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Laurie Reynolds
Laurie Reynolds

Laurie Reynolds

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  • Laurie ReynoldsTeaching Time in LisbonLaurie Reynolds
    13112

    Last Day in Lisbon

    27 novembre, Portogallo ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    The real downside of this year’s trip was that the only dates available included Thanksgiving. Since the kids had planned to spend Thanksgiving with the “other family,” I decided to come.

    I gave my exam today, and then had to decide what to do with my last afternoon. Last night with my Via Lusitania friends, I got a couple of suggestions, but in the end, I decided to go back to basics and walk at least part of the Camino from Lisbon. After all, the non-human thing I am most thankful for is the Camino.

    I made sure to look for some old Caminho GPS tracks, because the new ones I followed last year did not take me through the old port that I had remembered from my first Caminho Português in 2008. They have moved a lot of of the Caminho over to the riverfront, which is nice enough, but I thought it was more interesting to walk past the actual port buildings that were a bit removed from the water.

    I was surprised to come upon a big complex, the sign pronouncing that its name was Unicorn. If you can understand anything that this website describes, you are sharper than I am! https://unicornfactorylisboa.com

    I just started walking around inside and went into one of the restaurants to find out what it was. A waiter told me that the complex was a former military base, which has been turned into a “destination.” The big beer brewery was in a former electrical generating room, and they’ve left all the machinery, polished and shining. Other places had different styles and menus.

    When I got close to Parque das Naçōes, I moved down to the river walk. Lots of fancy apartment buildings going up. At the Vasco da Gama tower, I turned around, walked back past the Calatrava train station and hopped in an Uber.

    I had not seen the Christmas tree in the main square lit up, and I’m really glad I stopped there. I was FaceTime-ing with one set of grandkids while walking around the square, and it was fun to show them how beautiful it is. But it is easier to impress three– and seven-year-olds with a beautiful Christmas tree than it is an 11-year-old!

    Tomorrow I head home. A big storm is forecast for the Chicago area, so who knows when I will arrive.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsTeaching Time in LisbonLaurie Reynolds
    We lived here in 2004-05, the start of my live affair with Lisbon.Joe's old Barber ShopAdega das Gravatas--long time favorite.3The old Carnide Neighbourhood1The Tyson's Corners of LisbonBenfica Stadium1

    Old friends and the old neighborhood

    26 novembre, Portogallo ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Yesterday, after my class, I walked down to the Corte Inglés to meet up with a friend. She had spent years in Champaign at the UI, but then we lost touch when she moved on to greener university pastures. Turns out she has retired and moved to Lisbon, and it was thanks to a mutual friend that we met again. Seeing her has been a highlight of my last few years in Lisbon.

    We decided to start with a light lunch in the Tapas restaurant in the Corte Inglés. And if you can believe it, six hours later we stood up and walked outside to realize it was night time. It felt good to catch up on what had happened to us both over the past year and to reestablish that bond that goes back to when our kids were small.

    On Wednesday, I realized I really didn’t have much more of central Lisboa to explore on foot, so one idea was to take an Uber to a place like Quinta da Regaleira or the Palacio de Queluz. But in the end, I just decided to head north from my hotel, up through the neighborhood where we had lived in 2004-05, our first year in Lisbon. No monuments, no ancient churches, just walking around past my old apartment, old hairdresser, old gym, old fruit store, some favorite restaurants. There have been lots of changes, but one thing remains unchanged — the monumental Colombo Shopping Center - capitalism on steroids! I confess I did pick up a few more last minute things but didn’t spend too much time wandering around inside.

    I just about hit my 10 mile goal, which I’m sure I will pass this evening, because I have 2 km each way to the restaurant where I am going to meet my via Lusitania friends, whom I’ve known for more than 15 years!    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsTeaching Time in LisbonLaurie Reynolds
    111

    Walking in the Rain

    24 novembre, Portogallo ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    One thing that I am glad to have learned after so many Caminos is that it’s up to me to decide whether rain is going to ruin my day of walking. Walking in the rain in the city is a bit different, and in some ways, less fun, than walking in the rain out on the camino, but the truth remains that it is only water and it is only going to get you wet.

    One of the areas of Lisbon that I had not yet been back to was Campo de Ourique, one of my favorite residential areas, and Estrella, which is on the way back down the hill to the Baixa. I’m getting pretty good at hitting my 10 mile/16 km goal. Today Wikiloc clocked me at 16.38 km!

    The rain was not constant, but it kept on starting and stopping, for the entire four hours I was out walking around. Since Lisbon sidewalks are mostly made of slippery little square tiles, my walking pace was slow, and when the rain got really heavy, I was frequently tempted to duck inside a store or sit down in a café for a hot drink.

    The neighborhood of Campo Ourique was built on a grid in the late 1800s- early 1900s. It consists of what planners in the United States would call today the “missing middle” housing. Mostly multifamily, but low density (3-5 stories), lots of parks, small stores and cafes lining the streets, lots of trees. It is just lovely.

    Estrella, an older neighborhood on the way back to the historic center, has one of Lisbon’s biggest parks, and it streets are narrow and its buildings are old. The parliament building jumps out at you when you get down the hill and then back up you go to the Santa Catarina neighborhood with its own Miradouro.

    I have read that the horrific accident on the Lisbon street car showed that the cables were not up to standards.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20pg8pzp2no.amp

    As a result, the city has shut all of them down and is doing a revision and replacement. It’s so unfortunate that it took a tragedy to trigger this.

    As it got dark, more and more of the Christmas lights were turned on, and in spite of the rain, it was pretty festive.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsTeaching Time in LisbonLaurie Reynolds
    2
    11

    In Soto del Real

    22 novembre, Spagna ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    Weekend in Soto. My good friends live in this little town, about 40 km north of Madrid. Walk out the door, and you’re in the Sierra de Guadarrama. Several hours walking in a cold but bright sunny day. It was terrific.

