Small french routes to Santiago

[wanda]

Sorry for computer. problems, as I was saying Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
has been a mystery to be seen for a long while.......did the small french
route meanger thru Stes Maries? With so much history about the Mary's,
please share your thoughts.....I plan to travel to view the queen of the
gypsies, Sara-Kali. The town of Apt. must not be too far far from Stes
Maries, correct? Have you seen Sara.....if so, any advice for gaining
permission to view Sara..... A closed church, understand. Plan to be in
Arles, April 26, 27....on way to SJPdP. Wanda
----- Original Message -----
From: "davidson" <davidsonaetal.uri.edu>
To: <GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 11:45 AM
Subject: Small french routes to Santiago


> I'm living in a teeny village in the Luberon valley, near the town of Apt
> while trying to write on the next book with hub David Gitlitz. [Apt:
Provence,
> between Avignon on the west and Aix on the south-east and Marseille to the
> south. If you've read Peter Mahle's _A Year in Provence_, you've got the
right
> area, but don't push me on Mahle: he missed a lot of what's real here.]
>
> When it's a nice day we try to take a short hike. The hiking routes, the
> randonnees, are terrifically well marked and there are a lot of them
around
> this area. One nice day we're out hiking and what do we see on the hiking
> signpost ? An taped on famous-after-1993 symbolic star for the St. James
> route. Sure enough, right through Apt. It would have to have been since
the
> Roman road (the Via Domitia; Domition Road) is the highway from Avignon to
Apt
> before having to face the great gorges and massifs.
>
> There is a lot to see around here that is pilgrimage-based, in the broad
> sense. The town of Apt claims a relic of St. Anne, mother of Mary.... Her
> pilgrimage is still a viable/living one. A small town just 15 kilometers
to
> the west contains another miracle-working statue of Mary and people still
make
> pilgrimages there today. Their ex-votos are in the form of handpainted oil
> "thank you's". There is a little evidence that this area may have formed a
> minor route toward the Pyrenees and ultimately compostela. Most churches
> around here have a statue of St. Roche/Roq: he with the leper wound and
the
> dog who holds out bread for him. St. Roch is always dressed as a Santiago
> pilgrim.  There are an occasional reference to St-Jacques, such as the
> aumonerie / almshouse in Gordes.
>
> Linda DAvidson
>