What follows is my attempt to chronicle and recreate a few of experiences in Spain and France this summer for those interested. Focus primarily will rest on history and religion, and in particular the history that lives in the churches and castles that line the pilgrim roads to Santiago Compostella in Spain.

The Muslim conquest of the Holy Land in the Seventh and Eighth centuries caused the traditional pilgrimage to Jerusalem to become increasingly dangerous. As the Middle Ages unfolded, the journey across the Pyrenees and into Spain to the traditional burial place of St. James became the dominant pilgrimage route. The results were dramatic. The first great wave of Christian churches in the Middle Ages sprung up along the pilgrim roads - the age of Romanesque was born. Architecture, spirituality, culture and politics would all be dramatically affected by the great mass of Medieval Christians on the road to Compostella.

Thursday, August 6, 2009















Oli's idea of a joke
















Isabel's idea of a joke
















Today we traveled to Rocamadour, a famous medieval pilgrimage destination. Rocamadour is a dramatic shrine/citadel/village built into a cliff. In the Early-Middle ages St. Amadour's body was found here incorrupt, hence the name "Roc-Amadour". The middle section, below the castle, but above the city are the shrines. Many famous saints and soldiers have traveled here including Dominic, Louis and Roland to name a few. We stumbled in at the perfect time for mass with a troop of French Scouts. there is a path that goes up the mountain and on it are a beautiful Gothic stations of the cross.



















A view from the city below













At the top of the mountain is the 14th station of the cross, fittingly placed in a tomb
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