Greetings From Viana Spain!

A little small even for an Albergue

It is day 8 of my camino and it has been an amazing adventure so far. We have traveled around 130 kilometers of our 780 total. I have found myself in a camino family, 2 women from Canada and another from Portland.  We call ourselves team "Take a Break". Which means we walk, drink cafe con leche, walk have a little breakfast , walk, take a little lunch. We are resting across the entire nation.

The camino is an incredible place to be, the sense of community is like Holden Village International. I have new friends from all over the world, and some I have no idea what they are saying but we all greet each other on the road and hug each other at parting.  It is wonderful!

The scenery is to die for and I have taken more panoramic pictures than anything. We keep climbing mountains and can see so much of the Spanish world. The climates have gone from mountains to deserts and wheat fields. I will Attach some photos below.

I hope you are all well!  About 26 more days to Santiago! Pray for my feet they are being troopers but could use the helping hand.Love to you all, Leischen

Leischen's friend Susan posted to facebook.

We are now into our second week of walking the Camino trail. Today started with heaving rain and thunder, so we delayed our early start and ate a delicious breakfast at our albergue. We stopped for second breakfast in Sansol and then continued on a kilometre to Torres del Rio, visiting the round-shaped Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was a bit of a hilly walk onwards to Viana, where we stopped for the day. Had a nice walk around town and visit to the ruins of the Church of San Pedro.



The New Queen Letzia 

I found these beautiful pictures of Viana, but what interested me most were the number of pictures of Queen Letzia of Viana, Spain.   As you can see she is certainly very pretty and stylish.   Pintrest goes crazy with pictures of her in ballgowns and business suits.

Well, Leischen thinks she is from Madrid, but I am not sure why Viana would be hosting 20 plus pictures if she wasn't at least a popular gal.

Closed Courtyard Gardens

There are also a number of pictures of the atrium style homes that appears to be fashionable in this city.   These are really only a few of the many beautiful closed gardens that are displayed under the images from Viana, Spain.

Stones - Rocks and Camino de Santiago 

Tradition has it that you bring  a little something to leave on the trail.   As you can see, the customary token is a small rock  (remember you have to haul this thing 500 miles).   These rocks represents a burden, a worry or something that is holding you back from a full life.   The idea is that when you are ready to let that burden go... you place the rock on the trail and leave it symbolically on the St. James trail to Santiago.  Some people write on them, other just go with the symbolism of leaving your cares and moving forward.

Comments:

Carol I will pray for Leischen's feet!!!  She needs a massage nightly before hitting the trail every morning.

I love the name of their walking family.  It's a good philosophy....Take a break!!