Padron, Spain

For those who follow the stages in our guidebook, Padron is designated as the last stop before Santiago. We have decided to alter this section by dividing it into two stages for a variety of reasons. There have been torrential rains for the last several days and we have had to alter our pace as we climb up and down the hills. We had heard about a lovely town at the midway point with a beautiful casa de rural. These happen to be one of our favorite places to stay and with the cold weather and rain a nice warm farmhouse sounded perfect for the day. It also meant we would arrive into Santiago earlier the next day. We could enjoy some of the afternoon before joining our friends for an early birthday dinner for Tom.

 Padron is a town with a lot of history and we wanted to investigate some of those sites. Legend has it that this was the area in which Saint James the apostle preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. The old Roman bridge still stands where he reputedly stood speaking to the crowds. It is also the place where the boat with his remains was moored before being taken to Santiago for his burial. The mooring rock still remains in the small church here.

It is also the home of two noble peace award recipients. Roslia de Castro and Camilo Jose Cela. Roslia was one of the first women writers to be recognized by Spain for her soulful writings of love and longing. A lot of flamenco music is adapted from her works. Camilo Cela won the Pulitzer peace prize in literature in the 20th century for his writing about the history and life in Spain. He also lived and died in Padron. The people in Padron are very proud of their history.

There is also a monastery just out of town which was established in the 17th century by monks from South America. They reportedly brought with them the seeds for the legendary Padron peppers. This is still the only place in all of Spain that produces these wonderfully delicious peppers from those heirloom seeds.

We are excited and slightly surprised that we are at this point in our journey. It has gone by so fast. There were moments when we longed to be in this place but I think we will miss the walking even more than we did after our last pilgrimage. We are still considering a walk along the coast but we will wait and see how the weather looks when we get there.

Until then, we are thinking of you. Longing for the time when we are together again and sharing life. Buen Camino.