Dear Christine. The day has finally arrived and you are on a plane for Europe! Tomorrow we will find ourselves in the same time zone. There are still 10 days before we’ll be together but being on the same side of the ocean is a big step in that direction.
I arrived in Burgos this afternoon by train. The hotel is just as charming as I recall from nine years ago.
It is located on the Camino, which passes directly under my balcony, and is one of the oldest in the city having first opened its doors in 1904. At just over €50 a night it’s a real bargain.
My first order of business was to get some laundry done. The small coin operated laundromat was only two blocks away. Apparently, washing dogs in the machines is prohibited.
That task accomplished, I found a nice outdoor restaurant to enjoy an excellent pizza, a couple of beers, and a café con leche.
Three English speaking pilgrims, probably in their late 40s, were seated near me discussing their experiences on the Camino. One periodically met my eye. As they stood to leave I extended the common greeting, “Buen Camino!“. The gentleman replied, “Gracias!” to which I responded with “You’re welcome, I’m American.“ I have been wearing my beret in the evenings and the gentleman assumed I was Spanish or French. We had a good laugh.
Remember when we first began traveling in Europe in the early 80’s? It was so easy to pick out Americans. The sneakers, T-shirts, jeans, ball caps… There were so many “tells“. It’s no longer that way. American and Western European styles have blended to make nationality indistinguishable by sight alone.
Today alone I saw Harvard, Yale, and Marshall University sweaters all worn by Europeans. The same with Carhartt, Vans, and any number of other popular brands seen just as often on the streets of America as here on the streets of Spain.
However, it is easy to distinguish Camino pilgrims. It’s the shoes, the zip off pants, the haggard look that hints at near homelessness yet is contrasted with joy in the eyes and a smile on the lips. As I watched pilgrims walking interspersed among locals I found myself wishing to return again to the Camino. It would be such a joy to share this with Peter, our daughters, and/or our grandchildren.
I thought the evening beauty of Leon could not be beat, but after tonight I’m picking Burgos.
See you in my dreams. Love, Me.
PS. Dear Liz S. If you thought that the title to this post was meant as wordplay, congratulations! You know me well!
Dear Christine. After another excellent Hotel breakfast this morning I again enjoyed wandering the streets of Leon, especially the serpentine corridors of the old medieval city that was built outside of the Roman walls.
There were plazas,..
…and a delightful little church that featured a 400 year old model of a ship that was donated by a grateful captain who survived war at sea.
A real highlight was the museum of Saint Isidore of Leon. With camera ready imagine my disappointment when I was told that pictures were not allowed. I desperately wanted to provide you at least the image of the candidate for “the Holy Grail”. Not to get over the top about this, but it is a chalice comprised of two ancient bowls made from Roman onyx, one of which scholars have reliably dated to the first century.
The museum provided an online guide that I referenced in the course of my tour. Wonder of wonders! I could capture the images and save them to my photo library! I could also block and copy the narrative. Therefore, I have done precisely those two things in order to give you a virtual taste of what I experienced today.
I will apologize in advance that there may be too much detail in the narratives, but I felt that too much was better than not enough. You can skip over and page through as you wish. Really, the images are what matter most. Also, the translation to English is imperfect. The “typos“are not of my creation:
“The kings of León collected an important treasure thanks to the Canons of the monastery that have last to nowadays. One of the most important pieces is “the Ivory casket” made in 1059. It was the Reliquary Box of St John the Baptist and St Pelagius.”
“It was made here in Leon because the King Fernando the first and the queen Sancha created here one of the best workshops of ivory in Europe at that time. You can notice how ivory is carved with great detail.”
“This casket was coated with gold also disappeared in the nineteenth century (looted by Napoleon’s troops) and inside is also coated with Arab embroidery. King Ferdinand the First sent for the relics of Saint Isidore of Seville to consecrate the Church under his patronage in 1063. To transport the relic he commanded to do this casket. It has a wood core covered in sheet silver and gilder silver with reliefs on some sheets, special scenes of Paradise. We can see the history of Adam and Eve. The lining of the lid is an Arabian embroidery with figures of birds and quadrupeds, while the body of the box is lined with Andalusian cloth.”
