We have in mind to walk parts of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the famous medieval pilgrim route in northwestern Spain. The most well traveled branch of the Camino begins on the French side of the Pyrenees at St. Jean Pied de Port and crosses the mountains through the Ibaneta Pass before dropping down to the monastery at Roncesvalles on the Spanish side. From Rocesvalles it is only a 500 mile hike to Santiago. The Camino is well marked, mostly. It follows woodland paths, country lanes and some highways.

We just arrived in St. Jean and are looking up at what, to us, appear to be the Himalayas.

We have spent two days contemplating the grandeur of the mountains and trying to prepare ourselves, emotionally, logistically and spiritually, for the climb to Roncesvalles. After that ordeal we figure that the remaining 500 miles from Roncesvalles to Santiago will be a snap.

By Saturday morning the weather has turned really rotten. Howard, the cheerful Brit manning the Camino office in St. Jean, is encouraging us to ignore the rain and fog, don our packs and just start hiking - up. We then realize one of Howard's primary responsibilities is to prevent a pileup of cowardly pilgrims here at the base of the mountain.

We slink back to our car, toss our packs in the trunk and begin to drive up to the Ibaneta Pass on the the main highway.

Pilgrims on foot are the princes and princesses of the Camino, and there is an extensive network of cheap hostels exclusively for their use. People like ourselves, who have a car hidden somewhere, are considered slackers and cheaters. We are not supposed to use the hostels. Actually we would like to ditch the car, but we need somewhere to store our excess baggage. We would also like to have the option of a car if the weather turns bad, like now. More excuses: we are not prepared with the right hiking gear. We have not brought good packs and sleeping bags.

In addition to access to cheap hostels, acquiring glory and receiving dispensations for their sins, the walking pilgrims have time to think, soak up the atmosphere and develop bonds with their fellow pilgrims. After all of their outdoor exercise I am sure that their food and drink taste better than ours. They earned it. Someday we will return and do part or most of the Camino on foot.

After clearing the Ibaneta pass and a briefly visiting Roncesvalles we drive slowly down the south face of the Pyrenees through a beautiful, heavily wooded landscape. In better weather this would be a perfect walk.

Pamplona is one of those newly prosperous Spanish cities with outer rings of high-rise apartment blocks and industrial parks. We follow signs to the old city center. Since this is Saturday afternoon and this is Spain, there are no motorists and few pedestrians. The whole city is asleep or eating the midday meal.

Departing Pamplona on a Sunday morning we drive west along the route of the Camino through Estella / Lizarra and Logrono. Somewhere along this road we found a pepper roasting market. You could buy a bushel of peppers for 6 E and have them roasted.

The roasting is done in a rotating barrel heated with propane. The peppers advance through the barrel at a rate depending upon the rotation. The man on the crank watches the peppers and adjusts the rotation to produce the desired degree of roasting.

Encouraged by our guidebook we are taking a diversion south to San Millan de la Cogola and the monastery of Yusa. The monastery of Yuso at San Millan de la Cogolla. There are many huge and ornate monasteries in Spain. This one has been partly converted into a four star hotel. In exchange for this privilege the developers of the hotel have renovated parts of the monastery. The Augustinian monks now have hot water for the first time.

In Santo Domingo del Calzada we are staying at an ultra-posh hotel, one of the Parador chain of Spanish hotels. This particular hotel is in a renovated medieval hospital building. It is on a little plaza which is shared by the cathedral church.

Monday; after a very quiet night at the parador. The weather is beautiful again. We parked our car in the parador's underground parking garage - for 11 Euros per day. We have just walked 10 level kilometers, following the marked Camino, to the hamlet of Castel Delgado. This was our first, and only, long walk along the Camino.

Back in the car and on the road; we just passed from the Rioja region into Castile e Leon. There are little towns every few miles along the route, each with a plain, somber old stone church. In almost every one of these churches there is a stunning, gold-encrusted main altar. I don't know how Spain ever marshaled enough skilled craftsmen and artists to build all of these. Fortunately, here the churches here were not gutted or destroyed the way they were in France - during the wars of religion and the revolution.

Overnight in Santo Domingo de Silos, off the regular Camino, about 50 km southeast of Burgos. The great monastery at Silos is currently famous because of best selling recordings of the monks singing Gregorian Chant. I thought they were great, but I have a tin ear. Mary says they were off key. The cloister is very beautiful. The famous St. Dominic's bones resided here for a time.

Mary describing our eating at the Arco San Juan hotel / restaurant in Silos; "too much meat." We are determined to cut back on our evening dinner orders. The huge fixed price menus are killers. We have been observing that the native Spanish tourists manage to order small amounts ala carte without violating any cultural taboos or incurring the wrath of the waiters. At the Arco San Juan one couple ordered just one platter of grilled vegetables and a bottle of water.

Two days in the great city of Burgos. We attended an evening concert in the cathedral. This was a very impressive free concert. The photo gives some impression of the interior, but it would take a couple of days with a guide to see it all. And here is the exterior of the Burgos Cathedral is in creamy white limestone. The guidebook says that this is French gothic style. It is a very beautiful and intricate building inside and out.

Went on a tour of Monasterio de las Huelgas, the "Monastery of the Pleasures."In 1175 it was established as a retreat for widowed noble and royal ladies. Eleanor Plantagenet, the daughter of English King Henry II, was the first prioress. Here are a few pictures of the lavish interior. Although the Christian Spanish fought the Arabs for centuries they absorbed a lot of the Arab culture including the Mudejar designs shown in the ceiling and the doorway .

Some Spanish are nocturnal.

Friday evening in Villafranca del Bierzo. This little town has a good feeling. It deserved more than one day.

Saturday afternoon. We just drove up and over O Cebreiro, the second most formidable climb along the Camino. We are dropping down on the other side; driving slowly, headed for Triacastella.

A rainy Sunday and the monastery at Samos. The monastery is set in the dark green hills of Galicia. It was raining, and it rains a lot. That explains the natural beauty of Galicia. It violates my preconception of Spain as mostly desert.

An exotic structure in Asturias. At first glance this unusual structure, with carved stone ends and a cross on top, looks like a tomb on stilts. The sides are made of wooden slats. I thought that maybe the enclosed body or bodies were being dried like salt cod.

In fact, throughout Europe there are regions where people build expensive and not entirely practical structures as a sign of their wealth or status. I am guessing that the beautiful corn cribs of Asturias and Galicia are an example. This one, I think, was in Asturias. In Galicia the corn cribs are square and less elaborately decorated.