Jet lag

After three days I still haven't shaken off the jet lag. The Emirates flights were both packed. I had a window seat near the front but it was all a bit too much like a sardine can. There was no chance of an upgrade on the 10-hour Dubai to Perth leg, as everywhere was full. The airport scanner picked up my titanium hip and gave a loud beep. It took a while before the perplexed female security guard asked if I'd had surgery!

Home at last with a big bottle of duty free gin to look forward to. Looking back, it's been a brilliant holiday. The weather was unbelievably good and I ticked off everything on my list of must see. Here are the last photos of Barcelona:

Police presence on Passeig de Gracia

Giant thermometer 

Entrance to the building where I stayed: Hostal Oliva is on the 4th floor

Looking up the stairwell

The lift reminds me of an Agatha Christie novel

Montserrat

On my last day in Barcelona I decided to take a day trip to the Monastery of Montserrat. So did a great many other people, especially a large number of school parties! We left town at 10.00 am and the journey took about an hour. Our guide Leila fed us information non stop, switching effortlessly from English to Spanish and back again.

The Benedictine monastery was founded in 1025 with 10 monks. The mountain range behind it is a spectacular backdrop. Montserrat means "jagged mountain". Inside the church is the much revered Black Madonna, a carved wooden statue of the virgin and child. Her hands and face have darkened over time with the application of varnish. She is kept high above the altar and people formed a long queue to go up and touch her; not me!!

The Boys Choir was due to perform at 12.00 noon so I decided to get there early and secure a front pew. The church grew more and more crowded and when I thought it couldn't possibly hold any more, a huge school party was ushered in and made to sit on the cold marble floor between me and the altar, while the nun in charge did her best to keep them quiet.

The body's singing was lovely. They perform every day. Competition is stiff to enter the boarding school, but I must say that winters up there will be freezing! Also performing was a school choir from Córdoba as a guest item, but I realised that there would be long queues for lunch, given the numbers of visitors, so I made my escape!

Lunch was in a vast newly built self service cafeteria, with a buffet containing every possible dish and free flowing drinks for €16.50 and a view down the mountain. It was an amazingly clear sunny day, the best possible time to visit (it was raining and miserable last week, they said!). 

I tried not to be too glutinous at the buffet , restricting myself to veg soup, grilled fish w salad and a selection of many fruit and chocolate cake items from the dessert area. Then I sat down in the sun to await departure from the crowds at 3.00 pm. All in all , it had been a good day but would have been a whole lot better with fewer visitors!

Arrival at Monistrol where the bus dropped us off and we marvelled at the spectacular mountain we had to climb 

An old-style train preserved for posterity

The station for the rack railway up the mountain 

The green train starting its ascent on the rack railway

Leila, our super efficient bi-lingual guide

Looking back down the mountain 

Local conglomerate stone blocks used in the restoration 

Entry to the basilica 

The Black Madonna high up above the altar in the middle of the picture

The Montserrat Boys Choir in white; a school choir from Córdoba in red

The monastery buildings with part of the old cloister now restored 

School parties everywhere 

Barcelona

When I arrived in Barcelona at 7.00 pm, after 6 hours on the train from Burgos, I discovered there were still demos going on over Catalan Independence. The taxis would not take me to Passeig de Gracia because the streets were closed off. They told me to walk! I said I don't know the way! Finally I went into a big hotel near the station and asked for their help. They advised me to take the Metro which was pretty hot and crowded. I was feeling pretty fed up and wishing I'd stayed on the Camino. I finally got to my hotel, Hostal Oliva, checked in and heard from an American family with little kids who HAD walked all the way. These demos will really affect tourism in Barcelona: it's been going on for a month!

I spent Sunday morning at the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, most of the time in the Romanesque galleries. These contain frescoes, wood carvings, altar fronts etc which have been rescued from early medieval churches in the Spanish Pyrenees. I am blown away by it all. I have so many photos that I'll have to post them separately when I have more time. All can be seen at the museum's website: MNAC.

I arrived back at Divinus, the tapas bar near my hotel, and was enjoying a sangria when an American couple started talking to me about where I'd been. They said: you speak good English. I replied: I speak better English than you!!!

View from my room in Hostal Oliva down to Passeig de Gracia

The following pics are from Montjuic with incredible views over Barcelona:

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These next pics are from the collection of Spanish Civil War posters:

Burgos3

A few last photos from Burgos:

 View from my window showing difference in levels of the Cathedral; looking along the street towards the north portal

Door of St Nicholas Church, shown on the left of the previous photo

Chef at Ojeda Restaurant with his roast suckling lamb just out of the wood oven

Tiramisu at El Mafia Restaurant; I fancied a change from Spanish food. First course was Vegetarian Lasagna

Trendy clientele at El Mafia

Military

I woke up this morning to find the heating was on in my room, so I knew it was going to be cold out! It was my official rest day after the Camino and I set off to wander the streets of Burgos with no fixed plan other than to buy some really good handcream!

