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Join us as we walk and eat our way across the mystical landscape of Green Spain. This trip calls for sensible shoes: we will explore ancient paths, lodge in rural casonas, and make our way, as pilgrims have for centuries, to Santiago de Compostela. No, we’re not “going dogmatic” on this traditionally spiritual quest – come to renew your love of life or your lust for cheese, to strengthen your walking muscles or your soul. Some driving, with detours for learning about local cuisine, makes this an eight day experience. September 20 to 27, 2009.
Spanish Journeys will donate 5% of our Camino trip fees to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®. BCRF is dedicated to preventing breast cancer and finding a cure in our lifetime by funding clinical and translational research worldwide. For more information about BCRF, visit www.bcrfcure.org.
The trip includes:
- 7 nights in three charming hotels along the Camino: two are casonas, picturesque but simple farmhouse inns, the last is a little boutique hotel near the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela (double occupancy).
- 3 self-guided walks* on the historic Camino de Santiago. With excellent maps and trail notes supplied by a top local walking tour outfitter, including a meeting with a guide for a personalized introduction to your Camino.
- 2 optional additional self-guided walks in the Picos de Europa National Park and on the Camino Primitivo.
- Two taxi transfers – needed on a couple of routes that don’t loop conveniently.
- A guided stroll and tapas tour in Oviedo. First see the city’s exquisite pre-Romanesque monuments, then savor lunch on “Bulevar de la Sidra.”
- A cheese tasting session in Cabrales, including a guided walk to a natural cave where these artisanal raw milk blues are aged.
- A guided tour and tasting at one of Galicia’s best albariño winemakers in d.o. Rías Baixas.
- All breakfasts, 5 rustic dinners at the rural casonas or in some cases in nearby villages, and 2 special lunches.
- Wine selected to complement each menu, covered in all included meals.
- Insider tips on the best lunch spots along the various routes you’ll explore, plus advice on where to eat on your two evenings free in Santiago (the choices here run the gamut from down-home pulperías – octopus is a big deal here – to elegant, updated, Michelin stars). We’ll help you decide and make any reservations you need.
- All the maps and route information you’ll need for the drives along the way (you will need to rent a car, most likely in Bilbao, if you’re traveling from the U.S – we’ll help you figure that out).
* The walks are easy to moderate, varying from one to five hours, following well-maintained dirt tracks and footpaths as well as some in-town routes. You’ll need to have good stamina for the longer walks and steady footing to handle occasional loose rock or muddy sections. Overall ascent-descent between 150 and 600 meters.
Tour dates:
September 20 – 27, 2009
Price:
$1950 per person, double occupancy.
The Camino de Santiago is one of the world’s grand historic walking routes. It branches along the wild Cantabrian shore and inland through the Picos de Europa mountains, crossing northern Spain to the far coast of Galicia, once known as Finisterrae – the end of the earth. We are not planning to hike the whole thing, at least not on this trip. But we are inspired by the fact that walking this route has been a sacred adventure for people seeking renewal for centuries.
They say there are as many roads to Santiago as there are pilgrims. There is evidence the route was part of a pagan fertility ritual; Christian penitents have traveled it since about the year 800 when the remains of the apostle James are said to have appeared under a Campus Stellae (a field of stars); counterculture adventurers took an interest in the last century. American revolutionary John Adams wrote that he longed to make the Camino. Shirley MacLaine wrote that she made it, and how. Our favorite food writer, Calvin Trillin, made his own way to Galicia in pursuit of those little green peppers, pimientos de padrón.
There is something magnetic about the idea of walking an ancient path. We’re drawn to it, too, because modern day pilgrims report that the food along the way is superb. Besides those famous Galician peppers, people here eat some of the best artisanal mountain cheeses found anywhere, hearty fabada stews, and sweets made of chestnuts. They also press superb apple cider. There are pinot noir-like d.o. Ribera Sacra reds, and lively d.o. Rías Baixas whites that are the perfect pairing with beautiful local scallops.
This trip is different from others we’ve planned over the years in several ways. First, it’s as much about walking as it is about eating – you’ll want to be in shape for that. But also it’s less pricey, so expect less luxe: the lodging is simpler, the guiding is minimal, you’ll do our own driving, and you’ll have more meals on your own (you decide if you want to eat simply or splurge). Usually, we know every detail of the route intimately. But Teresa hasn’t been to this part of Spain since that time she hitchhiked to Asturias more than 25 years ago. We’ve worked out this itinerary with help from a great local Camino specialist, but we’re inviting adventurous travelers to join us while we’re still in research mode on this one, and we’re discounting our price accordingly.
We’ll start in Bilbao (the best city in Green Spain for flights from the US). Once we’ve perfected this tour, we plan to offer it to independent travelers who will rent their own cars. But because we are in “R&D” mode, we are gathering an adventurous group and we are open to the idea of coordinating a shared van.
We will follow parts of two important Camino variants, the Camino del Norte and the Camino Primitivo, with the glorious early 12th century Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela our destination. Making one’s way to the relics of St. James is the traditional endpoint of a pilgrimage here. But we felt our Camino would not be complete without the chance to pay homage to those pimientos de Padrón, and albariño wines, so we’ve added time to do that as well.
Some folks with leisure time and a hankering to visit the Guggenheim in Bilbao may want to visit the Basque country before getting on the trail. Be sure to ask us about that – it’s one of the world’s great culinary capitals.
The trip price covers double occupancy accommodations and meals, touring, and transport as outlined. |
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