    After lunch, we darted in and out of Madrid to see a nice exposition of Madrazo paintings. I had seen paintings of his before in random museums, but getting to see an exposition dedicated to Madrazo was a nice way to get a feel for him as a romantic painter. Some of the portraits were really quite nice.

    Sunday was more walking, more eating, and the happiness that Gonzalo was able to make it home from his camping trip to see me for at least a few minutes! I was also so happy that Txema, another friend and professor of local government law, was able to drive to Soto for a get together. Such a great weekend.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsTeaching Time in LisbonLaurie Reynolds
    The universidade de Lisboa, not a terribly inviting campus, but it's a very good university.

    Not much walking today

    21 novembre, Portogallo ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    I slept in a little, did some wash, and after breakfast decided to go to the gym to do my elliptical workout. There are no classes on Friday, so I had to choose between whether I wanted to go walking for a few days nearby or get on a plane and go to visit my very close friends in Madrid. Since I hadn’t seen them in more than two years, it was an easy choice. This is another family whom I’ve known for more than 20 years, and on both professional and personal levels, we are very close.

    Since my flight left Lisbon in the early afternoon, I didn’t really have much time to do other things, but I decided I would see how hard it was to walk to the airport. This is a question that comes up every now and then when people are wondering about starting their Caminho Português on foot from the airport. The Lisbon airport is closer to its dense urban population than any airport I’ve ever been in. It was only about 5 km from my hotel, and I must’ve been tracing the flight path, because there was a constant stream of planes that seemed awfully close to my head.

    There were sidewalks and crosswalks the whole way, and though it wasn’t a beautiful city walk, it was perfectly fine. Based on what I saw, I don’t think there would be any problem walking either to central Lisbon or to the Parque das Naçöes if you wanted to skip the first part of the Camino from Cathedral.

    The airport to the cathedral is about 5 miles/9 km, so it wouldn’t be a terribly long trek.

    I haven’t really followed all the chatter about the new EU biometric boarding process, but it is being gradually implemented and will require digital and facial identification for all non-EU citizens, I think. Better security and more efficiency are the goals, I think.

    Off to Madrid!    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsTeaching Time in LisbonLaurie Reynolds

    Walking along the river

    20 novembre, Portogallo ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    About 10 mi/15-16 km seems to be a good afternoon walk for me after teaching. Today I took an Uber to Belém, out along the river about 5 miles from the center, and I started walking at the Tower of Belém. The Torre was under scaffolding and it looks like they are giving it a good cleaning, so it will soon gleam white. The other Belém attractions are all along the way back to town, the Monument to the Discoverers, the Jerónimos Monastery (also being cleaned to a brilliant shade of white), and the Pastéis de Belem store, where the most famous pasteis de nata are sold. I think the hype is a bit much, because you can get a delicious pastel de nata in so many little places that make their own. So I didn’t wait in the long line, but went to a little pasteleria a few blocks down and got a perfectly yummy pastel de nata without a 25 minute wait!

    Lisbon has cobbled together a good walk that extends all the way back to the center along the river. This has been a relatively recent development, but for whatever reason, the city has decided to definitely “embrace” the river. Lots of esplanades where people can sit and soak up the sun at water’s edge on a day like today. The path does go through some of the working port area, but nothing dangerous. I was glad to have my Camino friend AJ’s tracks on my phone, because there are lots of places where it’s not clear which way to go. Yes, I know, the obvious thing is to keep the river on my right, but there are docks and fences and piles of containers that sometimes block the way. With the tracks on my phone, I just got a beep if I went too far off-route. No need to be looking at my phone every few minutes.

    From the central Praça do Comércio on the waters edge, it’s hard to find new routes back to my hotel. I did take a little detour off of one side and was happy to find three of the restaurants that we have enjoyed over the years that were still open.

    I’m going to a friend‘s house for dinner in a few minutes, and I’ve known their kids since they were small. Now one is working on her Ph.D., another is a law student, and the third is almost done with high school. Not that that makes me feel old or anything!

    I’ve had some really good walks this year, and maybe I’m so motivated to do it because I’m wondering if this might be my last year coming to teach. I’m trying to soak up as much of Lisbon’s charm as I possibly can.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsTeaching Time in LisbonLaurie Reynolds
    12

    More walking in Lisbon

    19 novembre, Portogallo ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    The clouds have returned, but thankfully did not bring rain with them. So I once again set out on another ten mile walk, this time to wander through the “castle side“ of Lisbon‘s hills. To get there from my hotel, I decided to take an unfamiliar route, a chance to see something new.

    I didn’t exactly come up with a walk of jaw-dropping beauty or interest, but I started out in a very pretty “upscale” residential neighborhood, Abalate, with lots of cafés and little boutiques, and from there I traveled down the economic scale and made my way through several neighborhoods that were not exactly rough, but were clearly not as affluent. Lots of grocery stores and shops from far flung places made it interesting.

    My first destination was a Miradouro/ lookout that sits on top of the hill across from the castle. To get up there, Google maps took me up a pedestrian path and stairway that was about six or seven stories high. I seem to have a knack for finding men who are doing immodest things when I walk in Iberia, because as I turned a corner, there he was. There was no way to go but up, so I just kept on walking and averted my eyes.

    And once I got there the view was very nice! From there, I wandered through more familiar territory, old Lisbon on the hills, and made my way to two more favorite lookout spots. I took yet another route back to the hotel, passing one of my favorite fancy old cafés.

    My day’s purchases were nowhere near as interesting as yesterday‘s — stamps to send postcards home, a few bottles of olive oil, postcards, and my daughter‘s favorite wax earplugs.

