Chapter 11 of Rooster in the Cathedral: Reflections of a Pilgrim While Walking to Santiago

The Day I Walked to the End of the World

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That is why in this church of Santiago we see, for example, a dragon in the chapiter of the north gate and the main gate. The dragons were the most well-known enemies of the Good and in this time they did not imagine them exactly like today, but their body was similar to the one of a serpent — animal that is related to the sin-.

It is necessary to take into account that, although today we see these images and understand them as a representation of evil, for medieval society these animals really existed. Many appeared in the Bible, the book that for them represented all the Truth — in capital letters — and others animals were said to exist but lived in distant parts of the East.

They were a real threat to what they thought they might have to face, hence an iconography so effective to control social life in the peasantry by the Church. There are also animals or beasts that were considered protective, like the eagle or the lion, which were related to the strength and the nobility.

These animals were also carved in the entrances to the temples, as guardians, warning that it was going from a profane to a sacred place. In the north gate of the church of Barbadelo, faced with the dragons, we also find a fierce lion. After this curious visit we continue our way, by a paved road that takes us to Rente in less than 1 km and, a few meters, crosses the LU in Mercado da Serra, where there is a tavern on the road.

After crossing the road we follow a dirt road among trees and, after turning left, we find a precarious stream crossing. Slabs were placed so that the walkers could pass over the water, but it will be difficult for us to pass without getting wet, even more so in the rainy season when the terrain is muddy!

In half a kilometer we cross another road, this time the LU and by a paved track that goes straight ahead we passed by A Pena km 8. In this area there are many granaries built on the track, a construction that usually draws much attention to foreigners. The granary is a storage structure elevated from the ground, conceived to save the grain.

In Galicia they began to acquire much importance starting from the conquest of America, when two aliments came that revolutionized the life of the peasants: These aliments can last a long time until they are consumed, but they need to be in a suitable place, without excessive moisture, ventilated and safeguarded from animals or rodents.

The Galician rural houses did not have such a site and that is why the granaries were built. The granaries always have three parts. The box is not closed, but usually has grilles to run the air and ventilate the interior. The round piece that lies between the legs and the box, like a large stone disc, is called tornarrato.

To go up to the box and pick up food were used either an auxiliary stairs or an endless staircase, to prevent the mice from reaching the food. The construction of the granaries became increasingly important since the sixteenth century and ended up developing a whole social symbolism around them. The reasoning is very simple: The same was true of the chimneys, whose number in a house suggested how many rooms were heated, so that they were crenellated and decorated at the top to attract attention.

The granaries, for their part, went from being made of wood to granite ashlar masonry, decorated with the Christian cross and, in many cases, becoming enormous. Generally the largest were of nobles or belonged to monasteries. In Galicia there are some of them that are more than 35 meters long! In addition, according to the culture and climatology of the different zones of Galicia, the granaries acquired a different form. In the area of the Ancares and Courel are round, wooden and thatch roof, as the pallozas.

In the rest of Galicia there are L-shaped, which mix stone and wood, with pairs or trios of feet, etc. In Asturias and parts of northern Portugal there are also granaries, but the place in which they are most concentrated is, without a doubt, Galicia. When we leave Peruscallo we enter a corredoira that, after a few meters, narrows to become a path that runs alongside a stream.

At times when there is a large influx of pilgrims, crossing by here can be eternal, since we will have to ask for permission to go ahead or stop continuously. That is why in Tournride we propose an alternative on our stage map You can deviate to the left before entering Peruscallo and make all this section by a paved and dirt track further to the south, returning to the route Jacobean in A Brea.

If we go here, we can also visit two rather well preserved Romanic temples: If we go by the proper Jacobean route we will pass by Lavandeira and we will continue alternating sections of corredoiras with sidewalks parallel to the stream until arriving at A Brea. In this town we will see a milestone that indicates that they are only km to Santiago, but this milestone is false. This place is symbolically important because from here the Church considers that a hiker or rider has pilgrimed as such to Santiago and can obtain the Compostela.

After this section of track we arrive at Morgade km 12 , where there is a nice bar serving meals. Legend has it that this Fountain of the Devil or Fonte do Demo ceased to flow water if someone who was free from sin came to drink, because it was ruled by the devil and the devil only gave drink to sinners. The corredoira by which we leave Morgade narrows and is invaded in some parts by a stream, sprinkled with stone slabs to aid the passage.

All quite precarious for cyclists, so we must have patience and get grounded if necessary. This difficult section is short, about meters, after which we arrive at Ferreiros km The town is a sort of boundary between the municipality of Sarria and Paradela. This wine is still produced today under the D. We arrived at the church of Santa Maria de Ferreiros , a simple but very well preserved Romanic temple that was moved stone by stone from a nearby point to place it in the margin of the French Way, because they wanted it to function like a pilgrims hospital.

The bulrush with the bells is baroque. To get to the church you have to cross a path by the local cemetery. In Galicia the union of the church with the cemetery is the most normal in the rural area. This configuration is a legacy of medieval times, when the church was the most important social gathering place and, after Mass, people stayed in the vicinity of the temple, honoring their dead and caring for their burial.

Then the taverns appeared and customs changed a little! After passing the church, the yellow arrows indicate the detour to a dirt path with rocks that descends a little abruptly and then go up again at the end until A Pena. Through the paved track where we go we can also reach the town and the road surface is more favorable.

Once in A Pena km 14 , we continue along an paved track until As Rozas The soil becomes a quagmire in which large stones are embedded. Walkers avoid it by going through a higher meadow, but it will be harder for us to avoid it. That is why in Tournride we suggest you, if it has rained, that you continue straight down the paved road and turn on the first turning to the right, to get to Moimentos by the LU Circling along this section we can appreciate the large number of small farms we passed through, many of forest, others of pasture and some cultivated as an orchard.