“Another casket came from Limoges. This city in the middle of the 12th Century is known because of the art of enamels. It resembles a cruciform church showing Christ on the Cross and his Majesty, Mary and John, the Trinity, angels and Apostles.”
“The chest is made of wood (oak) and is coated with 17 copper sheets. The blue is made of cobalt oxide, then they add glass powder and all of them gets into an oven at high temperature. This casket reproduces the shape of a temple gabled roof with the cruise.”
“The Royal Pantheon is a marvellous place wellknown as “The Sistine Chapel of the Romanesque Art”.
“Here lie 33 members of the Leonese Court, 11 kings, 12 queens, 10 infantes (princes) and 9 counts, together with a number of nobles. The building of the place was ordered by the King Ferdinand the 1st and the Queen Sancha.”
“In the 12th Century there was an important scriptorium (library) in Saint Isidoro. It was conducted by Saint Martino, a canon of the monastery and a pilgrim who travelled all over the world. His remains are inside a chapel of the Basilica.
“Here is a collection of more than 809 historical documents of different types (royal documents, Pope documents, religious or private ones).”
“The jewel of the library is this codex one of the rarest codices in the world. It is a Visigothic-Mozarabic Bible. The colophon tells us that was the work of Florencius and Sancho in 960. It is composed by 514 parchment leaves.”
“The preservation is perfect, no missing leaf, and inside, the colors of the thumbnails still retain vivid. It has more than a hundred thumbnails that represent scenes of the Old Testament.”
A huge choral book measuring @ 3 feet across when open. It is one of many.
“It is called Mozarabic Bible because the monks who made it were mozarabic, they were Christian buts their habits and traditions were Arabians, because they came from the south of Spain, Al-Andalus. That is why the Bible is written in latin language, but the marginal notes are written in Arabic.”
The Chalice of Doña Urraca. Perhaps the “Holy Grail?
“Doña Urraca, the donor of the (jewels set into the chalice) was Fernando I and Sancha’s daughter, was Dómina (ladyship) del Infantado of León and later Lady of Zamora. It was an institution that permits women to have their own goods and properties while they did not get married. They were powerful women.”
“She is well known and appears in the epic poem “Cantar de Mio Cid”. She was very important for the Kingdom of Leon’s legitimacy. Her remains rest in our Royal Pantheon.”
“The body of the Chalice is formed by 2 cups of eastern Roman onyx or agate one for the drinking vessel and one for the base dated in the first century.”
“These Roman pieces were decorated by Doña Urraca with her finest jewels and precious stones and she gave them the shape of a Chalice.”
“The decoration is made of gold, silver gilt, precious stones like amethysts and emeralds, seed pearls and a human face made of glass paste which has been considered a Roman cameo. The nail knot has green cabochons pearls, sapphires and emeralds. All this is by crimping with a golden filigree and topped by leaves and stems.”
“In the bottom of the knot, there is an inscription on golden strand saying: “IN NOMINE D (OMI) NI VRRACCA FREDINA (N) DI” On behalf of the Lord, Urraca from Fernando.”
“The interest of the media about this work of art was triggered by the publication of the research carried out by PhD. Margarita Torres Sevilla and PhD. José Miguel Ortega del Río ‘The Kings of the Grail: Tracing the Historic Journey of the Holy Grail from Jerusalem to Spain’ Michael O’Mara Books Ltd (16th April 2015). From the aforementioned research it is derived that the Roman bowl decorated to form this chalice was venerated since S.IV AD (the AD 300’s) in all Christendom as the goblet which Christ used in His Last Supper.”
“The Holy Grail was in the Saint sepulcher of Jerusalem from the 4th Century to the year 1009 when the city was sacked by Al-Hakam. The researchers found two documents dated in the 11th Century kept in the Library of al-Azhar in the Cairo. The documents tell that there was a great famine in Egypt because of the dryness. The Calif Al-Mutansir asks for aid to the muslim’s kingdoms. The Emir of Denia, a little kingdom near Alicante sent boats with food.”
