Travelling in Spain. Camino Tui-Santiago de Compostela. Part one

Town of Valenza (Portugal)

Fortified Constructions of Valenza (Portugal)

This particular Camino to Santiago de Compostela is our second pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Apostle James, son of Zebedee. Our first pilgrimage followed the oldest route that bears the name Camino Primitivo, and the entire route passed through the beautiful area between Lugo and Santiago de Compostela. This year we decided to make a journey by no less scenic route beginning from Lisbon, Portugal, and going along the Atlantic Ocean in the north direction, to Spain. The Portuguese route of the pilgrims is called Camino Portuguese.

In order to carry out our next journey, we turned to His Holiness Pope Francis for His blessing, and, having obtained it, we started out on our way.

Route Map of the Portuguese Camino

Our group consisted of five people; the captain and privy councillor was Slava Kim; the mastermind and chief supervisor watching over the implementation of the program, and, concurrently, our secretary-chronographer was Yelena – Slava’s spouse; the cup-bearer and one responsible for toasts and words of encouragement was Andrei Kalashnikov; the helmsman, and, concurrently, our driver was Andrei from Pontevedra; and the last one to rear our group was I, your humble servant.

Blessing of Pope Francis for Making a Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 2015

We started our journey on foot on September 23. Before that, during our travel in Portugal, at the Cathedral of the city of Porto we received the pilgrims’ credentials (credencial). When we arrived at Valenza (in Portuguese it sounds like Valenka), a town on the border with Spain, first of all we took a sightseeing tour of the city and the remains of the city wall with the fortification buildings, and then we went to a local café to eat our breakfast. It was our last Portuguese breakfast. There was Spain ahead of us.

After finishing our breakfast and crossing over the MinhoRiver, crossing the border as well, we found ourselves in the neighbouring town of Tui. It was from Tui, where our Camino to Santiago de Compostela on foot – over one hundred kilometres long, began.

Manuscript Codex Calixtinus

Tui is a town in Galicia, in the province of Pontevedra. The town’s population is over 17 thousand people. The city was formed around a hill, which is topped by Santa Maria, a Romanesque cathedral of the 13th century, built as a fortress, in view of the frequent wars between Portugal and Spain during the Middle Ages. Of special interest in the cathedral’s ensemble are the inner court (cloister) of the 15th century, the west portal, and the carved seats of the choir dating from the 18th century. Next to the cathedral there is a Baroque Church of Saint Telmo (iglesia de San Telmo), who is a patron of fishermen. Most likely, that patron is not the Dominican monk and pilgrim named Telmo, who lived in the 12th-13th centuries and is buried in Tui, but Saint Erasmus¹, who is traditionally believed to be the patron of fishermen. The Gothic Church of Holy Resurrection is very interesting too (iglesia de Santo Domingo), with galleries overgrown with ivy, and carved stone tombstones.

The MinhoRiver, on the banks of which Tui stands, serves as the natural border between Spain and Portugal. Two bridges connect Tui and Portuguese Valenza: Puente International (Puente Internacional), built in 1884, and another one, built in the 1990s.

Pilgrim’s Passport (credencial)

Today you can get from one country to the other one without any visible barriers, but just until the recent time it had not been that way. Before these bridges were opened, you could get to Portugal by the old bridge. For over one hundred years that bridge was the symbol of oneness and distance at the same time between Galicia and Portugal. New bridge Puente Internacional is almost 130 years old now. According to some rumours, the bridge was designed by Gustave Eiffel himself. But this is far from being true, because the French engineer at that time was working on the design of the Central Railway Station of Santiago in Chile. Nevertheless, although the bridge was not Eiffel’s work, his influence in its design is quite obvious, because he was the one, who made steel constructions fashionable around the whole world at the end of the XIXth century.

Vineyards on the Way to Redondela

In reality, the development of the design was commissioned to engineer Pelayo Mancebo and to the Belgian company Braine-le-Compte. Before the construction started, many different projects had been presented, closely followed by all Galicians. In the new bridge they saw the opportunity for economic growth because of the connection between Galicia and the large Portuguese cities. The final project consisted of magnificent crossbars supported on high original columns that formed two passes, one above – for the railway tracks, and one below – for cars and pedestrians. In 1886, two years after it was opened, the bridge was equipped with electrical lights.

Cornfields

On the first day of our journey we decided to cover the distance of 29 kilometres, and stop at the town of Redondela. The weather was favourable to us – it was warm, like in summer, and the morning breeze from the ocean pleasantly refreshed us.

