Author: bethstapleton0201@gmail.com

Today we met our guide (Lee) who gave us a tour of Unhyeongung Palace and Bukchon Hanok village (traditional Korean homes built in 1930’s).  It was fun exploring the back alleys.

For lunch we had Korean Ginseng Soup which is a small chicken cooked with rice inside a stone pot of soup. I need to work on my chop stick skills.

At night, we made our way down to John and Sun Young’s apartment. Alex and Brian were also there as well as two dogs they have which they adopted which were brothers.  They call them “Tom and Jerry”!

 

Sun Young made us a wonderful meal where we got to taste some more Korean food that we haven’t had yet.  It was a great visit with a lot of laughs.

On Friday night, we had dinner at a small South African place down one of the many back streets of Seoul in the more westernized Itaewon district.

On the way back, we walked past the Korean War Memorial.  We have been fortunate that the weather is around 30- 40 degrees so far, so walking around the city has been enjoyable.

On Saturday, we strolled along the “river walk” in the center of Seoul and had lunch at one of the street vendors in the Gwangjang market.

After lunch, Matt met up with his cousin Brian Donnelly as Tom and I met with our  guide who gave us a tour of the Naksan “City Wall”.  We were pretty tired at that point but the guide (Mr Ho Park) was very informative.  We saw and learned a lot from him on that short 2 hour tour.

 

 

Tom, Beth and Matt traveled from JFK airport in NY to Incheon Airport in Seoul on Wednesday/Thursday (we lost a day in the process).  The flight was 13.5 hours on the largest plane any of us have traveled on.  It was an airbus with 2 levels and 10 seats across and a pretty comfortable flight.

We’re staying in an apartment in a high rise building we booked through Airbnb.  Our host is a lovely woman who has been really helpful and even met us at the bus stop to walk us to the apartment.

We planned a light day for our first full day in Seoul, didn’t want to over do it because of our jet lag, and went to the Changdeokgung Palace and Secret Garden.  The palace and gardens date back to the 14th century and were built by the Joseon Dynasty which was the last royal dynasty in Korea.

The Secret Gardens are also known as the Forbidden Gardens as only the royal family and their guests are permitted entrance.  Even today you can not tour the gardens without a guide.  We had a beautiful day with the temperatures in the low to mid 40’s.  It was clear that in the warmer months the gardens would be amazing but it’s a little dreary in the winter.  The pond below is said to be in the shape of the Korean peninsula.

We had lunch near the palace and had bibimbap, a mixed rice dish and seafood pancakes.  The we’re both delicious but the bibimbap was very spicy!

 

We arrived in Santiago too late yesterday to attend the special Pilgrim’s mass so we went today.  We arrived early to get good seats as the church fills up fast.  The highlight was the swinging of the giant incense burner called the Botafumeiro. It’s ironic that it’s so popular with pilgrims because it was originally used to fumigate the sweaty and possibly disease ridden pilgrims.

To wrap up our final post we’d like to thank everyone who provided the help, support, prayers and encouragement that made our journey not only possible but successful. We really loved sharing this with all of you.  Your comments and questions were eagerly anticipated and much appreciated.

Mucha gracias!

Beth & Tom

 

We’re really here! 40 days and 500 miles and we have the certificates to prove it.  This has been an amazing journey and we’ve been very blessed along the way.  We’ve met terrific people, had beautiful weather and experienced the best of Spain.

Today started with another beautiful sunrise and a 20 k walk into Santiago.

We stopped first at the holy door that is only open every 10 years.  The door leads into the Cathedral behind the alter and then to the resting place of Saint James.

We then made our way to the peregrino office to get our Compostello certificate.

Finally, we explored around the Cathedral.

Tonight we’ll look for a nice restaurant without a dress code to celebrate Tom’s birthday. 🙂

Camino Fun Fact:

The certificate received for walking the final 100 k to Santiago is said to document the forgiveness of all sins.  We’re not sure if this is just retroactive or includes future transgressions.

 

Due to rain and other technical difficulties the blog is suspended tonight.

Santiago tomorrow.

Last night we went to another nice pilgrim mass and today’s walk to Arzua was clear skies for the whole 26 K (16 miles).  We left early again and saw the full moon go down in the morning.