“To thank his gesture, the Calif of Egypt gave to the emir of Denia different gifts. Among all of them he gave him the two onyx cups that compose this chalice. During the journey a small piece of onyx was cut with a small knife. We can see the missing part in the upper vessel.”
“The Kingdom of León had one of the most powerful kings of Christianity, Fernando the 1st, at that time he was attacking the city of Valencia. So the emir of Denia, gave the vessels as a gift to Fernando the 1st in order to get on well with him and not to be attacked.”
“The other document found in the Cairo, tell us that in the 12th Century Sultan Saladin ask for the piece that had been cut of the vessel in order to cure his daughter that was ill. At that time, people considered these relics to have special powers.”
“We wonder if Urraca enriched the piece with her personal finest jewels, knew or not that the relic was one of the most important relics of Christianity.”
So Christine, did you get all that? Pretty darn fascinating.
Our friend Joe messaged how impressed he was with the beauty of the cathedral. I decided to return and focus my attention on better photographic resolution of the stained-glass.
I’m pleased with the results, although I really do think my camera is on it’s last legs.
I leave tomorrow for Burgos, home of another monumental cathedral. Religious or not, spiritual or not, it would take a very hard heart not to be moved by the dedication and devotion of those who built these magnificent structures and worshiped within their walls.
Safe travels tomorrow. By the time that you read this missive, you and I will be in the same time zone. Love You, Me.
PS. Thank you for your encouragement and support. While I expected nothing less, I don’t take it for granted. I have gone forward with messages to both.
Dear Christine. The decision to spend three nights in Leon was a good one. The city is friendly, historic, beautiful, and easily accessed by foot. This Leon is tame!
A number of the sites that I wished to visit are closed today (Monday). That’s a good thing because I was fully occupied with the places that were open. I spent my day touring the magnificent cathedral, the cathedral museum, historic fortifications dated to Leon as a Roman military outpost, the Basilica, and Casa Botines, one of only three of Antoni Gaudi’s creations located outside of his home province of Catalonia. It was really difficult for me to cut back the photographs I took to a manageable number for this letter.
Of course there was also time for light dining and beer.
Beginning with my arrival: The central city in the area of the cathedral was bustling with Sunday evening pedestrians. The old city and cathedral area are very comfortable.
I caught this old fart staring at me through the reflection of a store window. Spooky!
For €8 my hotel provided an excellent breakfast, thus began my day.
I’m going to open with images of the Romanesque Basilica of San Isidoro. I visited the cathedral first, but I want to present the contrast between this 11th century Romanesque structure and the striking 13th century Baroque cathedral.
Low, dense, heavy, and dark describe the features of the Romanesque basilica.
In only 200 years architecture had achieved an “epiphany“ which allowed for towering ceilings, whisper thin supporting structures, and seemingly endless expenses of stained glass.
The Leon cathedral has over 1800 stained-glass windows covering over 16,000 square feet. Virtually all of these windows are original and comprise the largest such collection in Europe.
The alabaster curved panel on the far left depicts the birth of Mary, not Christ.The crypt of 10th century King Ordonia II credited with expelling the Moors from Leon. The crypt of Bishop Martin Fernandez who oversaw the 50 year construction of the cathedral. Mary depicted as pregnant.
I toured the cathedral museum which has an exceptional collection of ancient art that has been expertly restored and presented. Unfortunately, photographs were not allowed.
Leon draws its roots as a city from its origins as a Roman military outpost. Portions of the Roman fortifications still surround the old city. In many places the Roman wall has been incorporated into more recent construction.
I visited a museum dedicated to local Roman military history. The following map depicts the extent of Roman conquest near the end of the first century.
And here is a diorama showing the city of Leon as a Roman encampment. Notice the amphitheater in the upper left corner.
This diagram shows the composition of one Roman Legion consisting of approximately 6,000 professional citizen soldiers. A Legion was also accompanied by additional non-citizen troops and a supporting population. It is estimated that the Roman Empire fielded over 300,000 professional citizen soldiers who after 20 years of service were granted lifetime retirement incomes. It is no wonder that Rome influence and power extended over Europe, the Near East, and North Africa for centuries.
My final visit before “0:Beer:30” was to the Gaudi designed and constructed Casa Botines (1889-1893).