The route from Tui to Redondela is not difficult; it goes through some little groves and runs into numerous streams and creeks. The forest mostly consists of eucalyptuses, pines, oaks, and chestnut trees. Sometimes on our path we could see laurels, and short orange trees. The wooded landscapes alternated with agricultural fields and rural settlements.

Dog is Having a Siesta

Along the entire route, vineyards and corn fields are laid out; from time to time we saw gardens with pumpkins and “Spanish” cabbage. Spanish cabbage is tall as a man, it does not curl into a cabbage head, but grows straight up instead.

Especially scenic were the villages along our way – with smartly cut grass, and the abundance of blossoming and unbelievably fragrant flowers and shrubs, and with neat and carefully preserved churches, chapels, road crosses, and hórreos, some of which are over one thousand years old. It is difficult to believe that these stone constructions are the silent witnesses of the times long gone, and they remember the first pilgrims.

Rural Galicia

Approximately by two o’clock in the afternoon, instead of the breeze there came the blazing heat, and siesta began. Everything around us became empty, even the domestic animals took cover, waiting out the heat of the day. We also had to interrupt our Camino, and, finding a comfortable spot in the shadow of a wide-branched oak tree, we stopped for rest.

Having rested for a while and recovered our strength, we continued our Camino again. Our first day of Camino was drawing to an end. At some distance ahead we saw Redondela, where we had planned our dinner and overnight stop.

Redondela is a little fishermen town with the population of just over thirty thousand people. Of its notable sights one can mention the viaduct that stretches over the whole town, to be more precise, two viaducts. Both of them were built in the second half of the XIXth century.

Pilgrim’s Path

We stopped at Hotel Antolin, which is situated on the shore of Vigo Bay, four kilometres from the town’s centre. Out the windows of the hotel, there was an excellent view of the bay and little island San-Simon. In the past, there was a hospital on the island, and now there is a hotel there.

Since we had an entire evening unengaged, and there was still plenty of time before dinner, we decided to inspect the neighbourhoods of Redondela.

Soutomaior Castle

Next to Redondela there is a little town Soutomaior, which is famous for its castle. The same-named Castle of Soutomaior is located in the geographic centre of the town, on one of the highest elevations, and from the castle there are some amazing views of the neighbouring area. The owner of the hotel, in which we stopped, told us that close to the castle there is a Botanic Garden laid out, and that garden is famous for its camellias, and for the Camellia Festival.

The Castle of Soutomaior is an architectural complex that encompasses a medieval fortress and a Neo-Gothic palace of the 19th century. The architectural complex comprises two towers, joined to each other through residential quarters with an inner yard, surrounded by a double stone wall.

View of the Neighbourhood from Soutomaior Castle

The palace was built in the 12th century, during the reign of King Alfonso VII; the first owner of the castle was archbishop of Braga Mendo Páez de Sorred. In the 15th century, the castle became the property of Pedro Álvarez de Soutomaior², commonly known as Pedro Madruga. During that time the castle turned into a defensive fortress with towers and a double defensive wall, becoming the epicentre of the south Galicia’s political activities in the 15th century. The name of Pedro Madruga is connected to one of the recent sensational investigations, which identified him as Christopher Columbus (see the footnote).

As time went by, the castle passed from hands to hands, from one owner to another – and every owner made his changes in the architecture of the castle. The greatest reconstruction the castle underwent in the 19th century, when it passed into the ownership of Don Antonio González de Aguilar y Correa³, 8th Marquis of la Vega de Armijo. In the 19th century, the castle from a medieval fortress turned into a Neo-Gothic palace, and since that time it has been used as a summer residence.

After inspecting the castle, and enjoying the views of the Galician landscapes, having also visited the Botanic Garden, we decided to return to the hotel, where the dinner had been waiting for us.

For dinner we were served an assortment of the local seafoods accompanied by the local homemade white wine. At the dinner table we chatted and shared our impressions of the first day of Camino, and made plans for the next day.