Nothing has to do with these small plots with the huge cereal farms that we found in Castile or the large plantations of vegetables and wine from Navarra and La Rioja. This land division indicates another of the Galician social characteristics: Traditionally in Galicia there existed — and still exists — a great attachment to land ownership, which was divided among all the children at the death of the owner, instead of being inherited by the first-born, as it happened in other parts of Spain. If we add the population dispersion, reflected in the number of towns we are going through, we understand the mosaic of small plots before us.

This fragmentation complicates the mechanization of agrarian activity, preventing industrialization, but also fosters a much more sustainable type of agriculture at the environmental and social levels. The soil is taken care of much more and the product is less exposed to contaminants. Even so, we will also realize that what we see most in this area are not orchards, but the farms are occupied by calm cows that watch us pass from their peaceful pastures.

Formerly livestock was a complement to agriculture — cows were used to pull cars or use their fertilizer — but gradually became a more profitable activity and ended up displacing agriculture. The great length of kilometers through it flows has made that, since the birth of the pilgrimage it is necessary to cross it.

This need to overcome the flow made the Romans in 2nd century AD. That bridge survived the passing of the centuries until one day in , Franco ordered to build what is still today the largest reservoir Galicia: It is one of the most important Romanic monuments of Galicia , with a very special configuration by the height of its thick walls with battlements in the upper part; A robustness that contrasts with the delicacy of the sculpture in its gates and its imposing rosette. Hence the appearance of military fort, it was a meeting place of an order that defended the bridge and the pilgrims.

When the town was flooded by the construction of the reservoir, the stones were marked with red ink one by one and moved to the top of the village, also undertaking a restoration of the church. Even today you can see the red marks on the stones, next to the stonecutters that carved the ashlars in the 12th century.

To call it quits, or to keep on walking?

The road diverges to the right, but a vertical Jacobean sign indicates that we cross the bridge over the river to enter a path that crosses the road again in 2 km. In this section the road surface is very irregular, with many jumps and loose stones, so it is worth considering the possibility of going directly on the LU without crossing the river.

On the main altar of the church is the tomb of a woman who, according to local legend, spent about 30 years without eating anything. After Gonzar crosses the Jacobean path, he moves away from the side of the road to Castromaior. We recommend to follow the pedestrian path, since after passing the town we will pass through a very special place of the French Way, one of the best preserved castros of Galicia. On a paved track and dark ground we began to gain slope and, in meters, crowned the hill of Castromaior.

To our right we have a breathtaking view of the surroundings and, to our left, one of the most important archaeological sites of the peninsula, which was inhabited since 6th century B. It had a complex urban configuration, with a circular enclosure walled in the top of the hill. Around it, on platforms bounded by walls and moats, were other settlements.

Since nothing was built in this place since its abandonment, everything was buried under the hill in a good state of conservation. Although for many centuries it was thought that the arrival of the Romans to Galicia had ended in a violent and fulminating way with the culture of Celtic roots that lived in this territory — finding the maximum expression of this oppression in the mythical battle of Monte Medulio, which included the suicide of the last Galician warriors before the need to surrender to the conqueror, the archaeological reality shows that when the Romans arrived in the 2nd century B.

This settlement was inhabited for more than two centuries after the conquest and there were others that were populated until the 3rd century or 4th century AD. The descent of the hill leaves us again in the course of the LU and, in just 1. Named in this way because it once housed a place of attention for the pilgrim, today it is at the junction with the N, which we must cross by an overpass. During the next 11 km, from Hospital da Cruz to A Brea, where the N intersects, we will drive permanently along a paved road with few traffic, in which pilgrims on foot have their own sidewalk space in the Shoulder.

From there it will be downhill with jumps. After passing A Prebisa we see on the left side of the road a wall with stairs and, at the top, the most famous C ruceiro of the French Way: The cruceiro is, along with the granary, one of the most typical manifestations of popular architecture of Galicia. Its origin comes from the pre-Roman times, from that Castroite culture that was polytheistic and lived in towns like the one we have just been in Castromaior.

For the Castro culture the roads and their crosses were very important places. For this reason, the relatives of the deceased performed at the crossroads a series of rituals, leaving also offerings to the gods. When the Romans conquered this territory, there was a syncretism that fused the gods of both cultures. Rituals at crossroads continued to be made, but instead of asking Lugh Celtic for protection, Mercury Roman was spoken. In addition, the Romans saw the crossings of roads as representations between the ordered logos and nature as chaos, so they were symbolically very important.

That is why in many Roman mills found in what was Gallaecia there are inscriptions dedicated to those gods of the roads, called vials. In fact, among the 36 mills that were found with epigraphy of vials lares, throughout the territory of the Roman Empire, 28 were found in this area. When Christianity was established as an official religion, the traditions that had been perpetuated for centuries did not change overnight — history has shown that the popular tradition is not changed by decree!.

There were only two options, to prohibit and punish or, as was done, to adopt a solution that today can remind the contrary formulation of political catastrophe: Today it is estimated that in Galicia there are more than 12, cruceiros. Generally they are formed by a base, a column and a cross at the top. Most of the time is carved Jesus on the cross.

Although the majority of the cruceiros are from the 18th to the 20th century, there are some that belong to the 14th century and others that constitute a true work of art, with multiple representations. The cruceiro of Lameiros, which we see next to A Prebisa, dates from and shows Jesus crucified at the top. The wear of the stone has erased much of the sculptural detail, but on the other side of the cross was surely either the Virgin or a representation of motherhood.

At the base were carved elements of the Passion of Christ: Next to the cruceiro there is an old cemetery of pilgrims. After passing the cross we arrive at Ligonde km 38,5 , which is a larger population than the previous ones. After that, the paved track makes a double curve a little abrupt and the yellow arrows indicate to cut through an inner path to the curve.

