[Gocamino] Travel-Madrid to St Jean Pied

[Katie Holland]

Although the authenticity of the pilgrimage is a
personal thing to everyone, I would add that the
hardest but also most rewarding and beautiful part of
my camino journey was on the first day from SJPP to
Roncesvalles.

Katie

--- Eldor Pederson <eopederson at msn.com> wrote:

> The simple solution is to begin your pilgrimage at
> Pamplona. 
> 
> There is absolutely nothing magical about beginning
> at St. Jean. Spaniards who walk from Roncesvalles 
> or Pamplona consider themselves to have walked the
> entire Camino Frances, and it is only Anglophones
> who have the peculiar notion that somehow the Camino
> begins at St. Jean, an idea probably introduced by
> the American journalist Jack Hitt who happened to
> start his 1990s walk there, is unique to English
> speakers. Aside from being the place at which
> several, but by no means all, of the traditional
> routes from elsewhere in Europe join to cross the
> Pyrenees, St. Jean has no special qualities which
> recommend it as a starting point. In the Medieval
> era pilgrims from outside Spain would have been
> walking for days, or more likely weeks, before
> reaching that cute but otherwise undistinguished
> Basque village (it would more appropriately be
> called by its Basque name Ostabat). Except for
> residents of the town itself, no one walking at the
> time of the great pilgrimages would have started
> there. As I have noted on a number of occasions, it
> is about the worst of all possible places for a jet
> lagged North American to begin walking the route.
> (Please note that this is not an anti French rant. I
> am a Francophile currently making plans to spend a
> several weeks this coming autumn in that lovely and
> hospitable country.)
> 
> For a variety of reasons, mainly practical,
> beginning at Pamplona, or perhaps taking a bus or
> taxi from there to Roncesvalles, a place which,
> unlike St. Jean, does have considerable historical
> resonance, is a much wiser idea. Use the extra time
> and resources freed by not going into the French
> town to more fully enjoy the Spanish portion of the
> Camino! The Camino begins wherever you decide to
> begin your pilgrimage, and Pamplona is a very fine
> place to start.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: The Quilt
> Shop<mailto:thequiltshop at earthlink.net> 
>   To:
> gocamino at oakapple.net<mailto:gocamino at oakapple.net> 
>   Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 10:55 AM
>   Subject: [Gocamino] Travel-Madrid to St Jean Pied
> 
> 
>   I am making my first trip to Spain to walk the
> Camino Frances starting in St Jean.  I have plane
> ticket to arrinve in Madrid on Sep 6, 2005.  I have
> found good train travel to Pamplona and am seeking
> advice on best way to get to St Jean Pied. 
> 
>   Any help would be appreciated. 
> 
>   Thanks 
> 
>   Kurt Prescott 
> 
> 
>   The Quilt Shop
>   199 New Market Center
>   Boone, NC 28607
>   828/263-8691
>  
>
www.boonequiltshop.com<http://www.boonequiltshop.com/>
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