A Pilgrimage Walk from Le Puy-en-Velay to Santiago de Compostela, 2003. 6. Fourth week (16-22 May)
Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, 2003 . Week 4 (16-22 May) Friday, 16 May 2003. Condom. [Day 22] I’m writing in a small gîte run by the city, inserted into a wing of a large school building. It looks 19th century. The young woman signing us in told us with great seriousness (and with a certain delight) how pilgrims were being assaulted and robbed, including a priest (of all people), attacked both going and returning from Santiago. It’s always possible that this might happen to us; we’ll just have to hope for the best. Now, at 6:40 p.m., it has started to rain. Our touristic inspection, after my usual yoga, shave/shower, and laundry (in the large institutional shower – washbasin area), was thus cut short. But we did visit the cathedral (Gothic) and an adjacent cloister (16th century, with much 19th-century rebuilding). The town has older houses in the center, but isn’t particularly picturesque. The gray skies may be in part responsible, of course. Last ni...