It refers, one of the oldest traditions, that San Juan Bautista came to tread this place, leaving his footprints, in addition, in three other points of the Biscayan coast: in the center of Bermeo, in the high of Burgoa and in a hamlet of Ermua

It also says another tradition, born at the dawn of those early times of Christianization of the place, that when you get to the door of the chapel, which is usually closed, you have to touch the bell three times and make a wish, once that its sound has taken away any evil spirit-I, myself, of the old religion-who was wandering in that direction.

It is even said, it is said and rumored, that the fishermen of the coast of Bermeo, have the habit of making several turns to port and starboard - I suppose, that something similar to that dangerous maneuver of abrupt change of course, performed by the Soviet submarines, known as 'crazy Ivan' by the Americans, as referred to in the film 'On the hunt for the Red October' - so that the Saint, not only protect them and grant them their blessing, but also so that their captures are generous enough, to have a fair compensation for their suffering work, and above all, a fortunate return to port and by default, home.

In current times, I do not lie nor exaggerate, if I affirm that San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is the focus of another type of cult, more volatile and mundane, since having been one of the spectacular scenarios of the series 'Game of Thrones', the passionate followers they venerate it with authentic devotion. But they will forgive me, if at this point I affirm and reaffirm myself, that I, like the unrepentant, transgressor, upstart and lonely Childe Harold, the Byronian hero par excellence (1), I prefer to sin of intuitive arrogance and let myself be carried away by my own impressions, seduced, no doubt, by a place that attracts with the same mysterious passion and no less magnetism, that the song of a mermaid irrevocably attracted the navigators of Antiquity to the rocks.

In such a way, that enjoying a daring reverie - and táchenme, if such is his desire, of dreamer, fantasist or trickster, that I will make of his critics a cloak of invisibility like the one that the gods gave him to Perseus - I imagine a past times , in which, at their summit, incommensurable dolmens looked impassively towards the horizon like beacons; or better yet, as those singular 'lanterns of the dead', which are located in many churches of the Camino de Santiago, whose apparent usefulness, not only served to guide the pilgrim on moonless nights or on stormy days, but also also, symbolically and spiritually speaking, they oriented towards the stars the souls of the deceased.

I imagine, moreover, above all, because I am a staunch defender of that one said beautifully accurate as the arrows of William Tell, which gives power to the imagination, that his old name of 'Dangerous Castle', can refer to, in addition to some pre-Christian fortification that had once existed in the place, to that source of inspiration to which the templario-cistercian minstrels who used this type of places and denominations could have come, where the knights had to overcome difficult tests, as part of the thorny Paths of the search for the Holy Grail.

Because, would it be sinful to think that this severed head of San Juan Bautista, served on a platter through the voluble Salomé, could not have any meaning, in the end, with those other trays that the Provencal minstrels applied the names of 'gradal', 'gradale' and 'graial' ?. And it is no less true that, within the narrative cycles of the Grail adventures, the Celtic references are plentiful and these, continuing with the thread of the question, used to place the heads of their enemies on the lintels of their doors. houses, besides placing in them the continent place of the soul ?.

Everyone can see, sculpted in stone, the head of San Juan Bautista, located above the entrance portico. Maybe after all, just 'chance', to think that you have to ascend 241 steps to reach the hermitage, a figure, by the way, that adding up your digits, gives us the magic number par excellence, the Seven.

In short, perhaps you are right, my dear friends and deep down, my intentions are other than trying to dupe them; but at least they must recognize that one thing is clear: the place inspires and, of course, their visit, I assure you, will not leave them indifferent.

By the way, I would not like to end this article, without putting into practice that sacred rule of good manners and publicly express my gratitude to Angel and Txatxy: without their inestimable attention, possibly the visit of this road-wanderer to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe would have been that postpone in time. Thanks with all my heart. I will never be grateful enough.

Notes, References and Bibliography:

Lord Byron: 'The Pilgrimages of Childe Harold'.

Related Movie:

NOTICE: Both the text and the photographs that accompany it, as the video that illustrates it (except music, reproduced under a YouTube license), are my exclusive intellectual property.