Now that I’ve returned from Spain and reintegrated myself into the sur-real world, I’m taking care of all of life’s housekeeping issues. One of these is renewing my Passport which will expire early next year.
What began as a mundane clerical task, has turned into a very pleasant trip down memory lane, something the State Department probably never expected. Renewing your Passport in the USA is a simple process; enter your info in the online form, print it, get a new picture and mail it off, not forgetting the most important part, the fee of $110. You gotta pay the man.
What caught my attention as I was going through this process were all the stamps that I have in my Passport. These stamps represent the trips I’ve taken, the places I’ve visited, the stories I can tell (some true) and, the people I’ve met. The sad thing is that someday, probably soon, these ink stamps will probably be phased out as everything becomes digital, that makes me sad in a way.
I remember that we renewed our last Passports in preparation for our first trip to Spain. We spent a little over 2 weeks and traveled to Grenada, Sevilla, Bilbao, Donostia/San Sebastian and Madrid.
The Alhambra was stunning, visiting the Moorish Bath’s and seeing the sites of Sevilla including the resting place of Christobal Colón (Christopher Columbus). While interesting, he’s also the man that began the decimation of the Native American people.
World Cup mania in the year that Spain won the World Cup, Pride Month and street parties in Bilbao and Madrid. Festivals in Orio with fresh caught fish and local beef cooked on oak fired open grills. Tapas in both Donostia/San Sebastian and Bilbao will never be forgotten.
Driving in the Pyrenees very near where the Camino de Santiago crosses from France to Spain, getting lost, the phantom GPS and Leighton’s T-Shirt shop. And, a day trip to Guernika-Lumo and hearing about the Camino de Santiago from the first Pilgrim I’d ever met. All of these memories made me fall in love with Spain and set into place my return in 2017 to walk the Camino Francés to Santiago de Compostela. Our travelling companions were Leighton, Renee, Meg and Jean.
2013 brought us back to Spain but only briefly. On our first trip we did not visit Barcelona, we corrected that on this trip with a 2 day visit to that beautiful city, not enough time but, there’s always next year.
We moved on to Beaune, France, the heart of the Burgundy region. Susan and I had visited in January 1991 on a ridiculously cheap 5-day trip. For some, that may not mean much but first of all it was the dead of winter and, it was also just before the first Gulf War, Desert Storm and no one was travelling for fear of terrorist attacks perpetrated by Saddam.
On that trip we took a day trip to Beaune and enjoyed it so much we knew that we had to take our friends there, which we did. This region of France is beautiful, the city is worth visiting and the caves that riddle the ground beneath the city and store the wines of the region are a must see. We did a driving tour on the Wine Road and I tasted probably the best white wine I’ve ever had in in Meursault, too bad I was driving.
We traveled south via train to Arles which became our home base as we day tripped to Avignon, Orange and Nîmes. On July 4th, we drove out to the Pont du Gard and caught the Tour de France as the Peloton raced through Beaucaire. Something that most Americans will never experience.
We finished with a quick visit to Paris, the last time I saw Notre-Dame prior to the tragic fire and the first time I saw Monet’s Water Lilies in person at the l’Orangerie. A quick train trip to London via the Chunnel, Jersey Boy’s in the West End and then home.
Once again, memories made with Susan, Leighton, Renee, Meg, Jean, Linda and my late friend Dave.
2014 was Maui, no Passport stamp here but, good friends, this time including Steve and Nancy who travelled with us to Italy but that stamp is in the previous Passport. For my European friends, Hawaii is an 8-hour flight from Dallas so it feels like an international flight.
2016 took us to Istanbul and southern Italy, Naples, Sorrento and Rome with a couple days in the Cinque Terre.
Istanbul is a beautiful city in a very troubled country. Our guide, Mine (Mee-Nay) not only showed us this city, she also helped explain the turmoil in her country. But it seems that this city has been in turmoil throughout history.
The Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Cisterns built by Justinian are staggering in their beauty and historical significance. The park on the site of the Roman Hippodrome was ground zero for the Ramadan celebration which was occurring during our short visit.
