Очистить поиск
Trip to Italy and SpainTrip to Italy and Spain
Изменить маршрут

Trip to Italy and Spain

февраля 2025
Combined sightseeing, pilgrimage, and volunteer trip Читать далее

Список стран

  • Испания
  • Италия
  • Соединенные Штаты
Категории
Поход, Культура
  • 10,9кпройденных миль
Средства перенесения
  • Полет-километров
  • Гулять пешком-километров
  • Пеший туризм-километров
  • Велосипед-километров
  • Мотоцикл-километров
  • Тук Тук-километров
  • Автомобиль-километров
  • Поезд-километров
  • Автобус-километров
  • Дом на колесах-километров
  • Караван-километров
  • 4х4-километров
  • Плавание-километров
  • Гребля-километров
  • Моторная лодка-километров
  • Парусное судно-километров
  • Плавучий дом-километров
  • Паром-километров
  • Круизный лайнер-километров
  • Конь-километров
  • Катание на лыжах-километров
  • Автостоп-километров
  • Cable car-километров
  • Вертолет-километров
  • Босиком-километров
  • 77следов
  • 25дней
  • 590фотографий
  • 357лайков
ПодписатьсяКалендарьПоделитьсяКорзина
Сначала новые
  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    One last day in Burgos

    7 апреля, Испания ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F

    My cold hasn't improved much, so we decided to stay one more day in Burgos. We've also decided that we are not going to walk to Leon and we have tickets tomorrow on the 10:30 bus.

    The 150 miles between Burgos and Leon doesn't have much infrastructure. It is kind of like walking across Western Kansas with wheat fields and very small towns.

    We've rented an apartment there where we can cook for ourselves instead of eating out. Leon has a lot of historical sites we can see. Our apartment is right in the old town.

    Phil went out today and got resupplied on hearing aid batteries. He also stopped and got me some "Dayquil" or at least the Spanish equivalent. Of course, the weather while I have been stuck indoors has been beautiful. I hope I will feel well enough to enjoy it soon.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Leon arrival Day

    8 апреля, Испания ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    I am feeling just a little better, although my strength is short-lived. I am still tiring easily. Last night, I slept well. We had an early pizza, and I was out like a light by 7:30 pm.

    Our bus from Leon was a nice one with movies, a toilet, etc. We also picked up one of our Canadian pilgrims about halfway through. He had been sick when he stayed with us at Grañón and told us he was trying to walk only 15 km or just under 10 miles per day at this point. He was walking on from Leon.

    We arrived and got checked in. Our apartment is in the old town and will allow us to see many of the Easter processions here in Leon. We were able to pick up a schedule, and there will be 17 processions here in Leon before we leave on Wednesday the 16th! Some will go right by our apartment!.

    We went to the grocery store and got some stuff for a supper of nachos. The store only had "snack" items, so we have to go to another store tomorrow for some real food! We do have eggs and yogurt for breakfast, though.

    We are sitting in our apartment watching some mindless Discovery Channel stuff on Spanish TV. I am able to change the language so we're able to watch in English.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Trip to Italy and Spain
    1

    Leon Day 1

    9 апреля, Испания ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    We picked up the Easter program, and it looks like at least 8 of the processions will go almost right by our apartment starting Friday night. There will be one Friday and Saturday. There will be 4 on Palm Sunday and one each on Monday and Tuesday. In Spain, Easter is a major holiday, and there are whole groups or confraternities that are dedicated to its celebration with uniforms, bands, and floats. The processions make their way through the streets, basically telling the story of Easter. I will take some videos and photos. We'll also see similar celebrations in Zamora.

    I am still feeling pretty rough. I took 2 naps today and made a big pot of chicken noodle soup (which helped me feel better.) We did go sit out in the sun a little on the two plaza nearest us the Plaza Mayor (where city hall is located) and Plaza San Martin which is basically a plaza with a ton of bars and restaurants on an open square.

    Apparently, it gets quite lively in this area. Our landlord told us it was perfectly safe to be out and about, but also left us ear plugs as Spanish fiestas (as in celebrating Easter) can go until early morning.

    Our little apartment has a washing machine and a decent kitchen although plates and glassware are not plentiful. I had Phil buy a couple of coffee cups and a vegetable peeler when he went our earlier today.

