Before this trip began, I tried to talk myself out of signing up for the Galician dinner, described as follows: For a true taste of Galicia, sit down to a succulent dinner at a local restaurant in Santiago de Compostela. Savor the freshest seafood and meat specialties Spain has to offer as you choose from… Read More A traditional Galician dinner — a Feast!
Back in 2018, I signed up for The Marian Sbrines and Way of St. James tour with GoAhead Tours, and as you know, there weren’t enough people signed up for the trip to be viable. The tour was then postponed three times until this year 2022. Curiously, though, there were four other people from Hawaii… Read More One man’s journey to Compostela
As soon as we walked through the doors of the León Cathedral, my visual senses were on overload. Apparently León Cathedral houses one of the largest collections of medieval stained glass in the world. Everywhere you look, you see the brilliant colors of the stained glass windows. The great majority of them date from the… Read More Sensory overload
[POST UPDATED! Okay, I’m a brazen thief and have stolen some of my sister Doris’ photos!] Owwowwoww … my aching feet! We have just come back from walking part of the Way of St. James, on our way to the Santiago de Compostela. The bus dropped us off at San Juan de Ortega and picked… Read More Burgos and the Way of St. James
We woke up in Zaragoza, the fifth largest city in Spain, and the capital of the region of Aragón. We met our local guide, Benoit, at the hotel and set off for the Palacio de la Aljaferia, a fortified medieval palace built during the second half of the 11th century. We didn’t go in, but… Read More Zaragoza and La Guardia
This morning we woke up in Lourdes—but tonight we’ll be sleeping in Zaragoza, Spain. I don’t know why I decided to wear this particular T-shirt, but at breakfast, I challenged my sisters to identify the music. My sister Margo correctly identified the composer as Bach. I was sure that my organist companions knew what the… Read More On the road to Spain
As we were leaving the service this morning at the Basilica of Immaculate Conception here in Lourdes, France, I made a remark to my sister, “if Carl were here, he’d be in hog heaven!” referring to my late husband who was a church musician extraordinaire. I’m sure that his influence on me STILL is why… Read More Hog heaven!
We left our Toulouse hotel yesterday morning and drove 2-1/2 hours to the town of Lourdes, made famous by the apparitions of Mary, mother of Jesus, seen by a 14-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubirous, also known as Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. According to Wikipedia, “she was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes (Lorda in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in… Read More The Lourdes experience
GoAhead Tours describes the “Marian Shrines and the Way of St. James” tour as: Trace the route devout pilgrims have walked since the middle ages. Follow in the footsteps of medieval pilgrims as you make your way through France, Spain, and Portugal on this immersive tour. As you go, admire some of the holiest sites… Read More Wine, dine and shrine!
It’s been a LONG time since I left Honolulu on Sunday night where I flew first to Ka’anapali, Mau’i, for a couple hours, then on to San Francisco, and then to Burbank, California, where I had dinner with my son and his family. Then in spite of leaving early at 7:00 am for an 11:00… Read More C’est magnifique!