We flew next to Naples where we met our daughter Leah. Our tight and very comfortable travel pack once again consisted of Susan, Leighton and Renee, Leah fit in well as she’s known Leighton all her life and Renee for many years.
On the Sorrento peninsula we stayed in Baia di Puolo and day tripped to Capri, Pompei and enjoyed walking the hillsides as we were now sort of training for out Camino.
Rome came next, a dazzling busy city that from a tourist’s point of view was quite walk-able from our Airbnb flat in the Piazza Navona neighborhood. A quick visit to the Cinque Terre and more hills to walk which Leighton and I did, Renee joined Leighton and Susan, Leah and I traveled to Pisa which we’d missed on our earlier trip to Italy. That night, we heard about the bombing at the airport which we would be flying through to get home in a couple days.
2017 took some of us back to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago, a trip well documented in this blog so, I’ll only say the event changed my view on many things. The people I met, some I now consider good friends, will never be forgotten.
My Passport reminds me of our 2018 trip to Iceland, Ireland and Germany. Some locations were new, some were a return, Ireland and Germany allowed me to reconnect with Camino friends and, neighbors from Dallas.
Iceland was a stark and beautiful place, we arrived just after the solstice so the sun was up until 0200 and rose again at about 0415, it never got dark and I was happy that I had my eye shades.
We hiked a glacier, a first for Susan but I think she enjoyed it. We drank and ate outrageously expensive food and wine and we thoroughly enjoyed the Blue Lagoon and I think the most expensive lunch I’ve ever eaten. I must say though that I was totally relaxed after that visit.
Ireland brought me back to my friends Bernie and Nigel, Camino friends of the first degree. They shared their knowledge of the Dingle Peninsula with us and welcomed Susan as if she’d trekked across Spain with us. Dublin brought its own surprise, an evening with our neighbors from Dallas and the opportunity of meet G’s family there.
Germany brought a reunion with my Ω (omega) friend Katja. I call her my omega friend as she was the last friend from my 2017 Camino that I met, like Leo, my Α (alpha) friend. I’m lucky that we met, she’s a good friend. Like Bernie and Nigel in Ireland, it gave Susan an opportunity to meet another friend that I’d met while gone for 5 weeks, it put a face with a name.
Now as I look at my rapidly filling Passport, I’m reminded of my return to Spain last month, the Camino and more friends. My trip this year began as a very solo experience. Unlike the Camino Francés, the Camino Inglés is a solitary walk through the hills and valleys of Galicia. This sometimes-lonely walk made me look forward to my reunion with old friends near León.
Meeting Chris and Steve, the Professors from 2017 and now friends here in Texas was great fun. Chris was escorting a group of her students across the Camino, a totally new experience for them. Monasteries, Convents, Municipal Albergues and a vegetarian/yoga albergue had to be as alien as it comes.
More old friends joined us in Astorga. Leo, Leighton, Renee and Katja caught us there and we walked together for another day and a half until we had to separate.
Mi Amiga, Katja, who I call the Camino Beast as this was her 5th Camino, we walked for several days together. I apparently earned a new nickname, her Goat Brother, hermano de cabra because of my hill climbing ability. What she didn’t point out was that on the downhill portion, I probably deserved a less flattering nickname. We separated in Ourence as she continued on to Puebla de Sanabria and the Camino Sanabres and I went on to Santiago and my trip home.
Looking at the stamps in my soon to expire Passport has brought all of these memories back in a tidal wave of happiness and, some sadness. Wonderful sites, tragic events, incredible food and wine, tales, true and embellished and People. People that I will never forget. Sharing food and drink with these people. Sharing a crowded albergue with people I hardly knew. Saying goodbye to those same people and saying hello to the people who await me upon my arrival home.
All of this summarized in a navy-blue, well-worn, government issued booklet containing a bad picture, a bar code, a micro-chip and multi-colored stamps representing these places, people and memories. It seems like an odd trigger but, a trigger it was. So now, a new Passport with clean pages waiting to store 10 more years of new memories, is in my immediate future. I can’t wait.