    I went for an early supper to a place close to the university where Joe and I have eaten many many meals. Grilled robalo/sea bass is what I got. I have lost whatever little skill I had at taking fish off the bones, but I managed. And with a mango for dessert, what could be healthier?    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsTeaching Time in LisbonLaurie Reynolds
    What!!! La Gorda in Lisboa too???? Not just Oviedo!
    1This used to be Adega San RoqueOut of commission.Best place to buy socks, if you want them to last!Conserveira, the authentic place!!!Christmas market.Go-to place for Belgian chocolates!

    Afternoon walking

    18 novembre, Portogallo ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    Teaching for three hours a day is a small price to pay to have the rest of the day free in Lisbon! I started walking before 2:00 and got back to my hotel just after it got dark, around 6, having walked about ten miles (with a lot of stops). Sunny and cool, it was perfect. I was surprised by the number of tourists, after all it’s mid November, and was also surprised to see how many places I remember that had closed with new businesses in their place. And this was just since last year. I know change is inevitable, but one really made me sad — the Adega São Roque, where Joe and I, and my girlfriends and I, have had many excellent seafood cataplanas. It is now a modern jazzy little place serving exotic drinks. The place had been closed for years, but now another business has opened there.

    Christmas decorations are going up (many will be turned on this Saturday, so I’ll be sure to head out after dark next week) and Christmas markets are opening. I went to one of my favorite miradouros (look out spots) and walked through some of my favorite squares. It feels good to be here. I’ve FaceTimed Joe while walking, so he has seen some of our old hangouts.

    I did a couple of my essential, every year, shopping errands. First, to Pedemeia, believe it or not, a sock store. Katy swears that these all-cotton Portuguese socks are the best in the universe. I was able to Facetime with her so she could pick out some favorite designs. Then over to the Conserveira de Lisboa, the authentic old sardine place, not the glitzy “Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine,” where you can get a can of sardines with the year of your birth on the wrapper, or take your picture next to a merry-go-round, or enjoy any of the other circus-like decorations. But my Lisbon friends tell me the sardines are bad and more expensive, but that since the shops have so much going on, the tourists just flock there. Don’t go there! Go to the Conserveira de Lisboa, where they still wrap their cans of sardines in brown paper.

    One last stop on the way back was Leonidas, the Belgian chocolate shop. I’m going to some friends’ for dinner this week, and they are real wine experts, so chocolate is a much safer bet for me.

    Dinner tonight in a popular local place, Lucimar, where I was happy to find my favorite soup, caldo verde, followed by a yummy vegetable version of Bachalau à Bras, a typical way of preparing dried cod.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsTeaching Time in LisbonLaurie Reynolds

    First day teaching

    17 novembre, Portogallo ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Leaving my hotel this morning, I saw that the Portuguese communist party still has their headquarters across the street, with their lovely mural— a joint project of almost 40 artists. But the general tide in Portugal seems to be moving far away from the communists. Yesterday, in my Uber back from Sintra to Lisbon, my driver (from Bangladesh originally) told me how the anti-Immigration fever has hit Portugal full force. He described incidents where people have come up to him in the street and told him to go home. His daughter has even gotten insults, and she’s four years old and was born in Portugal. As if to put a point on that, this morning, walking to school I saw a billboard that I couldn’t have imagined would be possible here in Portugal. Anti-Immigrant parties are on the rise, and the Chega! (Enough Already) party seems poised to get at least a plurality in the next elections. I suppose this hateful xenophobia, and the other right-wing ideology that accompanies it, has always existed, but for a country that transitioned from a dictatorship to democracy in 1974, it is surprising to me.

    My class has fewer than 20 students for the first time in many years, and I am so happy about that. There are about four Portuguese students and the rest are Erasmus — from all over the European Union. It seems like a very good group, and I have to remember that law students in Europe are much younger than my law students in the United States. This is their first university degree, and that seems to make them more bright eyed and bushy tailed than your average US law student. The three hours sped by, for me at least!

    I realize how lucky I was to have had a rain free day yesterday. The weather pattern seems to be cloudy with occasional hard showers. Yesterday I had nothing but sun after my first little burst of rain. I will have to remember to bring my umbrella with me everywhere I go.

    One of my favorite meals in Portugal is a piece of grilled fish, some of those delicious Portuguese potatoes, and a green vegetable. There’s a little hole in the wall restaurant near my hotel, and I went back for yet another €13 dinner.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsTeaching Time in LisbonLaurie Reynolds
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    2111

    Arrived!

    14 novembre, Stati Uniti ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    It’s been a rough two weeks, and I wasn’t sure that I should go, but the class is all set and I do love Lisbon. But it took me a long time to get here, that’s for sure. Many hours in O’Hare, and then I missed my connection in Heathrow. I had a seven hour wait for the next available flight to Lisbon. Luckily, I had lounge access and was able to find a sofa in a corner for a couple of hours, but it was not a lot of fun.

    To add to the fun, I went to the hotel where I had stayed last year (as per my instructions), only to find out that there was no reservation for me. The guy at the desk spent some time calling all the other hotels in the same chain to see if maybe I was booked in one of those. No luck. I was about to just check in and figure it out later, but then I had the idea to call the hotel where I had been two years ago. Sure enough, they had my reservation.

    Not surprisingly, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow a little after midnight. I woke up this morning at 7, had a very good breakfast and
    by eight I was in an Uber. It’s my only day to walk.

    I was dropped off at about 8:45 at the Cabo da Roca, pulled up my Wikiloc tracks and off I went. What a beautiful day, probably my best day hike from Lisbon. The first couple of kilometers were really hard — several very stony descents, followed of course by steep ascents. But always with gorgeous views of the coast.

