In another case of Camino magic, Mads and Mikael tell us that they are from Nyborg in Denmark. This translates as Newcastle, where James and I are from.
The western side of the river in Najera is the old town. The cathedral (undergoing major renovations) and a host of buildings are crammed between the river and cliffs.
In a gap in the cliffs, the way made its way through a pine forest and back into the red clay and stone vineyards of La Rioja. The wind blew hard at our backs and we were agin thankful for a sunny day. Then the vineyards disappeared and we were walking across a green sea on a ribbon of white.
We stopped in Azofra for a cafe con leche, a lot of pilgrims on the way today. Then onto a “model” town, Ciruena. As we ascended the hill into town, we looked over to see people playing golf.
When I say that Ciuena is a model town, it was a series of 3 storey apartment blocks built over basement car parking. They all looked great, but the village had no heart and almost no people, apart from golfers.
From there, we had about 6km to Santo Domingo. Mikael, Mads, Dazza, James and I decided we’d be the fellowship of the Camino. I was Gandalf the Grey, James Frodo, Mikael Aragorn, Mads Legolas and Dazza Gimli the dwarf. There followed a good hour or more of Lord of the Rings quotes or singing of music from the movies.
On the way into Santo Domingo we were quite hungry and reminisced about food from our homes and what we eat at Christmas. Little did we all know that this was our way of externalising the fact that today we were all homesick.
I mentioned that chickens were kept in the cathedral at Santo Domingo. Mads and Mikael looked at me strangely, so I told them the tale of poor Mikael, the Danish pilgrim (word of caution, this may not be factually correct, but I don’t care).
A family of pilgrims from Denmark were making their way to Santiago. There were the parents and a handsome son, Mikael. When they stopped at Santo Domingo, the daughter of the Mayor fell for this Danish lothario. Sadly, the feelings weren’t reciprocated. Jilted, the Mayor’s daughter put a silver spoon in Mikael’s pack. She then raised the alarm that he was a thief. The Mayor promptly arranged for poor Mikael to be hung. His parents continued to Santiago. On their way back through Santo Domingo, they found that their son was still alive, hanging from the tree. They confronted the Mayor who was just sitting down to a dinner of roast chicken. Our son is still alive, they said. Your son is as alive as this chicken on my plate, the Mayor replied, at which point his roast chicken turned into a live chicken. Mikael was promptly freed and returned to Nyborg, Denmark with his parents where he had an amazing career in musical theatre. His greatest hit show was a collaboration with an Australian guy, Santo Domingo the Musical. The lead role was played by Hugh Jackman in the film adaptation.
After a lunch in a plaza next to the cathedral, we just had to go see the chickens.
We promptly left Santo Domingo on a mission to reach Granon. I had read that there was an Albergue in the cathedral there which promised an interesting experience. And so we found ourselves at Hospital de Peregrinos San Juan Bautista.
As promised, it is part of the cathedral. Our room is on the first floor, or thereabouts.
We joined some pilgrims for a service at 7:00, then dinner at 7:30.
After dinner, our hospitalero led us through a door next to my bed and into the upper part of the cathedral. He turned the lights off, lit a candle and then asked each of us to speak from the heart in our own language. It was extremely moving to hear everyone speak and it topped off a magical experience on the Camino.
Afterward we could explore the cathedral. For a very small town, it was again quite amazing. Though there are signs of trouble. A building like this needs a lot of maintenance at some cost. We could see here and there several problems with the building that had just been patched over. It will need a lot more generous peregrinó if it is to keep thriving into the future.
Now we can only hope for a comfortable sleep on our mats. Buenos noches.
The Long Camino 