To leave Sarria, the pilgrim crosses a medieval bridge, and this one is choice. Note the typical and delicious stonework: granite below, graduating to fine shale at the top. Those keen on masonry could well take a study holiday in these parts. I came to the church and monastery of Santiago in Barbadelo, still in [...]
Archive for the ‘Q. INTO GALICIA’ Category
GALICIA: STONE, MIST, SUN, WATER
Posted in Q. INTO GALICIA, Uncategorized on June 6, 2011 | 3 Comments »
TO SARRIA
Posted in Q. INTO GALICIA, Uncategorized on June 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The walk out of Samos is into deepest Galicia: ancient bridges, clear running streams, and greenery that, after the meseta, looks radioactive. *** Sarria is a large citadel town, older at the top, with a newer and busier quarter below. Of all start-points for the Camino de Santiago, it is the most popular. Because Sarria [...]
THE MONASTERY THAT WOULD NOT DIE
Posted in Q. INTO GALICIA, Uncategorized on June 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Samos is an out-of-the-way town which would be charming enough with its greenery and trout-filled river. But its main feature is the enormous monastery, destroyed, abandoned, rebuilt, incinerated, restored over much time. How much time? When a monastery first stood here, it was possibly by order or approval of a sixth century monarch of the [...]
INTO THE GREEN
Posted in Q. INTO GALICIA, Uncategorized on June 2, 2011 | 4 Comments »
O Cebreiro is on a narrow ridge, so a brief stroll across town can offer a view of Galicia’s east before you descend. Advancing downward at the very beginning of spring, I found there were still drifts of snow. A satirist had been busy: The Zapatero government had just introduced a trial reduction of maximum [...]
GALICIA: THE CELTIC THING
Posted in Q. INTO GALICIA, Uncategorized on June 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Here’s a photo of Dominic Walsh. Or is it Finian Doyle? It’s actually a photo I took at Padrón market, along the Camino Portugués. The gentleman was smiling a moment before, so that he looked even more Irish. But he’s a Spaniard, a Galician. Some sketchy thoughts about Galicia, the autonomous region one enters just [...]
O CEBREIRO: THE ASCENT
Posted in Q. INTO GALICIA, Uncategorized on May 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Really, there are times when you just do the view. So, without comment, this is the country as you ascend from Ruitelán, enter Galicia, and arrive in the mountain village of O Cebreiro. If it’s a clear, still winter’s day, you won’t ever forget it. Don’t call it lazy [...]