This shortcut is a steep ramp of m and the road surface is somewhat irregular. In Tournride we recommend going down the road if it has rained. After the curve we cross a stream and arrive at Airexe km 39,4 and, by the same track, to Portos km The Jacobean road runs a little more than 1 km along a path on the left shoulder of the road and then it diverts to enter Palas further south, by an uncomfortable track with many stones for cyclists which then becomes gravel.

Once in Palas de Rei km 47 we can decide to make a last stop before starting the last 13 km to Melide. With the arrival of the Jacobean pilgrimage, the village began to become more important and became during the Medieval and Modern Age in an important place for the nobility, who built great fortresses and pazos palaces in the area. It was built in the fourteenth century and one of its functions was to serve as a point to preserve security on the Camino de Santiago.

It has a huge tower of three floors, surrounded by a thick wall with four towers at the sides. Going by bike we will arrive in half an hour 8. In the map of stage we mark you where is the castle. In Palas there is also another great example of Romanic architecture, which adds to the long list of those we have seen today, the church of Vilar de Donas. It is said that it could be part of a monastic group founded by women and later related more to the Order of Santiago. Some of his most important knights are buried here.

We leave Palas by an uncomfortable track with many stones, which may force us to rise from the saddle to safeguard the integrity of our buttocks. After crossing the N by a crosswalk we continue along an paved track near the road, which leads again to the road after a few meters. From there the pedestrian path runs along a sidewalk or some paved track near the road that is shortly diverted to enter to the Carballal village. At the exit, the Jacobean signs indicate the crossing of the national road to pass to a gravel path on the left shoulder, which after a few meters leaves the national road to enter into the forest.

In case it has rained we will avoid a section that can be quite cumbersome due to its road surface is muddy or natural stone quite slippery , but which is one of the most beautiful of this stage. We will arrive at Casanova km 52 and shortly afterwards to Porto de Bois, from where the path joins the small road LU to go to O Coto, where also the N passes. It has a great Jacobean tradition and in the 12th century it had a hospital for pilgrims. From the nucleus, it draws the attention its church, dedicated to X, and the cabazo that is conserved in front of it.

A cabazo is a granary — depending on the area of Galicia the granaries have different names, such as piorno, cabana o paneira — less elaborated. On the main gate there is a carving of the Virgin holding the Child, which is related to a legend of the locality. It is said that the sculpture of the Virgin that is kept inside the temple was found by a miracle in a nearby fountain, reason why this church was constructed to safeguard it.

Every night the sculpture moved to other places and returned to the fountain where it had been found, until a local sculptor carved this image in the tympanum of the door and the sculpture of the Virgin remained forever in its place. If you have the opportunity to enter to the church, in Tournride we recommend you to do it, since in addition to the carving, you can see the impressive colorful murals that are preserved in the north wall. After leaving Leboreiro you pass by Disicabo and then enter to an industrial estate that belongs to Melide, where it has been tried to make the route more pleasant to the pilgrims building a park with trees in their honor — although the image is still not completely inspiring -.

After crossing the industrial estate, the road and the pedestrian path separate each other again to visit the last village of this stage, the picturesque village of Furelos km The road up there is by mountain that, as in previous sections, will be a big quagmire if it has rained that day. The entrance to Furelos is made by a medieval dromedary bridge, with four large arches.

After crossing it, the village is crossed by its main cobblestone street, which passes next to a church dedicated to San Juan. Although its origin is medieval, it is clear that it has enough later additions. In this stage, we notice a big change regarding the community. From el Alto do Poio the profile will be in a continuous descent until Triacastela. In Triacastela we must choose an itinerary, because we have two variants.

The traditional way, which is shorter and more direct although with a complicated profile , is the one from San Xil, to the North. The South variant is 6, 5 km longer, but the detour is worth it because we can visit the monastery of Samos, one of the most monumental monastic complexes of Galicia. In the next lines we tell you in a very detailed way all about this stage… Tournride wishes you buen camino!

This stage has a first common route, from O Cebreiro to Triacastela. In Triacastela the way forks and connects again in 5, 5 km before arriving to Sarria, in Aguiada. To Triacastela, we can choose to use the pedestrian paths or follow the course of the LU The road can be chosen once we are in O Cebreiro in the septentrional part of town and leads us directly, passing by all the towns of the stage.

The profile is more constant by the pedestrian paths, with fewer jumps. If we go from O Cebreiro to Triacastela on bike by pedestrian paths, we surely will have to get off the bike and push it through at some point of the road, especially in the two first ascents to the heights. The pedestrian itinerary goes out of the paved way next to the municipal shelter.

By a parallel path to the highway we continue moving forward until arriving to el Alto de San Roque and later until Hospital de la Condesa 5,7 km. A few meters after, passing by Hospital de la Condesa, the route splits up one more time from the LU in order to pass by Padornelo and ascend to el Alto de Poio, but in Tournride we recommend you to continue this part by road. In Triacastela, the way forks until getting to Aguiada: The route forks at the end of the main street of Triacastela, indicated by two signs. We can avoid this by following the road until the crossroad with the LU that goes directly to Sarria passing by all the towns from this stage.

In the first part of the route, from Triacastela to San Cristovo 24, 9 km , pilgrims on foot join us by the shoulder of the LU Before entering to San Cristovo the path splits up from the road and connects again in Renche 26, 6 km. If we go by road we will not pass by Freituxe. If we take it, we will pass by Pascais 33, 9 km , Sivil 39, 8 km and Calvor until flowing into Aguiada, where we can follow the LU until arriving to Sarria. As you see, this stage gives a lot of opportunities on the itinerary, because we can choose all the time between going by the pedestrian way or by the road and besides we have two more routes that we can choose almost at the end of the stage, with connections between them or directly to Sarria.

