San Juan de la Pena - Old Cliff Monastery. Mozerabs.

San Juan de la Pena, Monastery, Spain

This monastery is on the Way of St. James, the Camino de Santiago,medieval and current pilgrimage route with many branches converging at Spain's Santiago de Compostela.  It is constructed under a large cliff overhang.  The old Mozerabic chapel dates from 920 AD.  Mozerabs:  Iberian or Spanish peninsula Christians who lived under Moorish rule in the then Al-Andalus. They never converted to Islam, but did absorb some customs and spoke Arabic.  Origins:  Hispano-Gothic, and some northern European Christians, as well as Arab and Berber. Fine little video of the area is here: Peregrina Rosina's work at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXjeRnnCslk

Under Sharia law, Jews and Christians lived among the Arab Muslims but had special "dhimmi" status rules -- taxes, some restrictions, lower status, but lived safely.  We can learn from some era's interpretations of Sharia.

San Juan de la Pena, cliff monastery, Spain

End of day brings beautiful lighting.  The Holy Grail is said to have been kept there, as the faithful fled the Moors, see account that stories produce, at http://thespiralofknowledge.com/dossier.cfm?lang=en&id=49.
Holy Land, to Huesca, and then circuitous protection route beginning in the 8th Century with the Moorish invasions, with, some say, final arrival at Valencia.

San Juan de la Pena, facade, old cliff monastery

San Juan de la Pena, Spain. Mozerabic monastery.

Start at the foot of Mount Pano, above the old town church, Santa Cruz de la Seros, and up the mountain.  The cliff monastery, San Juan de la Pena, is in two parts -- the older cliff monastery, and a newer and large one at the flat summit. 

San Juan de la Pena, view of Pyrenees, access road, Spain

San Juan de la Pena, access road up mountain, Spain

San Juan de la Pena, cliffton view of Pyrenees, Spain

There are other traditions or origins, in addition to the Holy Grail at San Juan de la Pena, see http://www.hikepyrenees.co.uk/san-juan-de-la-pena.html. It is said that a nobleman was hunting, chased a stag who leaped off a cliff, the nobleman and his horse followed. The nobleman prayed for deliverance on the way down. Sure enough, he landed at a cave, found a hermit's bones inside, and gave thanks and built the monastery. San Juan: Saint John. Which?

..............................................................

Route note:  after Roncesvalles, the logical next stop would Pamplona. We had already seen the bulls running there, so took the bypass. Pamplona:  see http://spainroadways.blogspot.com/2008/02/pamplona-bulls.html/

Pilgrim Route. Santiago de Compostela. Camino de Santiago. Way of Saint James

 Camino Frances:  Way of Saint James

Santiago means "James"

Santiago de Compostela

500 miles, Biarritz, France; to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Here, near Roncesvalles

1.  Walk to Santiago de Compostela, as a pilgrim on your own terms. Start most anywhere in Europe. Some feel drawn to the grave of Saint James the Apostle.  Is it really there?  The conviction motivated innumerable medieval, and now motivates modern pilgrims, on routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, at the far Portugal end.  See beliefs at http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/spain/santiago-apostle/  Others start the walk for their own reasons, solitary, usually; some small groups.  How to pace each walker?  Easier to go alone?

2.  Routes.  The routes traditionally originate in many countries in Europe, ultimately funneling through France (especially at Avignon as another funnel point)  and the Pyrenees, through passes at St. Sebastian, Saint Jean Pied du Port, to Roncesvalles and Pamplona, or through Huesca, Jaca, Lerida.  See the routes at http://www.santiago-compostela.net/ The most well known may be the route Frances, from Biarritz, France (over the border from San Sebastian)  to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, see http://www.santiago-compostela.net/frances/index_cf_en.html

Pilgrim, Camino de Santiago, Way of Saint James, to Santiago de Compostela from Roncesvalles, Spain

• My favorite pilgrim from far places for the Way of Saint James, a statue-memorial, is from Speyer, Germany.  See the lean wayfarer, barefoot, with the traditional staff, the floppy hat, the scallop shell.  Jakob Spilger at Speyer, at http://germanyroadways.blogspot.com/2005/01/heidelburg-and-speyer-and-pilgrim-on.html.

FN 1

3.  Who are the modern pilgrims.  Who takes the long, long walk now?  It is hundreds of miles to Santiago de Compostela from most starting points.  They have their own reasons: self-discovery, self-sorting, as well as religious, for the long, long walk.  Regardless of reason, the routes offer places to stay and wash along the way, and sustenance, and reasonably good signs for where to cross the road -- fast -- to get to the safer other side for a while.  The leg work, however,  is the pilgrim's alone.