Saint Erasmus – Erasmus of Antioch, or Erasmus of Formia, also known as Elmo, Ermo, Telmo – is a Christian saint revered as a martyr. He was born in Antioch (modern Turkey) and lived in Formia (Italy). He died circa 303 AD. In the Catholic Church he is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. According to the legend, his torturers took out his intestines and wound them around a windlass. Being the patron of the Mediterranean seafarers, Erasmus had a windlass as his symbol, and this fact, according to some authors, became the source of the legend about his martyrdom. After Formia had been destroyed by the Saracens, the saint’s relics and cult were moved to Gaeta (Italy), where until this day there is a cathedral dedicated to this saint. Furthermore, one natural phenomenon is related to Saint Elmo that came to be called Saint Elmo’s Fire. Saint Elmo’s Fire is an electric discharge in the shape of glowing fascicles or tassels (or a crown discharge), appearing on the sharp pointed ends of tall objects such as towers, masts, single trees, sharp tips of the cliffs, etc., in a strong electric field in the atmosphere. The manifestation of this fire bode well for the seamen’s success, or, when they were in danger, gave them hope for salvation.

²Pedro Álvarez de Soutomaior – was born around 1430 in Pontevedra. Although Pedro was born out of the wedlock, his father Fernand Yáñez, who belonged to the most influential family in Galicia – the Soutomaiors, made him his heir. Galicia at that time retained some elements of self-government, as a result of the dynastic union between Castile and Leon (1230), although it suffered from the dominance of the Castilian officials. When an uprising began in Galicia in 1467 against the king of Castile Enrique IV (the Impotent), Pedro Madruga headed up the insurgents. At first, King of Portugal Afonso V took sides with the Galicians, but the lack of coordination between the nobles led to the defeat. Moreover, Afonso V was smartly put out of the game through a dynastic scheme – he was offered a marriage union with the young Isabella of Castile – the one, who would soon give her consent to the Columbus’ voyage to America. Despite the fact that Pedro Madruga and his soldiers fought bravely, the uprising was put down by 1471.

Three years later, Enrique IV died in Castile, and the civil war between the supporters of the two queens – Isabella of Castile and Joanna la Beltraneja began. Afonso V, as well as Pedro Álvarez de Soutomaior, got involved in this war on the side of Joanna. The Battle of Toro that took place on March 1, 1476, between the Portuguese-Galician and Castilian troops had an inconclusive outcome; however, the chroniclers of each party felt that they had won. However, the Portuguese military strength had been undermined, and the supporters of Joanna la Beltraneja had to retreat to Portugal. The final victory was secured for Castile by the decision of the papal throne to annul the marriage between Joanna la Beltraneja and Afonso on account of their family relation: Afonso was Joanna’s maternal uncle. It meant that the claims of the Portuguese king to the Castilian throne became groundless. Soon Afonso died, and the situation of the Galician party became quite hopeless: Portuguese dukes, especially the dukes of Braganza and Viseu, wanted to make the new king, John II, a pawn in their intrigues, threatening to go over to the Castilian side.

Fearing that his lands would be handed over to the faithful vassals of the Castilian crown, and his family line would thus fail, Pedro Madruga decided to return to the Castilian court and ask for forgiveness from Ferdinand and Isabella. To do this, he asked for the patronage of the Duke of Alba, and the Duke seemingly accommodated Madruga’s request, suggesting that he should wait until the royal couple visited the castle Alba de Tormes Torre in Salamanca. The occasion presented itself in the autumn of 1486. By agreement with the Duke, Madruga was waiting for the results of the Duke’s presentation of his case in the monastery of San Leonardo. Whether Pedro Álvarez de Soutomaior was forgiven, or the whole story with this appeal for pardon was but a subtle scheme of the “most Christian” king Ferdinand and queen Isabella, aimed at neutralizing one of the most dangerous Galician separatists, we will hardly ever know. On the 16th of October, 1486, Pedro Álvarez de Soutomaior, commonly known as Madruga, died due to a suddenly developed carbuncle.

Big resonance in the scientific blogosphere was caused by a handwriting study published in a special blog aimed at the identification of the person of Christopher Columbus. Although the study itself was conducted a few years ago, the web publication stirred up the public’s interest. The expert who did the study was Maria Torres Legarreta. In the course of the graphological study, the identity of the characters of Christopher Columbus and Galician nobleman Pedro Álvarez Soutomaior, Count of Caminha, commonly known as Madruga, was proved.

