downhill section . Between my sketchy knees and Dale’s bruised ribs, we chose discretion over valor and shared a cab ride down the hill and on with some other more mature pilgrims. Dale’s ribs are bugging him a lot.
    We made our destination for the night, an albergue run by nuns at the Church of Saint Stephen in the tiny village of Zabaldika (pop. 14). This ended up one of the nicest stops on our walk. The head sister opened the church before dinner and explained the history of the church and the different paintings and features. We were invited to climb the narrow winding stone staircase up the bell tower and ring the bell. The bell was made in the 11th century and is the oldest bell in Navarre Province. After being rung, the pure tones of the bell linger an incredibly long time. After a great communal dinner, we went back to the church for a sharing time and a very moving blessing of the pilgrims.    En savoir plus

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  • Phil MerrellThey’re Back! Spanish EasterVoyageur
    A Hearty Breakfast in Pamplona
    Beautiful Gardens EverywhereWood Sculpture in Puenta la ReinaWoodworker's ShopPuenta la ReinaPuenta la ReinaPuenta la ReinaCirauqui, Our DestinationIn CirauquiEveryone in Spain does FlowersDinner in the Old Wine Cellar

    Cirauqui

    13 mai 2025, Espagne ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Dale is still pretty banged up and feeling it. This kind of injury just takes time to heal. Full days of walking are just not in the cards. We’ve decided to skip ahead and go to some of our favorite places from previous Caminos. We’ll walk shorter distances, and will take public transportation to get near our stops. This morning we caught a bus from Pamplona to Obanos, a small village part way to our goal for the day, Cirauqui. We stopped in Puenta la Reina, (famous for its bridge) at a woodworker’s shop full of wonderful, creative art. Some of his pieces were of the repression during the Franco dictatorship and were pretty dark. But most of it was just really unique and creative. We made the 6 miles to the beautiful hilltop village of Cirauqui by mid afternoon. The Albergue we stayed at had an old basement wine cellar where they served a great dinner.En savoir plus

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  • Phil MerrellThey’re Back! Spanish EasterVoyageur
    Cool Bridge at Villava
    Rio Arga at VillavaVillavaThe Entrance Gate to the Old City of PamplonaSomething Must Have Been FunnyThe Municipal Albergue Jesus y Maria... or is it an early version of the Matrix

    Pamplona

    14 mai 2025, Espagne ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    (Posted 6/24/25). Dale is still hurting from the fall the day before yesterday. We decided we would walk the 5 miles into Pamplona though, and sent our packs ahead. The walk went pretty well.

    We had reserved in the municipal Albergue, which turned out to be a former large church converted into a massive 122 person dormitory. It has a couple of levels of sleeping spaces in the center of a vast open cathedral like space. The effect is somewhat like the human storage space in the movie The Matrix. Walls of bunk beds extending into the distance. Oh well, it’s only one night.

    While eating late lunch, we ran into a friend we had met the first day in Orisson who has a health background. She convinced Dale he should get a medical evaluation (not to hard), and helped us find a clinic. Thanks Judy Gross! After a reasonably long wait and an X-ray, we received the good news that nothing was broken or cracked. Now it’s just time needed to heal.    En savoir plus

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    Fin du voyage
    25 mai 2025