[Gocamino] Advice for Camino de Plata

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hi Kit.
.....You know, many times I read messages and compose answers in my mind and then, between one thing or another, I never send any replies.
I'll answer your message right away.... however incomplete the reply.
The Via de la Plata is 1,000 kms. long, that is,  25%-30% longer than the Camino Frances. 
September is probably the ideal time to start out from Seville because the summer heat will have began to abate. Further on, however, it may get cold. My first time on the Via de la Plata I arrived at Salamanca in August and had to buy sweatshirts and double the clothing I was wearing because it was cold.... I don't know why.
Perhaps attempting to walk the whole Via the first time may be too ambitious an undertaking.  One can always take a bus for some of the early  stages and walk here and there throughout and fully at the end.
Merida should not be missed, not ever. The name derives from "meritorious", more or less. The site was chosen by none other than Augustus Caesar to provide a retirement ideal site for those members of his Roman legions who had prove deserving of special recognition. No effort or expense was spared in making the place sumptuous, and the evidence remains.  I know of no place outside of Rome that has so impressive an arena (like a mini-Coliseum), nor a better preserved Roman theater, which is still very much used for plays, concerts and the like, and which  according to the historical records, it looks pretty much as it did when it was built twenty centuries ago... including the Roman Gods' statues that have long been gone from the Coliseum in Rome.  Merida is built by a lovely river, and well preserved remains of the  Roman aqueduct cannot fail to impress. The remains show a three-tiered aqueduct built of rose and crimson stones in a patterned scheme of colors that is spell-binding.  When the Moors invaded and occupied Spain many centuries later they were so impressed by Merida that they established a kingdom center there, and their architects so admired  the Merida aqueduct color harmony that they  reproduced it in their own structures.... most notably in the Great Mosque of Cordoba (still in existence, and in pretty good shape) which is made spectacular by the ravishing color contrast of the Merida Roman aqueduct.
Because of its genus, and the perduring admiration of those who have learned of it and have appreciated it over the centuries, Merida has one of the finest museums of Roman antiquities anywhere, and a renowned University.  In case that were not enough, the post-Roman Christian history of the town with its churches, martyrs, saints and festivals is very rich and colorful.

Another town that is immensely appreciated by Camino and history lovers  is little Zamora.  Its main street, about a mile long.... if that... has some 12 or so eleventh and twelfth century churches.... all in their original Romanic (Romanesque) style and flavor; because those churches and their contents are a universal treasure they are open all day and attended by scholarly people, paid by the town, who answer all pilgrims' and visitors questions and see to it that the proper decorum is observed.  At about the middle of the street (that ends on a castle abutting a river) there is the church dedicated to Santiago  which contains homages to the Apostle eight centuries, or so, old. That church contains a mural infinitely dear to me (on the outside of the wall encompassing the altar). It depicts Mary, as a baby, being bathed by her aunt Elizabeth while her mother Ann looks on lovingly from her bed.
-You have to know that the mural is there and look for it.... otherwise you'll miss it.- No photographs are permitted in any of those ancient churches, but if the attendant sees the cup of your heart running over through your eyes in tears s/he may let you take a picture.( Alas! I haven't been able to find a reproduction of that mural anywhere.)  I did take a picture of the mural, but was so overcome by it that didn't do a good job.  (I'll look for it, and when I find it I'll send it to Dave or Grant, our cyber-mavens, and maybe they'll post it here, such as it is).
Then.... comes Salamanca.  A few times I've written here that no one should die without having been in Salamanca. That extraordinary place has no peer, as any pilgrim who has gone through it will agree.  Salamanca is so exquisitely overwhelming that it needs to be written about separately.... and so it shall.

After those cities come a succession of lovely flowery hills, huge blue rivers, imposing green mountains and Roman bridge after Roman bridge.... the entire area dotted with little towns with names such as the "bread town"... the "cheese town", the "wine town", so called because of the excellence of their Homo product.... but all lovely green-and-flower towns with lots of sheep, cows, chickens and people hard at work.
Many Via de la Plata pilgrims go on to Santiago via Astorga where the Via converges with the Camino Frances.  I followed, and would highly recommend, the alternate route through Orense which very much merits the extra sixty or so kilometers of effort.  Orense is something else in and by itself.  Its imposing Cathedral has a portal akin to the Santiago Portico de Gloria, and its in-church museum has magnificent Santiago-related works of art. Orense is known as the "City of the witches", perhaps because it has sulphur springs where the water comes out boiling and steaming, even in the middle of the city which is very beautiful and friendly.  I was introduced to the Galician brandy "Orujo" at the Orense pilgrims' albergue (located in a high part of the city center, close to the cemetery), and sat with the hospitalero and eight or nine pilgrims outside waiting for the sun to come up and feeling much as in my hippie days decades ago!).
The walk from Orense to Santiago (over 100 kms) was glorious... every
step.... up and down... accross lush rivers and green hills, sleeping in places where the roof is made of foliage and sleep is induced by the murmurs of the river water flowing nearby.
While albergues may not be as plentiful or easy to find in the Via as they are in the Camino Frances, they are never full, and pilgrims need not hurry. Besides, one can always stay in little hotels, pensions, or even in private homes where a pilgrim might be directed to by a priest.
I would recommend that you figure out where you are going to stay before setting out from town to town.  The best sources of information are the priests.  Convents in the Via welcome pilgrims, who need not be Catholic.  (There is a convent in Salamanca where the nuns can pretty much plan out the places to stay for the entire route).  Anyone unwilling to contact nuns or priests can always go to the municipal authorities which are very helpful.... even to the extent of making their local jail facilities available to pilgrims for sleeping and such in a pinch. 
Ah!... All the above-mentioned towns have little open trains that traverse the important and picturesque points of each.  You don't want to miss them.

Hopefully this information will help out a bit.  If you have specific questions as to where you might stay in Seville, etc., let me know.  I might be able to make some suggestions.
Hugs!

Rosina.... (getting more and more Camino-homesick)

     




-----Original Message-----
From: Kit Nuzum <kit at www.orcasonline.com>
To: blaroli at aol.com
Sent: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 8:30 pm
Subject: Advice for Camino de Plata




 


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