Month: October 2017

October 28, 2017

… until the sun sets ending the day and ending a pilgrimage.

October 28, 2017

and watch the skies …

October 28, 2017

In Finisterre, I walk along the shore …

October 28, 2017

For reasons I can not explain, for motivations I can not trace, for emotions that I can not define, the ocean bespeaks all that I can not grasp, all that I can not measure, all that I can not articulate. Throughout my adult life, I have gone to the ocean for renewal and blessing.

In Muxia I watched the Atlantic waves splashing against rocks by the church.

October 28, 2017

My destination is coastal Spain, at least 50 kilometers beyond Santiago and specifically to Muxia and Finisterra in La Coruna.

 

October 28, 2017

For my part, I pay a brief visit to Santiago in stone. And then move on.

October 28, 2017

In long lines people wait to enter the Cathedral for the noon mass, widely known for the swinging of a large bundle of incense. Tour guides with voice amplification lead tourists from building to building. Sellers of memorabilia add to the religious festival atmosphere.

October 28, 2017

For most pilgrims — let’s say 95% of them — the goal of their pilgrimage is Santiago de Compostelo. No wonder — the trail is said to have been the route of St. James in the first century, and the city bears his name. However, Santiago is not my destination. I move through the city appreciating the ambience.

October 28, 2017

And I carry with me the memory of chatting with five gentlemen my age who sat on a bench overlooking the plaza in Portomarin. Grandpas? City fathers? Commentators on the times? Whatever, they were kind and accommodating to me.

October 28, 2017

Of Galicia there is much to commend. People, dairies, markets, stone fences, stone barns, cows on the path, horses on the path, a bag piper along the trail, tall eucalyptus woods.