Outside the Palacio de Capitania there was a gathering of military top brass, so I popped into the Tourist Information to ask what was going on. It's The Changing of the Guard, they said. Nobody does a parade like the Spanish, so I stayed to watch in spite of the cold. The brass band of about 30 was particularly good; PK would have enjoyed it, and so did the crowd, giving them a big clap as they marched off.

Military Police whose job it was to watch the crowd for troublemakers 

Engineers? with ceremonial picks and shovels

Raising the Spanish flag

Fromista

It was a very cold morning when I emerged from my hotel and went across to have breakfast in the Albergue. A few late departure people were hanging around still, and one German girl was waiting till 11.00 am when she was getting a lift with the luggage transportation vehicle for Caminofacil.

As I left town about 9.30 am there was a heavy mist, almost like freezing fog. I only had about 7 kms to do and the Camino was straight and flat, alongside the canal. Both the Canal and its towpath was built up in parts, above the surrounding fields.

The Canal de Castile brought water and easy transportation to the region in 1773 and for the last 2 centuries Fromista has prospered as an agricultural centre. (In 1670, though, there had been a terrible famine because a plague of locusts had eaten all the wheat crop as well as the vines and all the other fruit). Before that the wheat was abundant and it became a breadbasket for the Roman Empire. The name Fromista is thought to come from the Latin word for cereal "frumentum".

In Fromista there was time for a warming cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant, as well as a quick photo of the Iglesia San Martin. This was based on the model of Jaca Cathedral and stone was brought from elsewhere at great expense, since there was none in the area.

I then had to retrace my steps back to the railway station which was close to the Fromista locks. At 12.09 there was a train down to Palencia which was on the main Burgos line. This was the start of my journey home.

Pilgrims leaving Albergue En El Camino at 9.00 a.m.

Misty scene on the Camino; sun trying to shine 

Building alongside the Canal de Castilla near Fromista

Approaching the lock gates at Fromista 

Ladder of multiple locks

The Camino crosses the lock on a narrow walkway

Church of San Martin, Fromista 

Fromista Railway Station 

Boadilla2

There were 2 really heavy downpours at 8.30 and 9.00 pm in Castrojeriz as I was sitting up in bed reading. Rain was also forecast for the following day, but hopefully not so much.

I arranged to send my backpack on ahead with Jacotrans, since it was a 19 kms walk to Boadilla via Itero de la Vega (where there were no nice places to stay). I left town in a continuous steady drizzle, the first time I'd had to walk in wet weather on this Camino. The path led across an ancient paved causeway across marshland and ahead was a steep climb. A sign told us the ascent was 12% for 1.5 kms.

I reached the Alto at 10.20 am. There was a pilgrim shelter surrounded by rubbish. An old crone in a flapping wet cape was busy taking photos of the litter in order to alert the authorities in the next town! Some hope! She seemed to speak many languages but preferred speaking to the Italian lads who had been staying with her in the Albergue last night! 

There was quite a descent down of some 350 m only, and the path had been concreted to make it safer. I finally came to the ancient hermitage of San Nicolas, which had been converted into a primitive Albergue by the Italian Fraternity. It was in the process of being closed down for the winter. Two local ladies from the town were busy packing up all the portable items into their cars. I sat down and rested out of the rain for a while. Apparently this Albergue maintains an old tradition of washing the feet of pilgrims who stay there.

The Camino then crossed the river into Palencia and then onto the small town of Itero de la Vega. I knew that there was a bar in this town which served bacon and eggs, so I was determined to track it down and was finally rewarded with a delicious brunch and some lemon tea to warm me up!

The way into Boadilla (8kms or so) seemed long and I was the last person on the track, apart from a few stragglers who had walked 30 kms or more that day. The sky looked alarmingly dark, with lovely cloud formations, but no more rain fell, and I finally reached my destination at 4.00 pm.

The Albergue En El Camino has been under the same family management for many years. There is a lovely garden and a good communal dinner. They have recently built a hotel next door, which is where I stayed along with a few other pilgrims who prefer their own space. There is little else in the quiet town so they are onto a good thing!

Boadilla

Text tomorrow: tired today!! 19 kms.

Ancient raised pavement outside Castrojeriz; looking towards the next mountain to be climbed!

Pilgrim shelter at the alto

Albergue St Nicholas being packed up for the winter

Cyclist at the door of the Albergue 

Bridge marking the boundary with Palencia

Church at entry to Itero de la Vega

Threatening sky approaching Boadilla

15th century stone punishment column where criminals were chained

Church door

Hotel door