4.  Back packs are not necessary.  Use a pull-cart, as in NY from the supermarket. Those who cannot bear the backpack burden can always use the drag-cart.  It does not matter.

Pilgrim, To Santiago de Compostela, Spain, from near Roncesvalles..

Pilgrim with pull-cart. Yes. How you get to Santiago de Compostela does not matter. The motivation to get there, make a change somewhere in your life, self-insight and/or a religious goal, do matter. To whom? Only tothe walker. And that is all that matters. .Take your own time. There are no clocks, only distance, and the feet.

5.  Time commitment. An ordinary person's walk from Pamplona to Santiago to Compostela can take, say six months afoot.  Some divide it into segments, as did a friend of mind, taking three months at a time. I long to go. Do, or can, we just jettison the banal and do it and for reasons important to us but not others?  Need we justify? Do I count?  Does the I in I count, or am I a facilitator for others in this life.  Start walking, kiddo.

These pilgrim photographs are from near Roncesvalles, and some as we move toward Barcelona, crossing other routes coming from the south.

6.  Identifiers.  Pilgrims near St. Jean Pied du Port. On the way, note the Basque traditional structures, the red and white favored scheme. The identification is unique:  a staff, a floppy hat, a scallop shell somewhere.

. cc

And the walker goes on.

. Pilgrim making progress; to Santiago de Compostela from Roncesvalles.

Some monument-like sculptures mark the way, an honor seen here, toward Jaca.
.

Marker, Saint James Way, Santiago de Compostela pilgrim route, near Jaca

.From here, some 760 km to Santiago de Compostela.

Saint James' Way.: Between Roncesvalles and Jaca, 760 km to Santiago de Compostela

.The cows don't even look up.

Follow the scallop shell down the sidewalks, down the roadsides, other signs for where to cross over to a safer place where there is a curve in the road.

Scallop marker, Way of St. James, to Santiago de Compostela, near Roncesvalles, toward Jaca, Spain.

......................................................................................................................

FN 1

• Disaster alert.  Will that reference to my own work, to Germany Road Ways, one of our other Europe Road Ways travel blogs, stimulate a random Google to delete my entire blog? Not likely, with one;  but more references, even to oneself, may earn a spam designation and the blog disappears. Is private industry more troublesome to autonomy than government? Private industry can do as it likes with speech, because speech is not protected, not "free" in that setting.

Burgos - Way of St. James, Pilgrimage Point, Cathedral

Burgos, Cathedral, Spain


The Romans took possession of this area around Burgos, while it was "Celtiberian" - the Celts were all over Europe, with first roots perhaps in Eastern Europe. See ://www.watson.org/~leigh/celts.html

Founded as a town in 884, as part of an effort to consolidate where Christians lived, it was part of the Arab Muslim empire for a short time (Arabs held all of Castile, "land of castles," built for the defense of Christians).

There is a beautiful Gothic cathedral, begun in 1221, and work on it continued for 300 years. But Burgos is not the birthplace of El Cid, despite Burgos' tourist claims in attention-getting headers. Even in the fine print of this site you read that El Cid was born in Vivar, a/k/a Bivar, or Bevar.

We had made a special trip over to Bivar before coming to Burgos, and it is a tiny town between Segovia and Burgos. There is a statue there and memorial tower. See post at Spain Road Ways, El Cid at Bivar. See://www.spanish-living.com/regional/Castilla_Leon_Burgos.php. Read about El Cid at ://www.kellscraft.com/elcid.html. Read about Burgos development, wars, alliances and breakups with Navarre and Leon and Aragon, and other major events at ://www.geocities.com/burgosweb/ancient.htm; but remember two things:

1. Time your arrival before 1PM or after 2PM, sometimes 3PM.

Long lunch period, for the main meal of the day and a rest and all is closed; and this is so in many places. Change your eating habits, check the guidebook for times, and enjoy the plaza; and

2. Write down where you park.

Better yet, take a picture of the nearest cross streets and your car if you have a digital camera. By the time you find a space, and walk back through the wonderful, twisty streets, you are among the truly, truly lost. The irritation is just in the time spent - but change your perspective on time, and enjoy where you find yourself.

Burgos is also on the famous pilgrimage route, The Way of Saint James, to Santiago de Compostela - see ://www.thewayof-stjames.com/camino-frances-pyrenees-to-santiago/burgos---leon.html. Pilgrims were given special safe passage, at least that was the idea, and carried or wore a scallop shell to identify them. See pilgrimages and scallops at ://www.stjamesirl.com/html/pilgrimage_shell.htm.