Choosing one way is a personal decision and any of them will be a good memory for us, because every single one of them goes through an amazing natural environment. The road is also one of the most beautiful ones from the inside of the community, and one of its stretches is the highest one of all the road networks in Galicia. Due to how many times you ask for some advices on which route to take, we leave you the route that here in Tournride we advise you to follow in order to combine security with visits to Jacobean towns with the most patrimony, always giving priority to the pedestrian ways.

In this case, there are not buses not even train or airplanes! It is also connected to large cities such as Madrid or Barcelona, although with less frequency. Besides, you already know that in Tournride we leave your bikes during the previous day at the beginning of your trip in the lodging that you chose back in O Cebreiro.

Just like in the previous stage, this part of the French Way joins together a huge landscape and natural interest with the stop at some monumental enclaves with huge patrimonial importance, such as the monastery of Samos. It preserves its nature in its entire splendor and due to the complicated land configuration, it has always been in an isolation situation, which has favored the preservation of the traditions and popular architecture. It covers more than hectares, full with valleys between mountains with a Mediterranean and Atlantic forest.

Dozens of species live there, a lot of them also protected. Before, there were grizzly bears, even though today their habitat in Galicia is reduced to only Los Ancares. With less than 70 people which most of them work on agriculture and on livestock production, this town welcomes pilgrims with its church dedicated to San Esteban Santo Estevo in Galician which people believe was founded in the VIII century. Also we can go by the LU El Alto de San Roque m of height is marked with an outstanding bronze statue. The surroundings views from this point are very impressive. From this point, the descent is a little steep by pedestrian paths, although by road we can descend in a softer way.

We pass by Hospital de la Condesa km 5, 7 , called like this because in the past it had a hospital dedicated to serve pilgrims, maybe sponsored by some aristocrat. From Hospital de la Condesa, the pedestrian way goes through a gravel path parallel to the right shoulder of the road and splits up from it meters after, in a detour to the right. This detour takes us to Padornelo and from there to Alto de Poio, where it passes by the LU again. In this stretch of the ascent to Alto de Poio we recommend doing it by road because of how stony the surface is and how heavy the final slope can be, only m long but very inclined.

El Alto de Poio is, with its meters of height, the highest point that we will step in during the entire journey through Galicia. This offers a very impressive view of the entire surrounding mountains. We cover them quickly because the profile is practically flat. The majority of stretch is bicycle, although there will be moments where the surface is composed of stone chips, so we recommend you to have caution. Just like this, every pilgrim could contribute in a small way, to raise La Casa de Santiago.

After dealing with this confusing orthographic point, the way crosses with the LU in order to cross Pasantes, to the other side of the road. Right before entering into Triacastela we pass by Ramil, a small rural enclave that keeps a natural treasure: In Ramil we are practically located at the entrance of the urban center of Triacastela, where we get to by a land path between trees and grass areas.

This affluence is not really new, because pilgrimage was already rising up in the XII and XIII centuries, Triacastela had already more pilgrims than visitors. Fraud attempts were not allowed, there was even a prison for pilgrims. This old building today is almost in completely ruins and we can see it before entering to Plaza Mayor. Triacastela owes its name supposedly to the existence of three forts or castles in this area Historians do not agree on this one.

There are some people who say the place name derives from the fact that it was a pass to Castilla. Besides, its parish church is dedicated to the apostle and people believe that probably the old pilgrims hospital would had been connected with it. Triacastela is a good place to rest and have a drink on the several stores from the hotels that we can find.

Later, we should go straight through the Mayor street and choose which route to take in order to get to Sarria. The route of Triacastela to Samos was born centuries ago by the influence of the imposing monastery that is located there, but the one of San Xil was born by the use of common sense. On bike the distances logic is not the one that weights the most, but we can really tell when we walk 5 km!

Especially when we move in hard orographic just like the Galician one! By San Xil we take less to get there and, just like the Samos road, we go through a spectacular landscape. To choose this route we have to abandon Triacastela turning to the right at the end of the main street. This part of the way is simple and takes us to A Balsa in about 2 km, the first town on this route. Our visit will become a prelude to what come next to Sarria: From A Balsa to San Xil the pedestrian way is complicated: If you want to avoid this part you can go out of A Balsa and continue by the road.

By the pedestrian way the nature vision is wilder, but on road the views are also wonderful and we can enjoy them a little bit more. San Xil km 25, 8 is a small town without services, but its place name indicates that probably it had a marked Jacobean past. The ascent from San Xil to el Alto de Riocabo is covered by road. Some parts of this descent are quite complicated, including the stretch with big stones that are placed together as if they were stairs. With the rain, it gets a little slippery and due to the fact that it descends we must put in practice our best technique abilities.

If we are not capable of doing it, the best thing to do is to avoid the detour in el Alto de Riocabo and continue by the concrete track. We will flow into the LU and from there we can follow the road until Sarria or changing course to the pedestrian way in any of the several crossroads between both. The temple is Romantic, simply made of masonry and slate, with an entrance portico where a small window opens over it.

The major altarpiece is Neoclassic C. After, we pedal meters more between fields and we flow into the road again. The road passes by the middle of Furela 31,5km only meters later, and after passing it by, we enter already to Sarria municipality. If this is not the case, we can always go through the LU In Aguiada km 34, 7 we reunite again with pilgrims that have been doing the Way by the route of Samos and we will travel the next 5 km with them until getting to Sarria. From Aguiada, el Camino goes permanently connected to the LU, so for us it will be much comfortable going by the shoulder.

Some pilgrims in the Middle Age considering how difficult it was back then to cover each kilometer! A lot of pilgrims on foot decide to go by the route of San Xil to avoid in the maximum the concrete stretches, because this route has a lot of them. For us, this can be in our favor, because we can go by road without much traffic after covering the hard stage on the previous day, whose profile is simpler than the one of San Xil. Besides, the journey by concrete blocks our view of the amazing natural landscape that surrounds us during the whole route: Later, the arrows will indicate us to go back to the LU The first 4 km until San Cristovo do Real are covered by road, in a light negative slope.