    I hope tomorrow I will feel well enough to visit some of the sites before the tourists arrive for the weekend.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Leon Day 2

    10 апреля, Испания ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    Wow, it's the first day in a while that I have felt like doing anything but rest! We went out and did our morning chores (taking trash to dumpster site, going to the grocery store) and then had an early lunch of our remaining chicken noodle soup before setting out.

    Our first stop was San Isadora, which is a very old church where many kings and queens are buried. Leon was a hot spot of Spanish rulers in the late 900s to early 1300s, and many were crowned or interred at San Isadora. The church still has an active congregation and is open for prayer daily, too. There is an attached museum, but they were closing for siesta, so we'll go back another day. The church is built into the city wall, which is 2 meters thick in that section.

    Then we walked to the San Marcos Monastery, which is now a luxury Paradore-brand Hotel. I checked, and rooms were between $350 and $450 per night this week for Easter. We had a coffee there and took photos. San Marcos was built as a pilgrim hospital and a place where military order knights were stationed to protect pilgrims on the Camino. There are many legends about St James or Santiago as he is known in Spain. One is that he appeared on a white horse in one of the many battles against the Moors and cut them down, and trampled them. This image is above the door at San Marcos.

    We saw another one of our pilgrims from Grañón at the hotel. He was from California and had booked lunch there since it was too expensive for an overnight. This hotel was part of the movie The Way, so lots of people stop here for photos.

    We walked around a bit more and scoped out our area a bit before returning to the apartment. Tomorrow, we hope to see some of the museums.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Leon Day 3

    11 апреля, Испания ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    Our land lady had warned us that it could be noisy in this location and left us earplugs. In addition, you have to open the rouladen and open two windows to get to the outside. The walls are about a foot thick or more. None the less, we were surprised to open the shades last night to find a nightclub and bar right across the tiny street. People were standing outside at a table, steps away from our window! This may be a sign for the upcoming weekend. It was noisier last night than the night before.

    This morning, we did a couple of loads of wash, including our bath towels, and did our morning shopping. I made some vegetable bean soup for lunch.

    Afterward, we headed out to the San Isadora museum. No photos were allowed inside, but it was pretty interesting. Leon is built on a Roman foundation, and the church was originally started in the 800s and expanded in the 900s and 1000s and finally consecrated with its own bishop in the early 1100s It was, of course, built and supported by kings and queens wealth.

    After the museum, we walked around a lot and then sat, and people watched at our favorite cafe for a while. Phil is resting now, and we will try to stay up and catch the first procession of the week tonight. It begins at 8 pm and will pass within a few steps of the apartment.

    The forecast is calling for rain, which may complicate things. I hope it holds off.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Leon Day 4

    12 апреля, Испания ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    It was a short night with a lot of noise. I forget my earplugs and had to get up and find them.

    Last night's Easter Procession, the procession of pain (Mary holding the crucified Jesus on a large float) was canceled due to rain. The floats have hand carved statues that are hundreds of years old, and the costumes of the processioners are quite elaborate, so rain could do a lot of damage.

    Still, Phil and I waited faithfully with thousands of others until the decision was announced online. I could see) the beginning of the procession streaming on my phone, and they did start out, but it was canceled before they reached our location.

    There's another procession tonight, and it will go through our plaza if it is not canceled. It has been raining all day. We even bought umbrellas for the waiting.

    I have slept a lot today. We made a couple of trips out. One to a department store and the other to get a midafternoon coffee and pastry.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Leon Palm Sunday

    13 апреля, Испания ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    We both slept better last night despite the discotheque across the way. Both wore our earplugs to bed, and we slept until about 7 am.

    Today's weather is much better. We were able to be on the front row of two events today. The first was "Procession of the Palms" at 10:30. The floats passed, and one of the many men carrying the float reached out and handed Phil a card as a momento. As the float passed and the band played, it brought tears to our eyes. Many talented musicians. I was surprised to see that many had three different instruments to play. Only a few had traditional music on paper flip cards ( a lyre), but others had a small tablet or their phone attached to the instrument. It was the first time I had seen that.

