Joanne's long walks: Via Romea Germanica Day 1: Stade

Du pilgerst mit Respekt
Du pilgerst aus eigenem Anlass.
Du pilgerst auf eigene Verantwortung.
Du pilgerst mit Respekt vor den Mitpilgern.
Du pilgerst mit Respekt vor den Gastegebern.
Du pilgerst mit Respekt vor der Landschaft.
Du pilgerst mit Respekt vor den Tier- und Planzenschonzeiten.
Du pilgerst mit Respekt vor den Bedürfnissen deines Körpersnach Wasser, Speise und Schalf.
Du pilgerst mit Respekt vor den spirituellen Bedürfnissen anderer und deiner selbst.
Du pilgerst mit Respekt vor der Gemeinschaft im Glauben, in der Liebe und in der Hoffnung.
Du pilgerst auf einem Pilgerweg, einem Erbe der christlichen Kulturlandschaft, auf dem andere noch nach dir pilgern werden; du pilgerst mit Respekt.

You go on a pilgrimage with respect
You go on a pilgrimage of your own accord.
You go on a pilgrimage under your own responsibility.
You go on a pilgrimage with respect for other pilgrims.
You go on a pilgrimage with respect for your hosts.
You go on a pilgrimage with respect for the seasons of the animals and plants.
You go on a pilgrimage with respect for your body's needs for water, food and sleep.
You go on a pilgrimage with respect for the spiritual needs of others and yourself.
You go on a pilgrimage with respect for the community, in faith, in love and in hope.
You go on a pilgrimage on a pilgrim path, with the heritage of a Christian cultural landscape, in which others will continue to go on pilgrimage; you go on a pilgrimage with respect.

- First page of the Pilgerpass / Pilgrim's Passport for the Via Romea Germanica

How wonderful that German has a verb for "pilgriming"!

After "touristing" for a couple of days in Munich and Hamburg, I began "pilgriming" in earnest when I arrived in Stade. Sigrid, the first of a series of "route angels" who take care of the Via Romea Germanica pilgrimage path and the pilgrims who walk it, met me at the train station and took me for a short drive through the Altes Land, reclaimed marshland on the southwestern side of the Elbe. This area is northern Europe's largest fruit-producing region, planted primarily with apple and cherry orchards. The area is a popular tourist destination when the trees are in blossom in Spring: this explains why the youth hostel has no availability until June! But I had no worries as Sigrid had kindly invited me to stay at her home.

From the Elbe we returned to the historic city centre of Stade (population approximately 50,000) for a brief walking tour and dinner at a small local restaurant.

Stade: a brief history

Said to have been the oldest town of the Saxons, built in 321, Stade was conquered and looted by the Vikings of Eric the Victorious in the 990s. It then became part of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, and in 1209 Otto IV granted the city important privileges, recognising the freedom of the city's burghers and allowing property within the city to be freely inherited and not subject to feudal claims. In medieval times the city was an important centre of trade due to its vicinity to the Elbe River and to the salt mines, and became a prominent member of the Hanseatic League: After this golden age Stade fell into the hands of the Danish, and then the Swedish; more than half of the city was destroyed in the great fire of 1659. The town was largely rebuilt to the same plan, and is still renowned today for its half-timbered houses, which have survived as the city was not bombed by the Allies during World War II.

Albert of Stade and the monastery of St. Johannis

Our walking tour included, of course, a visit to the former abbey of Sankt Johannis, where Albert of Stade wrote the Annales Stadenses, his chronicle of world history from creation until the year 1256. As I mentioned in my introductory post about the Via Romea Germanica, the part of this chronicle of interest in relation to the Via Romea Germanica is imagined as a dialogue between two monks, Tirri and Firri, discussing the Melior Via: the best route for a pilgrimage to Rome. In this dialogue, Albert describes his own journey to Rome and back, specifying all the resting places and the exact distances of the respective sections, with a precision unusual for his day and age.

Over the centuries, pilgrims leaving the abbey have made their marks in its walls.

After this preview of the starting point of the Via Romea Germanica, Sigrid and I retired to a restaurant in the town centre, Lila's, where I sampled a local specialty I had seen but not sampled in Hamburg: matjes, or pickled herring.

Matjes in a cream sauce with apple and red onion, salad and plenty of potatoes

Sigrid had salmon and a giant baked potato!

Sigrid has converted the top floor of her home into a pilgerherberge, a beautiful attic bedroom. In this peaceful and comfortable setting I had my first night's sleep in a proper bed since leaving Italy - having spent two nights in a row on trains!

When I woke up, the world was shrouded in fog and the outdoor temperature was, according to my weather app, just one degree above freezing! 🥶 I didn't go outside to check, but enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with Sigrid, chatting about pilgrimages and pilgrim hosting experiences. In addition to being a route angel for the Via Romea Germanica, Sigrid is walking to Jerusalem, over the years, in blocks of around 800 kilometres per year.

Today, however, she settled for walking the first five kilometres of the Via Romea Germanica with me! We returned to St. Johannis, where Sigrid read a prayer and gave me her special pilgrim blessing. Then we started out together.

We walked through the town centre and across a beautiful park.

We passed a kreuzstein that once marked the boundary of the lands belonging to the monastery of Zeven - and those monks must have had a lot of land, because I won't be in Zeven until the day after tomorrow!

For the first two stages, the Via Romea Germanica coincides with one of the many Jacobsweg routes roward Santiago. So it is very clearly marked with yellow arrows, in addition to the frequent trail markers of the Via Romea.

I walked through a fairy-tale landscape of blossoms, buds and bright green new leaves, fluffy white clouds and farmers' fields, with here and there a thatched-roof barn.

OK, there were construction sites and industries too, and some of the farmers were spraying unsavoury things on their fields, but - people have to make a living, too! 😄

White lilac

It was a long day, walking 25 kilometres on the very first day when my body isn't used to it yet... but eventually I reached the town of Harsefeld, walking into the town through a park, along a boardwalk with a heron fishing right below it, and past the ruins of the former abbey and the Lutheran church of St. Marien und Bartholomäi, where I stopped and got a stamp. Maria and her friend at the Catholic church of St. Michael, which provides hospitality for pilgrims, were surprised to see that I had already got a stamp when I arrived! Now I have two stamps from Harsefeld, a Protestant one and a Catholic one 😁