The Route of St. James

During my recent trip to Spain I mentioned that the cities of Burgos and León are major stops along the "Camino de Santiago"... referred to in English as the Route of St. James or the Way of St. James.  In the Middle Ages it was one of most important pilgrimages that a devout Christian could make, along with a journey to Jerusalem or Rome.

For those readers who are unfamiliar with the "Camino", I thought I would write in more detail about that route.

First of all, in Spanish, St. James the Apostle is called Santiago.  This comes from the old Spanish name for James... "Iago". 

The pilgrimage route has many branches, but the main path extends over 450 miles.  It begins in southern France, crosses the Pyrenees Mountains, and then extends across the breadth of northern Spain to the shrine of St. James in the city of Santiago de Compostela.

(image taken from the web)

Today the route attracts up to 200,000 people each year... not just religious pilgrims, but also hikers and tourists seeking a unique travel experience trekking across the scenic Spanish countryside.  It takes about a month to travel the entire path, although many choose to hike just a portion of the route.  Basic, inexpensive accommodations for pilgrims are located at intervals of about fifteen miles.

The story behind this route is a fantastical legend with no historical documentation.  Even the Vatican admits that it may have no basis in fact. 

According to the legend, the Apostle James made a missionary journey to Hispania (as Spain was known in Roman times), and was responsible for the first converts to Christianity there.  James then returned to Judea where he was arrested and beheaded.  His body was recovered, with his head miraculously restored, and taken to a ship made of stone and manned by angels.  The ship transported his body across the Mediterranean, through the Straits of Gibraltar, and up to the northwestern corner of Spain.  There the saint was buried.

Fast forward nearly eight centuries.  The tiny Christian kingdom of Asturias in northern Spain was struggling to repulse the Moorish invaders.  In A.D. 812 a hermit saw a bright star hovering over an empty field.  There the long forgotten grave of St. James was discovered, and a shrine was built on the spot.  A few years later, during a battle between the Christians and the Moors, the saint was seen descending from heaven on a white horse and slaying the Moors by the thousands.  Henceforth, St. James was known as Santiago Matamoros (St. James the Moor Slayer).  During the centuries of the Reconquest, the Christian Spaniards fought under the banner of Santiago, and James became the patron saint of Spain. 

 

St. James depicted as the Moor Slayer on a church in León

 

 

The church built over the saint's supposed grave became a place of pilgrimage.  The town of Santiago de Compostela grew up around the shrine.  ("Compostela'  derives from the Latin for "Field of the Star" or alternately from the Latin for "burial ground".)  By 1075 work began on a cathedral on the site.  The original Romanesque cathedral saw later Gothic and baroque additions.

 

(image from the web)

 

The symbol of St. James became the scallop shell.  One legend tells that when the ship bearing the saint's body approached the coast, a wedding was going on.  The groom was on horseback.  When the horse saw the ship, it was spooked and plunged over the cliff into the ocean with the rider.  Both the groom and the horse miraculously survived, and when they emerged from the water they were covered in seashells. 

 

When I was in León I noticed that metal images of the scallop shell were imbedded in the sidewalks along the pilgrims' route.

 

 



Pilgrims will also carry on their person a scallop shell.  This pilgrim in León had a shell attached to his backpack.

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I am not a religious person, but I do admit that the idea of hiking the "Camino" is intriguing.  However, at my age, I don't think trekking fifteen miles a day for a month is a possibility.  I have never been to Santiago de Compostela, but it is definitely on my list of places to visit on a future trip to Spain.  

An Evening in the "Wet District"

Last night, my last night in León, I wandered around that portion of the old town which is known as "El Barrio Húmedo"... loosely translated as the "Wet District".  This maze of narrow streets and little plazas is filled with restaurants and bars.

 

Granted, it was a week night, but it seemed that by 10 PM this hub of nightlife was starting to wind down.
 
I sat down at a table of one of the "tapas" bars for a bite to eat.  I ordered a sangría and a serving of ham croquettes.

The sangría was a bit too sweet.  The croquettes were OK, but I have had better.  I'm just not having luck picking places to eat on this trip!  

The waiter, however, was very affable, and when I asked him about the origin of the neighborhood's name, he explained that there are three theories.  The first is that it's called the "Wet District" simply because there is so much drinking going on in the area's more than 100 bars.  The second, the one I like the best, is that in the old days carts would carry large, uncovered vats of wine to the bars.  As the carts traveled over the bumpy cobble-stone streets, the wine would slosh out of the containers and wet the streets.  The third, more mundane theory, is that due to subterranean rivers under the neighborhood, the streets flood easily during the autumn rains.  

This afternoon I left León on the train to Valladolid.  It was a two hour trip, and there were very few passengers.  I don't think that there were more than a half dozen people in my car.

Adiós, León

and

Hola, Valladolid...

  ...where they are celebrating a "fiesta" this week!

The town is really hopping!  

A Renaissance Gem

I have written about León's Romanesque Basilica of San Isidro and its Gothic Cathedral.  Today I visited the city's third great architectural monument... this one dating from the Renaissance.

