I am in Arkansas camping for the next three weeks. The first two weeks I am solo. Grandmother will be joining me for the last week. I hope to use this time to do some mountain hiking in preparation for what we will encounter in Spain. I also find that the solitary time puts me better in touch with my thoughts.
The view from Magazine Mountain, the highest point in Arkansas.
It occurred to me that I should try to reflect on our coming Camino as I might have when I was 15 years old. Perhaps then I can better anticipate your excitement… and more importantly, your anxieties.
The world of a 15-year-old consists almost entirely of school, friends, extracurricular activities, and family. The world of a 72-year-old is immensely broader.
The Camino is a walking meditation. During the periods of silence our thoughts are necessarily drawn in different directions. Mine will likely find focus on where I am and where I have been on life’s journey. You may find your thoughts drawn to where you are and what the future may hold for you.
It occurs to me that my 15-year-old self might have been concerned about what I would miss during the coming summer. No summer job, no time with friends, no time with my siblings, and of course, no time with mom. I recently heard this referred to as FOMO, the fear of missing out.
Switching to my 72-year-old brain I ask you to take what I say as a matter of faith: If you were to spend this summer in Kansas City it would be just another summer, hardly distinguishable from any other. However, our weeks together on the Camino de Santiago, hiking 525 miles across Spain, may forge indelible shared memories that we will both hold dear in our hearts for the rest of our lives.
In a little more than 10 weeks we depart for France and Spain! There is plenty of time yet to fine tune your pack to less than 18 pounds. At 15 years old and in shape from football, wrestling, and now lacrosse, you may not need to train for the 525-mile hike, but I do. There is, however, an important task that you should start to consider:
At the highest point (4,940 feet) on the French Route of the Camino de Santiago is a house-sized pile of stones sprouting an overlarge telephone pole that is capped with a small iron cross. This is known as the Cruz de Ferro (the Iron Cross).
Tradition holds that pilgrims on the Camino carry a small stone along the journey and in prayerful meditation deposit the stone at the foot of this cross.
The stone represents one or more of the little burdens we unconsciously accumulate in life. These are not the big intentional obligations such as education, work, family, or finances, but the smaller ones that we gather without thought. Anger, resentment, envy, jealousy, to name just a few.
At 15 years old you have few of these weighing you down. At 72 years old, I have collected a truckload!
Just as we are called to be mindful of these hidden burdens while walking the Camino, so should we each seek a stone that resonates with us, a metaphor of those burdens which weigh down the spirit.
The stone should be small, barely noticeable in your pack, just like the troubles we unconsciously carry. But consider the emotional weight during our lives. There are over one million strides taken along the Camino. If the stone you select weighs only 2 ounces, then that insignificant weight carried each step of “The Way” represents over 125,000 pounds!
The stone should be attractive in a way that makes it not easy to abandon, even though it is just a rock. Similarly, we convince ourselves that we are justified in our anger, resentments, spite. It is a human failing, an uncomfortable acknowledgement, that we are responsible for our own feelings. Justified or not, we are not benefited by harboring these sentiments, yet it is difficult to let them go.
Good luck in your hunt for that special stone, and for the deeper search for the peace that comes from the release of the burdens that it represents.
Love, Grandpa.
PS. The prayerful meditation at the foot of the Cruz de Ferro often takes form in these words:
“Lord, may this stone, a symbol of my efforts on the Pilgrimage that I lay at the foot of the Savior’s cross, one day weigh the balance in favor of my good deeds when the deeds of my life are judged. Let it be so, Amen.”
In 2022 my posts to this site from the Portuguese Camino took the form of open letters home. These were well received and provided me with a natural, conversational, way to communicate that hinted at the relationship that Christine and I share. I was writing to her, yet aware of the larger audience. A side benefit for me was that I felt her presence as I penned each word. It was a relief from the shadow of being alone.
