Sober Camino: Impressions: Cicera, a village in the Picos de Europa

Thursday, 18 July 2013

Impressions: Cicera, a village in the Picos de Europa

Halfway along the Camino Lebaniego is a beautiful little village off the main roads, Cicera. In daytime, it is all about silence. Cowbells, sparrows, the endless sri sri of the swifts. I loved being there, so on my way back from Santo Toribio I stayed again for two days.

Cicera is surrounded by farm land. I saw one big tractor - the village itself isn't suitable for big machines. There were small mowers and little tractors for working on the steep hills around the village. Retired farmers collect the hay and keep some cattle- same as everywhere, farmers don't retire.

Most farmers are technically skilled, lot's of self engineering stuff

The old small-scale fields, not suitable for machines

Around eighty people live in the village, but in summertime there are more inhabitants. A lot of people keep their old house in Cicera, even though they moved to Santander, Barcelona, Madrid. They may have spent part of their working life in Germany in the fifties. Spaniards (and Italians) were the first large group of labour immigrants in Northern Europe, before the European Union changed everything. There was not enough work in the village.

There is some tourism in Cicera- a posada, a casa rural. But the newly built hotel next to the village (right on this photo) is empty. Luckily it is a stylish building. Architecture well thought over, quite rare in Spain. The view of the village is unspoilt. Is it wrong planning, wrong acquisition, a personal tragedy or the all-over economic crisis that left this hotel empty?

A small road through a beautiful natural forest leads to the big attraction of Cicera: a magnificient view over the La Hermida canyon.Vultures sailing by on camera distance. A historic site with remains of a medieval strongpoint. An information sign reveals the name of the spot - no English here- something poetic with Moros in it. Here I also studied the typical Spanish tourist behaviour- park the car, take a look at the viewpoint, and leave within ten minutes again. Including a behaviour lesson for the children and checking the phone three times. Ah, well, it's a big country, so much to be spotted...

No bars, no tienda here in Cicera. But the local panaderia spends hours driving around with bread everywhere. Followed by the loud music of the salesman with freezer supplies. There is no public transport any more. So you only need a neighbour with a car now and then, for the supermarket about twenty kilometers away.

Village traffic is intense. Neighbours walking in and out of each others houses; a chat, something to borrow. Big gathering this morning before the municipal albergue where I'm the only visitor. The doctor has her weekly appointment hour here. So half the village comes over for the latest news. And to take a look at that weird peregrino, who stays in their village for two days.

It was a new doctor today. She was really handsome. So it might have been a little busier than usual. Or necessary.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Sober Camino

Imagine a country with so much heritage that even some of the churches are in ruin. España.

Since I walked the Camino Frances I can say: the outside, the image, the picture, the encounters with so many different people, the landscape; it's fabulous. About the inside you may have different thoughts. The sober character a way like the Camino should have in my opinion is under pressure, for various reasons.

We live in 2024, and everything seems within reach to anyone. The world as a village, a hollywood, a... So is the Camino. I love to write about the sunny side. It really is a great and mostly joyful experience. So pack'n go! But there's a shadowside that I'll point out to.

I didn't write a blog while walking the road. Gives an energy leak. It was better for me to come home first and then quietly write all this. Just made notes for some of the impressions in Spain already, and made a lot of photo's suitable for the blog.

Two kinds of stories here: impressions of my walks (see map below) in the left column, and comments and thoughts about the Camino itself in this right column.

The date above the article can be random sometimes, I want a certain order in it. But the travel impressions are related to my walks, sorted by date. ¿Me comprendes?

It is written in English, yes... because the Camino de Santiago is a world wide web. There is also a Dutch edition.

Released 5 nov. 2012, Groningen, the Netherlands

Go west!

How many times, when I was walking a part of the Camino where I could be sure it was old, I imagined that the sound of my stick on the pavement had been here for ages. That people walked this path a thousand years ago already. And even further back in time, there is word about Kelts travelling to Finisterre, far before that... Isn't that some heritage, isn't that something that leaves traces behind, in feeling, in energy...

Of course you can state that the Camino Frances is just another beautiful walking path. But that's not how it feels to me. There's something in the air, something happening when you walk. I think about the numerous hands of friendly villagers that showed me the right way. Or the times in a lonely forest, you're standing doubtfully on a crossroad, and then there is always this other pilgrim who knows where to go.
This early morning, still dark. A small village. A man passes by, breaks the silence with a sonore bass: "Buen camino, hombre." Moments that give you wings.
Walking uneasy with painful feet, worrying if you can go on. Then there is suddenly a newly opened nice cafe, for joyful moments of rest. It wasn't even on the map.

What I would do is

How to keep it uneasy, and clean, and sober

The Camino was a bit too easy, autumn 2012. Very nice weather, many nice terraces, good moods. It was becoming cosy: 'Hi, how are you, where are you from today?' Forgotten the harsh winds of the meseta, the burning sun before Logrono.
I was lucky enough to get my real camino after Santiago. On the way to Finisterre the ocean interfered and soaked me from hair to toes for two days. Ja! Great! Sure, I got an infection on my heel, had to wear sandals, nobody else around to straighten my raincape. Good! Real camino, good suffering, that's what we need! Other peregrinos felt the same. A man passing by in the pooring rain, in a t-shirt, was offering me his raincape...

Terrace in the sun, meeting friends, making photos, sounds like a Sunday's stroll, no? Luckily it's a .....end to Santiago, so blisters were the greatest blessing this year.
I went in September, in search for some loneliness. Forget it. Only if you kept on walking after three p.m. (most peregrinos in already, afraid of not getting a bed) you could be on your own. And, indeed, after Santiago. But how to have a sort of pilgrim's feeling if you walk, well, in a row? Standing in a queue at the pilgrim's office for your credential. No sitting place in the cathedral. No more touching the foot of Jacob, because there's a fence around it! Aje aje camino frances.... are you becoming a sort of walking highway: boring, busy, traffic jammed, polluted, predictable, safe as a rock...

Where is the camino itself?

The path itself. A lot of older parts of the way have disappeared. Please stop destroying it! Why cover a centuries old path under new stone? New stone that is often too steep, with steps too big for a backpack... And why all these shortcuts? Why all these kilometers along highways?