Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route into SpainWhen Jack Hitt set out to walk the 500 miles from France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, he submitted to the rigorous traditions of Europe's oldest form of packaged tour, a pilgrimage that has been walked by millions in the history of Christendom. Off the Road is an unforgettable exploration of the sites that people believe God once touched: the strange fortress said to contain the real secret Adam learned when he bit into the apple; the sites associated with the murderous monks known as the Knights Templar; and the places housing relics ranging from a vial of the Virgin Mary's milk to a sheet of Saint Bartholomew's skin. Along the way, Jack Hitt finds himself persevering by day and bunking down by night with an unlikely and colorful cast of fellow pilgrims -- a Flemish film crew, a drunken gypsy, a draconian Belgian air force officer, a man who speaks no languages, a one-legged pilgrim, and a Welsh family with a mule. In the day-to-day grind of walking under a hot Spanish sun, Jack Hitt and his cohorts not only find occasional good meals and dry shelter but they also stumble upon some fresh ideas about old-time zealotry and modern belief. Off the Road is an engaging and witty travel memoir of an offbeat journey through history that turns into a provocative rethinking of the past. |
Contents
1 | |
ONE SaintJean Pied de Port The Pyrenees 29 | 29 |
THREE Estella | 45 |
FOUR Torres del Río | 70 |
EIGHT Villafranca | 165 |
NINE O Cebreiro | 185 |
ELEVEN Santiago | 229 |
Afterword | 247 |
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Common terms and phrases
afternoon American ancient appears arrived Augustín Basque Beautiful bunks called carved cathedral Cebreiro century Chanson de Roland Charlemagne Claudy cloister crowd day’s dogs door Dreek drink eyes face Flemish French Frómista German girls grims hand head Holy hostel idea JACK HITT Jacques de Molay James’s Javier Jesús José Marie Knights Templar language León look Madame Debril man’s means medieval miracles monastery morning mountain mule mystery never pack Pamplona parador pilgrim pilgrimage Ponferrada pope priest pulls Pyrenees Ramón relics Rick and Karl road to Santiago Romanesque Romanesque church Saint James says sense shell side sleeping Spain Spanish speaks stone story street tell tent tion Torres del Río tourist town tradition Triacastela true pilgrim Ultreya village walking the road wheat Willem Willie Willie’s woman word yellow arrows
Popular passages
Page 8 - And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.
Page 9 - But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles, exercise lordship over them ; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.
Page 13 - Its doors are open to all, well and ill, not only to Catholics, but to pagans, Jews and heretics, the idler and the vagabond and, to put it shortly, the good and the wicked.