    When I got away from the coast, I was in the Sintra Hills. First little detour was to a 4000 year- old anta/burial chamber. It was amazing. From there up to a little sanctuary, Peninha,
    and then through the hills to several of my favorite Sintra sites. The paths were great— a mixture of sand, dirt, and gravel, with lots of pine needles as an extra cushion. First the Convento dos Capuchos, a tiny 16th century monastery. All the doors, some of the benches, and even some of the ceilings were lined with cork. I remembered this from years ago and was so glad to go back and have it pretty much all to myself.

    Next step was the Monserrate mansion, built by Brits in the 19th century. Then I passed a few more of these magnificent Quintas on my way to my last stop for the day, the Moorish Castle. Great views.

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/cabo-da-r…

    I took the bus down to the historic center of Sintra, and even though it was about 530 on a Sunday afternoon, the streets were mobbed with tourist going up and down a tiny streets lined with souvenir shops. I did get a travesseiro in Piriquita, and they were just as good as I remembered them. But then, all pastries in Portugal are delicious.

    It was hard to get an Uber because of traffic restrictions, but one finally made it to me. There are plenty of good little restaurants in this neighborhood, but none are open on Sunday night, so I’ll get a salad downstairs in the Hotel bar. Classes tomorrow!    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    2Cuatrodeocho -- excellent restaurant

    Random pics

    7 ottobre, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Madrid is such a great city for walking and for sitting in a café watching other people walking! I highly recommend staying near or at least walking around Malasaña-it’s a little dirty, a little edgy in some places, but so full of life!

    Home tomorrow. End of Camino 2025.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    11

    Day in Madrid

    7 ottobre, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Any hotel breakfast that has chia seeds, oats, Greek yogurt and nuts on offer is a winner in my book. Back to my “Clare breakfast”!

    I wanted to visit a couple of sites that I had never been to. First stop was the Liria palace, which is still the home of the current Duque de Alba. He is 76 now, and his descendants don’t want to live here, so I assume it will be permanently maintained as a tourist attraction. A lot of of the same over the top trappings as with any fancy palace, but there were some things that were really awesome— a first edition of Don Quijote, a letter from Christopher Columbus to his son, a letter from Fernando e Isabel to Columbus, an illuminated medieval Bible, a very famous portrait of the Duquesa de Alba by Goya (her “pair” is in the Hispanic Society in New York, where I saw it in February). And then there is supposedly the first portrait Velázquez did of one of the princesses who figures prominently in Las Meninas. Not to mention an El Greco crucifixion, though he’s not one of my favorites. All in all it’s really worth a visit, with all the typical palatial rooms filled with all sorts of tchotchkes. Several months ago there was a Joana Vasconcelos exposition there, which must have been so much fun to see.

    Then a quick visit to the Cerralbo Museum, definitely a poor cousin of the palace I had just visited. But there was a pretty astonishing candelabra of Murano glass. This would not be on any list of top sites in Madrid in my book — but it is free for over 65.

    After a five minute walk, I got to the Templo de Debod, built in the 2C BC to the gods of Amun and Isis. It was a gift from the Egyptian government when they built the Aswan dam and flooded a lot of ancient sites. Other temples went to New York, Turin, and Leiden). Admission is free, but you have to reserve online ahead of time, only 15 visitors per half hour slot. There were many disappointed arrivals when I was there.

    I hopped in a cab and went to the Suanzes metro stop to meet a camino forum friend, @pelegrin. Instant connection with lots to talk about. After lunch, we walked around two old estates which are now public parks. The owners (counts, dukes, or something similar) were able to strike a deal with the city of Madrid – you give us permission to build apartment buildings over here, and we’ll give you all the rest of the land.

    So it’s my last night and I was lucky to snag an early reservation in Cuatrodeocho. So yummy!!!! Just so I won’t forget the names here are the other places I have enjoyed on this trip — La Buganvilla and Orio. Ojalá Café in Plaza Rastrillo is very popular, and though I only had an agua con gás, the food looked very good.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds

    Traveling to Madrid

    6 ottobre, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    I decided to go into Madrid today, which will give me a full day there tomorrow. I’m going to make a point of visiting some of the “less popular“ places, some of which I’ve never been to.

    I decided that since it was a beautiful day, I would walk from the train station to the Plaza Santa Bárbara, where I’ve booked a hotel for two nights. It’s one of my favorite areas of the city.

    First order of business. Buying bubble wrap. As a creature of habit, I always bring home as many liters of olive oil as I can squeeze into my pack and a little duffel bag. For at least the last 15 years, it’s been a point of pride of mine to be the sole supplier of my daughter’s family’s olive oil. They cook a lot! I think there has only been one time since I started bringing it home when they ran out. Pretty good record. And I’ve never had any breakage or spillage, so fingers crossed that the trend continues.

    All in all, I walked about 20 K today. Just visiting different plazas and parks. And all the grocery stores within a 10 minute walk. The whole area near Tribunal and Noviciado is a maze of little streets and all sorts of small businesses run by all sorts of different people. I love wandering around there.

    One of the special stops of the day was at the Café Comercial. Back in the 70s it was where “el viejo profesor” went for coffee and to read the newspapers that were hanging on those long sticks. He was a professor of political science and spent some time in jail as a political prisoner. He later became the first Socialist mayor of Madrid, and I remember him as a very kind, humble man.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    423411

    Susilla to Aguilar

    5 ottobre, Spagna ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Last day walking! I had two reasons to put pep in my step today. One was that I wanted to be sure to arrive in Aguilar in time to visit the Romanesque church Santa Cecilia. And second was because Rebekah and Ana were coming from Moratinos to meet me in Aguilar!

    I left early, once again, using my super duper Petzl headlamp. And boy was it chilly! I am so glad that I brought my lambswool gloves.

