• For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)

Search 69,459 Camino Questions

The Beauty of Ruins

Theatregal

Veteran Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Most recent: Fall 2023 Aragonés, Frances
I expect I'm not the only one who takes photos of ruins. The history, the stories they contain - remembered and forgotten. Houses, churches, hórreos, barns, cottages, stone walls, whole villages... Would love to see your photos and the location. This one, just past Bon Xesús on the way to Finisterre.

Ruin.jpg
 
Last edited:
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
A selection of Camino Jewellery
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Great idea for a thread, @Theatregal!

Quinta da Cardiga, on the Caminho from Lisbon before Golega. What used to be a glorious and luxurious estate is in a state of total abandon. The tower dates from 13C, and the Templars were somehow involved. But now it’s just a nice place for a rest for pilgrims. Lots of wisteria and some beautiful tiles, surprisingly untouched.

1CF6B682-29F2-41A0-9FAC-C5824D318820.jpegE8C52782-9054-46EF-84C9-4B37E87A6444.jpegACA27CC9-37B8-47E4-8F80-7BCCB9085937.jpegA8089CAD-D5B9-400F-B73A-73D607439FD9.jpegE8A82CEF-C2A4-4852-8B1D-CD674E41CDF7.jpeg8DB08B3F-00A4-4497-B1B4-51EF277A11A2.jpeg4B131D62-91BB-4C99-8E31-B2DDCD521DDF.jpeg
 
9 Sep #5 1137hrs Arco de San Anton.JPG9 Sep #16 1219hrs Castrojeriz and Castillo ruins.JPG
Camino Frances, ruins of Convento de San Anton and the hilltop Castillo overlooking Castrojeriz.


30 Sep #11 1001hrs Boente Raised granary opposite cafe El Aleman.JPG
Camino Frances, delapidated horreo, Boente before Ribadiso.


P4260139.JPG
Camino del Norte, first day from Irun on the Purgatorio Route, one of Mount Jaizkibel's former lookout towers, built during the 19th C Carlist Wars.

P5154016.JPG
Camino Portuguese, before Arcos, don't think this building will be used again. Old mill buildings down river from the medieval bridge over the Rio Ave, Ponte Dom Zameiro.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
The poignancy of dissolution always touches me. Looking at a ruin, I can't help but think of the excitement of the planning stage, and of all the creativity and money that went into a building that is now almost gone. And in between the construction and the dissolution, there would have been life and energy and love — where there are now only crickets.
This is what is left of Santa Maria de Lara, on the Camino San Olav. In the founation stones, the scale of what must have been an impressive structure is clearly visible,1300 years or so later. So much devotion went into this sanctuary, and you can feel it still. I found myself wondering who had been buried in those sarcophagi, and what were the stories of their lives?

IMG_1339.JPG IMG_1348.JPG IMG_1333.JPG

IMG_1327.JPG IMG_1346.JPGIMG_1340r.jpg
 
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
The Roman wall surrounding Lugo - much of it still intact. Lugo is on the Primitivo Route which I did in February and March in 2018. I walked the entire top of the wall which surrounds the great city.
The Romans took thirteen years to build the walls that surround the city of Lugo.

In the third century, when the complex of fortifications was thrown up to defend against Germanic invaders, the town was known as Lucus Augusti. It was an undertaking on a massive scale. It required enough rock and stone to create a wall that was fourteen feet wide and a height that was as much as thirty-nine feet high, but no less than twenty-six feet at any section. A man could walk his horse along the parapet on top of the wall and it would take him twenty-five minutes to complete a single circuit. Eighty-five acres of land was contained inside Lugo’s protected enclosure. In order to shoot projectiles at an enemy attempting to scale the rampart, the Romans built round towers (eighty-five of them) which jutted out from the walls. The towers eliminated any “dead spots” where the enemy could find protection from an archer’s arrows. There were just five entryways into the fortress which could be slammed shut with massive re-enforced wooden doors. This is on the top of one such defensive tower.
Lugo.jpg
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
The Monasterio Moreruela, a Cistercian monastery built in the 12th century in the Romanesque and Gothic styles is massive and in total ruin. It is on the Camino Sanabrés, about 2 km off Camino between Granja de Moreruela and Tábara. It's beauty is still amazing. Something about ruins, for me, is way more romantic and incites my imagination.

12-rear-view-monasterio-moreruela.jpg
13-upper-apse.jpg
 
love this thread!

VDLP
 

Attachments

  • 2B8149A7-7522-44CF-94C8-E325DC082F7F.jpeg
    2B8149A7-7522-44CF-94C8-E325DC082F7F.jpeg
    735.7 KB · Views: 56
  • A93B9B4B-2A40-48A6-BE6C-4D8492D1A0CD.jpeg
    A93B9B4B-2A40-48A6-BE6C-4D8492D1A0CD.jpeg
    518.2 KB · Views: 50
  • DAAAF739-66AE-4903-817C-99EF8EB98ACF.jpeg
    DAAAF739-66AE-4903-817C-99EF8EB98ACF.jpeg
    1.4 MB · Views: 49
  • 0512AA7F-C884-4184-B551-35F7730C9258.jpeg
    0512AA7F-C884-4184-B551-35F7730C9258.jpeg
    988.3 KB · Views: 48
  • 61E5F378-3B6E-460B-B360-B3517C98A4A1.jpeg
    61E5F378-3B6E-460B-B360-B3517C98A4A1.jpeg
    1.1 MB · Views: 50
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
Great idea for a thread, @Theatregal!

