Naïve & Abroad: Spain
Limping 600 Miles Through History
Photo Essay by Brandon Wilson

 

In early 2006, at age 68, I walked - limped - 600 miles from Seville to Santiago de Compostela along one of the eight pilgrimage routes in Spain, the Via de la Plata, an ancient Roman route.

Actually, I walked much farther. I got lost frequently. Other pilgrims did not get lost, or did not admit to getting lost.

Much is made of the 600 miles. 600 miles are walked the same way 600 feet or 60 feet or 6 feet are walked, one step at a time. Almost anyone can do it.

The San Antonio EXPRESS-News carried a series of columns I wrote about the walk. The columns were kindly received.

In the columns, I wrote about the beauty of Spain and the Spanish...about the endless kindness of strangers...about struggle...about days of sublime joy...about solitude almost spiritual...about personal fulfillment.

This book is the EXPRESS-News columns with bits of history sandwiched between. The history bits discuss Romans, Gypsies, Bidets, Moors, Jews, civil war, Fascism, Franco, Santiago himself, the slave trade, 1492, the Inquisition, Guernica, and more.

Brandon Wilson walked the same route a few months later. Brandon's photo essay centers the book. Brandon's experience was more spiritual than mine.

Not everyone is pleased with everything I wrote. The penultimate chapter is one Catholic friend's rebuttal...unaltered...in full. I did not intend to offend.

Others may not be pleased with my accounts of little reported aspects of the Spanish Civil War...or what happened at Guernica...or Fascism...or positive aspects of Moorish Spain.