We walked through mostly farm country and woods today. Everything is so lush and green but we did find this field of purple and yellow wild flowers.

Last night was a rough night for sleeping in the bunk room. One pilgrim was obviously not feeling well. He spent the first half of the night having a coughing fit and then the second half of the night snoring up a storm. Seriously,the lack of sleep on a daily basis is amazing. We may look tired but our spirits are up.

We have 2 more days (approximately  42K or 26 miles) to go and we are pumped up to walk into Santiago and through the Holy Door. This door is only opened when there is is a Holy year which is about every 20 years or so but Pope Francis made this year a special Holy Year of Mercy.

Camino stories:

1. Today we saw Tom (UK) in an old church along the way. When he saw us later down the road, he said he lit a candle for us since it looked like we could use the help. When I asked him if it was 2 candles, he said it was only one but it was massive….like a flame thrower.

2. There was a elderly woman (Joan from Washington) who had her pack shipped ahead to her next albergue but then had to stop short and stay at another place because she couldn’t walk that far. She called to apologize and the albergue owner said he will send her pack to her and to not worry. “We’re all one big family” he told her.

 

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We had such a fun time staying in Vilacha.  The Albergue is owned by Gordon from South Africa.  He took a building that was practically ruins and renovated it over 6 years.  There are only 10 beds so it was a small group that included our friends Kathy (New Hampshire), Jean Marie (France) and Glynnis and Robert (South Africa).  We all have a different plans for the last 4 days so this was our last evening together.  We were joined by 4 other peregrinos from California, England,  Canada and Germany. Dinner was delicious and we talked and laughed for hours.  By the end of the evening we were singing songs from each country.  It really was a blast.

Today’s walk was tough.  We walked 27 K or 16.7 miles, mostly in the rain. We really can’t complain about the weather, until this week it has been beautiful.

There are very few cafes along the route and because of the rain they were really crowded.

Camino fun facts:

1. We saw a pilgrim strip right down  to his underwear in front of a cafe for a quick wardrobe change when the weather got hotter a few days back.  We assumed he was French.
2. The standard pilgrim menu is the same in most of the restaurants in Spain.  By the time we got to Leon, we tried to avoid this whenever we could.  It was like eating airline food after awhile.  The only good thing good with the pilgrim menu is that it comes with a bottle of wine.
3.  After walking the first 10K we feel pretty good about ourselves; after 20 K we start to become very uncomfortable; after 25 K, we are hobbling around like circus clowns
4. We have taken enough ibuprofen to kill a HORSE

Today was a really beautiful day.  It started out with a hug and kiss from our hospitalario, Marcella, and a heart felt Buen Camino!  Tom selected our albergues based on the feedback about the owners and it makes a huge difference.

Our walk today was very much like yesterday.  The air was crisp and while it started out foggy, the sun came out and everything was so lush and green.  Most of our walk was alongside very old stone walls covered in moss.

Again, we got up close and personal with the live stock. Can you spot the jackass in this picture?

 

 

Only 4 days to go!

Camino Fun Facts:

Kids in Spain (8th or 9th grade) are required to walk the Camino.  It gives them a good understanding of the peregrinos and the walk.  We ran into this group today.

 

 

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Reaching Sarria today was a huge milestone for us as it’s 100 k to Santiago.  We are 80% there and proud and happy that we’ve made it this far without any major issues.

Today’s walk started out very much like yesterday’s but the mist and fog did turn into rain. The Galicia Mountains are a bit like the Poconos, if it’s not raining it will be. It was also cold in the morning so wer’re wearing most if our clothes.

We walked through mostly farm country and were amazed at how close we walked next to huge bulls and how much bull crap we are stepping in.

 

Sarria is a more modern city than most we’ve seen but still very pretty.

Camino Fun Fact:

The Spanish people along the route are very proud to have the Camino in their city/village.  If you are lost they are quick to get you back on the right track.  We were standing on a corner in Burgos looking confused when a car stopped next to us, the driver honked his horn and pointed to where we needed to go.  On another occasion we were walking out of a small village when and old woman was clapping and waving to us from her window.

The greeting for peregrinos is “Buen Camino”.  We say this to each other and also hear it from the locals. 🙂