Quinta da Cardiga, on the Caminho from Lisbon before Golega. What used to be a glorious and luxurious estate is in a state of total abandon. The tower dates from 13C, and the Templars were somehow involved. But now it’s just a nice place for a rest for pilgrims. Lots of wisteria and some beautiful tiles, surprisingly untouched.
This was one of my favorite places on the Portuguese Way. My husband and I talked about it for hours afterward - if only we had the resources to restore it! I even did some research and found that it was for sale on Sotheby's and actually still is!! Quinta da Cardiga. I included the link if anyone is interested! It would make a fabulous pilgrim stop! Although it only has 30 bedrooms. ;) If you click through the photos on the top of the page, you will see how glorious it truly is/was!
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
This is what is left of Santa Maria de Lara, on the Camino San Olav.
I found another thread, that tells me that this is a Visigothic jewel. (I am struggling to learn and remember the difference between Visigothic, Romanesque, etc., etc.)

I have tagged the other thread with "side trips" and this one as well. If you find other threads about interesting landmarks or side trips, that deserve to be tagged, let me know by PM. Hopefully in the future, we'll be able to search within a route forum for landmarks and side trips along each route. (The complete thread is tagged - we can't select separate posts within a thread.)
 
Some buildings which have seen better years often cause me to stop, look and think of the people and times when the building were in a better state. Ribadeo on the Norte has many grand buildings crying out for restoration to return them to their days of glory. The photo is of one such building. Hopefully it can be saved before it gets to the point of beyond saving.
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Can't remember exactly where this is on the CF but certainly from a bygone era.
Bygone yes. Looking at the details suggest to me, within the last 100 years. See the relatively ornate balcony detailing and finish compared to the neighbour on the right. And the serrated window uprights. Some money at least was around at the time.

The reflection by @VNwalking is relevant here as elsewhere.
 
I found another thread, that tells me that this is a Visigothic jewel
If you find other threads about interesting landmarks or side trips, that deserve to be tagged, let me know by PM.
Good idea!
It was that thread that pushed me over the edge in deciding to walk from Santo Domingo de Silos to Burgos. There are a lot of inspiring posts to be found here on the Forum, and tags would definitely help in the finding of them.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Manjarin has seen better days, it's pretty much all ruins except for Ramon's ... and sure glad he's there!

f1a779e9-f1f8-49fe-afcd-2b44f1857145-jpeg.86001
 

Attachments

  • F1A779E9-F1F8-49FE-AFCD-2B44F1857145.jpeg
    F1A779E9-F1F8-49FE-AFCD-2B44F1857145.jpeg
    983.2 KB · Views: 373
Last edited:
Beautiful!
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Modern engineers knocked part of it down to built the new highway into Coimbre. It appears on the Brierly Map of the Route Portuguese.
How? Could? They? Do? THAT??
(Sorry for yelling...but that's unconscionable.)

Edit...phew...well, maybe because it's not Roman, but from the 16th C? Here's what the official Coimbre website says:
this aqueduct construction was ordered by King D. Sebastião in 1570, to supply water to the city’s Alta area [uptown], taking advantage of the existing route of the Roman aqueduct that existed before.

The design of this imposing structure, extending over a kilometre, is attributed to the Italian engineer Felipe Terzi.
 
Last edited:
I like this thread, thank you for sharing.
I would like to share one as well.

This photo includes 3 parts:
- the front: The ruins of the medieval monastery of the Order of San Juan
de Acre founded in the 12th century to look after pilgrims.
(Brierley's guide p.100)
- the back: the vineyards of Don Jacobo
- the far side: Navarrete

IMAG7685.jpg
It took me some time to include the 3 views + 2 pilgrims into one photo on 7 April, 2019.
 
Last edited:
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
I'd like to share a photo or two but seems my files are too big. What is the limit in size? OR is there another way to share them here?
 
I'd like to share a photo or two but seems my files are too big. What is the limit in size? OR is there another way to share them here?
My photos are sometimes too big in size too, so I take a screenshot and then try to post the picture again. That sometimes helps to "dumb it down", but not always... sometimes I just plain give up. I am a techy duffus.
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
I'd like to share a photo or two but seems my files are too big. What is the limit in size? OR is there another way to share them here?

I email my photos to myself on 'large' size of about 800k, then add to my gallery for selection. Do not use original size which for me is about 6mb and way too big for the Forum site.
Ivar says 400k, which works fine, but you can go a little higher. If it's only 100k it is a very small size photo and won't do it justice.
 
I'd like to share a photo or two but seems my files are too big. What is the limit in size? OR is there another way to share them here?
The way I previously posted large jpeg files was the way @Camino Chrissy mentioned. Sometimes the resulting files were still too large. Although the dimensions were reduced my phone only saves screenshots as PNG files and these take more space than JPGs. Other phones may do JPGs by default or there may be an option to choose which format you want.

