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Wednesday, June 8 Bilbao, Spain
Upon arrival in Bilbao, transfer to our hotel. Group Transfers from Bilbao’s international airport. For those of you who have indicated you need a transfer, please meet at the arrivals area. Look for staff with a Stanford Travel/Study sign. [Ferries; McGovern; Pitkin/Sockness; O'Sullivan; Monroy/Fierro; Neumann; Lamb; Spence; Hoehl]
6:30 p.m. This evening join fellow walkers at for a welcome event in our hotel in the Sala Cristalera – beyond the main lobby under the cupola. Please take a self Covid-19 rapid antigen test just before meeting up for the welcome event. If you don't have a test, please message Emily and she will get one to you.
Hotel Carlton (R) – Please remember to settle any bills with the hotel this evening.
Thursday, June 9 Bilbao / Ainhoa, France
7:00 a.m. Breakfast begins in the hotel’s restaurant.
8:45 a.m. Gather for a welcome orientation and our first lecture by faculty leader Barbara Pitkin “Religion in Medieval Spain” in the Salón Begoña (level -1 / the floor below the reception level).
We check out of our rooms before we depart on our tour today.
Bags outside our rooms before we leave on the morning walking tour.
This morning we set off from the hotel on foot on a stroll through Bilbao to admire the variety of its buildings from the twentieth century in an eclectic mix of architectural styles. We end at Frank Gehry’s world-famous Guggenheim museum, which we will have time to visit. One may choose to explore independently or join a local Basque guide employed by the Museum for a one hour guided tour. Note the museum doesn't allow for bags to be carried inside so either leave your hand bag/backpack at the hotel which you will be reunited with when we meet to board our bus for our drive to Ainhoa.
Morning: City walking
Lunch is on our own (the list of recommended restaurants notes which establishments offer outside dining).
3:00 p.m. We gather at the Hotel Carlton to depart on our drive to the town of Ainhoa in France. Please arrive ahead of 3pm and take advantage of using the facilities in the hotel before our drive.
~5:30 p.m. Arrive at our hotel.
7:45 p.m. Dine tonight at the hotel’s superb restaurant.
Ithurria Hotel (B,D) – Please remember to settle any bills with the hotel this evening.
Friday, June 10 Ainhoa / St.-Jean Pied de Port / Pamplona, Spain
8:00 a.m. Breakfast begins in the hotel’s restaurant.
9:00 a.m. Luggage out for collection and depart by bus for St.-Jean Pied de Port.
Be sure to bring your headset, hat, sunscreen, water bottle or bladder, sunglasses and walking sticks if you use them. Note: there are no formal restroom facilities today. We will use nature until we reach Roncesvalles.
Drive to the ancient town of St.-Jean Pied de Port, the traditional meeting point of the three northern pilgrimage routes through France. From here pilgrims began their trek through the Pyrenees into Spain.
We leave town along the old Roman road in small buses to climb slowly up the northern flank of the Pyrenees mountains. Here we begin our walk which crosses the Ports de Cize and over the border into Spain. Our walk this morning is of around 2.5 hours. There is a short climb to the border before we begin to follow a broad track through the hills to a col where we climb to a point known as Leopoder, the high point of our day. From here descend to our picnic lunch. Climb 300m. Descent 400m. Approximately 5 miles.
Enjoy our first picnic lunch under some broad leaved trees above Roncesvalles.
This afternoon, we descend to the hamlet of Roncesvalles, the scene of countless historical events, from the death of Roland in 778 to Saint Francis of Assisi’s entrance into Spain. Visit the hamlet’s monastery and church. We have a walk of about one and a quarter hours which descends along a small road to the chapel at Ibañeta before continuing through woods to Roncesvalles itself. Descent 400m. Approximately 3 miles.
We then drive on to Pamplona (approx. 1 hour).
~6:20 p.m. arrive the hotel and check in.
8:20 p.m. Depart the hotel on foot for the short walk (approx. five minute) to dinner at a local restaurant which has a Michelin star.
Gran Hotel La Perla (B,L,D)
Saturday, June 11 Pamplona
7:30 a.m. Breakfast begins in the hotel’s restaurant (floor -1).
9:00 a.m. Enjoy lecture #2 by Dr. Barbara Pitkin “Sin and Salvation in the Medieval Christian West.” (floor -2).
NOTE: you are welcome to stay in Pamplona and explore the city on your own. If you do, we will see you tomorrow morning.
Our morning walking tour of Pamplona reveals the treasures of this ancient capital of Navarre. Sights include the cathedral, medieval fortifications and the route of the famous running of the bulls during the festival of San Fermín each July. Please be dressed for walking on the trail before we head out on our city walking. Morning: City walking
After a short stop back at the hotel to use the facilities, we depart the town at midday by bus and retrace our steps to the foothills of the Pyrenees, where a picnic lunch awaits us in a small wood near the village of Burguete made famous in Hemingway’s book The Sun Also Rises.
