Spain
Pazo de Xelmírez

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    • Day 33

      Etappe 29: O Petruzo nach Santiago

      October 20, 2022 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

      Zur allerletzten Etappe, starteten wir um 8 Uhr.
      Heute standen nochmals 20 Kilometer an.
      Zuerst führte uns der Weg durch den Wald, auf einem wunderschönen Weg.
      Dadurch, dass dieser Abschnitt der letzte war, waren massenhaft Pilger unterwegs.
      Dieser Weg änderte sich nach ca. fünf Kilometer.
      Danach ging's auf breiten Teerwegen weiter bis zum endgültigen Ziel.
      Kurze Zeit später fing es heftig an zu winden und zu regnen. Hier wurde nochmals Mensch und Material an die Grenzen gebracht.
      Dieses schlechte Wetter zog sich, bis kurz vor den Toren von Santiago de Compostela.
      Hier erwartete uns schönstes Wetter.
      An der Katedrale angekommen, machten wir erstmal etliche Fotos.
      Bevor wir im Hostel eincheckten, holten wir im örtlichen Pilgerbüro unsere Compostela ab, dies ist der Nachweis, dass wir den Jakobsweg gepilgert sind.
      Nach dem einchecken im Hostel the Last Stemp, ruhte ich mich zuerst aus.
      Am Abend gingen wir noch etwas essen.

      Morgen ist noch ein Tagesausflug mit dem Bus nach Fisterra geplant, um zum Kilometer 0 zu gelangen.
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    • Last day in Santiago de Compostela!

      June 22, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

      The fun today didn’t stop with the cathedral rooftop tour. We toured Santa Maria la Real de Sar, saw the Pórtico de la Gloria up close, visited the Cathedral museum, including the cloisters and reliquaries, and took a walk in Alameda Park. We also had a chance to peruse the Mercado de Abastos. It was a wonderful last day in Santiago. Tomorrow we are on the move to our next destination! Hint: 💃Read more

    • Day 35

      Santiago de Compostela

      October 1, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

      Left at 4am wanting to catch the noon mass 20km away.
      We walked in the dark with headlamps, phone light ( my fully charged headlamp had gotten turned on apparently in travel so it soon died), and street lights. No places open on a Sunday so we kept walking. Finally at 8am a Cafe opened. Hurray! First food or coffee since walking at 3:30am!!
      We headed out again and to our surprise arrived at 9am. The cathedral is stunning and the feel of happy, sweet and finality swept us up!
      Everyone one around us was taking photos to celebrate and mark the achievement and success!
      We then went to the Compostela office to receive our certificates!. Days, no, weeks ago Ingrid, another Pilgrim, had given us information so that we could pre-register online, for the line to get in. Rather then hours of waiting to be let in to wait to be called we walked right in!
      The American who was checking my stamps ( when you get a stamp each day, you or the proprietor of your hostel or Inn, write the date down to’prove you actually walked. When you reach the last 100km you need at least 2 a day). We had been getting 3 and 5 the last few days!!
      Just because there were so many cafes to stop at!
      I suddenly worried I had written a wrong date. As this nice gentleman was checking my dates and mileage to see if it matched the route!! Acckkk!! Don’t kick me out of line! He then explained HE wasn’t familiar with this route as he hasn’t walked it. Whew!
      He then grabbed THE STAMP, ceremoniously asked if I was ready 😊 and stamped my book,
      I, to my surprise, got tears in my eyes! Who knew! 803km! Verified stamped and approved!!!
      Then on to the certificates! Calligraphy, gothic/Romanesque-beautiful! Your name in Latin printed on it. It’s beautiful! Mary, my first name is easy, Miriam. There is no Latin for Holly. We discussed what the computer wanted to assign me which was Holiday in latin. Because one really must have it in Latin.
      It’s Holly on my certificate, that’s me, no apologize. 😉
      We received our Compostela’s -certificates of proof of walking the Camino. In this case Del Norte, by 10am!! More photos!
      Then off to wait in line to get in to the cathedral for the noon Pilgrim’s mass! We made it! Hungry,, dirty, no seating and 20km to get there! We made it!!!!❤️.
      As we waited an hour for mass to begin a priest walked up to greet us out of all the many hundreds people there he came to us. He opened his mouth and the best Irish lilt (accent) came rolling off his tongue! He was only here for this weekend. He hadn’t been before.
      Those of you who know me, know this amazed and ‘warmed’ my heart!! Irish! Just for me on this special day? Could it get any better!? And he was a ‘Dublin man, don’tcha know’. 😉 ☘️ ☘️☘️
      Mass was in several languages different speakers participated. There was a benediction at the end of mass for all the pilgrims. They use a swinging Botafumeiro that is at least my height to burn the incense setting it over our heads and bless all at mass. Amazing and awe inspiring.
      We showered , then the three of us, ate a lunch ( more like an early dinner with the best Sangria here so far) and walked this amazing city. I did a bit of shopping while Tammy did the laundry, so sweet to give me the time to shop for the family. Phil came with me so he has his gift. ❤️. 😇 Love you Phil! I have felt him so often!
      We had a last dinner together, Tammy, Meelike and I ate at one of the many street side cafe’s all over Spain and especially in Santiago de Compostela. Lovely end to an amazing life changing adventure! See you all soon! Love to all!
      On to Finisterre!!
      On a bus! 🤣🤣
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    • Day 47