We are going over el Desfiladero de Penapartida, this is a place that, according to the legend, was built during the pilgrimage of the Virgin to Compostela. When she got to this area she found a huge rock blocking her way, so she called two angels that descended from heaven bringing with them a big lightning that split the rock in two, creating this natural environment that centuries later was taken to build the road. From the road, a detour to the right takes us to a gravel path in a strong slope where we enter to the village of San Cristovo. This small village with less than 35 people seems to have been stopped in time, because it preserves a lot of its popular architecture although some examples are in a better state preservation than the others.

Its parish church C. XVII becomes important thanks to its major altarpiece, a churrigueresque jewel hidden in the Galician rural. The Oribio River passes by the middle of the town and its shores are full with big trees. In order to go out of town we must cross the flow by a bridge and, after, we immerse ourselves in the forest by corredoiras and big tracks between trees. Even though there are some parts with a lot of jumps and some parts have the surface a little bit unstable.

This, at the same time, gave it up to the Xunta de Galicia that started to restore it in in order to get back its function that it had in the past, hostelry. In the actuality, the old rooms of the residency are full of bunk beds and rest areas for pilgrims, being restored in a modern way but sticking to its original configuration, just like its constructive elements, for example its external arches, its shield marked with eight scallops or its big conical chimney located at the same spot where the kitchen was before. The old country house is bordered by a 15 hectares farm, where there are stables, a mil, a smithy or a chapel.

The shelter also counts with some areas dedicated to exhibitions and museums. The most popular thing about his legacy was his development on the logarithm tables that are still used in the actuality; he even received a prize from The International Exposition of Paris in The church is dedicated to the apostle, although its biggest attraction is, without doubt, the wonderful natural environment, where we immerse ourselves when we go out of the town in order to cover another 2 km until Freituxe. In this stretch from Renche to Freituxe the surface and the profile change a lot, because there are some land, stone or gravel slides.

We get to Freituxe km 28, 4 by ascending. Although in this case, it would be such a shame to miss this beautiful natural environment. At the exit of the town, the pedestrian way crosses the road by a lower tunnel and, after a sign and yellow arrows indicate the crossroad without pedestrian pass of the LU By a path between trees, with an irregular surface and legbreaking profile, we arrive to Samos.

Before entering to Samos, the Way takes us to a higher height, where we can appreciate spectacular views of the monastery, before arriving to the actual destination. From there we go down in a pronounced way until getting the urban center. If we go by road we enter to town by the North and the views are not really that good. Once we are in Samos km 31 , we will find all the services and we can make a stop to enjoy the wonderful monastery, that has almost years of being a monastic room, only interrupted during a short period of time from the XIX century.

Some important intellectual people and kings used to stay in there, some of them were connected to pilgrimage. The influence was that big that it even got to change the official Swabian religion from Arianism to Catholicism and encouraged the humble people to leave aside the cults inherited from the Roman Times and get closer to Christians.

The monasteries founded under their orders, were controlled under the rules with Hispanic-Visigoth origins, like the one developed by San Fructuoso a century ago in El Bierzo, or the one San Isidoro wrote in Sevilla. Over the centuries the church decided to unify the rules, eliminating these types of rules to change all of them for the Benedictine of Cluny, a process that ended in the XII century.

Given the connection between The Cluniac Reforms with el Camino de Santiago and with the Crown, the monastery gained each time more importance. XVI its biggest moment of magnificence arrived, in that century, eight soon-to-be bishops and big religious intellectuals came out of its walls.

In the XIX century, the peace and intellectuality environment of the monastery changed drastically when it became a hospital where injured people were taken care of during the Independence War. Later, with the Confiscation, they had to leave the building but the monks could occupy the place again 24 years later. Despite its old origins, the majority of what we see today come from the Renaissance and Neoclassicism times C.

From the complex, mainly four parts stand out: It has an external stair that we should keep in our memory, because it will remind us of the cathedral from Compostela. In the inside of the monastery there are four cloisters, which one of them is the biggest of Spain. We stayed up high in the trees walking along the cliffs of the ocean. It was super hot and the cowboy hats that we are wearing are saving our face from getting burned. Sunscreen is a must when you are doing the camino, or else you get burned.

We descended right to the water and we walked into a marathon. People were swimming, running and biking. We also saw rowing teams rowing their boats in the water. There was music, dancing, food, etc. It was a real cultural experience with regional music, dances and food. We noticed that we had to be on the other side of the bay, so we looked for the shuttle to take us across. We found a small little green boat that would take us, and once on the other side, we each had an apple.

It was very pleasant to sit there and watch everyone. While sitting there I notice something, we had not seen one pilgrim. There were plenty of pilgrims at the albergue last night, but there are none walking. After finishing our apples we threw our pack on and started walking. The camino began to climb steeply once again. When I went up a steep staircase, it was so hot that my shirt was completely wet with sweat at the top. Charlie and I continued on the ridge and walked very close to the ocean.

The views are amazing in the northern part of Spain! We could see the cathedral in the middle of the town and the white beach going all the way across the bay. It was a breathtaking view, enough for Charlie to drop his phone and crack his screen. We hiked down and walked along the beach until we found our albergue. Walking along the beach was nice, the smell of the ocean and the amount of people there make the walk very enjoyable.

But Charlie and I really stood out in the crowds. We were both wearing the straw cowboy hats and were carrying backpacks. The albergue is actually a hostel and you can actually stay there as long as you like. We also knew that we had an itinerary to follow, but if we want to be the slow travelers we needed to take our time to really explore the people and the culture of the places we were going through in our camino. There is so much so see in the place!

