- Tampilkan perjalanan
- Tambahkan ke daftar bucketHapus dari daftar bucket
- Bagikan
- 11 Mei 2023
- ☁️ 14 °C
- Ketinggian: 651 mi
- SpanyolLa RiojaSanto Domingo de la Calzada42°26’24” N 2°57’3” W
Day 13. Domingo de la Calzada
11 Mei 2023, Spanyol ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C
A relatively short, 21.4 km trek today. Left Najera shortly after 8:00 am and arrived at Domingo de la Calzada before 1:30 pm. At this morning’s breakfast I sat with an Australian couple, Francis and Lisa, who started from Saint Jean the same day I did. Francis had blisters that got infected so, unable to walk, he’s forced to take a taxi from place to place. Like me, they have all their hotels booked so he will have to take taxis for the next six days to keep up with his wife. Francis is in his 70s, I’m guessing, but in tremendous physical shape and I sense this is really hard for him. He has worked as a university lecturer and researcher on water engineering. Lisa joined me for all of today’s walk through remote and gently undulating farmland. The farmers here plant mostly wheat and canola while daisies, dandelions, Scottish thistle, cornflowers and lots of red poppies adorn our path. One pilgrim shared with me that this journey has body, mind, and spirit segments: the first part is the physical test, the next 250 kms, starting today, is boring, challenging the mind, and the third section focuses on your spirit.
Another dimension of this walk is the history, churches, and museums. Yesterday, in Najera, Doug Steinburg, a follower on this blog who has done 20 Caminos, suggested I go see the cloister and royal tombs, so I left at 4:00 pm to explore the town. In fact, I even snuck into a guided tour of white-haired, and balding seniors hoping to see something interesting, but after a one-half km walk, I ended at their bus. Their guide spoke Spanish , so I was unable to follow, but it would have been great to have had Doug along, or perhaps that’s fodder for another Camino. At the end of each day most of us are tired and sore. Exploring the history would be a great option if we had another full day here. I did find out from someone at one of the albergues that the royal tombs were next to where he stayed last night.
After today’s arrival, I showered, washed my clothes in the sink, then napped for one hour. At 3:30 I connected with my Kingston friends. Every shop was closed until 5:00 due to celebrations they’re having here right now. We visited 900 year-old churches before going out for supper. There were a few places open at 6:00 so I treated myself to a meal of octopus for 15 euros. It was a bit chewy.
We mingled with the locals until 8:00 pm. Seemed like the whole town was at the main square with a queue two people wide extending beyond a city block waiting to get in church. I’m not sure what was happening there. Lots of band music, people in costumes, with families laughing and having fun. It’s almost 9:00 now and I’m planning on going to bed soon. I woke up at 4:45 this morning.Baca selengkapnya
Pelancong Wonderful Gérard. You are very fortunate to be in Santo Domingo on the Feast of Saint Dominic of Calzada! His most famous miracle according to the legend was to save the life of a young pilgrim who was falsely accused of, and hanged for theft. The legend has it that when the pilgrim's parents went to the magistrate to tell him that their son's miraculous survival proved his innocence, the magistrate stated that the young pilgrim was no more alive than the roast chicken on his dinner plate, whereupon the rooster jumped from the plate and began to crow! Eat hearty dear cousin, it is unlikely the octopus will come back to life!!
Pelancong Do you know the story of the chicken in the church?
Pelancong Sorry, you explained that. That explains the live chicken in the church