After lunch set out on our afternoon walk through rolling green hills. The walk is about 2 ¼ hours in length and climbs and descends regularly passing through small village (approximately 5 miles). We meet up with our bus again to drive back to Pamplona. Note there are no official restrooms available this afternoon.
~6:00 p.m. Arrive at our hotel. Please be sure to drink plenty of water after the walks and in the evenings to rehydrate.
Dinner is on your own tonight. Perhaps try some tapas in the famous Estafeta street or choose a typical mesón near the hotel (the list of recommended restaurants notes which establishments offer outside dining).
Gran Hotel La Perla (B,L) – Please remember to settle any bills with the hotel this evening.
Sunday, June 12 Pamplona / Santo Domingo de la Calzada
7:30 a.m. Breakfast begins in the hotel’s restaurant.
9:00 a.m. Luggage out for collection and depart the hotel for the bus. We will be using our headsets
We drive to the octagonal Romanesque church of Santa María de Eunate, then visit the thousand-year-old pilgrim bridge at Puente la Reina and the medieval town of Estella near where we have lunch.
Our picnic lunch is near the ancient monastery at Irache.
After lunch we continue by road to the extraordinary Pantheon of the Kings of Navarre at Nájera where we will begin our afternoon walk to the pilgrimage center of Santo Domingo de la Calzada. We have a walk of about 1 hour 45 minutes which starts with a short climb before following gentle farm tracks through the vineyards of La Rioja. Climb 100m. Approximately 4.25 miles.
~6:30 p.m. Arrive at our hotel. Please be sure to drink plenty of water after the walks and in the evenings to rehydrate.
8:30 p.m. Dinner is in our hotel.
Parador de Santo Domingo, de la Calzada (B,L,D) – Please remember to settle any bills with the hotel this evening.
Monday, June 13 Santo Domingo de la Calzada / Burgos
7:30 a.m. Breakfast begins in the hotel’s restaurant (please use the same tables we used for dinner last night).
9:00 a.m. Luggage out for collection and depart on for our visit of the town’s cathedral. You will have time to pop into your room and pick up your backpack and use the restroom before we depart (we'll set a
Depart the hotel to walk to the buss and drive on to Villafranca Montes de Oca where we begin our morning walk to the shrine of San Juan de Ortega, one of the most revered saints of the pilgrimage road. Our walk starts with a short climb then follows a wide track through the woods of the Montes de Oca to San Juan de Ortega. We then continue a short distance to our picnic lunch. Climb 50m. Approximately 1 1/2 hours and approx. 4.5 miles.
Enjoy a picnic lunch at along the side of the road under some pine trees.
After lunch we continue our walk to the little village of Agés from where we drive to the handsome city of Burgos, capital of the former kingdom of Castile and Franco’s headquarters during the Spanish Civil War. Upon arrival we check in to our hotel, a former convent. Walk about 1 hour along a wide flat track. Approximately 2 miles.
~4:30 p.m. Arrive at our hotel
Please be sure to drink plenty of water during and after the walks and in the evenings to stay hydrated.
7:45 p.m. Depart by bust for dinner is in a fine local restaurant.
Palacio de Burgos (B,L,D)
Tuesday, June 14 Burgos
7:00 a.m. Breakfast begins in the hotel’s restaurant.
9:00 a.m. Lecture 3 by Dr. Barbara Pitkin “Saints, Relics, Miracles, and Pilgrimage” in location Salon Condestable.
10.20 a.m. Enjoy a guided walking tour of Burgos this morning. Visit the impressive Gothic cathedral and the center of the city before strolling out along the Arlanzón River, where El Cid, Spain’s celebrated Castilian knight, camped before leaving the city.
Lunch is on your own today (the list of recommended restaurants notes which establishments offer outside dining).
2:30 p.m. Depart the hotel to take a walk of about 1 ¼ hours along the river (approximately 2.5 miles) to visit the Charterhouse of Miraflores, a Carthusian monastery that contains exquisite alabaster carvings.
OR
3:40 p.m. Depart on the bus from the hotel for the Carthusian monastery and join the group tour.
We return to the city by road.
~5:30 p.m. Arrive at our hotel. Please be sure to drink plenty of water during and after the walks and in the evenings to stay hydrated.
Dinner is on your own tonight. The center of Burgos contains many restaurants famous for roast meats (the list of recommended restaurants notes which establishments offer outside dining).
Palacio de Burgos (B) – Please remember to settle any bills with the hotel this evening.
Thursday, June 16 León
7:30-9:00 a.m. Breakfast is available in the Salon Peregrinos.
