There is the festival of San Mateo, the patron saint of Logroño, in the third week of September. But at the same time it is the harvest festival, or the wine festival of the Rioja. Children from all over Rioja bring baskets of grapes to the cathedral which are then carried in procession to a wine barrel elsewhere in the city. Children stamp the wine grapes barefoot. The result is sacrificed for happiness in the next year.
An important tradition at this festival are the chamizo’s; places where the city’s clubs offer snacks and drinks for a small fee. There is much more this festival week; fireworks, parades and more. But we haven’t seen it all.
A few days before we arrived in Logroño we walked along the Fuente de Vino, of the Rioja Bodega, where you can drink wine. We were already there at nine o’clock in the morning, not really the time to drink wine yet. David and Lisel drank from their Jacobus-shell. We had our coffee-mug. A ritual sip.
We walk through places with beautiful names; Puenta la Reina, San Juan de Ortega and Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Santo Domingo has been important for pilgrims in the Middle Ages. He is the founder of the town. He built a road in the rugged forest and built a bridge over the Oja River to make it easier for pilgrims on their way to Santiago. He also built a hospital for pilgrims; now converted into a luxury parador. Most striking is the large, beautifully restored cathedral with the bell tower next to it. Special for a town with about 7000 inhabitants. But the cathedral is most famous for the chicken and rooster that are kept there.
the chicken and rooster are not visible in this photo, but they are behind the fencein the crypt
Legend In the fourteenth century, a German couple with their 18-year-old son went on a pilgrimage to Santiago. During the night in Santo Domingo, a girl tried to seduce the son, but the boy refused. The girl then accused the boy of theft. He was convicted and hanged. The grieving parents continued on their way. On the return journey they found that their son was hanging alive on the gallows. They went to the judge, who was just sitting at the table at the time. “That boy is as alive as this fried chicken!” said the judge. The sequel can be guessed: the chicken came to life and the judge returned the boy to his parents.
Santo Domingo also played a role in the tiny ‘pueblo’ of San Juan de Ortega, about fifty kilometers away. San Juan built around 1150, with the help of San Domingo, a monastery with a hospice as an aid post for pilgrims. Originally, the monastery was inhabited by Augustinian monks. Over time the monastery fell into disrepair, but with the revival of the camino it has been restored piecemeal and now houses an albergue.
Burgos, our end point, is about half way up the camino. Most of the people we spoke to walk as far as Santiago de Compostela. To our great surprise, we found people in Burgos that we had lost for a while. We had split a route into two short distances, they took a rest day. Our last night on the camino we ate a pizza with six of them.
We are back in the Netherlands, they are still walking. With all those nice people in mind, we’re not quite home yet.
We hope to continue our camino next spring.
more photos about our caminos can be found on Instagram: ‘remembering_my_camino’
After our walking tour on the Via Francigena, we took the bus from Siena to Perugia; an ancient city in Umbria. Via escalators we reach the high city. The escalators end in subterranean corridors, which are left over from an old castle. The city has large elevation differences. The many stairs give the city its own character. The city is old. The Arco Etrusco, the Gate of Augustus, is a gate in the Etruscan city wall. The gate was built about 250 years before Chr. and 40 years before Chr. restored by Augustus.
After the visit to Perugia we said goodbye to Italy.
We hear drums. It is coming closer. We are in Piazza del Campo, the main town square of Siena. Siena is the end point of our walking tour on the Via Francigena. The drummers come into the square. Dressed in medieval-looking clothes. They are beautiful costumes. The standard bearers appear behind the drummers. A beautiful parade of the city’s contrade (urban quarters) in preparation for the annual Palio, the horse race.
Siena consists of 17 contrade (city districts). Each contrada has its own name, banner and church. There is the contrade of the goose, of the snail, the tortoise, the wolf … Every year, after drawing lots, 10 of the 17 contrade participate in the Palio, the horse race in Piazza del Campo. The races date back to the early Middle Ages, but since 1650 they are still as they are today. The preparation for the Palio is long. The city districts present themselves with their drums and banners in a parade. The inhabitants of the neighborhoods sing and wear the scarves of their neighborhood (Fazoletto). And we are lucky to be able to experience such a parade.
The race is held with horses that are assigned to a city district by lottery. It is therefore not the case that a district has its own horses. The jockey is also an outsider. Before the race, horse and jockey (fantino) are blessed in the church of the city district. Riding without a saddle. And it can get rough. The winning contrada receives the Palio, a precious silk banner. There is a party after the race.
This colorful celebration reinforced our feeling that we had arrived at the final destination of our walking tour.