The Monastery of San Marcos was originally built in the 12th century as a shelter and hospital for pilgrims traveling the Route of St. James and as the headquarters of the Knights of the Order of Santiago.  (The knights were a military / religious order dedicated to protecting the pilgrims making the long journey across northern Spain.)  By the 1500s the building had fallen into disrepair, and in 1514 King Fernando el Católico (King Ferdinand, the husband of Queen Isabella) made a grant for the reconstruction of the monastery.  Work on the new building did not begin until the reign of their grandson, Carlos I (better known to us as the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V).  

The monastery is an example of the "plateresco" style of the Spanish Renaissance.  "Plateresco" means "in the style of a silversmith", and the architecture is characterized by elaborate sculptural decoration.

 Medallions of mythological and historical heroes adorn the facade.

 The scallop shell, the emblem of St. James, is a recurring motif.

Above the main entrance, St. James is shown slaying the Moors.

 In front of the monastery, a bronze statue portrays a weary pilgrim pausing to rest.

The church still functions as a place of worship, and a portion of the old monastery is today a museum.  The rest of the building is now a "parador"... one of the luxury hotels which the Spanish government has established in historic buildings across the country.

León at Night

Here are a few pictures that I took last night while I wandered around the city of León...

 A Romanesque church facing a little plaza

 This 16th century palace in now a government building

 This building, which now houses a bank headquarters, was designed by the Catalán architect, Antonio Gaudí.

 The Cathedral bathed in illumination

Romanesque and Gothic

León is an even older city than Burgos.  It began as a Roman encampment in 29 B.C.  As the Christians began pushing the Moors to the south, the Kingdom of León was established, and the city of the same name became its capital in A.D. 910.  It was an important city in the early Middle Ages, and, like Burgos, was a stop along the pilgrimage Route of St. James.  When the Kingdom of León was consolidated with the Kingdom of Castille in 1301, the city's importance declined.  Today, however, León, with a metropolitan population of 500,000, is larger than Burgos.

Today I visited two of the most important medieval monuments in the city... the Basilica of San Isidro and the Cathedral.

In the early Middle Ages, the predominant style of architecture was Romanesque.  Due to the limitations of technology, Romanesque buildings are not very tall, and the walls are thick with few windows in order to support the roof.  The Basilica of San Isidro, built in 1063, has had some later renovations, but its style is basically Romanesque.

  
The Basilica contains the burial chamber of the kings of León.  Eleven kings and various other members of the royal family are interred here.  The vaulted ceiling of the chamber is adorned with the finest examples of Romanesque paintings anywhere.  It is sometimes referred to as the "Sistine Chapel of Romanesque Art".

The adjoining cloister is the oldest Romanesque cloister in Spain.  It is also of historic importance because it was here in 1188 that King Alfonso IX convened the first parliament in Europe.

As medieval architects improved their technological skills they were able to build taller buildings, with thinner walls and more windows.  This new style which originated in northern France was known as the Gothic style.  The pilgrimage Route of St. James was a conduit for new ideas from France, and in 1205 work began on a Gothic cathedral for León.

The exterior of the León Cathedral is much simpler than the cathedral in Burgos.

Unlike the Cathedral of Burgos, very few additions were made to the interior decoration.  Thus, the Cathedral of León is an almost pure expression of Gothic style.  The building is most noteworthy for its stained glass windows.  There are over 19,000 square feet of stained glass, and most of it is original... a rarity.  It is one of the greatest collections of medieval stained glass anywhere in the world.

 

On to León

Yesterday I strolled along the streets and through the riverside parks of Burgos one last time before I had to go to the train station.

My train left promptly at 3:25 PM.  However it arrived at my destination of León a half hour late.  For some unknown reason there was one stretch of the journey where the train went very slowly.  But it was still a very pleasant two and a half hour ride.  The train passed through agricultural lands of the Spanish plateau.  Most of the fields were tan stubble where the grain had already been harvested.  The fields of sunflowers were no longer the bright expanses of yellow they are earlier in the year.  Their blossoms were now spent, and the black seed heads drooped sadly.  Little towns huddled around the towers of old churches.  On the horizon were the mountains that stretch along Spain's northern flank. 

I arrived in León around 6 PM.  The temperature was much warmer than it had been during my three days in Burgos.  I took a taxi to my hotel... part of the Eurostars chain.  The room is pleasant, modern and clean, but I was surprised by how small the room was.  I have stayed at a Hotel Eurostars in Mexico City a number of times, and the rooms there are huge.

 The view from my window

After settling into my room, I did a bit of exploring of the city.  The hotel is located on a modern shopping street...  a huge "Corte Inglés" Department Store is just a block away.  My first impression of the city is that it is less tourist oriented than Burgos... that it is a sizable city with a life of its own.  Just a short walk from the hotel however is the historic center... a maze of narrow, pedestrianized streets where I will be doing most of my sightseeing.

It's time for me to have some breakfast and head out discover the sights of León.