Gaudi was a polymath, a true genius of virtually all aspects of design and construction. He spent three years contemplating the challenges of building the structure in what was swampland. The citizens of Leon believed the building would sink and crash into rubble. 130 years later there isn’t a crack. Gaudi developed a system of footings and iron columns for support, which also facilitated flexibility for the commercial purposes of the lower floors.
The upper floors provided professional space and luxury apartments. Six interior shafts allowed in light and fresh air.
Gaudi sculpted the statue of Saint George slaying the dragon that is above the main entrance. The original piece was made of local limestone and quickly showed signs of deterioration. It has since been removed to a museum and replaced by this replica.
When the workmen removed the original they found a sealed lead tube within which Gaudi had placed his original signed blueprints.
I am looking forward to seeing more of Leon tomorrow. I’m concerned that my camera is beginning to give up the ghost. I hope it lasts through this trip. I shouldn’t complain since I have taken over 30,000 images with it.
Dear Christine. First of all, I’m sorry for all the grief that you went through today with Delta Airlines over our flight from Buenos Aires to Kansas City. I would not have been any help because I don’t have your patience. I can’t imagine three hours on the phone and having the representative threaten to hang up when you expressed your frustration.
There once was a time when the joined words of customer and service had meaning. These days calls to big companies begin with an announcement that the call may be recorded to improve customer service. I bet if you told the representative that you were recording the call he/she would hang up on you.
I am in Leon having arrived this afternoon by train. The first half of the trip was through torrential rain, but when I reached my destination the skies had opened and there is now a promise of warmer temps and sunshine over the next few days. My fingers are crossed. Before I begin presenting this portion of the trip to you I want to do some housekeeping over the end of my stay in Santiago.
I toured the cathedral museum and had to pay a second charge for a timed ticket to see Master Mateo’s Portico of Glory. When we walked into Santiago in 2013 we could enter up the main steps of the cathedral and through the portico. However, in 2018 there was limited access because of the restoration work. The 10 year preservation process has been completed and those main doors are now permanently closed. The portico is now off-limits except to ticket holders. Perhaps a little annoying but understandable given the extraordinary expense that was incurred in the restoration and the desire to protect this remarkable treasure from future deterioration.
I got one picture of the portico before security politely notified me that pictures were not allowed.
My ticket allowed me 30 minutes to view the work and listen to an extensive audio presentation. I could have easily stood there an hour. I can’t hope to give you the details in this letter, but there is an article on Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portico_of_Glory
This link will give access to closeup details of the Portico of Glory:
The portico took over 20 years to /complete and includes over 200 biblically themed sculptures. It is not just art but is an actual structural component of the cathedral. It is dated as completed in 1188.
Mateo and his workshop received a lifetime commission from the king to be the chief designer and architect of the cathedral. He is considered the greatest of that era.
In the course of cathedral restoration fragments of the stone choir created by Mateo were assembled and painstakingly reconstructed. The choir had been built in the 12th century and removed/destroyed in the 17th century.
This model gives some insight into how the choir would have been situated within the cathedral.
In the course of excavating foundations other fragments that predate Mateo were uncovered that depict the murder of the innocent children by the order of king Herod.
Here is more from my visit through the Cathedral museum:
Mounted in scores of recesses on this chapel wall are relics attributed to various saints.The chapel also housed the remains of royalty from nearly 1000 years ago.A vault room full of precious religious objects.A vault within the vault containing solid gold religious objects.They were rooms lined with precious tapestries.There is so much going on in this tapestry. If you look closely at the man on the far right you will see that he is urinating on the wall.The Angel Gabriel and a pregnant Mary from 1325. The altar cloth, fragments, and priest vestment in this case are all over 1000 years old.
I also visited the Monastery and Museum of San Martin Pinario. The monastery is located just east of the cathedral. You may recall that in our first visit we stayed in a very simple pilgrim room on the top floor. Those rooms had once been chambers for the monks. Rather than try to provide a narrative I will post the pictures with captions where appropriate:
This is the main altar of the church within the monastery. Notice the “cages“ at the top. These were passageways for the cloistered monks. Later in the tour I was able to access those areas.This is the meticulously handcarved wooden cloister located above the church and behind the “screen“.A closer look at the carving.