The study was founded on the idea that the neurophysiological and psychological character traits manifest themselves through unconscious actions associated with the peculiarities of the process of writing graphic symbols. The tracing of certain letters and letter combinations is a part of the person’s automatisms, and can not be repeated by the conscious copying. Photocopies of 20 of the 43 currently known autographs of Columbus dating from 1493-1504 were used as the material for the study. For the study of Madruga’s handwriting, such documents were used as “The confederate agreement of the Galician nobility against the Archbishop of Santiago”, dated November 13, 1470, and other documents provided by the noble department of the National Archives of Spain and the organization “The House of the Dukes of Alba,” the purpose of which is to preserve the Spanish cultural heritage. The study focused on such calligraphic handwriting features of both handwritings as the location of the text on the paper, the size and shape of the letters, the pressure and the speed of writing, solid spelling and presence of ligatures and other elements.

According to the conclusion of the graphological study, both Pedro Madruga and Christopher Columbus used Courteous Gothic style of writing, which was introduced in Spain circa 1425. The handwriting samples of both men matched the paleographic features of the late XVth century. One is struck by the similarity of the location of the text on the sheet – on the left at the beginning of the line they both left some free space, whereas in the right half of the sheet they wrote more compactly. The handwriting of both men under examination was quick, showing their desire to save time and simplify the lines. Maria Torres Legarreta notes that there is a ten-year interval between the samples of Pedro Madruga’s handwriting (the last document dates from 1484) and Columbus’ handwriting (the earliest one of them – from 1493); and because of this, some graphic elements have evolved, still retaining their similarities, such as the angular ovals, and elongation of the vertical axes. The most telling example is the sharpness of the angle in their writing of the letter “a”, especially at the beginning of the word. Another consequence of the angularity of ovals common for both authors is the jagged letter «m». The third example of the similarity of angular ovals is the writing of «o», which is similar to «u». One feature of Columbus has been also noted, and that is – he always tried to write on the front side of the paper calligraphically, as if making efforts to change the handwriting, whereas on the reverse side he wrote more impulsively and naturally. It is these final lines that have a greater number of similarities with the graphics of Pedro Madruga. An example of this is the letter of the monk to Admiral Gaspard de Gorrisio.

The autographs of Pedro Madruga and the back sides of the letters of Columbus exhibit similar expression and amplitude, although the lines of Columbus are softer and more restrained, which can be explained by the fact that between them there was a difference in age: the earliest autograph of Madruga is dated from 1470, and the latest autograph of Columbus – 1504. This gives us ground to suggest that all these texts were written by the same person at different periods of his life. The equal speed of writing characteristic for both Madruga, and Columbus, is manifested in sharp and thin strokes, reduction of the ovals and curved lines. The similarity of the emotional temperament of both authors is noted in the features of the pressure applied on the quill. The most obvious points of similarity are manifested in the size of the letters and the peculiarities of their writing. The most characteristic one of these peculiarities is the writing apart of the common Spanish combination of letters «el». Another specific similarity of these handwritings is a special form of writing the capital letter «S», very reminiscent of «G». One more peculiar feature, pertaining to the handwriting of both men – is the similarity of the loops, for example, when writing lowercase letters «d» and «y».

In light of the graphological study of Maria Torres Legarreta, a different course of events can be assumed: Madruga learned that the “most Christian” monarchs refused to forgive him, and decided to stage his own death.

Moreover, 1486 is the year of the first refusal of Ferdinand and Isabella on the draft of the voyage to Asia submitted by Columbus. After that, he was rejected by the board of geographers and theologians who found his voyage an unrealistic adventure. In 1484 (that is, still in the lifetime of Pedro Madruga) Columbus sent a similar project to John II, but the latter was too busy to bother about some expeditions to Asia. It should be noted that in the biography of Columbus there are a lot of gaps and mysteries. Because of the confusion in the documents, about once in every few years, a new original version of the identity of Columbus is presented. But 10-15 years that preceded his voyage to America are documented quite well. So it is quite possible that the yet unrecognized explorer and the old knight could have met somewhere in Lisbon, or could have even been introduced to each other. By the way, as far as their age is concerned: in 1486, Pedro Álvarez Soutomaior was just a little over 50 years old, whereas Columbus was about 35, and it is hard to imagine that even such a brave hero, as the aging Galician hidalgo Pedro Soutomaior was, could for a long time pretend to be a man who was 15 years younger than himself.

(Material taken from the web-resource: http://www.faet.ru)

³Don Antonio González de Aguilar y Correa (1824-1908) - 8th Marquis of la Vega de Armijo and 5th Count of Bobadilla, a Spanish noble and political figure, who served as Prime Minister of Spain between 1906 and 1907; Minister of State in the government headed by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta.