Wednesday, 29 Sep. Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado, 12.8 miles

Such a fun day. Isn’t this beautiful? Morning shot of Santo Domingo’s first bridge from the 11th century. It’s clearly been updated, cared for and strengthened, but it’s still his bridge. 

I walked alone, with only one conversation at a cafe. I’d seen this guy the day before as we left early from Najera. He was slightly ahead of me and he knelt down when we hit the dirt path from the tarmac, put his hand on the ground and clearly was saying a prayer. I quietly went by him and we leapfrogged intermittently through the day. Today, he caught up at the cafe for breakfast. We talked about the churches we passed and he said he never went in. I asked if he was Catholic (similar to the guy in The Way) and he said no, this is my religion and something else – German, missed what he was saying in English. He pointed to his shirt and the image there. I thought, ok, maybe he’s a Satanist. I know they care for the earth and a lot of positive things as well as a few different directions. We talked a bit more and actually this guy was Celtic. Passionate about it. He said there are a few Celts in Germany, lot more in France. He wanted to talk a lot about it, but happily, he also had to smoke and I was done with my sandwich and hot chocolate so we went our separate ways. 

Long walk just because of cumulative tiredness, I think. Listened to couple podcasts and books as well as quiet time. Now the vineyards are all gone and wheat and sunflowers. The sunflowers look spooky, but they’re waiting until they’ve dried more to harvest. 

Then I went off the schedule. Last night, I’d talked to a couple of people at my hotel who had become part of the regulars either having a drink after the walk or connecting for dinner. I asked if they’d have any interest in going in a taxi to see San Millan Monasteries, Yuso and Suso. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage sight and looked pretty amazing. They said yes. The owners of our hotel who were completely wonderful got very enthusiastic and in a torrent of Spanish worked with me to set up a taxi in the next town to take us, wait, and bring us back. I was dizzy by the end and we were all laughing, but it worked!

From Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: “According to his biographers San Braulio, San Millan was born in 473 in the village of Berceo (went through it today). As a young shepherd he heard God’s call and had a vision in which his zither became a pen and the mountainous landscape of the Sierra de la Demanda to the south became God’s beautiful kingdom. He was tutored by San Felice and after a brief stint as a priest during which he gave away most of his church’s assets, he retired to a cave to be a hermit. His fame as a holy man spread and the cave soon became a pilgrimage site where Millan worked many miracles, multiplying bread to feed the crowds of worshippers, exorcising demons and more. He died at the age of 101 and was buried.”

San Millan is very important to Spain and there are two monasteries, one, Susa (higher) was where his cave was and the lower one, Yusa, is where the larger monastery was built when the upper one couldn’t handle the crowd capacity. There are still Augustinian monks practicing there, continuing the work with the ancient texts. That’s enough, I’ll just give a couple of pictures, but the three of us, Sean, Sue and I thought it was well worth the death defying taxi ride to go there 🙂 

Suso, the upper one built between 6th and 11th centuries, with his tomb from the second half of the 12th century.

His actual cave is still there, but up even higher and blocked to visitors.

Yuso is below. The king wanted to move San Millan’s remains to Najera. They loaded his remains on a cart and started out. The oxen which were pulling the cart stopped in the valley as if the Saint’s remains did not want to abandon it, so the monastery of Yuso was constructed on the spot (per the brochure). Built between 16th and 18th centuries by the Benedictine abbots on the ruins of the 10-11th c Romanesque monastery.

I would not want to look up at that giant painting of San Millan defeating the Moors – mythology of him appearing on a horse just as Santiago did in time to save the Christians. 

Then back to Belorado. A town either already struggling or really hit by COVID. There were only 2 restaurants that were available. Went to one for lunch before the monasteries, then the other for dinner. They started at 7:30 and luckily Sean and John had reservations so Sue and I joined them and Fiona, Merv, Hope and Steve ate at another table, then we joined up after others left. So interesting how people come and go. I’ll have one more dinner with Fiona and Merv in Burgos, then they’re gone – doing different days to get there. Sue and I are mostly on the same schedule and then John and Sean are jumping ahead after Burgos. Then maybe I’ll meet all new people – or maybe I’ll be alone till Rick comes. But it’s been fun with this crew.