Northward Bound Día Dos

After breakfasting in León we were on the bus again heading off to new sites in the North. While driving we went alongside the Camino de Santiago. This is the road taken by travelers on the pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela. In 813 AD Pelayo, a religious hermit living in the boondocks of Northwest Iberia, followed a shining star and angelic voices to a Roman mausoleum hidden under briars (or so the legend goes). Inside were the remains of the apostle Saint James the Greater. This was then confirmed by the local bishop Teodomiro and Asturian King Alfonso the Chaste and the news spread throughout Europe. At that time pilgrimage to holy sites was like obtaining a ticket to eternal salvation (wish it were that easy), so many started to journey here starting just from their front doors. People are still not exactly sure how James’s remains got there in the first place (he was one of Jesus’s first apostles and apparently taught in Iberia and was then the first apostle martyred), but the story goes that his followers secreted his body to Jaffa and set sail in a stone boat on a miraculous sea voyage through the Strait of Gibraltar back to Galicia. James was then buried. In 1189 the Pope granted Holy Year status to the shrine (when July 25th-James’s day-falls on a Sunday this is a Holy Year and pilgrims can erase all their sins. This was equal basically to making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem). Well folks July 25, 2010 is a Sunday, thus it is a Holy Year and if I somehow venture to this place all my sins will be forgiven. However the most popular route starts in France is about 750 km long and takes about 5 weeks to do it walking. So throughout all our driving and visits there were people making the journey because it was about a month before Semana Santa and a perfect time to go. What is really cool is that all the little towns along the way provide the people doing the Camino with food and lodging and the churches give stamps in their books to prove they are doing the walk. The whole thing is very intriguing and a really cool idea. So look for an update from me in about 6 years (the other Holy Year, but people do it every year) when I want to do this camino.




Now after that long description of the awesome walk that people do I will explain what I actually did. On our way to Burgos we stopped in this little town called Fromista. Here we froze our butts off in frigid wind and visited, you guessed it, another church called San Martin. This dates to 1066 and was pretty small as well as under construction so we did not stay long in that building. Then we were stuck in this dead little town shivering outside waiting for our bus driver to let us back on the bus after his smoke break and get us to Burgos.






The upside to bus time was that we got to watch School of Rock (“You’re a fat loser and you have body odor.”) and enjoy the facial contortions of Jack Black as well as listen to amazing music of the classic rock genre. When we go to Burgos we did the whole hotel thing and then wandered around trying to find something to satisfy our hunger. A bright shining beacon of light caught our eyes before too long. Its name was Alibaba Kebab. Here was our first encounter with our Burgos lover (I say “our” because pretty much everyone was in love with this man) who spoke perfect English (in a Brooklyn accent no less-wonder how he learned English) and fed us delicious kebabs. Heaven in meaty and muscular form.




Even though we were staying the night in Burgos that night we got back on the bus to travel to some little towns for daytime adventures. We stopped at this little town called Covarrubias (apparently one of Castilla y León’s hidden gems). The town was incredibly small and cute and Meg and I enjoyed wandering along the banks of the river acting like Amazonian women among the trees. Not to mention also acting out scenes from Persuasion (guess who had to be the Captain, even though she’s shorter? It had to be my rippling muscles…). Before too long we got back on the bus and headed to Santo Domingo de Silos.










The reason this place is famous worldwide (if you haven’t heard of it don’t worry-I hadn’t either, I blame my age) is because monks from its monastery that we toured and saw sing made the British pop charts in the early 90’s with recordings of Gregorian chants. Here we first went to the famous monastery and got a guided tour. The church is one of the most famous in central Spain also because of its Romanesque architecture. What was cool about some of the carvings of different scenes in Christ’s life, like the last supper and the crucifixion, was that Mary and Paul were added and Judas Iscariot removed. Interpretive art at its best in the 12th century.










So after the tour we went around the town a bit and ended up climbing the grassy hill to see the view of the city (we are a little nature-deprived here). We all explored a bit, and of course froze yet again, before heading back down to see some monks belt out some sweet chants.






They are actually called Vespers (the Gregorian chanting ceremonies) and I was way excited to see some world-famous monks. It was really great and very soothing (though the actual singing was not much different from the ones in Seattle I see fairly regularly at home-just add in an organ), but they did do some sort of religious ceremony with the bishop and the audience was way into it and very respectful. This is church for some people so it was very interesting to see what they do and how they worship.

Anyway then we headed back to the hotel for an impromptu dance party in the hall with an iPod we could barely hear, but still awesome! The younger Holbrook kids even joined in a showed us their break dance moves, as well as good ole Landes (though we never documented this blessed event). Then I got the most relaxing bath ever (turning off the water in the middle of your shower and freezing in the stall is no walk in the park) and we slept in preparation for exploring Burgos (and yet another cathedral) the next day!