If Day 1 of our Camino de Santiago was about getting to the other end, Day 2 was about getting comfortable among the other pilgrims. It is a diverse group. Statistics compiled by church officials in Santiago de Compostela, in northwest Spain, suggest half the pilgrims are not Spanish … that Germans are the biggest […]

[Read more →]

(Above, clockwise from top: Admiring a huge and ancient tree; distance markers scrawled on a bench; the official markers, noting correct direction and kilometers left before Santiago; Taking a break in a farmer’s outbuilding. The sign hanging, above, invites pilgrims to rest as long as they keep the area clean and tidy.) This may be […]

[Read more →]

Tomorrow morning, the three of us begin our walk on the Camino de Santiago — the best-known of the Christian pilgrimage trails to Santiago de Compostela, a cathedral city in northwestern Spain. At the moment, we are in a bustling little town named Sarria, 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of Santiago. Sarria is the handiest […]

[Read more →]

I can attest to the obvious: A day and a half in Madrid is not nearly enough to get any nuanced sense of Spain’s capital city. We could have done better. I never have arrived at one of the world’s great cities having done so little preparation. Not much studying of maps or prominent sights, […]

[Read more →]

Far as I am concerned, first thing you do when visiting Barcelona is go to the northeast corner of the city and see how things are coming with the construction of the basilica known as the Sagrada Familia. Yes, even before making the pilgrimage over to the city’s great earthly structure, the football club’s Camp […]

[Read more →]

Estacio Sants is the main train station in Barcelona. In case you have lost track of where you have stepped off the train from, say, France … the famous local football team has a merchandise store you can hardly miss as you exit the station — one of (by my count) nine such stores in […]

[Read more →]

France is host of the ongoing European Championship. We live in France. We have never been to a Euro tournament match. A few matches are being held in Marseille, the closest game site to where we live, in the Languedoc. One of those Marseille matches is Saturday and involves Iceland and Hungary, two long shots […]

[Read more →]

Perhaps this is unreasonable, but I expect an American who describes himself or herself as “a history teacher” to know the basic events of the past 100 years. Prominent Western leaders. Scientific breakthroughs. Inventions. Cultural Milestones. Wars. Which is why I was startled … disappointed … semi-appalled … when a history teacher could not pick […]

[Read more →]

Ah, Quique Sanchez Flores. Here we are on Day 2 of My Favorite Soccer Coaches Roundup, which includes a certain Spanish player and coach who grew up wanting to be a sports writer. But more about that in a bit. I have been a fan of Quique Sanchez Flores from the moment he was named […]

[Read more →]

A advantage of living in the south of France is that you are never far from the north of Spain. From the Beziers area, one can reach the border in about 90 minutes. Another half hour or so puts you near Girona as well as the Costa Brava vacation sites. Which is a nice place […]

[Read more →]