[Gocamino] Padron's "pillar", Portuguese Camino, restaurants for Pilgrims.

[Rosina]

Hello you all, 
The lull after Christmas and New Year, and its lovely quietude, is particularly beautiful here in the country.... But I wish it would snow.
Anyway, I'd first like to assure you all that I would never, ever, share a message sent privately to me without securing the consent of the writer to do so. That said, here is a message that I received a couple of days ago,  very  interesting and revealing, in response to the posting about the "pillar" in Padron:
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"Rosina,

And there is also a replica of the stone across the river (Rio Ulla) on the opposite bank from the Camino Portugues trail.  It's visible before arriving in front of the church where the authentic copy exits, and just before the bridge over the river that ends in front of the Carmelite monastery with the albergue to the left up a hill.   





Most folks do not realize the historical significance of the Portuguese route.  It's loaded with history and the main towns along the way from Valenca do Minho in Portugal at the Spanish/Portuguese border to SDC are nicely spaced with their own interesting features. I walked it alone in 2006 and again in 2011 in the company of a few others -- both times just ahead of the feast of St. James.  We made it over to Oviedo afterwards, an outstanding city on the Primitivo route.  The Holy Savior Cathedral houses the cloth used to cover the face of Christ when he was buried.  Its museum of Fine Arts is first rate and has many items rotated through there from the Prado in Madrid.    

Please send me a copy of what you've scanned.  
-Joanie Hess  "
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The message was accompanied with some magnificent pictures of the are and the "pillar-post" as reproduced on what is believed its original site.  Since we cannot send attachments here, I will send the attachments information to some list-member teaches who can upload the pictures to a site where they may be accessed. They really, really, should be seen.
 
The Portuguese Camino has long been much priced by me; in fact, it is my favorite with the exception of the Aragonese section of the French Camino (Somport to Puente la Reina).  And the approach to Santiago by the Ulla river, coming from Ourense, is, for me, the absolutely most beautiful and impressive of all; that route is the closest to the one traversed in the "Translatio".  If I had a limited time to walk the Camino, and/or wanted to cover at least the last 100 kms.or so, I would start out in Ourense, which is beautiful, has great albergues, thermal springs, etc. etc.  The approach to Santiago, through the montains and their plush hills, repeatedly crossing that gorgeous river, is simply magnificent.......... and worlds away from the Lavacolla approach with its airport, trucks, planes, traffic, and so on.
For some years the AACS (Associations of Friends of the Santiago Camino) has considered a plan to have dining rooms throughout the various Camino routes especially for pilgrims, but the daunting logistics and practical difficulties have impeded the progress of the plan (although some Andalucian associations have maintened de-facto pilgrim facilities to that effect for years).  But it now seems that one such pilgrims restaurant will actually come to be in the Portuguese Camino, near Teo; the initiators have received the provisional approval from the Galician Xunta pending some recommended alterations. The name of the restaurant will be "A Mesa de Pedra" (The table of stone..... a reference to the fact that ancient pilgrims used rocks as :tables") and it will offer home-made nutritious food with NO prices attached; the cost of running the place will depend on "donatives" by the pilgrims who eat there. Reportedly the place will be up and running in a couple of months.
-While many such eating facilities for pilgrims depending on contributions have existed, and do exist, throughout the Camino, they are mostly in religious convents or monasteries. There is one such in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, in the convent of the Cistercian nuns, where I have enjoyed some of the best meals in my memory, accompanied by the nuns' home-made wine-. 
The very informative, and well illustrated, web page of the "Mesa de Pedra" restaurant is
http://fon.gs/mesadepedra
It is only in Spanish, so far,  but since I have a little time (and peace and quiet) here for the rest of the week, I'd be willing to translate and post its main points if you are interested. Ok? But you can go to it now and see the pictures.
Hugs!
Rosina










Most folks do not realize the historical significance of the Portuguese route.  It's loaded with history and the main towns along the way from Valenca do Minho in Portugal at the Spanish/Portuguese border to SDC are nicely spaced with their own interesting features. I walked it alone in 2006 and again in 2011 in the company of a few others -- both times just ahead of the feast of St. James.  We made it over to Oviedo afterwards, an outstanding city on the Primitivo route.  The Holy Savior Cathedral houses the cloth used to cover the face of Christ when he was buried.  Its museum of Fine Arts is first rate and has many items rotated through there from the Prado in Madrid.    

Please send me a copy of what you've scanned.  
-Joanie Hess  "
------


The message was accompanied with some magnificent pictures of the are and the "pillar-post" as reproduced on what is believed its original site.  Since we cannot send attachments here, I will send the attachments information to some list-member teaches who can upload the pictures to a site where they may be accessed. They really, really, should be seen.
 
The Portuguese Camino has long been much priced by me; in fact, it is my favorite with the exception of the Aragonese section of the French Camino (Somport to Puente la Reina).  And the approach to Santiago by the Ulla river, coming from Ourense, is, for me, the absolutely most beautiful and impressive of all; that route is the closest to the one traversed in the "Translatio".  If I had a limited time to walk the Camino, and/or wanted to cover at least the last 100 kms.or so, I would start out in Ourense, which is beautiful, has great albergues, thermal springs, etc. etc.  The approach to Santiago, through the montains and their plush hills, repeatedly crossing that gorgeous river, is simply magnificent.......... and worlds away from the Lavacolla approach with its airport, trucks, planes, traffic, and so on.
For some years the AACS (Associations of Friends of the Santiago Camino) has considered a plan to have dining rooms throughout the various Camino routes especially for pilgrims, but the daunting logistics and practical difficulties have impeded the progress of the plan (although some Andalucian associations have maintened de-facto pilgrim facilities to that effect for years).  But it now seems that one such pilgrims restaurant will actually come to be in the Portuguese Camino, near Teo; the initiators have received the provisional approval from the Galician Xunta pending some recommended alterations. The name of the restaurant will be "A Mesa de Pedra" (The table of stone..... a reference to the fact that ancient pilgrims used rocks as :tables") and it will offer home-made nutritious food with NO prices attached; the cost of running the place will depend on "donatives" by the pilgrims who eat there. Reportedly the place will be up and running in a couple of months.
-While many such eating facilities for pilgrims depending on contributions have existed, and do exist, throughout the Camino, they are mostly in religious convents or monasteries. There is one such in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, in the convent of the Cistercian nuns, where I have enjoyed some of the best meals in my memory, accompanied by the nuns' home-made wine-. 
The very informative, and well illustrated, web page of the "Mesa de Pedra" restaurant is
http://fon.gs/mesadepedra
It is only in Spanish, so far,  but since I have a little time (and peace and quiet) here for the rest of the week, I'd be willing to translate and post its main points if you are interested. Ok? But you can go to it now and see the pictures.
Hugs!
Rosina