9:00 a.m. Lecture 4 by Dr. Barbara Pitkin “Reconquista, Crusade, and the Spanish Inquisition” in the Salon Quevedo.
Enjoy a morning walking tour through León introduces us to this magnificent city where we concentrate on the three major monuments. The Parador itself has a superb chapel and cloister. The monastery of San Isidoro is of great importance in the history of the Camino with its adjoining Pantheon of the Kings of León, famous for its 12th-century ceiling frescoes. Supreme amongst them all must be the cathedral with its inspiring stained-glass windows which rival those found at Chartres in France,
Morning: City walking
The remainder of the day is free for independent exploration of the old center of town. You might consider spending time in the wonderful cloister and museum of the cathedral and wandering the old quarter of the town.
Lunch and dinner are on your own, perhaps in a typical restaurant or tapas bar in the barrio húmedo (the wet quarter). The list of recommended restaurants notes which establishments offer outside dining.
Please be sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated.
Parador de León (B) – Please remember to settle any bills with the hotel this evening.
Friday, June 17 León / Villafranca del Bierzo
7:30-8:30 a.m. Breakfast is available in the Salon Peregrinos.
8:30 a.m. Luggage out for collection and depart on bus.
Drive to Hospital de Órbigo to see the magnificent medieval stone bridge, scene of the joust that is said to have inspired Cervantes’s novel Don Quixote. Continue by coach to Astorga where we view the Episcopal Palace, a Gaudí creation, and the baroque cathedral. Later drive on to the Cruz de Ferro on the heights of the Montes de León from where we begin our morning walk across this wild landscape.
Morning: City walking in Astorga after which we have a walk of about 2 ¼ hours which crosses the highest parts of the Montes de León before dropping down into the little village of El Acebo. The terrain is relatively easy walking along small roads and some country paths through the broom. Morning climb 200 ft approx. 4 miles.
Enjoy a picnic lunch at the inn at El Acebo.
This afternoon we have a walk of about two and a half hours which descends from El Acebo along the road then on small paths which drop down into the valley of Molinaseca. This is generally a downhill walk with a few very short uphill sections. Approximately 5 miles.
Board the coach to the little parador of Villafranca del Bierzo, passing through Ponferrada, home of the Knights Templar and, according to some, the resting place of the Holy Grail.
~6:00 p.m. Arrive at our hotel. Please be sure to drink plenty of water during and after the walks and in the evenings to stay hydrated.
8:30 p.m. Dinner is in our hotel.
Parador de Villafranca del Bierzo (B,L,D) – Please remember to settle any bills with the hotel this evening.
Saturday, June 18 Villafranca del Bierzo / Portomarín
8:00 a.m. Breakfast begins in the hotel’s restaurant.
9:00 a.m. Luggage out for collection and depart on a city walking tour of Villafranca del Bierzo (approx. 1 hour).
We return to the hotel to pick up our day packs and use the facilities before we depart for the starting point of our walk.
We drive from the hotel to the start of the walk on a small road which leads from the valley floor through the village of Herrerías and on to begin our climb up small paths to O Cebreiro. On our way we pass through some of the most picturesque and unchanged villages of the trip. Climb of approximately 1200 feet and about 3.5 miles in total.
Our walk today leads us up to the village of O Cebreiro at the border of Galicia and another possible secret repository of the Holy Grail. The village’s 9th-century granite church and ancient inn make it perhaps the most evocative place on the modern pilgrims’ trail. After visiting the small church which is home to one of the most famous miracle stories of the Camino we enjoy a picnic lunch.
This afternoon we have a short drive and then walk on to the river port of Portomarín for the night. This town was moved, stone by stone, to its present site when the river valley below was flooded by a dam constructed across the Minho River in 1956. We walk along small roads and country paths which descend gradually to the river at Portomarín from where there is a short climb of 20 minutes to our hotel. 4.5 miles – 6 miles.
~6:30 p.m. Arrive at our simple hotel. Please be sure to drink plenty of water during and after the walks and in the evenings to stay hydrated.
8:00 p.m. Dinner is in our hotel.
Hotel Pousada de Portomarín (B,L,D) – Please remember to settle any bills with the hotel this evening.
Sunday, June 19 Portomarín / Santiago de Compostela
8:00 a.m. Breakfast begins in the hotel’s restaurant.
9:00 a.m. Luggage out for collection.
Our goal is near as we navigate the most interesting sections of the ancient road to Santiago de Compostela.
We drive from our hotel to the top of the Narón from where we walk on to visit the church of Vilar de Donas in Palas de Rei to pay tribute to the Knights of Saint James buried there.
Our morning walk of about three hours follows small country roads which are increasingly filled with animated pilgrims as we make our way to Vilar de Donas. The terrain is relatively easy, walking along flat and gently climbing and descending trails. Approximately 6.5 miles miles; +/ - 400 ft.
