Camino de Santiago Stage #2

(Note that I wrote this on May 29, 2014…)
 

“The Background”

Buen Camino… again! As you’re reading this post, I’m currently walking across Spain on the Camino de Santiago. Here’s a further mention of it in “Bulls, Bands, and London”:

“Now any road that takes you to Santiago de Compostela counts as a pilgrimage. But the four major routes all originate in France in the cities of Paris, Vezelay, Le Puy-en-Velay, and Arles—although they all converge in Puente la Reina, twenty-two kilometers east of Estella.

Today, the most popular starting point is actually in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees. Approximately eight hundred kilometers from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, after four weeks of steady walking, you should arrive in Santiago de Compostela.”
 

“The Plan”

Now I didn’t start in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. For purposes of the book, I started in Pamplona eight days ago. So if everything goes according to plan, I should be in the town of San Juan de Ortega.

Now since I’ve never been to San Juan de Ortega, I can’t really describe it to you. However, I can speak to the town of Estella where I will allegedly stayed on Day 2. I mention it in Bulls, Bands, and London:

“Estella was the Spanish word for star and the town was advertised as one of the most beautiful communities in Navarre thanks to its location along the Ega River with nearby mountains encircling the town to protect it from the winds. But through my sleepy eyes I only noticed the suburban car dealerships. Maybe that’s what made Estella so beautiful. Car lots were a blot to the landscape so the punishment was the remedial use of a plot of land far outside the city limits.

I perked up when my bus finally parked at the Estella bus station. The neo-Moorish building and its twin towers were crafted with exquisite masonry to pay tribute to the nearby Palace of the Kings of Navarre and complement the beauty of its riverside location. The station alone was meant to elevate Estella from functional railway stop to pleasant tourist destination…

I rubbed my eyes and briefly considered my surroundings. Spanish bus driver standing on the sidewalk sucking on a cigarette? Check. Parking lot across the bus station filled with small four-cylinder cars? Check. Seventeenth-century convent looming behind the parking lot in dreadfully eerie silence? Check. Rolling hills covered in green deciduous trees majestically watching over the town without the taint of big city development? Check.”

Another Camino update next week (written in advance)? Check.
 
For more posts about my actual Camino journey, check out:

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/camino-de-santiago-1/

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/camino-de-santiago-3/

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/walk-for-the-ages/

https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/baseball-in-my-shoe/