      Santiago Day 4

      June 15, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      I got up very early to say goodbye to Meg, Kathleen and Anita, but it was all a rush, they had just gotten downstairs when their airport taxi arrived so it was less a moment of fond farewells and more a hurried wave goodbye as they drove off.

      I did not have much to do today, my tourist shopping was all done, my bags were more or less packed ready to go and I was on my own, my companions had either gone home or were away on further travels. Anne would also be moving on out of the city to less expensive accommodation whilst she continued to recover from covid. So, I spent the day drinking coffee, and helping other pilgrims find their way to the cathedral or to the bus station or to the laundry, I suspect there's a full time job there for someone who wants it. I don't have much to report about today other than it was somewhat lonely and I was already missing the ladies. So let me backtrack to the 13th of June and the final meal we had together.

      On the night of our last dinner in Santiago together (minus Anne who had covid) I wanted to give them all something that expressed even in a small way how I felt about each of them. I made a few notes so that I would not ramble, but I rambled a bit anyway, so I can't write exactly what I said but it was something like this:

      To Meg I gave the gift of a small plaque of the Madonna and Child. Somehow in this camino she had managed to help bring together a group of people who in other circumstances might never have given one another the time of day. She created space and opportunity for us to get to know one another, and like a nurturing mother she had cared for us, encouraged us and had helped us to find the thing that all humans deeply long for - a sense of community, of belonging. A common saying about the camino is that each person must walk their own camino and in many ways that is true. However, her care and nurture of this group reminded me of another truth, put so eloquently by John Donne, "No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less." I learned from Meg that whilst we must all walk our own pilgrimage, we can never walk it on our own. We need the friendship and support of others.

      Knowing Meg has challenged me to try to be a person who welcomes the stranger, and who creates the space and opportunities that allow people to come together and that helps them to discover the friendship waiting in that space. To be a person who nurtures what is good in others, goodness that they may not yet see themselves.

      Meg did not help to create an exclusive club but one that would always welcome the stranger and invite them to belong and so to Guillermo I gave the hand of friendship - it was an actual hand made from blue plastic!

      To Kathleen I gave a photograph of a field of sunflowers taken on the camino between Santiponce and Guillena in 2018, it was one of my own photographs, I had managed to find a 1-hour photo lab in Santiago who printed and framed it for me. Ever since I met Kathleen, my days on the camino had been filled with light and laughter, joy and kindness. I will never forget sitting in the dingy albergue in Cea when she walked in, and suddenly it was as if the sun had come out, she lit up the space just by walking into it. Every single day on the camino, she was a ray of sunshine in our lives. So when I think of Kathleen, I am reminded that I need to be a person who brings the light in what is sometimes a dark world. So the photograph of sunflowers was to be for her a reminder of the positive impact she has been to others, to remind her too, of how thankful I am that she brought the light to me.

