Camino de Santiago and the Pyrenees

 

We’re back! Last year’s trip ended prematurely with my broken elbow, but now it’s all healed and we’re ready for more adventure.  We’re spending the next 2 weeks biking the Camino de Santiago then meeting good friends in San Sebastián to bike across the Pyrenees for another 2 weeks. 

We start as always, assembling the bikes in the airport and riding to our hotel. It’s a good way to clear the cobwebs after 24 hours of travel. And always fun to see the weird looks we get. 

Our journey begins here, in Obradoiro Plaza. There are six main paths of the Camino de Santiago, a spiritual pilgrimage which begins in locations as far away as Norway and which all converge here. We’ll be taking the most common route, the Camino Frances. But we’ll be doing the trip unconventionally - backwards. 

A bit of background Camino history: The people who walk this route are called pilgrims, as they’re making a spiritual journey to the place where St. James was buried. He was buried here because Jesus called upon his disciples to bring Christianity to “the ends of the earth”.  James traveled here to what was believed to be that place, which is why the ultimate end of the route is 30 miles west in a coastal town called Finisterre (finis = end, terre = earth). After he was beheaded in Jerusalem (why did he go back? Clearly a mistake), his followers brought his body back to Santiago de Compostela. Santiago = James in Spanish. Compo and stela  means “field star” because a farmer saw a star pointing its light towards a field which was the place where James’ body was buried, and where the cathedral is now built. Or so the legend goes…

There’s a constant stream of pilgrims arriving daily. Pilgrims range from groups of school kids led by teachers to solitary oldsters limping in with staffs and bandaged knees.  Many languages are spoken, testament to the broad appeal of this journey to a wide array of people.  All of them beam with joy at their journey’s end. It was actually quite moving to see. 

The cathedral is the centerpiece of the city. Its opulence and size give you an idea of the power of the Catholic Church (if you didn’t know already).

Our 2nd night here was the festival of St. John. Many of the Catholic holidays correspond to pagan holidays - a way of converting pagans by usurping their existing holidays. Smart marketing. This particular fiesta happens on the longest day of the year and combines pagan fire worship and Christian cleansing of sins to create a thrilling event - jumping over fire to leave your sins behind and start anew. Children are taught at an early age to embrace the idea. What kid doesn’t love playing with fire?  As the night wore on, adults proved equally up to the task. Dennis and I jumped over 2 separate fires. We’re ready for our journey!

Apart from jumping over fires, we also spent many hours that night dancing, drinking and partying in the streets with the locals. Everyone was incredibly welcoming, even sharing with us the tradition of giving out … grilled sardines ??  What better way to start our journey - hungover and sleep deprived. At least our sins are behind us.