This coming June my 15-year-old grandson Britton and I will depart for 6 weeks in France and Spain. Life and fate willing, we will be hiking the 500+ mile “French Route” of the Camino de Santiago. This will be the longest time that I have spent away from Christine and the longest spent with any of our grandchildren. It will be the longest that he has spent apart from his mother and siblings. Britton is one of three surviving quadruplets. He has been with brother Simon and sister Delaney 7 months longer than he has taking breath in life. (Their births came very early, and they were very tiny.) Think about it. There is also his 6-year-old sister, Lennon, who will certainly feel his absence.
I have no doubt that he is up to the physical challenges. Britton is nearly 6 feet tall and is a muscular 190 pounds. However, the trials for both of us go beyond the physical requirements of walking many miles, day after day. We are separated by 58 years and 2 generations. He must learn and adjust to my peculiarities and I to his.
It is my hope that Britton might contribute an occasional paragraph to his grandmother and mother, giving insight to his own unique perspectives. However, recalling the focuses of my own teenage years I will not hold my breath.
Hi Everybody, and you too Christine (even though you’re here with me).
There has been so much that has occurred since my “Last Letter” from Valencia that it would be impossible to treat it with any real detail in this post. Instead, I will present the “CliffsNotes“ version. By the way, CliffsNotes was a product popular in the mid and late 20th century which gave well curated summaries of books, usually classics, that we were expected to read in high school or college. They rescued many a lazy student, such as me.
I arrived in Barcelona less than an hour ahead of Christine and Wendy. Our Norwegian “daughter“, Hege, arrived a few hours later. It was a wonderful reunion that was not captured in pictures. This picture, however, gives the flavor of my feelings about again rejoining with Christine.
Christine and Wendy had planned the next two days in an effort to accomplish as much as possible for all of us to share in this wonderful tourist destination. Our accommodations for these five days have been a 4th story 2 bedroom rooftop apartment in the heart of the city. We are 2 blocks from Las Ramblas and just a 15 minute walk from the Sagrada Familia.
Spending time together has been a gift that included long walks and evening dining out in the city.
This is my seafood paella, prepared in squid ink. A very talented operatic street performer “singing for her supper”.
Back in Kansas City Wendy and Christine rarely go more than a week without meeting for coffee and an afternoon chat.
Christine and Wendy at the city market.
We first met Hege in 1994 when she spent a year living with us as an AFS foreign exchange student. She calls us mom and dad and is indeed like a daughter to us.
Over these last three days we visited The 11th century monastery, Montserrat, and Parc Guell, designed and built between 1900 and 1914 by the renowned architect Antoni Gaudi.
This is our fourth visit to Barcelona. No visit to this city would be complete without a visit to the Sagrada Familia Basilica, also a creation of Antoni Gaudi.
This is one of the top tourist attractions in all of Europe, visited by millions every year. We have been able to see progress toward completion in each visit. In 2013 there were hopes that it would be finished by the 2026 centennial anniversary of the architect’s death. COVID has pushed back the clock to 2030.
What follows is a pictorial sampling of what we have seen and done. Where appropriate I have added captions.
The Monastery at Montserrat:
This statue, The Black Madonna and Christ, draws millions of the faithful to the monastery every year. Tradition holds that it was found in a cave on the mountain and was carved by one of the apostles. Carbon dating indicates that it was created in the 11th century. The dark color is due to the aging of the varnish that was used.
Parc Guell:
The Sagrada Familia:
The Sagrada Familia as seen in the distance from atop the Barcelona Cathedral roof. The basilica features 18 towers. 12 for the Apostles, 4 for the evangelists, one for Mary, and the central one still undergoing construction for Christ. When completed it will be the highest church spire in the world. Our tour guide.There is a balcony on both sides for the choir. It can accommodate 900 voices. This is a view of the ceiling assisted by a tabletop mirror.Our tour included a visit by elevator to near the top of one of the towers. Coming back down was by spiral staircase.
Dear Christine. As I was contemplating a title for this letter it dawned on me, this IS the last letter. 24 hours from now we will be speaking face-to-face.
It is my intention to continue publicly posting from this trip, but in writing these as “Letters to You” I found a different voice. In my heart these have really been letters written to you, just wirh our joint understanding that they were shared with others. As I continue I imagine the “voice” will change, but in what way, and with what effect? In the past have I actually been writing to “someone”, or just speaking my thoughts aloud? These are questions I would like to discuss with you when we are together.