      To Anita I gave a small piece of granite carved into the shape of a shell. Australians have a well-deserved reputation for grit and determination, and a toughness that echoes the hard landscape of their birth. Anita exemplifies those qualities is the most positive way. When it looked like her camino was over through injury, she refused to quit, and she demonstrated courage, and resilience overcoming that injury to return to the camino and complete her journey. She is as tough as Galician granite and Australian bedrock and I admire everything about her. I am sure that I will face challenges in the future, perhaps tough ones, and when I do, I will think of Anita. If I ever feel like I have given all I can and I can't go on, when I feel like giving up, I will think of Anita, her courage, resilience and strength and her refusal to quit and I will tell myself, you're not done yet.

      To Mirjam, Julia and Anne (who was there in our thoughts and hearts) I gave a very small gift, a simple blue fridge magnet emblazoned with the yellow arrow of the camino, the ultimate cheap tourist tat.

      From the start of our camino, the yellow arrows pointed us forward, providing direction with the unspoken promise that if we followed them we would find a hot shower, a meal and a bed for the night.

      As I look at Mirjam, Julia and Anne I see three very beautiful and remarkable young women, beautiful on the outside, certainly, but also beautiful where it counts, on the inside. Each one of these young women is instinctively kind, generous, and thoughtful, and they care about the environment, about justice and about doing what's right. Furthermore, they are smart, brave, independent and capable of more than they yet know, I think they will change the world, one life at a time, just as surely as they have changed mine. Although I had given them a small gift, a little fridge magnet, they had given me a greater gift: the gift of hope in a better future, in a better world.

      The evening ended as it began, with shared laughter and shared love and a sense that even as our camino was ending, something else was beginning.
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    • Day 46

