A Camino-themed stroll in London

[Bradypus]

While walking the Via de la Plata recently a friend asked me if the Portico de la Gloria is open to the public again. Sadly I think it's only accessible as part of a group tour. It used to be a very moving experience to arrive in the Obradoiro square at the end of your Camino, walk up the steps, through the "modern" Gothic/Baroque facade and then discover the Romanesque Portico. Pausing to put your hand on the Tree of Jesse pillar in the marks worn by many thousands of pilgrims over the centuries. Nod to Master Mateo on the inside face of the pillar. Then walk straight up the central aisle towards the high altar. With your rucksack still on your back. No longer possible and unfortunately entering the cathedral by a side door lacks the dramatic effect!

I'm staying with family in London today and I remembered that there is a full-size plaster cast of the Portico in the V&A museum. An enormous piece of very detailed work. So I went to see it again after many years. I then walked to Trafalgar Square. The Camino connection? On the corner of Trafalgar Square where Northumberland Avenue meets Whitehall there is a Tesco Express and Pret a Manger. But for several hundred years pre-Reformation that was the site of St Mary Rounceval. A pilgrim hospital and a daughter house of the great monastery at Roncesvalles. It was the religious house for which Chaucer's Pardoner sold his indulgences. So in the space of a couple of hours I walked from the Portico to Roncesvalles (sort of...)

 

[henrythedog]

Excellent!

There’s so much out there if you know where to look.

On my first visit to Florence many years ago I found myself in front of the famous Duomo Baptistry doors (Ghiberti). ‘Hang on a moment!’ I said ‘I’ve seen these before’.

And so I had; one of the very few cast reproductions in the Harris Museum in Preston, Lancashire as a child with my grandfather.

 

[malingerer]

While walking the Via de la Plata recently a friend asked me if the Portico de la Gloria is open to the public again. Sadly I think it's only accessible as part of a group tour. It used to be a very moving experience to arrive in the Obradoiro square at the end of your Camino, walk up the steps, through the "modern" Gothic/Baroque facade and then discover the Romanesque Portico. Pausing to put your hand on the Tree of Jesse pillar in the marks worn by many thousands of pilgrims over the centuries. Nod to Master Mateo on the inside face of the pillar. Then walk straight up the central aisle towards the high altar. With your rucksack still on your back. No longer possible and unfortunately entering the cathedral by a side door lacks the dramatic effect!

I'm staying with family in London today and I remembered that there is a full-size plaster cast of the Portico in the V&A museum. An enormous piece of very detailed work. So I went to see it again after many years. I then walked to Trafalgar Square. The Camino connection? On the corner of Trafalgar Square where Northumberland Avenue meets Whitehall there is a Tesco Express and Pret a Manger. But for several hundred years pre-Reformation that was the site of St Mary Rouncival. A pilgrim hospital and a daughter house of the great monastery at Roncesvalles. It was the religious house for which Chaucer's Pardoner sold his indulgences. So in the space of a couple of hours I walked from the Portico to Roncesvalles (sort of...)

View attachment 120773
View attachment 120774
View attachment 120775
View attachment 120776

I love it! Its amazing how the roots of the Way reach out as if from a great tree to grow another sister route. The Way is always there under your feet, no matter where you are It cheers me up when I cannot physically be in Iberia!

Gracias y Buen Camino

Samarkand.