The Rest of the Story...

Here is part 2 of the last post..
We made it over the Pyrenees only to arrive in town and find that there was no room in the only albergue. The guidebook said it had 183 beds and now they were all full. The book also said that Roncesvalles has a population of 30. We know three of them are priests and that the beautiful  site was once a monastery.  They did have two hotels in the old buildings. We went to the closest one and while waiting in line watched people being turned away. What to do? I think we all felt a little panicky. There was a man from Torino, Italy in front of us and a couple from Milan. They talked to the woman who was doing check-ins and found that there was an apartment for 6. Our new friend, Bruno from Italy, asked if we would like to share the space. We agreed. So we got to the nicely appointed, two story apartment. There were three bedrooms, each with two beds. The couple took one downstairs. The loft had two rooms. Bruno took one room and asked who was going to sleep in the other bed. We just fell apart laughing ...but you really had to be there. Emily and I couldn't convince Mona to share the room with Bruno;) We did the only thing we could -the three of us carried, pushed and pulled the bed into the girls room!

A side altar with a statue of St. James the Pilgrim

Before dinner we went to mass in  the gorgeous old church Real Collegiata de Santa Maria which was constructed at the behest of King Sancho the Strong and consecrated in 1219. The three priests came out of the sacristy singing . It was very touching-we're in Spain, we're in an ancient church with Pilgrims from all over the world and we're attending a Spanish mass just for us! At the end of the service the oldest of the priests called all the pilgrims to the front for a special blessing, which he gave in many languages. Truly amazing!