      Pórtico de la Gloria

      September 11, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

      Wenn du den Jakobsweg gehst, gibt es drei klassische Orte, an denen du beginnen kannst. Das sind Orléans, Le Puy-en-Velay und Vézelay – alle drei in Frankreich gelegen. In Vézelay war ich vor zwei Jahren auf dem Rückweg aus der Bretagne. Da steht die Basilica Saint-Marie-Madeleine. Über dem Hauptportal schwebt in einer Mandorla eine unerreicht-entrückte Christus-Figur. Nun sollen die Pilger in alten Zeiten von hieraus los gelaufen sein. Sie sahen den Christus und sagten zu sich: „So kannst du nie werden!“
      Dann wanderten sie los – durch Frankreich, den beschwerlichen Weg über die Pyrenäen, waren Wind und Wetter ausgesetzt, den Elementen, durch den Hitzeofen der Meseta, Regen, Sturm und steinige Pfade. Wir können sagen, das war eine Natureinweihung, so wie sie im nördlichen Mysterienstrom praktiziert wurde.
      Der andere Weg ging nach innen, das Zurücknehmen, die stillen Kapellen aufsuchen, sich als das, was man/frau geworden war, in Frage stellen, wie es die südlichen Mysterien in Ägypten und Griechenland exerzierten.
      So – äußerlich in der Welt stehend und innerlich wie neu geboren – kommen die Pilgernden nach Santiago und stehen vor dem Eingang der Kathedrale: dem Pórtico de la Gloria – die Pforte der Herrlichkeit. Darüber im Tympanon wieder der thronende Christus. Darunter zwei Tore und in der Mittelsäule Jakobus. Nun sehen sich die beiden sehr ähnlich – sie waren Brüder, wird an einer Stelle der Bibel gesagt.
      Nach ihrer langen Reise treffen die Pilger und Pilgerinnen jetzt auf diese Szenerie und sagen sich: „So wie der Christus kann ich nicht werden! Aber wie Jakobus – und das ist sein Bruder.“
      Das ist die Legende und auch in mir lebt dieses Bild.
      Heute ist es gar nicht so einfach, dort beim Pórtico anzukommen. Der Eingang ist versperrt. Du musst über das Internet ein Zeitfenster buchen. Das kostet 10 € und ist schon ermäßigt für Pilger oder Senioren. Eine viertel Stunde vorher sollst du dich einfinden und dann wirst du in Besucherkolonnen über einen Seiteneingang durch verborgene Wege in mehreren Etappen an die Gloria herangeführt. Von Herrlichkeit keine Spur. Verbote – no Foto, nichts anfassen, nicht einmal an die Wand lehnen – und Regeln werden von einer mit einer orangenen Weste bekleideten Security-Person überwacht. Nun gibt es unter Jakobus in der Säule eine Stelle, an der die Pilger, wenn sie ankamen ihre Hand hinlegten. Der Stein ist da, wo die fünf Finger auflagen, vertieft. Ich legte also meine Hand hinein. Das hätte ich – nach Ansicht der orangenen Furie hinter mir – nicht tun sollen. „Matrimonio – Weltkulturerbe – und ich würde rausfliegen …“ Sí, sí … auch dass ich mich auf uraltes Pilgerrecht berief, half nichts. Nun ja, etwas konnte ich dann doch noch empfinden, als sich alle wieder beruhigt hatten.
      ~
      Zuvor war ich in einer Krypta gewesen, die frei zugänglich war. Sie lag unter dem Pórtico. Hier hatte es noch etwas von dieser andächtigen Stille. Ich war allein. Obwohl draußen auf dem Vorplatz hunderte von Menschen lärmten, war davon hier drinnen nichts zu hören. Es war eine schlichte romanische Krypta, sie war leer und nur mit einigen Kapitellen und Schlusssteinen geschmückt. Sehr schön.
      ~
      Draußen dann Trubel. Vor der Kathedrale hat sich eine hundert Meter lange Schlange gebildet. Da wollte ich sowieso nicht mehr rein. Ich lief durch die Stadt und suchte die stillen Ecken, telefonierte mit meinem Bruder, der mich versucht hatte anzurufen. Ich trank einen Café und landete schließlich in einem Park neben der Altstadt – ohne Hektik.
      ~
      Morgen laufe ich weiter zum Meer ans Ende der Welt.
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    • Day 113

      Santiago de Compostela

      November 21, 2022 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

      Heute besichtigen wir die Hauptstadt Galiciens, Santiago de Compostela. Bekannt ist die Stadt vor allem als Ende des Jakobswegs und als vermeintlicher Begräbnisort des biblischen Apostels Jakobus, dessen sterbliche Überreste in der 1211 eingeweihten Kathedrale aufbewahrt sein sollen. Die Kathedrale ist sehr beeindruckend. Die Stadt besteht aus vielen schmalen Gassen in denen viele Menschen unterwegs sind, und vor allem auch Pilger die Barfuß durch die Stadt laufen. Später war Paule noch beim Tätowierer.
      Anschließend fahren wir weiter zu unserem Schlafplatz.
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    • Day 17

      Die botafumeiro in die katedraal

      October 16, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      Ons sit heel voor vir die botafumeiro-seremonie in die katedraal, ’n baie spesiale tradisie waar ’n yslike wierookbak deur agt mans opgehys en deur die lug geswaai word. Ons voltooi ook die tradisie om ‘n ruk by Jakobus se graf, onder die katedraal, stil te word. Die priester het ‘n spesiale melding van ons groep gemaak. Dankie Sam en Evan, ons toerleiers van Black Jackal, wat spesiaal hierdie vir ons gereël het.Read more

    • Day 11

      SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

      October 22, 2022 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

      SAN TI AAAAGGGGOOOOOO ❤️❤️❤️

      Camino n° 2, you were nothing short of amazing!

      And now... We celebrate 🌟

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Pazo de Xelmírez, Pazo de Xelmirez

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