Yesterday I would have said that hell would freeze over before I would visit another cathedral on this trip, the exception being the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Well, today I made myself a liar. I entered the Valencia Cathedral with the sole intention of climbing its tower. As I first gazed upon the interior I thought, “Oh what the hell!”. I said yes to the audio guide which was included as part of the admission and began the self-guided tour. I was not disappointed.
The Valencia Cathedral, or as it is more formally named, Iglesia Catedral-Basílica Metropolitana de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora de Valencia (!!!), was consecrated in the 1200s but it’s construction continued for hundreds of years thereafter. Thus it features a mixture of architectural styles.
Excavations beneath the cathedral have revealed that it was the site of an earlier Christian church, a still earlier mosque, an earlier still Visigoth temple, and beneath that a 2nd Century BCE Roman temple to Jupiter.
Visitors are able to see a portion of the excavations which include the earthly remains of worshipers from those ancient times. So much for “rest in peace“. As you will see, unearthing the dead is a common theme.
Among the things notable in the church and its adjoining museum were:
A painting by Goya of Saint Francis de Borja attempting to save a soul from the demons of hell by spraying the blood of Christ on his body.
A crucifix statue, not of Christ, but rather of the non-penitent thief who hung on the cross to Christ’s left.
The Chapel of the Holy Grail. Valencia does not hint that this “might be“ the Holy Grail, the Cathedral asserts that it IS the Grail and defies anyone to prove otherwise.
Whether or not it’s the Grail, it is a Roman stone bowl reliably dated to the first century.
I have lived 70 years and until now the “holy grail“ was just subject matter of Monty Python movie. In the last two weeks I have seen two actual claimants to the title.
By the way, the chapel itself, especially the ceiling, was amazing.
The Cathedral Museum had many works dating to the 13th century. They included stone statues of the apostles that were originally located on the cathedral’s exterior, but have since been replaced by replicas in order to preserve them from further deterioration.
The oldest painting in the cathedral was created in 1400 by a German artist. It depicts the apostle, Thomas, resolving his doubts as to the resurrection of Christ.
There is a room full of relics, literally pieces of various saints, preserved in gold and silver reliquaries. In the medieval church it was a big deal to collect and display these things for worship.
There is a chapel dedicated to the bishop, San Luis. Above the altar is a bust in his image, and within the bust for all to see is his skull and bones.
Similarly, in a niche behind the main altar Is another reliquary containing the arm of St. Vincent, patron saint of Valencia, who was martyred around the year 304.
Immediately across from his remains is the statue of The Virgin Mary of the Chair. Tradition holds that if a pregnant woman visits the statue, lights a candle, prays, and then walks around the interior of the cathedral nine times, her pregnancy will be protected. A pregnant woman walked in front of me as I was taking my picture of the statue!
Finally, there was a huge monstrance created for the veneration of the Holy Eucharist. This one was crafted in the 20th century from donations of silver by ordinary citizens of Valencia. It was meant as reparation for the sacrileges committed by troops during Spain’s Civil War (1936-1939) and contains over 1300 pounds of the precious metal.
Of course, my original purpose in visiting was to climb the 207 foot tall Miguelete Tower.
There were over 400 steps, round-trip. If nothing else this was a good test of whether or not I should defer knee surgery for the torn meniscus. There were no problems and so taking the surgery off the calendar was a good call.
You would have hated the confining spiral staircase and it’s unnaturally (to us) tall steps. The spiral narrows as you get higher in the tower so there are traffic lights at each end to allow for one-way traffic up and one-way traffic down.
The view from the top was stunning.
My reward for the successful climb and descent was a lunch of beer and tapas on the square.
There were many tour groups in the area, hinting that this was a cruise-ship day. Furthermore, German seemed to be the predominant language among these groups.
SEE YOU TOMORROW!!! Love, Me.
PS. I’m going to finish with some evening pictures from around the Cathedral Square.