It also has a lot to offer. Charlie and I woke up slowly and enjoyed the morning. We had our breakfast of toast, orange juice and coffee, and then we headed into the town. We walked along the beach. The sand massages your feet, a week earned treatment from walking 29 kilometers yesterday. We then walked into the cathedral and admired the stained glass window and the art work. I looked at this cathedral and I was impressed, but the one that really counts is the one at the end, the cathedral in Santiago.

That is the one that I am really looking forward to visit. After touring around the cathedral, we decided to hike up the hill and see the statue and castle. There was a strong breeze which felt really good because it was another hot summer day in Spain. After cooling down and taking a bunch of photos, we hiked down and decided to have lunch. You can see people bar hopping txikiteo, the basque word for it , talking loudly and smoking cigarettes.

We found some place cheap, and nobody was in there. The barter tender, Natalia, came up to us and commented on my Spanish. She asked me where I was from and how was I able to speak Spanish so well. I told her that my mother is from Spain, and she and my grandmother taught me. While she was talking I could also notice a different accent in her Spanish, she was basque.

I have heard about this language a lot but I was unfamiliar with the sound of it. Leaving the restaurant I felt good, I had more confidence with my Spanish speaking skills. The rest of day was for fun, and relaxation. We swam in the ocean and took naps in the shade of the trees. After relaxing for a day our bodies were ready for the trek we had ahead of us.

Immediately the camino started with a steep uphill. What a great way to warm up the legs and lungs! There so many pilgrims today! Where did they all come from! Charlie and I were passing them left and right. We are fast hikers compared to the other pilgrims on the camino. We were hiking fast, talking and laughing.

We came around this corner and saw this girl sitting on a stump smoking a cigarette. She had supper read hair and a bunch of freckles on her face, and she gave us kind of a dirty look. I said this before like many others if you are doing to the route to Saint James. You need to be ready for the hills in the camino del norte because there are everywhere and they are steep.

We also came across this sign that says more kilometer to Santiago. Well thank you for reminding me! When we arrived to Orio we had a pilgrims menu lunch and kept on hiking. We wanted to make it to Zarautz because that is where we are going to pick up Alvaro, my cousin who is going to hike with us for a couple of weeks. We made it to Zarautz! We were hot and sticky from our sweat. Once at the hostel, we saw the girl with read hair and I introduced myself to her. Her name was Emili and she was from Germany, but she spoke perfect English. She almost sounded like she was from England.

After taking our showers and our naps, all of us went to the beach for a drink. It was nice to meet another pilgrim. We hung out for the rest of the evening, we all made dinner together and later we played cards out on the deck of the albergue. Today is the day that we are going to pick up Alvaro in Zarautz. He will arrive here around four in the afternoon.

So Charlie and I had some free time to explore the town and try to find another place where we could sleep. When Charlie and I woke up this morning, we had breakfast with Emili. She told us that she wanted to go to Deba today, which is about 22 kilometers away. After finishing our breakfast, she left and wished us a buen camino. Charlie and I had no idea what we were going to do today.

We were going to do what Alvaro wanted to do because he is the one that just finished with a train ride and a bus ride. We assumed that he would be very tired. I want to walk to Zumaia today, which is half way to Deba. I wanted to walk. As we were waiting for Alvaro to arrive we searched for another place that we could possibly stay.

There was no room, and the albergue was closed. So we found a park and took a nap underneath the trees and enjoyed the song birds. Alvaro arrived right on time and we started our hike to Deba. Today we hiked a huge ridge along the coast, it was great being next to the ocean, but the sun felt super strong against our skin.

It seemed that we hiked very fast, maybe it was because Alvaro had fresh legs and was very eager to start his camino. We arrived to Zumaia around six in the afternoon. Hot and sweaty, we changed our clothes and went to the beach. The beach is actually very nice in Zumaia. There is a really cool feature about this beach and and it is about its cliffs. I asked an elderly man about the history of the cliffs. He gave me an explanation of their creation, but it was very difficult to understand.

I got the most of what he said, but I wanted to know more. Being a geologist I was able to make some conclusion on my own. So I went to discover the true facts. After enjoying our time at the beach. We returned back to the albergue. The albergue is actually very nice. So Alvaro, Charlie and I got our own room. There is no kitchen, but the stay is very cheap.

Upon our return to the albergue we ran into Emili. She was also staying here. She could not walk any more because her feet were hurting. We made our sandwich talked with the other pilgrims, who were all German, and then went to bed. In the Basque Country, in the north region of Spain, there is a small town called Zumaia which is on the coast. Zumaia has two beaches which have a very interesting geological fomation. This coast contains millions of years of Earth history.

This line of the coast is a treasure chest to geologists because it contains a flysch. A flysch is a long and continuous structure of the stages of rock of the world. The flysch in Zumaia contains periods of more than million years ago. When the Pyrenees were formed, the layers of rock were pushed to the surface and with the erosion of the waves and other elements were exposed. The result is alternating layers of hard rock limestone and soft materials sandstone.

The flysch is approximately 8 kilometers. Apart from the stunning rock formations, Zumaia also has very important fossil records. The fossils found are the border Paleogene boundary, the end of the Mesozoic Era. This period of time also is the extinction of the dinosaurs do not avian. The ammonite fossil which similar to the old nautilus are also found in the layer of rock. In addition to the cliffs, is the incredible view it offers. We can see the tip of Marianton, the beach area of Itzuruntxiki without sand beach and the Itzurun with a lot of sand. The sandy beach of Itzurun is protected by the cliffs of limestone and the cape of Marianton and makes the sand trapped waves when they come.

The place also does not leave the sand on the beach go to the beach of Itzuruntxiki where there is a wide variety of geomorphological forms and the beach is of cantos, cliffs, fallen blocks and landslides. Another interesting thing with the Itzurun beach are the famous caves. These caves can be more than 15 meters in depth and some of them work as siphon. This area contains a very important moment in the history of the Earth. That is why geologist love this area. They are doing a great deal to protect this area because people use these beaches a lot during the summer and with each year there is more and more erosion that occurs each year.