The monks were particularly adept at creating incredibly intricate and fine wood and lead blocks for printing. In some cases the detail was laser fine. It’s incredible the human hands could accomplish this.
I also visited the 19th century Market Place located a half block from my hotel. It is very active and alive with the sights, sounds, and smells (fish!) of commerce.
I think that about covers it for now. I went to Mass this evening at the Leon cathedral. That’s Mass number four in as many days. I wish I could have understood this priest’s sermon, because it certainly was “lively“. I will head to the tourist information office tomorrow to see how best to occupy my visit here over the next two days.
Love, Me.
PS. I have something that we need to discuss at some length in real time. Text me a time that you will be available later today.
October 23, 2022. Somewhere between Santiago and Leon, Spain.
Dear Christine. I am on the train from Santiago to Leon. It is wonderfully smooth even at over 100 miles an hour. I paid an extra €10 for a first class premium seat. I’m in the 1st car which seats 14 passengers, but only two seats are occupied. It’s a fitting metaphor for feeling alone and invisible.
I’m going to defer giving you the pictures and details of my last day visit in Santiago. This will be a bit deeper.
I don’t do “alone“ well. I don’t think you know how challenging it can be for me, though there have been hints over our years together. Yes, I’ve done solo camping trips, but I’ve always managed to find human company to share portions of the experience. On the other hand, remember about 47 years ago when I took off for two weeks of solo camping in the Colorado backcountry? We had not begun living together but we were a “couple“. It was complete solitude and I lasted 10 of the 14 days. I returned to Kansas City in the deep of night, thinking it would be charming to surprise you by climbing up to your second-story bedroom balcony. Thinking back, that was one of my dumber stunts. It scared you to death and I’m damn lucky you didn’t have a gun.
During my last day in Santiago I walked the streets alone. I sat in the Cathedral alone. I visited museums alone, and I ate lunch and dinner, alone. There was respite. I enjoyed a last visit and coffee with Lynn, and exchanged pleasantries in one of the museums with a pilgrim from England. Of course, there was the business of arranging for a cab to the station and closing my bill at the hotel. There were also pleasantries with the bartender there. Except for those few interactions, I was invisible.
I’m not looking for sympathy, I’m just processing my thoughts. The feelings of “alone” generated by the day were like the plucked string of a guitar which then resonates the same note in a nearby instrument. Memories of other times “alone“ resurrected from the fog of years past.
I remembered being about five years old, waking early from my noon nap to see my mom leaving the house to visit the next door neighbor. I stood at the window, my eyes barely above the windowsill, and felt my chin quiver as I fought back tears.
I recalled my first night away at college sitting alone under a street lamp at the curb in front of my dorm. No tears, just the dark cavern of emptiness.
And of course there was that stunt at your bedroom balcony.
We have been apart 25 days. I’ve enjoyed the company others, most notably Kris, Marianne, Lynn, Tina, Ron, Kam, Leesa, and Nele. I think I communicate better with women than with men, but that’s a topic for another time.
We have spoken on the phone every day, but isn’t it curious that we have not visited even once by video? I think this has been my subconscious choice. Hearing just your voice is no different than if you were in the next room. However, video shatters the fiction of nearness as I see the backdrop of our home thousands of miles away. Of course, there is also the separation of time. I wake up when you go to sleep. I finish dinner as you begin lunch…
My thoughts were not limited to past and present. I also read from the script of the the possible future. We have shared over 48 years together, 45 of them as husband and wife. It is exceedingly rare that spouses draw their last breaths together. More common is the outcome visioned in the vows which begin the journey of marriage, “…until death do we part.” It was thus with my mother living alone for 11 years after dad died, and the same for your dad living 9 years without your mom. It is likely that one of us will have to embrace “alone” someday as a way of life.
Past, present, and future. I wonder if Charles Dickens didn’t mull thoughts such as these when he penned “A Christmas Carol”?
We have paused mid-point at a small rural station to disembark a few passengers and take on new ones. Lives connected only briefly with mine as we anonymously share a journey.
