This will be the final installment about our spring 2025 trip to Europe. The previous two posts, which were all about our Camino, can be found here and here.

As I’ve mentioned before, I am a reward based hiker. I like a special treat at the end of a hike, be it an amazing view, special meal, or something else. I generally don’t like walking just for the sake of it. So, as you can well imagine, I needed a very special reward for walking a Camino! Steven & Linda had already built in the reward for me this time – 4 full days in PARIS! Bill & I, along with Rick & Linda decided to also spend 2 nights/I full day in Madrid, one night in Pamplona, and one night in Saint Jean Pied de Port.

We left out early from our AirBnB in Santiago de Compostela, and arrived in plenty of time to catch our 3 hours 15 minute train ride to Madrid. Our rooms at our hostel/hotel weren’t ready yet, as it was still before noon. Thankfully, they held our packs for us so we could go get some lunch. We found our way to the city center, we enjoyed our lunch while relaxing with a glass of wine.

There was advertisements for Flamenco dancing so we decided to see a show that night. I didn’t know what to expect, but we all really enjoyed it. Its kind of like tap dancing, but with more emotion.

The following morning, we headed out for a bus tour, you know the kind, where you get to sit outside on the upper deck. There was a special rate if you booked 2 tours and since we wanted to see as much of the city as possible, we took advantage of that.

Our train to Pamplona was scheduled for mid-morning and was about 3 hours. The AirBnB was ready for us when we arrived. We were right at the city center, in the middle of everything. Since we were only there one night, we didn’t have a lot of time, just enough to get a little taste of Pamplona. While out walking around and getting dinner, we found out the bus to St Jean Pied de Port, our next stop, was walking distance.

St Jean Pied de Port is the starting place for the Camino Frances, which is just under 500 miles, and crosses the Great Pyrenees Mountain range. Steven & Linda walked that a few years ago. This time they were walking the Via Podiensis (aka GR 65) from Le Puy-en-Velay to SJPdP, which is about 470 miles. That Camino is considered one of the more strenuous walks and is less traveled.

Steven & Linda had arrived in SJPdP a few days before us, resting after their 40 day adventure. Their AirBnB was walking distance from the bus stop and Linda D, being Linda D, had prepared a yummy lunch for us. It was so nice to relax and enjoy exchanging stories. Oh – and introducing them to Linda Y and Rick , since they had never met before.

Afterwards, we walked down to find our hotel which, again, was right in the center of town. Dinner was at a little place nearby we could easily walk to. Our train didn’t leave until around 5pm the next day, which allowed us time to take in a little of the town. I would have expected a larger town, especially considering it was the start of the most popular Camino. There were lots of pilgrims, most getting ready to leave and begin their walk.

The bullet train sure was fast with a top speed of about 200mph! The change of trains in Bayonne was thankfully uneventful, and we arrived in Paris as expected around 11:30pm. Steven & Linda D had caught an earlier train, but waited up to greet us when we arrived. The AirBnB they picked out was perfect for us – 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths, and in the neighborhood of Le Marais. It was going to be nice to not have to pack up again for 5 days!

Paris was amazing! Rather than type out a blow-by-blow, I’ll just show you in pics the places we went and things we saw!

Of course, we saw the Eiffel Tower! The featured pic at the top was our first glimpse of it – I had no idea it lit up like that! We went a couple of times at different times of the day, as well as at night to see it in different light.

Another obvious place we had to see was Notre Dame Cathedral. As many churches as we had seen so far, this one was, by far, the most beautiful. Interesting to note, there are lines (hours long) to get into Notre Dame (and also Sacre Coeur) but because we were pilgrims, we were able to skip the line and get in by showing our credentials and asking to get a stamp. We did cheat a little because Rick just followed in with us, but we did get our stamps, then walked around to see the rest.

A runner up to Notre Dame was Sacre Coeur Basilica. I had to use Google to learn the official difference between a Cathedral and Basilica. Turns out its kind of like the all bourbons are whiskey, but not all whiskeys are bourbon type of thing. All Basilica’s are Cathedrals but not all Cathedrals are Basilica’s. A Cathedral, which is defined as such (vs just being a church) is the home of a Bishop. A Cathedral becomes a Basilica when it’s given that title by the Pope. There are major and minor Basilica’s, in or near Rome. Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur are both minor Basilica’s.

We couldn’t leave Paris without a visit to Le Louvre. Even with a map and signage all over the place, it was still very confusing to get around in. At the end of the day, we did manage to see most of it, including the most famous painting of all – the Mona Lisa.

The Palace of Versailles was equally as impressive, but since there was a “path” to follow, it was much easier to not miss anything. It was a HUGE building, as was Le Louvre, but the grounds were also beautiful.

The food in Paris didn’t disappoint. I even tried escargot, and was not a fan.

I will tell you this: Paris in 5 days is a whirlwind. While we definitely saw the larger highlights, there were many many things left for a next time.

Previous Post: Camino – Walking the Walk, Camino – Prep, Arrival, and Costs

Look forward to: Canadian Maritimes with Fantasy

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