Today our plan was to go to Deba. We are getting farther and farther away from the coast. Now we are in the mountains and we can no longer see the coast. As we started the climb, we entered the cool shade, but once in the shade it was humid and it made the hike twice as worse. I was sticky and sweaty.

I was super uncomfortable, but I had to maintain a positive attitude so that the moral of the group could stay strong. We climbed and climbed. We were traveling through farmland, and in none the them we encountered a group of horses. Among them was a baby and it came right towards me.

It stood on the trial and allowed me to pet it. We continued to climb, and we reached Deba. It is a nice town that has a canal running through it. While we were there, there were kids jumping of the bridge into the water. It looked like fun! Later I found out that this canal was a project designed in to connect the Cantabric sea with the Mediterranean sea like the Panama Canal but it was never finished because the War of Independence started.

Instead of going to the bar or restaurant for lunch, we went to the market to buy food. How different are the markets here in Spain! Everything looks real and more natural. The vegetables and fruits, although the same in the U. It was fun to look around and see food that we never seen before. What about the fish and meat stands?

That is a completely cultural experience when you see the animals for sell with their heads, guts, and even eyes and tongues sticking out of their mouths! Of course, we did not get any of that for lunch; no way! Because It was still early in the day, we wanted to continue. We decided to go for it. The climb was even steeper. It was almost 90 degrees! When we finally reached it, we were rewarded with an amazing view, and a cool and relaxing place once inside.

We stayed there for a few minutes and then continued on our way. While we were hiking, we were noticing that the camino seemed to be going a different way from what the guide book was saying. We wanted to go a different direction and follow the road, but the arrows pointed in a different way. It was getting late. A car pulled up, and we asked where the next town was. The man in the car then sped away, spitting up dust. Stubborn, we continued, right around the corner there was an albergue.

A very nice one. We decided to stay there. The name of the albergue was Izar Bide Aterpetxea. They supplied dinner and breakfast, perfect! We were so tired that we crashed on our beds and slept very well. When we woke up our plan was to go the Markina. Today was going to be our hardest day yet. We had a huge mountain to go over. We would have to climb up over meters. We started our day we a good breakfast and set off on our hike.

Once at the top, we sat and lay down. Wow, was that a treck! I am from the mountain and I am used to hike up mountains, but those mountains usually have switchbacks. This was straight up the mountain. Once at the top, we opened up a bar of chocolate. The sugar is was we needed. With every uphill there has to be a downhill.

The downhill was even steeper! I had to be very careful with my knee. At the beginning of the year I had a serious knee injury and this down hill was the ultimate tests. At the bottom of the hill we reached Markina. When we enter Markina it was a ghost town. We saw a little church and we entered it. Inside was huge boulders, and in the center a statue of San Miguel de Arrechinaga, patron saint of high places no wonder!

It was a very cool place, because it seemed that the church was built around the rock structure photos. Later on, I found out that the huge rocks once they thought formed a megalithic dolmen, but the believe now is that they owe more to geographical history: In the middle-ages, according to legend, a local hermit came to live here and built his cell beneath the huge stones. His name was perhaps St Pollonio. Later a church was built around the three stones and the hermitage. Another legend said that San Miguel buried the devil himself underneath those big rocks long before the church was built.

When we stepped out, a lady pulled right next to us and almost hit us with her car. It felt empty and kind of weird.

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The lady who run the restaurant looked at the card and she was not very happy. She asked if we were staying there. She said that she had places where we can stay, but when she told us how much, it was incredibly over priced. She then asked us where we were from. A smile went across her face, she had family in Idaho! She had family that went there to herd sheep. In the Wood River Valley we have a big basque community that once went over to herd sheep. This community are not shepherds anymore, on the contrary, they are ranch owners, business owners, and professionals.

That is why every year we have trailing of the sheep festival. A festival where they bring the sheep all the way from the mountains crossing the towns of Ketchum, Hailey and Bellevue to the Snake River plains to spend the winter there. We get to see Basque dances, taste Basque food, and learn about the sheep herding tradition in our valley and in Idaho in general.

The lady in the restaurant started to say that one of her family member married an African-american. This is when the lady exploded! She said that she hated black people and that she was super racist. Charlie, Alvaro and I did not know what to say from then on and, of course, did not want to stay there or in the town.

Alvaro went up to the bar to ask for the bill. We left that town as fast as we could. During the hike, Alvaro explained the whole situation with the Basque separatist movement and the terrorist group ETA. We kept on hiking, we kept on going to Gernika although our feet were killing us. On our way to Gernika we saw a beautiful monastery and we stopped. It was a very important stop in the Camino to Santiago.

It was declared historical-artistic monument in We definitely walked slow during this stage of our travel, and although we were intrigue about everything that was happening to us, we could not forget the pain of our feet! This pain was erasing any other challenges we were encountering along the way. We arrived at Tomorrow we are going to sleep in and then visit the city to gain a better understanding of the history of Genika. We knew that Gernika was going to gave us more answers about the history of the Basque people and their fight for independence. Today we decide to stay an extra day in Gernika.

The reason why is because we hiked more than fifty kilometers yesterday. We were exhausted when we arrived! We were zombies, our arms extended for food, our mouths open begging for water, and our feet dragging because we could no longer feel them. The albergue was closed last night, so we stayed in a pension. It costed the same as the albergue but it was out of the city center. Charlie, Alvaro and I slept in till eleven in the morning. It felt so good to sleep in!

We had all day to explore Gernika. Today I was expecting to see old building bombed by the Germans, and gain a better understanding of the history of the city. We walked around and saw different historical monuments. We saw the old famous tree of Gernika and walked around the city. By the end, I was kind of disappointed with the city. There is a museum, but we were told that it was closed today. Still very tired from the previous day, we poor pilgrim returned to our beds and slept to the next day.

