All posts by Ed and Anne Blog of Caminos

Introducing our Camino Caravaggio 2026

2026 Camino Caravaggio - Malta, Sicily, Napoli, Roma, Ireland, , , ,

Dear Friends: September 2026 greetings! We are preparing to embark on what Ed has dubbed our “Camino Caravaggio”! But first, let us express our warmest gratitude to friends and family who have brightened our world in 2026, the 80th year since Ed’s birth on March 7, 1946.

Ed, front row center, purple shirt, turned 80, with family and friends at Historic George Wright Golf Course.

Thanks to 65 friends and family who gathered for birthday cake and golf at the Historic George Wright Golf Course in Hyde Park (Boston), Massachusetts on May 31, 2026. This public course was part of FDR’s Works Projects Administration (WPA) to enable the country to begin to recover from the Great Depression and is only a mile or so from Ed’s boyhood home in the Roslindale section of Boston.

Siblings: from left,  John,  Tom, Ed himself,  Arthur, Sara. 

Five of the ten Muldoon siblings were present. Gone on ahead and always in our hearts: Leo, Margie, Mary, Dorothy, Bill.

Ed also celebrated in Florida in March with (front to back, left to right) Bob, Lara, Ed; Chloe, Ryan, Owen, Anne; Molly, Tom, Donna, Jack

It’s been 12 years since Ed and Anne first walked the Camino de Santiago de Campostela. We started in St Jean Pied du Port in France, walked over the Pyrenees and 500 miles across northern Spain. We learned about this ancient pilgrim journey thanks to our friend,  Father Tom Ryan (who is in the big group photo, above). Since then we have walked the Camino Portugúes, the Camino del Norte, which we started in Lourdes, the Camino San Francesco (Way of St. Francis of Assisi) through the Appenines and the Via Francigena (the last two in Italy). In 2024 a Camino was cut short due to Anne’s knee injury and in 2025 we walked an abbreviated two-week Camino before traveling to Ravenna, Dubrovnik and Budapest.  You are invited to delve into the Archives on this blog to read about those experiences.

Challenges with Anne’s right hip (now replaced) and left knee have convinced them to reduce the walking-and-carrying aspect — but not to give up the searching-and-contemplating aspect of their travels. As a result, we embark on a different sort of Camino (“camino” means “way” or “road”), what Ed has called, the “Camino Caravaggio.”

Our inspiration is a visit last year to Rome’s Galleria Borghese, which houses six (6) works by the artist in a single room! What a revelation! When we returned to the US we read Andrew Graham-Dixon’s 2020 biography, and the inspiration of this camino was settled.

Stay tuned for our detailed itinerary and adventures along the way. We begin on September 15, 2026 with an Aer Lingus flight from Dulles to Dublin.

Know that we carry your love and friendship in our hearts.

Autumn in Tuscany

Uncategorized, Via Francigena 2022
A view from a high place.
Each time we take a bus, there are anxieties: will it come? Is this the right place to catch it? The blue sign Ed is perusing so intently indicates a bus stop, and yes, it did come.
When we catch a train, we know where the station is, but still wonder if we read the schedule correctly. In the little towns where we are walking, there’s usually only one or two trains or busses per day. So far we’ve been very fortunate!
Our reward is a manageable walk of 8 to 12 kms through the beautiful landscape of Tuscany, touched by the golden highlights of autumn.
At the hill town of Gambassi Terme we prepared for the next day’s walk into San Gemignano.
Evening light from our window.

Morning mists from our window the following day.
San Gemignano is famous for 71 towers (15 remain today) built to show off the wealth of their 12th and 13th century owners. The age of the town belies is New York City-like skyline. Occasionally we must walk along the roadway, which, given the speed and heedlessness of Italian drivers, is a hair-raising undertaking.
Another famous hill town is Montereggione, built and fortified by Siena to protect Siena’s flank. The Canadian couple in this photo took a picture of Ed and me climbing doggedly up the steep hill toward the north-facing town gate (there are only two gates in the wall.)
Here we are. The photo doesn’t really do justice to the steepness of the hill; maybe 30 degrees for 300 meters (my estimate).

I am writing this post on October 10 from Siena, a world class city of historical and artistic significance. We enjoyed our last “rest day” in Siena and tomorrow will begin a series of nine walking days before the final approach to Rome.

October rains and sun – Camaiore to Lucca and beyond

Uncategorized, Via Francigena 2022

We started October by traveling from Maritime di Massa to Camaiore, leaving the Ligurian Sea to go back inland for the rest of our Camino.

Our brief glimpse of the Ligurian Sea for one night showed a calm surface and a contrast to the mountains and forests we had been walking for more than two weeks.

To get to Maritime di Massa (Port of Massa) we walked through heavy rain that came an hour before predicted. We were soaked and uncomfortable, but luckily the next day was mostly clear and we felt ourselves again!

The only photo I took through the pouring rain was of a stand of beautiful umbrella pines.

On another rainy evening in Aulla, a town with ancient Roman roots and name, we made friends with two French pilgrims, Annelise and Simon. They are a delightful couple expecting their first child and spending six plus weeks walking the Via de San Francesco, starting with two weeks of tent camping through France to get to Italy! We admire their stamina and their enormous good nature and charm.

Our new pilgrim friends Annelise and Simon. (I can’t help but remarking on the similarity of Annelise’s name and mine.)

Highlights of the last few days: After the rain and wet we have been blessed with fine weather.

With only a little regret we left the mountains, called the Alpuan Alps, behind.
There were some steep and slippery stretches, but so far, no more falls.
Beautiful light at sunset from our window outside Camaiore.

When we reached the fabulous small city of Lucca, we treated ourselves to a “rest day” which means we actually spent two consecutive nights in the same place! Our last rest day was in Pavia, 11 days earlier. It was delightful.

