April Holy Week Tour - Nancy Hoxsie Mead
Edie and I returned to Spain in April for our twice-postponed Easter on the Camino: From Seville to Santiago along the Via de la Plata Tour. Our adventurous group of ten gathered in Seville on Maundy Thursday, and for four days we experienced Holy Week in several cities on the Via de la Plata Camino route. In Seville, we viewed stunning silver and gold floats from a balcony across from the Town Hall and witnessed the predawn candlelit silent processions. In Merida, the processions under Roman arches were smaller, intimate and family oriented. In Caceres, two processions started from different churches and culminated in the joyous meeting of Our Lord and his Mother in the Plaza Mayor, complete with singing and dancing and flying white doves.
Bishop Carlos and his wife Ana met us in Salamanca, where the Bishop celebrated Easter Eucharist in a chapel of the Dominican Monastery beside our hotel. A special celebration for us that began with a recording of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” and ended with “Jesus Christ is Risen Today,” sung in Spanish. The day ended with a proper Easter feast under a full moon in the Plaza Mayor. Most days, we were able to walk a portion of the Camino, always knowing the bus was close by. We visited award-winning cheesemakers and sampled some of Spain’s finest wines. Each night we stayed in a different parador or hotel, eating excellent local foods. On April 20, we walked the final six miles into Santiago. We then spent two busy days touring the city, attending the Cathedral for the Pilgrim Mass and seeing the Botafumiero in action, sharing Eucharist at Santa Susana, and seeing a potential building for the Anglican Pilgrim Centre. We celebrated the end of our adventure with our new friends at dinner in a private dining room at the Parador.
Thank you to Joanna Wivell for her usual brilliant tour. If you want to see what you missed on the Holy Week Tour and see why you might want to join us next year, you can check out my blog at nancyelnorte.blog.