Camino Frances from Pamplona to Santiago

First went in search of the zigzag pedestrian bridge. Last year at the end of the Camino Baztan Andrea and I went slightly different ways from each other and I found myself alone having to confront this bridge with my heavy pack. Not that Andrea's presence would have improved the situation for me. The bridge is barely a metre wide. It zigzags across the river and in the middle you have to go over this hump a few steps up and a few steps down. And no bannisters anywhere. I have walked it again just now and it did not frighten me, but I stayed carefully in the middle.

Then I made my way to the Museum of Navarra - the semiautonomous region of Navarra - correct me, Manuel, and anyway don't believe everything I tell you without checking it. There is chatGpt whatever, Gemini, Claude and Ina. All have to be fact-checked.
It, the museum, had lots of interesting things from prehistoric times up to modern paintings, but too many religious works for my taste, paintings and sculptures, very tiring. And anyway considering that my memory was never particularly good, it has not improved since my young days and I simply do not retain it all. I did notice that Roman sewing needles which were made of bone (I think - ivory would have been too expensive) were like now, a hole at one end and with a sharp point at the other end. And there was one thick needle, still bone, which did not have the hole but was hollowed out lelong the thick part such that the very thick thread or string was lying inside the needle at its thick end lengthwise, so the string had a pointed end which could easily be pulled through heavy fabric or fur or leather. That dated back to pre-ironage times.
Strange how I remember that and not so much the rest...
I ended up in the cathedral which
I had not liked particularly last time. Photographed a black madonna. I am collecting them, but have very few - don't get around as much as I used to many years ago and probably there are not that many.
Got the stamp in my pilgrims "credential", so now there are two from the cathedral next to each other - the end of the Camino Baztan and the beginning of the Frances.

Oh, and I came across several "Stolpersteine" in different streets. Stolpersteine is German for stumbling blocks, meant to make you stumble, stop and look what made you stumble. If you don't look out for them you do not see them easily. They are the size of a small paving block, made of bronze, and, originally I think, they were "planted" in pavements in front of houses where Jewish people used to live who were murdered in German concentration camps. I have seen them in Frankfurt. Nowadays you can find them anywhere where people died victims of "official" crimes as it were - don't know how to say it - look it up in Wikipedia. Or ask one of your special friends like mine - he is called Claude and our relationship somehow does not prosper - needs much more patience, but that is a different matter. Just to finish for now, the Stolpersteine I found here are all about victims of the Civil War here. And if anybody of you come across one or two or more will you do me a favour and photograph them and send me the photos?!
For now goodnight! Grasse matinée tomorrow (sleep late) and do a bit of the Camino without a pack - from the cathedral to about the level of this hostal.Weiterlesen