    The stage took off-road routes between villages, and in one village two big dogs started to follow me. For at least an hour, they would run in front of me, then come back to me, then run in front of me again. About five minutes after they seemed to have finally lost interest in me, a small white van stopped and asked me if I had seen two dogs. They had been gone since last night, he told me, so imagine his relief when I could tell him where I had last seen them.

    I got into Aguilar with plenty of time to visit the church and also the castle above it. The last time I had visited this church, I had gone to the priest’s house, where I had given him my passport in exchange for the key to the church. Now there’s a little ticket booth, and if you can believe it, a 10 minute “sound and light show.“ But the capital of the slaughter of the innocents is still one of the most beautiful Romanesque capitals I’ve ever seen.

    Right around 1 o’clock, Ana and Rebekah arrived. It was so wonderful to see them! We went back into the church, and Ana pointed out that the soldiers who were slaughtering the innocents had face coverings — just like ICE she said!

    What followed was an excellent lunch at a restaurant that Rebekah somehow found. La Dolce Vita. Go there if you are ever in Aguilar de Campóo. Goat cheese salad, lubina (sea bass— best I’ve had in a long time) and then for dessert, a tarta de cuajada. If you like cuajada, you would love this!

    The long lunch had to end, but it was just about as perfect a camino ending as I could imagine!    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds

    Polientes to Susilla

    4 ottobre, Spagna ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    Now that my 40+ kilometer days are in the rearview mirror, I have had to break up this stage into two short days. Accommodations are very scarce, but the Casa Rural Mate is about halfway.

    Some camino forum friends reported very bad conditions on parts of this stage., but having had basically no rain this year, most everything is pretty dry..

    I started rather late, almost 830, because my hotel included breakfast, and because it was not clear whether there would be any other food options between now and my destination. I also had to carry my food for this evening, so that added a little more weight than usual.

    This was a surprisingly pleasant walk. It went through at least four little villages, and in nearly all of them, I stopped to chat. Once with a señora, watering her flowers, once with a guy picking green beans in his garden, once with two kids who were going to help their dad harvest potatoes. And at least three or four churches with little bits and pieces of Romanesque! — windows, arches, corbels. So there were lots of reasons to dilly dally, at the one church closest to my final destination, I was pretty sure I had seen some more of those X-rated corbels, and sure enough an online source confirmed it. I’m no expert in erotic carvings,, but these did look very suggestive from afar. I noticed that there was a fair amount of what looked like damage on some of them, and it reminded me what an old man once told me outside a similar church – that the priest had told them when they were young to throw stones at those carvings because they had no place outside a house of worship and we’re disgusting. Looks like the boys of this town might have had some success with that.

    My Casa Rural is really nice , and after a shower, I took a walk to find the anthropomorphic gravesites that are about a kilometer away. It took me a while, and several attempts up and down a rock face, but I finally found them. There were at least 20 in different groupings, and, sadly, but not surprisingly, a large number of them were child sized.

    So ends another really pleasant day. And the cherry on top of all of it is that I have learned of a surprise visit tomorrow in Aguilar. Did someone say Moratinos?!    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    3
    11

    Orbaneja del Castillo to Polientes

    2 ottobre, Spagna ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    For today’s walk, I had to decide whether to take a route that would go to two rock hermitages, one probably carved in the 7th C, and one in the 10th, or whether to take a detour that would take me up to a high point in the area. Since I hadn’t been able to visit the rock ermita yesterday, I decided to go for less elevation and more cultural interest. https://www.lasmerindades.com/es/patrimonio-rec….

    That was a terrific decision. I was totally unprepared for how amazing these two places were. I have been in a number of rock hermitages, usually a little praying nook carved into stone with openings on the sides. These were two stories, with arches going all the way up from floor to the top, several separate spaces on each floor, and one had what must have been an altar. The 10th C one even had a horseshoe arch!

    They both looked solidly closed, but on further inspection I was able to get inside both of them. In spite of the padlocked gate on the first one, climbing up the dodgy ladder on the right gave access to the stairs that came up from the first floor. And at the second one, the padlock was open!

    I was glad I had nothing to rush for, and I found myself sitting inside these two places and reflecting on the kinds of things that spots like these elicit. But I did eventually move on.

    There is an absolutely beautiful church along this route, San Martín de Elines. It’s a colegiata, which means it’s more important than a “regular church.”
    https://www.culturadecantabria.es/listado-patri…

    I had been unable to get any information about visiting hours, but I left very early this morning so that I would be sure to get there before typical closing times if in fact it were open. No such luck. It was closed tight with no indication of phone number or opening hours. I was bummed.

    Beautiful windows and apses, and many varied corbels— animals, fantastic figures, a few humans. Oh I would have loved to get inside. I am now 0 for 3 when it comes to the standout Romanesque churches on this route. But the exterior was beautiful itself, and I was still thinking about those rock hermitages (and I decided they should be called rock cathedrals), so I couldn’t get too upset.

    The last 8 km were pretty much of a slog, on the side of sunny but untraveled road. I’m in a cute place in the pretty unremarkable town of Polientes. But the kids are in the plaza and having fun.

    I have two more days of walking, but that’s only because I can no longer walk a 43 km day. I don’t think either day will be particularly special, walking towards the finish line in Aguilar de Campóo on Sunday.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    12It really does look like a camel!2I felt like they were all staring at me1Right under the kiss itself2Where is the waterfall!Tons of little black spots, I mean, many raptors.1

    Day in Orbaneja

    1 ottobre, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Yesterday afternoon, I took a trail up and out of town. For a while, the views were spectacular, but then things turned to dry scrub. I only continued about 5 km. I passed three graves, men who were either 16 or 20, victims of the Spanish Civil War. The little monument, erected in 2010, said “we’ve learned to fly like birds, we’ve learned to swim like fish, but we haven’t learned the simple art of living together like brothers and sisters.”