The route through Tuscany is known for the strade bianche, the white paths. They are unpaved farm roads through often remote areas. Many farms have been empty for a long time. You may know the name Strade Bianche from the cycling race for professional teams.
On this part of the route we see and talk to more walkers. In the empty landscape, after a hill, there is unexpectedly a garden with a blackboard at the gate stating that you can tap water and you can eat or drink something. We drink cola at a large table (it tastes different during a long walk than at home on the couch). The owner gives us dates and biscuits, ‘for new energy’. Then the two Canadian women, mother and daughter, come around the corner. We have passed each other several times. They could also use a cold cola. They come and sit at our table. Another small meeting and then we each continue at our own pace.
And then we are in Siena, the end point of our walking tour. We drink a delicious glass of wine in one of the old cafes. And as the Italians are used to, with some tasty snacks. We don’t know yet if we’ll ever walk to Rome.
In Lucca we enter ‘familiar’ territory. We recognize the green city wall and the Duomo from our walk from 2019. I was already surprised by the decorated columns of the front facade; each column has a different pattern. We then started the walk in this city. Because the first two legs are long and a bit boring, now take the train to San Miniato.
From San Miniato we walk to Gambassi Terrme, a beautiful old town, where we spend the night in a romantic room. It rains for the last few kilometers. But after a shower and a nap we have enough energy again to drink a glass of wine in the cafe on the village square. It’s busy there; the people of the village come there for an espresso or a glass of wine. Christian and Philip, the men from the Ecrins, with whom we had regular contact along the way, join us a little later. It is nice to exchange stories with them. The rain outside doesn’t matter anymore. And a good pizza makes the day complete.
The next morning we go back to the cafe for a cappuccino and a brioche for breakfast. It is just as pleasantly busy as the day before.
In Tuscany we walk between the Apuan Alps and the sea. Vineyards have been laid out on steep slopes. There are the imposing marble mountains of Carrara, with the stark white marble that was already loved by Michelangelo for his sculptures.
We spend the night a few kilometers before Pietrasanta. It is raining and it is ugly. But we are staying in a little oasis; agroturismo. When we walk to the town later in the afternoon to have dinner, the sun is back. And Pietrasanta turns out to be a nice artist town full of sculptures, with galleries and workshops. On a terrace we drink a nice glass of wine, with a tagliere misto.
The next morning we walk through the town and we see a new work of art being placed on the Piazza Duomo.
We walk through the northern Tuscan mountains. The weather is clear, the route is sometimes tough and leads past high-lying mountain villages, such as Pontremoli, Filetto, Sarzana, Aulla …
In Aulla we slept at Bike and Bed, a few kilometers outside the town of Aulla. We thought we could borrow a bike to go to the restaurant in town. But no, no way. We were brought by car. Also walking back after dinner was definitely not an option. We were warned for a long and tough stretch the next day with steep climbs over the mountain. And we had to be equipped for that. We were picked up after a phone call. Fortunately together with two other guests.
For the third time we walk part of the Via Francigena. We travel by train from Bologna to Parma where we start the day after, the walking tour. It is true that we walked part of the route earlier. In March 2019 we walked from Lucca to Siena. It was still early in the season and the fields were still bare. Now there are flowers everywhere, flowering hawthorn, poppies and buttercups. The vines have their first leaf… We notice that the hiking season has started; we meet many more people; French, Swiss, Canadians, Finns…
It has been dry for a while. But when we arrive in Italy it rains. The farmers are happy. For us, it’s not quite what we hoped. And yet it’s not just annoying. In thick fog we cross the Apennines via the Passo della Cisa. The highest point is formed by a wide bare ridge. When the weather is clear, we must have had a magnificent view of the landscape. Now we can see no further than a few meters. It is blowing and raining hard. Slightly descended we come to the pass. The restaurant is closed, but the shop with local products is open. Tired of clambering through the mud, and cold and hungry, we go inside to buy a sandwich. Freshly cut slices of bread, topped with mountain cheese… Next to the burning wood stove is a bench where we can warm up. There is no coffee, but there is a glass of lambrusco. An Italian living in America, who travels through his motherland out of homesickness, also noticeably enjoys the warming place. For dessert we can taste the real pecorino from the region. It might be our best lunch in Italy.
When we descend after the pass, the view becomes wider. We have reserved an overnight stay at Temperanza in the mountain village of Groppodalosio. We sleep there in the room for pellegrinos. The wood-fired stone stove is burning. They cook for us and the next morning a nice breakfast is ready for us. When we leave, walking over the Roman bridge, the bad weather of the previous day is no longer noticeable.