Duomo (Cathedral) of Lucca
One of the treasures inside Lucca’s Duomo is a tender Della Robbia of the Annunciation.
Waiting for us in Lucca was the first of two shipments of my rheumatoid arthritis medicine that requires refrigeration. So far, so good.
While Lucca’s Duomo was great, we also appreciated the neighborhood laundry for doing a same-day load for us!
We had a front-row table at a Michelin-rated restaurant in Lucca’s Anfiteatrico, an elliptical piazza built on the footprint of its ancient Roman forum.
After leaving Lucca, we climbed up to another Tuscan hill town. San Miniato. where we attended mass at the convent of the Poor Clares. There we also ran into our new pilgrim friends, Annelise and Simon.
Vineyards after the harvest. As mentioned before, it’s been extremely dry this summer across Europe.

We continue to exercise Ed’s imagination and planning to use a combination of busses, trains and cabs to be able to walk about 10 to 12 km per day. This is less than our 2019 camino daily average of 15 km but appears sustainable. Ed can go longer and faster but is kind to adapt to my capabilities. Anne has two new blisters but the highly effective silicone patches sold in Italy work beautifully. Along the way, we are also becoming quite knowledgeable about the idiosyncrasies of Italian local public transport.

A Change in the Weather

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Yesterday, September 27, we walked in light rain and cool (65°) from Navia to Tapia de Castariego. Both are fishing ports (neither as dramatic as Luarca) but Tapia thrusts out furthest on a slim peninsula. This morning the temperature is only 49° at waking, so the seasonal change is felt.

The maize is being harvested (Ed is hoping to witness the process in person) and we walk by fields of bronzed stubble. Occasional song birds break the silence.0928191115

We were happy to celebrate Mass last night in Tapia’s parish church, San Esteban. The last five nights did not offer Mass opportunities. We have been walking through even more remote, small places with few people compared to the first two weeks.

The quality of the seafood in small places next to the fish landing spots is delightful. Navia’s famous (we were told) El Chikren del Puerta has only a small sign on its door, obscured when the door is left open. The navarones (razor clams) were amazing. Tapia’s La Marina answered with Sopa de Pescadore and rabadolla (turbot).

Apartamento adventure

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A long walk brought us close to Wednesday’s destination of Luarca. We decided to use Ed’s newly acquired Spanish SIM card to find our way through the town rather than directly to Apartamentos La Capitaine. Mistake???0925191439

Turning a corner, we gasped at the beautiful little port laid out far below. There had been no hint of the beauty — or elevation change — until that moment.

Naturally, we plunged down the hill to investigate. Later, we were ready to call it a day. We bought some groceries because the apartamento was supposed to have a kitchen and might be a distance from town.

Not only were we on the wrong side of the Rio Negro at this point, but faced another steep climb. And when we arrived, no one was there; the place was locked up tight.

No worries. Ed made a few Spanish phone calls, we waited, and Ángel and Josefa appeared. (It took a while for them to figure out how the stove worked, and meanwhile a concerned neighbor had called the Policía because two suspicious people — us– had been hanging around.) But the evening had a happy ending and we slept well!

 

 

 

Boots, barro, brambles, beaches

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We resumed our Camino pilgrimage on September 24 after a rest day. It rained on our rest day and that night. We thought that there might be some mud so both of us wore our water proof/resistant boots. We had another day of up and down but the slopes were not as radical or as many as we experienced on our last walking day. We started late and walked into Cadavedo around 5:00 pm.

We did need our boots. See attached photos of parts of the trail. We had barro (mud), brambles, and beaches as we walked.
We checked into our hotel. No wifi.

We went out to the only restaurant in town and had a variation of the “Pilgrim Menu”. It was filling. There was a great sunset

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Tomorrow we walk to Luarca.

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Triumph and Drama in Rome and the Vatican

As we walk out each day during our 8 days in Rome, we encounter rain and sun,  chilliness and heat. We walk through the ancient Forum, remnants of empire, and skirt the construction site of expansion of Rome’s modern Metro system,  Linea C. The Vatican Museums and St Peter’s Basilica are together probably the most…

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Rome: Caravaggio to the Max

It’s a good thing that Ed scheduled 8 days in Rome for us at the end of our Camino Caravaggio. Not only is it among our favorite cities in the world, but in her can be found the largest number of Carravaggios open to public view: 20 paintings in 8 venues. We walk to most…

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Caravaggio on the Mainland of Italy

In the last post we promised to tell you why our crossing of the Straits of Messina from Sicily to the mainland of Italy was so exciting. As a master of fact,  everyone who travels this route by train gets a treat: the entire train, carriages and passengers, is shunted into a giant ferry boat…

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We walked from Muros de Nalon to Soto de Luina today. It was a very difficult walk. It was about 16 – 17 km but it was up and down hills all day long. Most had very steep slopes of 10°, 20°, and some were 30° and more. The path was filled with loose rocks and stones, many roots, leaves and in places, mud (barro). Our legs are really tired. Today was the 6th day in a row that we walked, so we are glad to have a scheduled rest day! Not to mention rain in the forecast…

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Our approach to each day is to start around 10:00 am and to walk without stopping for rest until we get to our destination. Today we walked for about 6.25 hours. We carry food and water and stop only to take a drink or get the food out of the backpacks. If we were to stop longer and sit down our joints would stiffen up. Experience tells us that it takes a while to get loose again, so we just don’t stop.

We are almost half way to Santiago. We will walk 5 days in a row starting on Tuesday. Then a day off. Next we walk 4 days and then take a day off. Then we walk for 3 days and walk into Santiago de Campostela on the last day of this Camino.