    In the late afternoon, I took a walk around town, which consists of three or four streets. Hidden in a corner was a little bar with a terrace looking out on the so-called “camels kiss“ formation. Turns out that the two guys behind the bar are the owners of the enterprise, and today was their first day. I hope that they succeed!

    So here is what I did today. Kind of a rest day, not much elevation, not much distance, no pack!

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/orbaneja-…

    This morning I woke up to another beautiful day. Breakfast at 8:30, a real luxury, and by 9:30 I was starting my day’s walk. I combined two different trails, to make a 16 km loop. The first went up so that I was right under the Beso del Camelo (Kiss of the Camel) rock formation. At one point, I saw 13 Raptors on a ridge, looking down at me. Not surprisingly, when I got close, they all took off in very graceful flight. Awesome. When I got to the other side of the formation, looking down over the town, I just sat and watched as the sun rose slowly over this magical place. Just me and the raptors!

    Back down at river level, instead of returning to town, I stayed along the river. This is the route I will follow tomorrow, but I decided to go out about 6 km to some off-route waterfalls and another rock hermitage .

    Well, it was a lovely walk, but the waterfalls were dry and the path up to the hermitage was totally overgrown and filled with prickly bushes. I saw more people today than any other day so far – three couples and one single guy walking, and one cyclist.

    On the way back to town, it seemed like every time I looked up to the cliffs, there were circles of raptors. I’m not sure what they were, but it was really kind of mesmerizing to watch these black dots circling around and around and around. Sometimes they got close enough to me that I could see their white heads and the jagged outlines of their wings.

    All in all, I am very glad I decided to spend a day here!    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    21

    Pesquera Ebro - Orbaneja del Castillo

    1 ottobre, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/pesquera-…

    I think this is the latest I have ever set out on any camino. It was almost 8:30 by the time I left my little hotel. If the sun doesn’t rise until eight, and if I will be walking the entire day in a canyon/gorge, I knew that daylight would be late to arrive. I also knew it was going to be a short day, with virtually no elevation, so I opted for another no-alarm day with coffee in my room. Unfortunately, the bar didn’t open till nine.

    I had heard that there was a pedestrian bridge that had been destroyed by flood rains and that had not been replaced. What that meant is that the normal 24 or 25 km route would have to be shortened to 18. So I really took my time. The trail is always close to the river, with little cut outs to go sit on a rock and enjoy the view. The trail is extremely well-maintained, and a big chunk of it, from the hydroelectric plant onward, is a drivable gravel road. It really was a gorgeous 18 km stretch. And every now and then I would see a few enormous raptors take off from on high and circle around.

    For the entire way, the audio portion of this walk alternated between my footsteps and hiking poles breaking the total silence, and the sound of water rushing over rocks. Sometimes I was in a dense forest, sometimes walking alongside eroded rock, sometimes with views way up high to the top of the cliffs.

    The last 6 km of the walk were on the other side of the river, equally tranquil, but not as beautiful. That’s just because it was so heavily forested, with a lot fewer glimpses of the river or the imposing cliffs. But the compensation was that there were more bird songs.

    I had been debating whether to spend an extra night here, but my mind was made up as soon as I entered the town.

    I have a couple of local trails to walk tomorrow, and the room I got in the rustic hotel rural includes breakfast! What luxury.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    22

    Valdenoceda to Pesquera de Ebro

    30 settembre, Spagna ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    My tracks for the day:

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/valdenoce…

    Another wonderful walk — how is it possible?! The morning started off with a couple of good omens— first, that I was able to figure out how to use mapy.com to get me reunited with the Camino without going back on the highway as I had come. Immediately after rejoining the Camino, poof, there in front of me was another beautiful Romanesque church. I would love to get inside a couple of these places, but this one just had late afternoon visiting hours.

    After the town of El Alminé came the Calzada medieval, an old trade route that brought sheep and other livestock from the Meseta to the coastal towns. With its ascent of about 300 m, the grade was quite good, 13%, the historical authenticity unsurpassed. But it was murder on my feet.

    Some of it was really spectacular though, because you could see how the builders had raised the level of the road in certain spots by as much as 18 or 20 feet to avoid dips. When I got to the top, there was a church of mish-mash styles emerging from the mist. Very nice.

    The next 10 or so kilometers were mainly along roads —no traffic, no scenery, no cars. The one great diversion was a detour off the Camino to see the Dolmen de Cotarrita. Adding another 1.5 km to a day’s walk is not something to be undertaken lately, but I had heard good things about this site and thought that my day was in pretty good shape.

    Estimates are that the dolmen is 5500 years old. The information plaque told me that they had found 15 bodies buried there, some of them with little pieces of pottery or amulets carved from bones. I took a good shoes-off break there and am sad to report that I got no great answers to life’s big questions. I did reflect, though, on the fact that I had been really silly to worry that the GPS tracks I had followed were too “old” — from 2012 — while this dolmen hadn’t moved in 5500 years.

    I’m in a little hotel in the town with more coats of arms on its houses than any other town in Castilla and León. Some are quite impressive and one dates from the 13th century. In my experience, that’s very unusual — typically 16th and 17th century.

    After lunch, I walked out to the mirador/viewpoint of the Cañón del Ebro. I will be walking along the river tomorrow, but I will be down at river level, and this viewpoint was from up high.

    I can’t believe how great the weather has been. Some clouds, but always sun, temps no higher than the mid 70s. I know this area is still in a terrible drought, so I wouldn’t be upset with a rainy day or two.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds

    Montes, montañas and bosques

    29 settembre, Spagna ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    This post will probably only be of interest to Janet and anyone else who is curious about the semantic nuances of the Spanish language.

