Camino de Santiago
A few more pics from San Anton, before we get to the new newsletter.
Ok, it was a long day from San Anton ruins to Fromista, our next stop. Twenty miles by the time we got to dinner. THat’s far, and it was in the mid 70’s when we finished… which seemed hot.
There are soooo many churches we pop in, that sadly they start to blend together. however, this church had a “painted altar” vs one with carvings or statues. It really stood out!
We had a Drink break in Boadilla del Camino where we stopped at the first bar we saw open. They all came in waves, but within 15 minutes three of the ladies from our very first night (two of whom were our roommates ) on the Camino, 18 days ago, arrived at the very same bar! We had not seen Ellen since day 1… and it was fun to catch up with her.
We continued on to Fromista, where we would have dinner and spend the night. I took a side trip to Iglesia (church) San Martin which was constructed in 1066. After paying a euro to go inside, i realized that all the really cool stuff was on the outside!
Seems that whoever built it carved 309 different animals and people into the eaves, corbels, and capitals around and in the church. And no one really knows what story they are trying to tell.
Zoom in on this one for the great carvings
there was one capital (decorated top of a column) inside i recognized about the Fox and The Crow. In the fable (of Aesop fame) a crow has found a piece of cheese and retired to a branch to eat it. A fox, wanting it for himself, flatters the crow, calling it beautiful and wondering whether its voice is as sweet to match. When it lets out a caw, the cheese falls and is devoured by the fox. The church used many of these “let’s call them non-Christian” stories to enlighten folks… not everything pertains to the Bible.
The next Day:
Another long hike, with gaps of 5- 6 miles with nothing in between. We took ‘The river path” which added another .6 miles to our day but it beat walking along the two lane highway.
We eventually arrived in Carrion de los condes. A lovely city with many churches, good restaurants, and a hiking store for us to replenish some supplies.
We checked into the Monasterio de la Nuestra Senora de Belen for the night.
It is a convent still run by sisters… all of whom seem to be 70+ and about 5 feet tall. The first sister said “grande” when she saw us we walk in, and we just smiled. Then another sister came in and said “muy grande” to us, and then asked Drew and I to stand back to back to see who was taller!
I asked one of the sisters where the Santa Maria church was in town, because i heard that at 6PM each night you can sing with those nuns. She gave us directions, and as we were leaving I showed her this google translate.
Without looking up, the Spanish sister said “wow!” Which was hilarious.
The Augustine nuns
down the street sing with the Pilgrims every night at 6PM. So we joined in.
They sang a few songs in Spanish, including Guantanajiemra (spelling?) and then asked if anyone else would like to sing. One woman from Puerto Rico said she’d like to sing La Bamba, and we were all pleasantly surprised when the guitarist sister jumped right in. Most of us knew the words! Later,seeing a pause in the fun, I offered to sing “I’ll fly away” and surprisingly, the guitarist did not know this one, nor did most people, so thank you to Drew and Terry who joined in and did not leave me hanging! (Yes,it did reach heaven)
Lastly, before we arrived in town we made a detour to find a cafe. We ended in a town that was not on the map. Not only that, but there were no dogs barking, all the stores were closed, no cats in the street, and certainly no one walking by. The only road led us to this one church, and if you were born in the 60’s or 70’syou would recognize the monkey bars, the see-saws, rusty slide (all metal)and even the carousel swings on chains. The rusty lock on the gate looked foreboding. Suddenly it grew surprisingly cool, giving us all goose bumps. And we heard whispering from the weeds. We hightailed it out of there… and as Drew glanced back, he swore he saw the metal seated swing move on its own. Yet… there… was… no… wind… at… all.
