Spain - Along the Camino de Santiago

As we made our way through Spain to Portugal, our route took us partly along the French Way of the Camino de Santiago, the 10th-century pilgrimage route that people still walk from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela. We stopped to see some of the pilgrim sites on the way. Our first stop was the historic Spanish village of Sahagún. 

After stopping at Sahagún, we arrived about an hour later at Hotel Rural Via Avis (Way of the Birds) in Santa Catalina de Somoza near Astorga for our two-night stay. The Via Avis was a beautiful and cozy place in a restored 18th-century village building with a small courtyard and four private rooms. Over breakfast, the owner explained to me that the name of the hotel comes from pilgrims following the migration of the birds in the northern hemisphere, the same path as the Milky Way, which it turns out is the same path as the Camino. Fascinating! 

On our second day we toured the nearby villages of Castillo de los Polvazares, Santa Columba de Somoza, Rabanal, and finally the pilgrim site of Cruz de Ferro. We also visited to town of Astorga just down the road and saw the Episcopal Palace by Catalán architect Antoni Gaudí and the gothic Astorga Cathedral. 

In Sahagún were the ruins of a monastery from the 10th century still stand—

The ruins of the 10th-century St. Benito monastery

The San Benito Arch - the original entry to the old church

The 12th-century San Tirso Church next to the monastery ruins

Accommodation in Santa Catalina de Somoza--

The courtyard as Via Avis

A shared living room and kitchen

Touring the nearby villages--

Castillo de los Polvazares 

Castillo de los Polvazares 

The iron cross pilgrim holy site - Crux de Ferro

Astorga--

Gaudí's palace

Astorga cathedral--

Next stop: Guimarães, Portugal

The Pyrenees

 Our second stop in France before we crossed the border into Spain was at the foot of the Pyrenees in the Pays Basque. We spent two days in Ispoure next to Saint-Jean-de-Pied-de-Port. It was beautiful with the snowy mountains as a backdrop, the sheep, fields, local wines and cheeses, and the traditional white-washed houses. We shopped at the outdoor market and walked around town. It’s a bit touristy because so many people come for the Camino de Santiago, but it’s not overly so. 

France — Arrival

 So we returned our rig, flew from Cape Town to Addis to Paris on the 31st -1st, picked up our Renault at Charles de Gaulle, and headed to our first destination, the lovely village of Mortemart, France. It was a five-hour drive from the airport and we were so tired! Luckily the drive was uneventful, minus an unfortunate detour through the center of Paris during rush hour— 😱😮—but we survived. By midday we were in Mortemart in a 13th century monastery. Gorgeous! 

We found a great cafe bar tucked away on the main square, just adjacent to the town’s 10th century castle.

The cold and snowy village square

—-

While in Mortemart we also visited the site of Oradour-sur-Glane. This village stands exactly as it did after the Nazis came through and killed everyone in the town—642 men, women and children—and burned the village. Crumbling shops, homes, burnt out cars—all of it is still there.  It stands frozen in time. In the museum there is a corridor of pictures of those who died there. Seeing their faces and seeing all the children is heartbreaking.

Made it to Europe

Today was a beautiful drive through villages in the northern Spanish mountains from La Cavada through Puerto Alisas, Arredondo, Asón, La Gandara and back in a loop to our pensión. It’s cold at night here and the mountains are snow-topped. Our drive was full of winding roads and steep precipices. The sheep didn’t seem to mind, neither did Richard, but I tried not to look down too much! 

We stopped in La Gandara for a glass of wine. (And a few journal notes.)

Back at our pensión we spent the late afternoon enjoying the garden and our new companions, Charlie and Lulu. Obviously, Charlie failed obedience school. 

A much better behaved (and more dignified) Lulu:

Our first 4 nights in Europe were in France where it was cold and snowing. Here in northern Spain it’s getting warmer! Low 60s for a high today. Yay! More on France to follow. 

Start to finish - a 7 month adventure

 

Seven months of camping will change a person. 😉

We had a tremendous time seeing old friends and meeting new.  I’ll try to capture some of those memories.

The Lanham’s

Nic & Gill, Phillipa & George, Camilla, Zoey, Olivia, SIri, and Lucy 

Jan & Rina Lotter

BTW - President’s cup score:  USA 2.5  RSA 1.5

The Newlyweds: Alyssa and Chris Womac

 

Michel & Estelle (sorry Estelle, you were taking the photo)

We had some great dinners together and must have forgot the photos.

Jani - the best ranger in Kruger

The other newlyweds 

There were many more wonderful experiences and people along the way and hopefully they were depicted in the previous posts.

Very sad to go but excited by new adventures. Stayed tuned for the Baysides go to Europe.

Love,

Richard & Lisa

Already Missing Africa

 There is still so much to share! We've only posted part of this amazing journey. On Thursday we take off for Paris and start our travels in Europe. Looking back on some photos (in order through seven months in South Africa, Botswana and the Mabuasehube in the Kgalagadi, Namibia, back to South Africa): 

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