    A few days ago, I wrote that I was walking through the “montes“ of Burgos. And that my understanding was that these montes were somewhere in between hills and mountains, with the villages nearby having been ceded the rights to determine permitted uses. Janet wrote that she thought that the term meant “forest.” I didn’t give it much thought, but today as I walked over what was clearly one singular hill/mountain/monte, I noticed that at several different points along the way there were signs indicating that I was going from the monte of one village to the monte of another village. But yet I was still on the same hill/mountain.

    I ran into a couple who were out for the morning walk and decided to hear it from “the locals.” After the usual pleasantries, which always involve convincing others that I am not in mortal danger walking alone, I asked them what the word monte meant to them. And they said well it is where we are right now — we are up out of the village, there’s forest, there’s some cattle, lots of hardwood trees. And no, a monte is not as big as a montaña. The señora explained that since there were several villages in different spots on this particular monte, each village got a certain designated area that is in their jurisdiction. They can decide to preserve it, to use it, to cut the timber, to earn a few euros by allowing ranchers to graze cattle on it. It just depends on the village. With some ultimate superior authority located in someplace unknown to her but probably in the capital.

    So, I asked, does the word Monte refer to the ground or to what’s growing on it. That question did not make a lot of sense to her and she said– in this monte there are many montes. Meaning, I think, that the word monte refers to all of the things that Janet and I had thought.

    She also told me that sometimes bitter conflicts arise when villagers don’t agree. She told of one village whose residents were split over whether to earn revenue from cutting down the timber, and then opening up the deforested land for cattle grazing.

    The Señora thought these conflicts were very sad and unnecessary, and told me she was very glad her village of 11 people had decided to leave these beautiful trees alone. They do get a little revenue from grazing rights for the few cattle that I saw as I was walking, but they don’t interfere with the trees. She also told me I would have to come back in a few weeks because the montes would be blazing yellow.

    Who thought that one word could be so interesting and the source of such a nice conversation!    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    1
    11116

    Trespaderne to Valdenoceda

    28 settembre, Spagna ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    My tracks:

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/trespader…

    Perfect day in all ways! Any day that starts out with crossing a long medieval bridge, a visit to a sixth century hermitage in the rocks, and then proceeds to climb up and up on a forest trail whose grade is gentle is destined to be a great day.

    I left a little before eight and it was still dark. Having a 30 km day with 750 m elevation, I knew that would mean a late arrival. But I didn’t set the alarm last night and felt great when I woke up at a little after seven. The sun doesn’t rise till 8 AM anyway!

    The walk is superb- the big ascent and descent have occasional lookout spots for oohing and aahing over the many different rock formations. The gorges are dramatic— sometimes the rock is colorful, sometimes it’s just gray, but always they are beautiful. The landscape changed on the other side of this monte, with lots of small villages and cultivated fields. I didn’t pass many other people, but those I did inevitably said hello and started a conversation.

    I knew that the camino went past San Pedro de Tejada, one of the most acclaimed Romanesque churches in the province. I also knew that not only is it usually closed, but that there is a gate all around that prevents you from a close-up look at the exterior.

    A local woman and her husband who were picking walnuts off the ground told me that when she was a kid, the church was always open — until the inevitable thefts happened. She also told me to look in the fence around at the back left side and that I would find a hole that I could squeeze through. Sure enough!!! It would have been embarrassing to have been caught in the act, but there was no way I was going to pass this option up. It’s beautiful, just beautiful, and it’s hard to believe that the corbels are original. They are all in such perfect condition, even the x-rated ones. I would have loved to get inside, but being able to sit and enjoy this jewel from the outside was reward enough.

    I went a couple of kilometers off-camino to get to a nice little casa rural. Unfortunately, my food planning has left a lot to be desired. Grocery store closed yesterday, no grocery store here, restaurant closed here, which left me with the option of a bocadillo at the bar. I will survive!    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    3
    21

    Oña to Trespaderne

    28 settembre, Spagna ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    I would agree with what a Camino friend said about this stage – not spectacular, but fine. After the last three days, the bar is set pretty high.

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/ona-to-tr…

    I was happy to confirm that the route through the gorge from Oña to Trespaderne has indeed been finished. The one piece left hanging for many months/years??? was a wooden footbridge over the Ebro river. This is part of the never finished railway line that was supposed to go from Santander in the north to Valencia on the Mediterranean. Some small sections apparently became operational, but for the most part, it was never used. Now it’s being repurposed as a walking/cycling route. And today, being Sunday, there were tons of people. And portions of this route were really beautiful, with those reddish tinted cliffs, going way up on either side.

    I had hoped to add a big loop at the end that would take me way up high. I started out from the train station and made it up a couple of K to the fortress ruins that date to the 6 th C. Beautiful views, nice place for a rest. At that point, I had tracks to climb up to a peak about 500 m above me. I started up, but the trail was extremely steep and extremely narrow and extremely rocky. After five or 10 minutes, having sampled what it would be like for me going down, I decided to turn around and head back down.

    Since it was still early, I decided to keep walking forward on the rail path just to see what was out there. About a half a kilometer further on, I saw another sign pointing up to the fortress. Even though I had already been up there, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to go up from a different angle. This was a much nicer path than the first one, shaded and nicely graded.

    When I got up there, I was surprised to see that there was a whole section of the fortress walls that I hadn’t seen on my first ascent, and the views were definitely more spectacular. So even though I didn’t make it up to the peak I was hoping to get to, I was glad to have made the effort to go back up to the fortress. And I had plenty of time to sit and enjoy the views.

    The town where I’m staying, Trespaderne, doesn’t have much in the way of charm or interest. The people at the old-style Hostal are very nice, and the restaurant below had a decent meal.