    We went to the main square outside the cathedral on the front row for the "blessing of the palms" and then joined the mad rush into the cathedral for Mass. Although we had a seat (outside the main seating area on a bench), it was very distracting to have people walking around during the service like they were touring the cathedral instead of attending Mass. There were no "cathedral security" people like in Santiago who make you be quiet or stop moving around and taking photos during the service.

    We have 3 more processions tonight nearby, so we are going to take a nap before the one at 5 pm!    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    More Leon Holy Week

    14 апреля, Испания ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    The second procession yesterday was really a blockbuster. Many in the procession are of all ages, including small children and babies in arms. There were more floats (called tronos or pasos), and many more bearers called costerleros or costeleras. Many were barefoot and bearing the floats through the city for hours. It takes a whole crew of costeleros and a lot of replacements. Many walk barefoot through the whole procession, so the local street cleaners are actually out vacuuming the streets by hand in advance of the processions.

    We sat by a woman with two young kids yesterday, and she helped interpret several things for us. A vendor was selling some kind of wafer sandwich cookies to benefit one of the confraternities. Our parade neighbor explained that one kind was sandwiched with honey, and the other was just plain. You can guess which was more popular. She broke off a bite for us to try. She also interpreted who some of the processioners were. She said, for example at the end of each parade is a representative from each Confraternity in their robes.

    We watched three parades/processions in person and the last one on TV as we were tired and it was getting late. The tronos are decorated with carvings, flowers, and even real fruit and vegetables. Some have real lit candles on them. Yesterday, the theme was mostly Jesus entering Jeruselum. Tonight, there will be two processions through our plaza.

    We went to a laundromat this morning. We have a washer in our unit, but there is no dryer, and it is harder to get things dry on the rack with it being damp as a result. We'll head to the store shortly to stock up on things since the stores were closed on Sunday.

    Not as much noise last night as the discotheque was not open, but I got up at 5 am to use the bathroom and still heard people in the street at that time. Amazingly, although there is a lot of alcohol around, you do not see a lot of public drunkenness. It's considered very bad manners to get drunk. Most of what we see is socializing. We did try the Leon Lemonade yesterday, which is kind of like a sangria and very low alcohol.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Leon, Tuesday, April 15

    15 апреля, Испания ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    It was a quiet night. We watched one procession on TV as neither was slated to come by until late. I must have fallen asleep before either came by because the noise of the bands did not wake me. That is one thing about Spain as people stay up quite late! Lunch is almost never served until at least 1:30 pm and more often between 2 and 3 pm. Supper is at 8 pm at the very earliest.

    We've tried to stick more to our regular US mealtime, but that is because we can cook in our apartment most of the time. Today, we decided to have a splurge meal out in Leon at 1:30 pm. We went to the restaurant Racimo de Oro (a bunch of gold) for lunch.

    The waiter explained the specialties of the house (a soup with cod, spinach, and garbanzos or a baked suckling lamb stew). I opted for a Hake stuffed with a seafood medley, and Phil got a steak. We looked at the rest of the menu and decided against pigsfeet, duck with sweetbreads, and a few other less familiar dishes. I am sure it was all good, though, as we saw people tucking into all kinds of plates at other tables.

    For desert, I had a chocolate mousse, and Phil had a cheesecake with quince preserves. We are finishing up our time here in Leon. One more procession again tonight, but it will be cold, so we may watch it on TV again. Our train leaves tomorrow at 3:15 pm. We go back to Madrid and make a transfer to another train for Zamora.

    We also toured the cathedral today. We got the "senior" discount. You could listen to the audio tour on your phone, and Phil was able to Bluetooth it through his hearing aids. Beautiful Gothic Cathedral from the 13th century. Some architectural issues along the way, but it was saved from collapse in the 1800s and fully restored.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод
  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Travel day to Zamora

    16 апреля, Испания ⋅ 🌧 45 °F

    It's kind of a long, boring day of waiting. We packed up and walked in the mix of snow and rain to the train station (about 3/4 of a mile). The temperature was hovering right around freezing.

    We catch our train to Madrid at 3:15 and then another one to Zamora at about 8:20. We are supposed to have a 3 hr layover, but the last two trains from Leon have both been late in leaving. I am glad we have some cushion.

    There are not many photos today, and we get into Zamora after 9 pm. The walk from the train station to our new place isn't too far.    Читать далее

    Посмотреть перевод