Enjoy a picnic lunch at the church near the monastery.
After lunch we drive to the edge of Santiago de Compostela from where we walk the final section through the medieval streets to the shrine of Saint James.
We spend our last two nights at perhaps the most beautiful hotel in Spain; this five-star parador was built at the end of the 15th century as a pilgrim hospital.
~5:00 p.m. Arrive at our hotel. Please be sure to drink plenty of water during and after the walks and in the evenings to stay hydrated.
Dinner is on your own tonight, perhaps in a typical local restaurant in the pedestrian streets near our hotel (the list of recommended restaurants notes which establishments offer outside dining).
Parador de Santiago de Compostela (B,L)
Monday, June 20 Santiago de Compostela
7:30 a.m. The hotel requires a set time people to be seated for breakfast (to help with flow and capacity).
9:00 a.m. Depart on a guided walking tour of the city (approx. 2 1/2 hours). Start with our hotel, the oldest in the world. Then visit the cathedral, one of the finest examples of Romanesque and baroque architecture in Spain. Other highlights include the Galician parliament building.
*Please return your headset to Emily after the tour.
Lunch is on your own today with the remainder of the afternoon free for independent exploration (the list of recommended restaurants notes which establishments offer outside dining).
7:15 p.m. Gather for a farewell reception in the Courtyard of our hotel located next to the bar (it is raining we'll move into a room nearby) followed by dinner in Salon de Fumadores.
Parador de Santiago de Compostela (B,D) – Please remember to settle any bills with the hotel this evening.
Tuesday, June 21 Santiago de Compostela
7:00 a.m. Breakfast begins in the hotel’s restaurant, for those who will be having breakfast, you will likely need to make your reservation with the hotel the day before.
Group transfers will be provided to the airport (SCQ) for flights home with the last transfer departs the Parador Santiago de Compostela at 12:00 p.m.
4:45 a.m. Depart the hotel for the airport for flight FR 5316. [Hoehl].
6:45 a.m. Depart the hotel for the airport for flights AA 8770, IB 3877, IB 571/AA 8605
[Cunningham, Clow, Ebert, Stevenson, Erickson, Ferries, Yagjian, McGovern, Spence, Neumanx2 Pitkin, Sockness]
10:45 a.m. Depart the hotel for the airport for flights BA 7131, IB 3875 [Gelb, Otteman, Lamb]
Check-out time from our hotel is 12:00 p.m.
(B)
This is our tentative daily schedule at a glance. Our tour staff will make daily announcements with specifics and times during the trip. Note that our itinerary may shift due to the weather or to take advantage of unexpected opportunities.
A typical day’s activities begin with a full breakfast. We may have a lecture before setting out at around 9:00 a.m. or a little later, for our day's walk, armed with rain gear, an extra layer (sweater or wrap), sunscreen, sunglasses, water, hat, camera and our sturdy, waterproof hiking boots. Stop along the way to enjoy a delicious picnic lunch prepared for us by our staff. After lunch, we are off again on the afternoon segment of our walk. On arrival at our hotel, we have time for a shower and some rest before dinner. Dinners are usually served around 8:00 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. in Spain.
While this program is called a Walk, several of the days might be described by some participants as hikes rather than walks. All such terms are very subjective: a walk to one person may seem like a hike to another. The walks are of varying distance and level of difficulty. The average day’s excursion is about six or seven miles and you should commit to walking with the group for the entire day as there is usually no support vehicle or opportunity to otherwise deviate from the excursion.
You will need to bring a light daypack for your raingear, camera, sunscreen and refillable water bottle and/or bladder. The tap water in Spain is safe to drink so in keeping with our effort to eliminate single-use bottles on all Travel/Study programs, we ask you to be sure to bring a refillable water bottle and/or bladder that you can fill in your hotel room or at breakfast and top off at lunch to make sure you have plenty of water during the day.
It is most important that you begin a regimen of training now. Take several 3- to 5- mile walks each week, including some up- and downhill forays. Work your way up to daily walks with an occasional ten-mile walk, wearing the shoes or boots you plan to bring with you. You will be surprised at how quickly your legs and lungs get in shape and at how good you feel afterwards.
Meals included in the program are indicated next to the hotel name with the following designations: B = Breakfast L = Lunch D = Dinner R = Reception
Cancelled: ~4:00 p.m. This afternoon Covid testing will be organized for those who require it to return to the U.S. on June 21. Details will be announced to those who require testing. [Cunningham/Clow; Ebert; Erickson; Ferries; Hoehl; Lamb; McGovern; Neumann; Otteman/Gelb; Petree; Pitkin; Spence; Sockness; Stevenson; Yagjian]
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