    I am looking forward to a good nights sleep tonight. Last night my window was right above an outdoor café. Even with my earplugs, it was too loud for me to sleep till after two. Today, when I arrived at the Hostal, the woman checking me in asked me if I would prefer a rear room that doesn’t look out onto the street and would be quieter. Maybe I looked like I needed some peace and quiet, but in any event, I took her up on her offer!    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    257

    From Frías to Oña

    27 settembre, Spagna ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/castillo-…

    I am back on the official Camino Olvidado. The last few days I have been walking through the “Montes“ of the province of Burgos. Montes are bigger than hills but not big enough to be called “montañas.” In my experience, they are usually in the 700 to 1000 m range (that is about 2 to 3000 feet above sea level). This Camino takes a route that goes up and down and across them rather than around them, meaning that most days there are several multi-hundred meter ascents. The montes are owned by the towns and villages in the area. In the old days, they were a source of firewood for the villagers, sometimes mushrooms. Today they are sometimes used for timbering or recreation like hiking or rock-climbing.

    I saw on my tracks that I had three of these ascents today, each one between 250 and 300 m. The walk was gorgeous, nothing spectacular, just one beautiful mountain forest after another. No eucalyptus trees, just oak, pines, and beech trees that were starting to turn yellow.

    When I got to the top of my second high point, looking down on my second descent, I noticed that my tracks showed another path. This one looked like it stayed up on the ridge (thanks to Clare for teaching me how to read contour lines) and avoided not only the second descent, but also the third ascent. My Camino friends know how reluctant I am to take shortcuts, and it is true that I started down with the thought that these meters are good for me. But then I came to a sign that said “ No pasar— trabajos forestales.” But it wasn’t until I googled “Saint Martin Church in Penches” and learned that it did not have anything that I would have been likely to ooh and ah over, that I bit the bullet, skipped the descent, and stayed up on the ridge line. That saved me about a kilometer and a half, so I arrived in Oña pretty early.

    I’m staying in a cute little hotel in a room that is, shall we say, colorful? The three people working downstairs — one in the bar, one in hotel reception, and one in the restaurant— are most definitely related, since they all have the same surly face and monosyllabic lexicon. But the restaurant gets good reviews, so I will eat here! My first proper meal since I arrived in Spain. And I will visit the monastery after my late lunch —founded in the 11th century, but with few Romanesque vestiges. El Cid has been here, and several Castillian kings are buried here, so it should be an interesting visit.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds

    Pancorbo to Frías

    26 settembre, Spagna ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/pancorbo-…

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/mirador-d…

    Another day, another beautiful walk, and another beautiful town. Up and over the mountain on a forest dirt path, then around and about on a bunch of different regional hiking paths that were all connected.

    Frías, my destination, is one of the “pueblos más bonitos de España.” And it surely is. I could see the town, its Castle, its church, all spread out up on top of a big rock, from about 12 kms away.

    I got to my hotel, and after the normal routine, I decided to walk to a small town, Tobera, about 3 km away. The Camino will pass by there tomorrow, but I wanted to have plenty of time to see the church and the waterfalls.

    As I was getting ready to leave, I decided I should probably bring my fleece with me since it really cools off at night. My fleece? Where was it? Back in the hotel restaurant, where I must’ve left it last night draped over the back of my chair. I called the Hostal and sure enough there it was. I asked if they could try to find someone who might want to drive it over here for me. They said they’d call me in a few hours. So I asked our hotel owner if she had any ideas about someone who might want to do it.

    As I was walking back to Frías from the town with the waterfalls, I got a call from the hotel owner. She told me her husband just arrived from Bilbao (where they live), and that he would be happy to drive me over.

    Well, not only did he drive me over and back, but he took a circle route to show me different things. We climbed up to the top of a lookout point, saw some castle ruins, and gazed down at the herd where he says the best beef in the area comes from. Of course, I could not convince him to take any money, and once again I am the beneficiary of such tremendous kindness. I could not imagine how I was ever going to get my fleece back, since there are no taxi cabs for at least 50 miles, and I also couldn’t imagine how I could keep on walking Caminos without that fleece.    Leggi altro

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  • Laurie ReynoldsViejo from MirandaLaurie Reynolds
    1221

    First day walking —to Pancorbo

    25 settembre, Spagna ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/pena-del-…

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/miranda-d…

    What a superb, wonderful, happy day. Alun and I left Miranda around 7:30 and walked through a beautiful gorge and into the village of Pancorbo. Olga met us in town and after a good long shoes-off break and an obligatory Kas de Limón (for me) and café con leche (for them) we said goodbye and off they went.

    I had found a local loop hiking trail, about 15 km long, that went up to the medieval castle first and then started a substantial ascent to the site of the 17th century fort, Santa Engracia, Now totally in ruins but with some amazing views and raptors! I met a couple of local people who were out for a walk and we had some nice chats. They told me that the town is alive mainly because there are lots of good jobs in the city of Vitoria, about 40 km away. The town still has a school, still has children being born, still has some young families, even though there are fewer than 500 residents.

    I was definitely starting to drag by the end of this walk. And it was after four when I rolled into the Hostal Pancorbo. Nothing fancy, perfectly adequate, clean, and only €40. Actually, a few years ago this place probably would’ve gone for 20 or 30, but there has definitely been a substantial price increase since Covid.

    After a shower and washing clothes, I decided to take a walk up to a mirador a couple of kms above town. Late afternoon sun made dramatic shadows and more raptors appeared.

    On the way down, I stopped to watch large numbers of (mostly) young people maneuvering their way on what is called a Via Ferrata. Rock climbing with chains, swaying wooden slat bridges, all sorts of stairs up and down, and at the end, a zip line! The locals say it brings a lot of people to town, and the setting is surely spectacular.

    37 km and 1050 m is a lot for this old body, even though 6 km were pack-free. I’m going to take it a little easier tomorrow, but I feel fine and am happy to have met the challenge and enjoyed so much incredible natural beauty. Grateful is the word of the hour.    Leggi altro

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