Walk with Us: Holy Week in Spain
April 9-17, 2020
One of the benefits of walking the camino in the Spring is the opportunity to observe Holy Week in Spain. Semana Santa or Holy Week has a long history in Spain. It dates back to the 16th century when Spanish pilgrims returning from Jerusalem began their own version of the Stations of the Cross. Malaga and Sevilla are most famous for their Holy Week Processions. The floats or “pasos” are huge and elaborate with much gold and silver and masses of flowers. Many of the statutes are hundreds of years old.
In 2020, we invite you to celebrate Holy Week in Spain. The Friends of the Anglican Centre in Santiago are pleased to sponsor a pilgrimage, an eight-night adventure along the Via de la Plata, a lesser traveled route of the Camino de Santiago. Starting with the dramatic setting of Seville on Maundy Thursday, we discover Spain at the most poignant time of the Spanish church year as we travel through the contrasting regions of Andalusia, Extremadura, Castile and Galicia, stepping off the path briefly for a night in the Portuguese town of Braganza. In addition to the Maundy Thursday Procession in Seville, we witness processions on Good Friday in the town of Zafra and Easter Sunday in the world heritage town of Cáceres. We finish our journey in Santiago de Compostela.
Our journey acquaints us with Spain’ s past and present. Gentle walks through contrasting landscapes of Spain s regional history, music, architecture combine with excellent food and wine. Local people on our route will share all of this with us as we make our way northwards to our final destination.
Our Trip will Feature
- Holy Thursday processions in the heart of Seville from the private balcony above the crowds, in the studio of a professional flamenco dancer
- Good Friday in Seville, Tour the Alcázar Palace, The Cathedral, the site of the Old Mosque and walk the Santa Cruz neighborhood
- Walking the Roman road to the abandoned Roman dwelling of Cáparra
- Easter Sunday procession in the World Heritage town of Cáceres
- A guided visit to World Heritage Site of Mérida with its Roman theatre and the Roman Museum designed by Rafael Moneo
- A visit to the award-winning cheese-maker Vicente Pastor
- A tasting of wines along the Via de la Plata
- Dinner at the Michelin-star red Pestaña Hotel in Braganza, Portugal
- Visits to the cathedrals and 13th-century University buildings of the Golden City of Salamanca
- Private mass with Bishop Carlos in Santiago de Compostela’s Santa Susana Church
- Farewell dinner in the 15th-century Parador de Santiago de Compostela
Booking Information
A donation of $100 per booking will be donated to the
Friends of the Anglican Pilgrim Centre of Santiago.
Hosts
Nancy Hoxsie Mead
Vice-President, Naragansett, RI
Nancy Mead lives in Narragansett, Rhode Island. She graduated from the University of Rhode Island with degrees in French and Art. Married to an Episcopal priest for forty-five years, she is the mother of two children and the doting grandmother of four. After two careers in the fashion industry and florist business, Nancy took up trekking at age 50. She has walked four different routes of the El Camino and has walked the Via Francigina from Canterbury to Rome amongst many other routes - over 6000 miles in total. She is also a keen gardner!
Joanna Wivell
+34.699.493.193
Joanna has always felt a natural attraction to Spain. She has lived in Madrid for 19 years, where she first worked in television for the lifestyle channel, Canal Estilo, and then the National Geographic Channel. For the last fourteen years, she has been showing visitors Spain with a personal, insider’s view through her companies Insider’s Madrid and Corazon Travel. Joanna has enjoyed walking on her travels through South America and in Europe. She has a love for flamenco dancing which she studied when living in Granada as a student and loves to find the real deal when she is travelling.
The Rt. Rev. Carlos López Lozano
Bishop
+34.91.445.35.60
Bishop Carlos Lopez Lozano is the leader of the Spanish Episcopal Church and he is based in the Cathedral in Madrid. He was educated at the Autonomous University in Madrid and received his higher degrees in theology at the United Seminary in Madrid and the University of Salamanca. Ordained a priest in 1985 in Madrid, ten years later, in 1995, he was consecrated the bishop. He serves on the Executive Committee for our project. In his time as bishop he has been responsible for doubling the amount of churches as it slowly recovered from the Franco dictatorship where Protestants were ostracized and many schools and churches closed and confiscated, never to be returned to the church. One of the hallmarks of his career has been opening food distribution programs throughout Spain where thousands of Spain´s unemployed and marginalized are fed every week. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles published in ecclesiastical journals. Since 1985, he has been married to Ana Rodriguez Domingo. He believes the Anglican Pilgrim Center is an important and necessary gift to the world, a pilgrim welcome center, where ordained women can celebrate the Eucharist, where a hospitality center can be created to support sustainability for the Spanish Episcopal Church and a home for the world where Episcopal leaders can be nurtured and sent out into the world.
Related Posts
Maundy Thursday on the Camino
Semana Santa - Good Friday on the Camino