The town of Guernica was completely destroyed on April, 26 by German and Italian troops that helped the Spanish fascists during the Spanish Civil War It was a massacre without piety toward the Basques. Pablo Picasso from Paris, composed a mural to protest this atrocity and all the atrocities of war.

It is not, therefore, a narrative, but symbolic. It is painted using only black and white, and a wide range of gray. Nature and Landscape, historical monument from Guernica. How the nature and the historical monument are mixed? In Gernika I could see that the landscape was very green. This small town seems to be hidden from all the rest because it is hidden by the thick branches of the trees that surround it. Knowing the history of Guernica, is difficult to imagine that this place was totally destroyed by the fascists during the Spanish Civil War In this tree are a combination of the nature that surrounds Gernika and the history of this people.

This tree survived the bombings of the fascist war and is now dead but protected as a monument. This tree is an old tree that symbolizes the traditional liberties of the Basque people. The tree is an oak tree and is situated in front of the Casa de Juntas. In the XIV century met the representatives of the General Assembly of Vizcaya and was where the king of Castile was sworn respect the northerners and ensure the freedom of the Basque people.

For various reasons, the oak tree of Gernika has become the most famous of these sacred oak trees. The tree has a symbolic meaning for the people of Gernika and all the Basques. Many of these seeds have been planted in many places in Basque communities over the years to link the past with the present.

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The Tree of Gernika is also considered the central symbol of the coat of arms of Bizkaia, since their image appears on the official coat of this historic territory. For all these reasons the trees are all sons and daughters of the father tree after the bombing of Guernica. This tree is very important for these people. The trees are a symbol of life and rebirth. The city and the other trees were capable of being reborn after a terrible catastrophe.

We woke up early because we have slept for about 18 hours. We were energized and ready to walk. We packed up our packs anxious to start. Horse biting at the bit. As we hiked up the first hill, guess who we found? There she was sitting on the steps of an old cathedral smoking a cigarette. It was good to see her. We talked about our previous days, and what we did. She threw on her pack and joined us for the hike for the day. To be honest, it is kind of nice to have a girl in the group. We all went to a mellow pace and chat. I like that kind of hiking. It is nice to walk slow and enjoy the landscape, the nature and a nice conversation.

I thought more about the meaning of the camino while hiking. Many people think that the camino is a race and a lot of them try to do it as fast as the can. They brag about how many kilometers they did per day and where they started. Many people walk the camino for many different reasons. Some do the camino for spiritual reason, some do it to find answers, to seek answers, and some people do it to find themselves.

Many of the pilgrims that I have encountered have said that they decided to the camino for the last reason, to find themselves. Then, I thought about what the camino means for me. I know that this whole experience is giving me college credits, but it must be for something else. I love the camino, I love Spain. But why did I decide to do it again? There must be some kind of connection between me and the camino. I hope that on this trip I can find that meaning, and find my connection.

After a few hours of me being silent. Emili finally asked me if I was okay. I responded with a smile, and that was it. I enjoyed being silent. We arrived to a little town and there were several signs from the E. A, the Basque terrorist group. Because of the past experience we had in Markina and other extremist people along the way, we did not really want to eat lunch there. So I went into a bar and asked for three beers and three sandwiches in Spanish. She gave me the stink eye and she asked me if I could speak Basque.

I told her no, that I could not; she seemed very disappointed. I payed for the food and drinks and left the bar. I think it because we are young, but I am not sure. We went out of town and sat down in a field. The sun was covered by clouds which lowered the temperature. We sat and ate our lunch. In the distance, we could see another pilgrim walking up the road.

His name was Ogelian, he was from Switzerland and he spoke French. He knew enough English to communicate with us. We invited him to sit down and join the company. We sat there for about an hour sharing stories. I honestly I wish I could travel like that, it would make my pack heavier, but it would be much cheaper. After filling our bellies, we continued hiking all of us together. We reached a town called Lezama. Emili decided to stay there because she was tired and wanted to rest, but the rest of us wanted to go to Bilbao.

The truth was that we wanted to get out of Basque Country as soon as possible. Alvaro was feeling very uncomfortable being from Madrid. Well, it was getting late again, and the book said that the albergue was on the other side of town. Bilbao is a shit hole. Sorry for my language, but there is so much trash, and pollution in this city! The only nice thing about Bilbao is the Guggenheim museum. It is very modern and shiny and it looks like it is the only clean part of the city. Maybe there are nice parts in the city, but where the camino took us it was very gross.

I will never be returning back to Bilbao for a vacation.

Also, the albergue was out of town on top of a mountain. We arrived there late and they had already prepared us plates for dinner. How did they know we were coming? How in the word did she get there. We ate quickly, cleaned all the dishes, took showers and crawled into bed. I can conclude that this was not a very slow travel day for me. Sometimes circumstances make you change your path and pace, and this was one of those days. The camino was teaching me more than I thought.

After being a hospitalero I knew that the way the hospitalero of Bilbao was behaving was not normal. What is wrong with the Basque Country? Last night I woke up several times, I had a difficult time sleeping. But the few times that I woke up, I saw that the hospitalero was in the room watching the pilgrims. It seemed like he was afraid that that one of us would do something wrong.

But he was just sitting there. Walk with Paul Myers — one chapter at a time - on the ancient pilgrimage route that leads to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Myers weaves together his walking experience with many years as a spiritual guide, a provocateur, and someone dangerously frank about his own inner struggles. Rooster in the Cathedral is not a travelogue or a guidebook. Read about these topics and more: Read more Read less. Enabled Similar books to Chapter 11 of Rooster in the Cathedral: Reflections of a Pilgrim While Walking to Santiago. Kindle Cloud Reader Read instantly in your browser.

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