Now I use the free app Snapseed (bought by Google) that was mentioned by a forum member. It does all sorts of edits but to do size reductions of photos this is what I do. In settings I indicated that the longest dimension of a photo be reduced to 800 pixels (there are other choices). So I open the app and tap the screen to allow me to choose the photo to work on. At the bottom I choose EXPORT. I then choose EXPORT again on the next menu. That makes the reduced photo be saved in a snapseed directory/folder and that is the picture that I choose to send to the forum.
 
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
We passed this faded beauty walking into Llanes on the Norte last year (I think we somehow got off the main track). I did some Google research and found the history of the Villa Concepcion. It was built in the late 1800s by Doña Maximina Sobriño Díaz, whose brothers made their fortunes in textiles in Mexico. This is one of the “Indianos” Heikki refers to in post #27. When the emigrants returned from the Americas, they often built fabulous homes; their gardens included palm trees to symbolize their foreign adventures. After Doña Maxima’s son died childless in 1921, the villa passed down to other relatives and was eventually abandoned. I became fascinated with the Indianos and took photos of a number of them. (Maybe a separate thread?)
57988BA3-0AFC-44C2-B32E-47AEEF964164.jpeg
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
A selection of Camino Jewellery
On my French Camino about 5 km out of Hontanas del Camino, all pilgrims will pass under this archway (Arco de San Anton) directly on the route.

Built in the 14th century the Convento de San Anton served as a hospital for medieval pilgrims.
A sickness called Saint Antonoy's Fire was treated there - the symptoms were nausea, hallucinations and burning inside the body.

No-one knew it was caused by eating moldy rye bread - the cause was a fungus that was ingested.
The monks at this place prescribed plenty of exercise, lots of red wine and they fed the afflicted white bread!
Most of the hospital building are in ruins - but the archway is still standing after 700 years.
IMG_0415.jpg
 
This post made me remember about this book I have seen in the book stores.
He is a Maine (my State) resident!

A real sense of SAUDADE presented - a nostalgic longing for what once was, but a
sadness from the knowledge that it can never be again.

The photos present by everyone on this post are so emotive and powerful!

Brian Vanden Brink is one of America's most sought-after architectural photographers. He is also drawn to the mystery and unexpected beauty found in abandoned architecture. Here Vanden Brink captures and illuminates in stunning black and white images abandoned structures such as mills, bridges, grain elevators, churches, and storefronts-structures that once were important and useful. With text by historic preservation expert Howard Mansfield, this collection of photos grants permanence to places that may soon vanish forever.

Perhaps there is a book here? "Ruins on the Camino"

Ruin.jpg
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
I was going to add St Anthony's abbey just before Castrojeriz, but that has been covered a few times already. So instead my contribution is not just a ruin but two ruins in one which are seldom visited even though they lie only 70m off the route of the CF between Portomarin and Palas de Rei. The iron age hill fort at Castromaior was made of wooden buildings surrounded by earth banks. The buildings are long gone, but when the Romans arrived they re-used the earth banks to provide protection for their own stone-built garrison. So what you see today are the preserved foundations of a Roman fort surrounded by the earth banking of its iron-age predecessor. Two ruins in one!
 

Attachments

  • Castromaior Roman camp inside the earth banks of an iron-age hill fort.jpg
    Castromaior Roman camp inside the earth banks of an iron-age hill fort.jpg
    925.1 KB · Views: 11
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
This morning I chanced upon this video of an old church in the Basque country that had been converted into a home. It took me a little while to realize that it seemed appropriate for this thread. The video is almost 18 minutes long but the first five minutes may be all you need to see. The first three minutes show it as it is now followed by two minutes showing its ruined state and the reconstruction (although at 11 minutes in you can see the incredible way one of the rooms is accessed). The first two minutes is in subtitled Spanish and then it switches to English. As with other embedded Youtube videos here if you click on the arrow you get an embedded view but if you click on the superimposed title along the top you get Youtube where you can see a bigger picture.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.

Most read last week in this forum

Could I ask what may be naive question. This will be my 1st Camino and I will be mostly staying in alberques. Could you please explain the bathroom/shower etiquette to me? I have no idea what...
Do i need both these apps? I want to spend as little time my device as possible so if one app will do fine that’s my preference.
I was planning to document my journey through my blog (or Vlog, as I would probably take lots of videos). I was thinking of using my iPhone, and I ordered a foldable keyboard to facilitate typing...
I did the Norte in 2017. This set off a wild ride of changes in life - shifting many things. I am now at a new plateau and it feels like the right time to do Camino #2, this time the...
Hi to all, I'm looking for a really, really good place (an artist) to get a Tattoo in Santiago, it could be before Santiago but I presume in Santiago I will be ready to have my first one. The...
My daughter and I will be on the Portuguese on June and July starting in Lisbon. We will arrive in Porto about the 27th of June. We want to stay for three nights. Can we stay in an albergue for...

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top