The last week has been a dizzying journey as we chose an unorthodox path for arriving to this starting point. Many pilgrims fly into Biarritz airport, about 1 hour from St. Jean. We, however, began our journey with a drive from Nazareth, Israel to Ashkelon marina where our good friends Linford and Janet Stutzman have been keeping their 34-ft sailboat, Sailing Acts. When Lin indicated that he was looking for someone to help him crew the boat on a journey from Ashkelon to Finike, Turkey, we jumped on the chance for a ride and the adventure of travel by sailboat.

We decided to undertake this journey in one straight voyage, rather than stopping in Cypress halfway as we had previously planned to do. This meant (if we were lucky) 80 hours straight of sailing. We took turns covering the “night shift,” which entails scanning the horizon for lights indicating other ships, and tracking them to make sure we are not on a collision course. We alternated between sleeping, reading, eating meals, looking at the ocean, and talking for the entire journey and arrived safely with favorable winds to Finike after only 77 hours.

Finike is a quaint little marina town, not too touristy and within an hour or two of some interesting historical ruins. We enjoyed exploring the town and marveling at how reasonable the prices are after living with Israeli prices for so long. The second morning in Finike, Dave and I took and bus to Demre, where the ruins of Myra (a town Paul visited) are located). From there, we hitchhiked to the town of Ucagiz and hiked back on the Lycian Way hiking trail. We encountered idyllic isolated coves along the shore where we could refresh ourselves in the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. We camped out in the ruins of a historic fortress with a fantastic view of the rocky coast.

From Finike, we continued our journey by overnight bus to Istanbul. This was a 14-hour ordeal, but luckily Turkish buses are very nice (even with free wifi!) and stop frequently at large clean rest stops. We had just enough time in Istanbul to dash downtown and see the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque before taking the train to the airport and catching our flight to Riga, Latvia. We had an overnight layover in Riga, where we stayed a sweet little hostel and enjoyed walking around the historic Old City, though we were in need of a good night’s sleep!

The next morning we celebrated Dave’s 29th birthday by rushing to the airport to fly to France. Fortunately, a friend offered to let us stay at his apartment in Paris so we headed there first before exploring the beautiful city. We had one full day in Paris, which was probably all we could afford, even with free accommodations!

This morning our alarm woke us up at 5am to catch our 7am train to Bayonne. The train system in France is very efficient and surprisingly affordable (our 5.5 hour journey cost about €30 each). The high-speed train was so smooth I could hardly tell if we were moving when I closed my eyes. We arrived to Bayonne around noon and explored the town a bit and did some last minute shopping for a notebook for me to take my brilliant notes for the book in! We bought another train ticket to St. Jean Pied-de-Port (€8,80 each) and caught the train to arrive at our destination and walk the few minutes through downtown to the camping area. For €10 a night we have a grassy camp spot, showers, toilets and sinks for washing clothes. Already we are meeting interesting other travelers, like a family of four from Indiana walking the trail together, and a Dutch couple who rode there bikes here from Holland.

Now that we’ve settled into our tent, I believe we will go for a walk and explore the town and see if we can find any restaurants that we can afford to eat at!

Buen camino, friends, and thanks for following our Camino blog!

Tomorrow we will begin our research!

We left Ashkelon, Israel on Sunday for a 77-hour sail to Finike, Turkey.