Album 2007 Périgueux - Saint-Jean- PdP Walking from Martin M. Miles

Tournus

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:13:33 +0000

....on a top floor of the church we finally found this face. Immidately
I remembered this guy. I had met him somewhere before. But I had
forgotten his name...

Saint-Gilles

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:17:45 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

..heavily vandalised during the Huguenot-wars. Here the pilgrims found the relics of Saint Gilles, who he had lived as a hermit in the area together with a hind sustaining him on her milk. King Wamba of the Visigoths shot an arrow at the hind - but wounded Saint Gilles. Wamba remoresful built him a monastery in 680 - and the Saint became the first abbot...

Toulouse

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:13:09 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

This carving is in the choir of the Basilica of St. Sernin. Christ in a mandorla. In the corner the symbols of the four evangelists. Some carvings in Saint-Sernin are very old. There are surely Influenced by artists from the Byzantine Empire, that were often employed, as they were very experienced.

Some of them worked as far north as Paderborn, Westphalia:
www.flickr.com/photos/martin-m-miles/4352287154/

Commanderie

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:12:29 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

...even holy statues can go out of fashion. We found a small collection of them in a backroom of the medieval monastry. Jesus, his mother Mary, Jean d´Arc and Bernadette Soubirous from Lourdes...

L’Hôpital-Saint-Blaise

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:57:47 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

...a small church with perfect dimensions. Built for the pilgrims in the 12th century and meanwhile way too large for the little parish of less than one hundred. The church has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela.

Canfranc Estacíon

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:11:56 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

...unfortunately the by far biggest useless railway station worldwide - was under "reconstruction". It was finished in the 1920s and never was, what it was built for...

San Juan de la Peña

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:21:23 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

...one of many well preserved capitals. Please wake me up at.....

San Juan de la Peña

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:20:21 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

...carved into a cliff. Once a very important spanish monastry and home of one of the many -lost- Holy Grails. But they showed us a copy...

Pyrenees

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:19:36 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

....this time seen from the spanish side...

Roland

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:53:03 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Roland, Errolan, Roldán, Orlando, Rotllà. A man of many names died here in 778. Roland, a paladin to Charlemagne, was killed here by the Basques on the return from Spain, having battled the Maurs (muslims) with Charemagne´s armee. To preserve his miracolous sword named Durendal (containing a tooth of Saint Peter) from heathenly hands, he threw it over a distance of about 400kms to Rocamadour, where it still sticks in the cliff today....

Huntto

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:52:19 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

..the mountains don´t really look "alpine" up here...

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:51:47 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

..a sign marks the beginning of the "Route de Napoleon", a small road Napoleon had
ordered to be constructed for the french armee to invade Spain and raid Portugal.
Now this is -peacefully - converted to the "chemin" for all walking over the Pyrenees...

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:51:09 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

..between the very early morning, when all walkers head for Roncesvalles on the other side of the mountains, and 10 o clock, when all others start their businesses, the town is very quiet...

Harambels

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:50:36 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

...an old chapel, a few houses and one street. This was slipperey, as it was covered with cow- and sheep droppings..

Saint-Palais

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:49:55 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

..had my very first encounter with an aggressive dog near a small place named "Gibraltar". After a steep ascend I saw a flock of sheep, the little "chapelle de Soyarza" under some trees - and the Pyrenees in the back....

Near Saint-Palais

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:49:24 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

....the mountain range on the horizon grew steadily with every hour I walked south...

Sauveterre-de-Béarn

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:48:25 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

...... distant saw a walker with the backpack moving on its own beside him. Approaching I found out, that there were actually two persons. A very tall one and a very small one, walking side by side. Later I had met "Emile le Grand and Petit Poulette"......

Orthez

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:48:52 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

...next morning I crossed the Adour via the old bridge...

Hagetmau

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:18:52 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

...in Saint Girons, there are some extraordenary stone-carvings.The person in the center, wearing a kind of bath robe, holding up two others by their hair, who are being eaten by two fierce lions on the corners of the capital. All without showing any emotions. This cannot be "Daniel in the Den of Lions", but it may wll be a "Master of the Beasts"..

Nodding

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:18:10 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

.... a real survivor! I had not seen such a collection box since ages.
I remember them very well from the 50s. As a little kid, I would put in a coin - and the friendly smiling boy nodded a "Thank You". I was sure, that "Vatican II" - the ecclesiastical council in the 1960 - had banned them..