[Gocamino] Via de la Plata credential

[Blaroli@aol.com]

Hello you all,
You can get the pilgrims' credential in Sevilla at the Cathedral, which is 
not always easy to do.   Except for Saint Peter's in Rome the Seville Cathedral 
is the largest, anywhere,  and getting around it may be daunting.  The office 
that dispenses the credentials is  located by one of the six "main" doors and 
it has a tiny medieval-type door which can be easily missed. Further, its 
hours of operation are pretty much subject to Andalucian ways.... which means that 
maybe it will be open at the posted hours, or maybe it will not.
But.... not to worry:  You can get the credential at the "Taberna Miami " in 
Triana  which is always open during the daytime and until midnight or so every 
day.  The Association of Friends of the Camino in Sevilla is located by, and 
ancillary to, the tavern.  (Yup!.... that's Sevillians for you). To get to the 
Tavern all you need do is walk over the lovely Triana bridge (ask anyone)  
and keep walking; the bar is located half-way down the first commercial block on 
the left-hand side.  It has a big sign over the sidewalk that says "Miami"
Furthermore, at the Cathedral you will get the regular  accordion-style 
credential, with the walking staff and the gourd in front and Camino maps behind, 
which is produced in Santiago and distributed throughout Spain; while that 
credential is very pretty, practical and informative, the credential that you will 
get at the Miami Bar is uncommonly handsome: it is laminated and with 
colorful illustrations of the main points throughout the Via.  If Manuel, the owner 
of the bar, who also founded and is president of the Seville Camino Friends 
Association,  is there, you will also get wine and beer to go with the 
credential.
This super-typical Sevillian (From Triana, no less, the hallowed throne and 
temple of flamenco), is something else. He is colorfully short, pudgy, 
energetic, has quite an eye for the ladies and always wears a hat covered with 
Santiago shells and other Camino memorabilia. In 2004 he went on the Santiago 
pilgrimage on horseback, for the umpteenth time, alone, except for his mount and a  
spare horse, to commemorate, among other things, his 77th (seventy-seventh 
birthday).  If he is not at the bar,  the bartenders will do the credential 
honors. While none speaks anything but Spanish, if you can say "Santiago", 
"peregrino" and "credencial" (remembering to smile and pointing to yourself) you should 
have no trouble whatever. If you yield to temptation and linger at the bar 
after you get the credential you'll see photographs all over the walls of famous 
Santiago pilgrims  and will have a whale of a good time.
There is a sign at the bar in tiles that says :"En Triana Soledad es solo un 
nombre de mujer"  (In Triana, "Soledad" (loneliness) is just a woman's name).

By the way, I sent a message about where, and how, to find Flamenco. The 
message did not go through the Gocamino list because it was too long..... or 
something.  If you would like to receive it, let me know, and I'll send it to you 
directly while it is still in this machine. (I hope that this posting makes 
it).

Regards,

Rosina