Our route: Parma, Sala Baganza, Calestano, Berceto, Groppodalosio, Filetto, Aulla, Molicciara, Massa, Pietrasanta, Montemagno, Lucca, San Miniato, Gambassi Terme, Gimignano, Val d’Elsa, Siena and by bus we drove to Perugia where we stayed one last day.
We walk on the Rota Vicentina along the coast of Alentejo in the south of Portugal, to Cabo Sao Vicente, where the lighthouse is; on the extreme southwestern tip of Europe.
The Rota Vicentina is not an unambiguous path like the old pilgrimage routes. The trail runs over the rugged cliffs along the ocean, where the surf has washed away chunks. There are bays and rifts. The coastal region is a national park and there are hardly any buildings. (no coffee). For our overnight places we have to go inland to the small villages. Rota Vicentina is a combination of the Fishermen’s Trail and the Historical Way.
Here and there we see campers where surfers stay. There aren’t many now. The ocean is too rough for surfing. There are no harbors with fishing boats. Fishermen fish with rods, standing high on the edge of the cliff.
The paths over the cliffs are loose and sandy, sometimes descending steeply via a narrow stony path to the beach in the bay before climbing steeply again on the other side and continuing. Inland, to the villages, are dirt farm roads, past fields and cork oaks. The Rota Vicentina is not a pilgrimage route. Churches are missing. On this route, it is nature, the vastness of the ocean that inspires awe.
We had already prepared this trip weeks ago; and we were looking forward to it. Shoes on, backpack on and off we go. We walk into the unknown. A different place to sleep every day. Different food, at different times… Another language. Disrupting habits and rituals of the daily pattern.
The last leg of the route was strange. The cliffs closer to the cape were rougher. The path was quite flat, but it was full of stones. It stormed. Visibility was bad. The lighthouse was barely visible. And the sky was yellow. Everything was yellow. Sahara sand! Also later, at home, we saw the sand on the windows. From thousands of miles away… It shows that everything is connected.
Odemira – Sao Teotonio – Rogil – Arrifana – Carrapateira Vila do Bispo – via Cabo Sao Vicente naar Sagres
We hiked part of the Via Francigena, the pilgrimage route to Rome, through Valle d’Aosta, from Aosta to Santhia. And it was beautiful.
It is special to walk all day, through beautiful surroundings, and arrive at a new place at the end of the afternoon. And the next day, after breakfast, the colazione, to leave again. Being on the move, moving. Slowly the landscape changes. We walk over fallen prickly balls of the tame chestnuts.We walk past vegetable gardens, with courgettes and pumpkins. A lady offers us her freshly picked grapes. Small encounters. We walk through old vineyards laid out on terraces. And again and again there are small villages with their medieval churches. And the castles are located on strategically located heights. It is old country with a rich history.
The days seem longer when you walk, time expands. It is simple living, but intense living. The senses seem sharper; you see and smell and feel… And you feel strong. Even if you get tired at the end of the journey and long for a beer at the destination of that day, you know that you can do more than you thought and that you can still walk those last kilometers. And when you have arrived and are warmly welcomed, when you have showered and had a drink, then the fatigue quickly disappears.
The entire route is marked with signs and arrows, making it easy to find your way. Along the route are ostellos, inns where you can spend the night cheaply, but there are fewer of them than along the Camino’s in Spain. And we were already out of season. The ostello’s we passed were closed. We opted for hotels or B&B’s. There are restaurants that offer a ‘menu de peregrino’. Two courses including bread, water and a carafe of wine. Polenta is a commonly eaten part of the meal. Pasta seems more for lunch.
There were not many other hikers. It only became busier at the weekend with Italians walking part of the route on days off.
Earlier we walked a small part of the Via Francígena, from Lucca to Sienna. Cherry Picking I called it. And I can also call this trajectory that way. The route is centuries old and starts in Canterbury. The route in Italy starts on the Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard and descends the mountain, via Echevennoz to Aosta. We started the walk in Aosta, and after returning we walked the route from Echevennoz. We prepare a trip, are already figuring things out at home, but when we are there it is always different than we had imagined. And this time it was more beautiful, more varied. Wonderfull. The weather played a major role in this. On the journey to Aosta it rained, it was gray and foggy. But the first day of hiking, the clouds cleared and the rest of the week the sky was clear and blue and we had a view of the majestic snow-capped mountain peaks.
Because Aosta is close to Courmayeur on the TMB, we drove there by car to enjoy the view of Mont Blanc.
Some place names on the way: Aosta – Nus/Fenis – Saint Vincent – Chatillon – Verres – Plout – Pont Saint Martin – Ivrea – Viverone – Roppolo – Cavaglia – Santhia + Echevennoz
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