El Camino de Santiago

el pasaporte y la compostela

Before you start El Camino you are given a Pilgrim's passport, this is a document or credential that you have to carry with you and get it stamped in each town in which you spend the night or eat in.
At the end of the Pilgrimage you are given a certificate of completion called "La Compostela" it is writen in Latin with your name in it. My name in latin is: Mariam Angelorum Dam. I am posting a picture of both the passport and the Compostela.
Also a picture of Mark and acouple of scenic pictures. Beautiful!!!

June 13

Hello everyone,
We are almost at the end of our journey. In three days we will be in Santiago. We are planning to stay one day so that we can go to the Pilgrims mass and then we´ll be in our way to Madrid to see the rest of my family and on Monday we will be flying back home.
This pilgrimage has been much more than I ever expected in every way. The scenery, the people the other pilgrims the architecture and art and the lessons learned. Unfortunately there are not many computers in the towns that we stop in and many, many pilgrims. According to the locals this is a record on pilgrims, even more than on the Holly year.
In the Camino thee are always 10 or 15 pilgrims in the front and in the back. it is not the solitude that I expected, but incredibly interesting. I have been writing in my journal and will write on the blog, when I get back home and also put the pictures on the blog.
Love to all and Buen Camino!

Angeles Dam
Professor of Spanish
Norwalk Community College
adam@ncc.commnet.edu
angelesdam@hotmail.com
phone:(207) 8577362

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Today we came to O' Cebreiro, It is a fascinating place, with a church from the IX century in which we heard a special peregrino mass and they have plasma screens with the mass in five languages., and the Dominican monks singing Gregorian chants. Incredible!

There is a famous legend about O´Cebreiro a farmer walk all the way to the small church to hear mass and the priest who was not very nice told him "why did you bother to come to mass in such a terrible day.(this is the most difficult climb of the whole camino)Risking your life in this storm just to have some bread and wine in the communion and the bread and wine converted into flesh and blood. The communion cup from the XII century is beautiful and it is kept in this little church.

There is also a story about Isabel and Ferdinand going on Pilgrimage to Santiago, they stopped in This church and heard the story of the chalice and they took the cup with them and the horses refused to go on as they were leaving the town. So queen Isabel gave back the chalice to the church and now is one of the symbols in the flag of Galicia. This chalice is also related to the holy grail of the Medieval tales.

In Cebreiro there are also Pallozas, old homes from the middle ages of the "celta" The place is surreal it is so high up that we were inside the clouds. Really magic. tomorrow we will visit the famous Monastery of Samos.

We are enjoying the beautiful scenery. Buen Camino!

Angeles Dam
Professor of Spanish
Norwalk Community College
adam@ncc.commnet.edu
angelesdam@hotmail.com
phone:(207) 8577362

Villafranca del Bierzo

Hello everyone!
We had a wonderful visit with my sister, and will be back to Ponferrada again next weekend 11th & 12th. My younger brother is coming to Ponferrada to spend the weekend at my sister, so that he can see us. He was in a business trip outside the country. So we will be taking a bus back to Ponferrada and then back to continue El Camino.
Today we walked from Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo. the last big town in the province of Leon. As you enter the town you find a beautiful Romanic Church from the XI century called Iglesia de Santiago. In the olden times if a pilgrim got sick and could not continue to Santiago they would come to Villafranca it has "La puerta del Perdon" (the pardon gate) and they would receive the same privileges as the healthy pilgrims who could continue to Santiago.
Some beautiful buildings to visit are la Colegiata de Santa Maria and San Nicolas and San Francisco churches.
Also "La calle del Agua" a long street with many beautil homes with codes of arms and shields, the home of noble people and Knights of the order of Templar.
I am attaching some pictures of Ponferrada, Astorga and Villafranca.
Till next time. Buen Camino

Angeles Dam
Professor of Spanish
Norwalk Community College
adam@ncc.commnet.edu
angelesdam@hotmail.com
phone:(207) 8577362

June 2nd

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Hello everyone,
Today we visited Leon, a large city with a very long history. This town has a cathedral with one of the most beautiful stained glass windows of all gothic cathedrals. It also has Parador ( Spanish government run hotel) that is stunning. It used to be a Pilgrims hospital and also a prison. (the famous Spanish writer Francisco de Quevedo was in this prison.
We have also visited a Church called San Jeronimo, which has the most beatifully kept romanic frescoes and it´s also the burial site of some of the Spanish kings from the XI and XII century. Amazing!
We are getting closer to Santiago de Compostela and there are images of pilgrims and of Santiago(also called "matamoros"literally "killer of the moors" with his golden sword.
According to one legend it was Charlemagne himself, guided by a vision of St James and by the Milky Way pointing towards Galicia, who set out to find the tomb and free Spain from the infidels. The figure of the saint is interwoven with the tales surrounding Charlemagne’s expedition into Spain against the Moors, ending in that of the defeat at Roncevaux that later grew into the Song of Roland. In these he is transformed from a fisherman, holy man or pilgrim into St James the Moor-Slayer, a knight on a white horse with a shining sword who appears in battle to urge on the Christian troops.
We will be staying in Ponferrada with my sister a couple of days. Till next time. Buen Camino!