More detail of Cathedral door.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Day Twenty One
EeVillares de Orbigo to Murias de Rechivalda
After a quick breakfast with homemade yogurt at our Albergue, we started walking on our coldest day yet with some light snow flurries. The day remained chilly but dry as we walked through the countryside - and not alongside a paved road. We passed through the town of Astorga. This city is where the Via Aquitana that we were walking on a few days ago linked up with other Roman roads across Spain. There is another Antoni Gaudi building here known as the Bishop's Palace and a 15th Century Gothic Cathedral. Astorga is also the end of the meseta we began walking on outside of Burgos.
Day Twenty
The Paso Honroso bridge. It is one of the longest and best preserved medieval bridges in Spain. The river used to be much wider before a dam was built to reduce the water flow.
Day Twenty
La Virgen del Camino to Villares de Orbigo
We left the last of Leon behind and moved on to Villares de Orbigo. It was a wet day walking mostly along the highway. Towards the end of the day we walked over the Paso Honroso bridge. The bridge became famous in 1434 when a local noble defended his honour after being refused in marriage with a month-long jousting tournament that took place on the bridge. This Pas d'Armes was approved by the king and knights from across Spain took part with the local noble and ten of his friends successfully defending the bridge until 300 lances were broken. The nobleman and his friends then traveled to Santiago and donated a jeweled neck band that can be viewed in the Cathedral relics room. This chivalrous act is said to have inspired events in the Cervantes novel Don Quixote. We celebrated our crossing with a warm bowl of soup from a restaurant with a view of the bridge.
Saturday, April 28, 2018
Day Nineteen
Leon to La Virgen del Camino
We spent the morning walking the winding Camino path through the city. We started at the city walls not far from where we spent the night and continued on to the Cathedral we visited yesterday. Highlights included the well the Roman legion established and a building built by Gaudi.
Friday, April 27, 2018
Day Eighteen
Part of panel depicting the Greek legend of the Golden Fleece. Depictions of Greek and Roman legends were banned in the decoration of later Cathedrals by the medieval Catholic Church officials.
Day Eighteen
Sahagun to Leon
We are treating ourselves to a rest day in Leon gained by trading the urban and suburban walk into town for a local train ride. We visited the Gothic Leon Cathedral Pulchra Leonina, the medieval defensive walls and walked some of the narrow streets in the oldest areas of the city. The city was the base for the Roman VIIth Legion and the name Leon is believed to be derived from Legion. We are staying at the Benedictine Hostel Monastica Pax.
Day Seventeen
Calzadilla de la Cueza to Sahagun
Our walk continued on gravel paths in the countryside but not far from the main road. There was a welcome cool morning breeze that continued into the afternoon. Sahagun was an important town on the Camino but little remains of its legacy. Due to the lack of stone the monasteries, churches and pilgrim hospices from that period were built of brick and have mostly disappeared.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Day Sixteen
Picture on way out of town of the entrance to a monastery with medieval French Cluny connection.
Day Sixteen
Carrion de los Condes to Calzadilla de la Cueza
Most of our walk today was along the Roman road Via Aquitana. However, the original paved Roman road is now covered with gravel. In use for more than 2000 years, it is estimated it took 100,000 tons of rock to create it. All of that rock had to be transported here from somewhere else as there is none in the area.
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Day Thirteen
Hornillos del Camino to Castrojeriz
This was another day on the open meseta with plenty of sun and little shade. We stopped for lunch in Hontanas and began seeing the T shaped cross known as the Tau that is the symbol of the Order of San Antón Abad. San Antón Abad is the patron saint of animals. The Order was known for its ability to cure the medieval illness known as Saint Anthony's fire. We walked under the San Antón Archway near some 14th century ruins.
A special note about our unexpectedly delightful stay at the Albergue Ultreia in Castrojeriz. The Albergue building housed a wine press in medieval times and the owner has a modern wine cellar underneath the building. The wine cellar was part of an underground tunnel used to support the castle fortress on the hill above the town. We had a wine tasting and tour of the cellar along with a history lesson about the tunnel after a communal dinner.
Day Fourteen
Castrojeriz to Fromista
We were on the meseta again via a steep climb out of Castrojeriz. It was a long, sunny, hot day with little shade until the last kilometers when we walked along a canal into Fromista.
Day Fifteen
Fromista to Carrion de los Condes
Today was a walk on a path along the highway. Paths like these are called pilgrim autopistas. We passed through three small towns and had lunch at the third one,Villalcazar de Sirga. The Knights Templar church in this town is known for its painting of a pregnant Virgen Mary.
Monday, April 23, 2018
Day Thirteen
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Lo3GaVyysnCCr8Ks1
Demonstrating how the medieval wine press works at the Albergue.
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Day Twelve
Burgos to Hornillos del Camino
We enjoyed our day off in Burgos and it was a much nicer path out of the city today than into it. Our departure was via an arched gateway through the remains of the fortified medieval walls of the city. We are now walking on an arid highland known as the meseta.
Friday, April 20, 2018
Day Eleven
Staircase to street level door no longer used in Cathedral. The staircase at the Paris Opera is modeled on this one.
Day 10
Atapuerca to Burgos
It was a long climb out of Atapuerca to the top of a hill that overlooked the urban and suburban transit to Leon. The end of the day was walking along sidewalks and making our way to our posada in the old town. We are taking a rest day here in Burgos.
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Day Nine
Villafranca Montes de Oca to Atapuerca
Our route today started right at the Albergue door. It was an uphill climb into a forest known in the Middle Ages for thieves and today is still a home for wolves. The path is shared by walkers, bikers and horses on the Camino. We are staying in Atapuerca, a town known for the archeological evidence found nearby of the earliest humans in Europe including cave paintings.
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Day Eight
Vilamayor del Rio to Villafranca Montes de Oca
We enjoyed a late start from our Casa Rural in Quintanilla del Monte and rejoined the Way at Vilamayor del Rio. The sun kept us company all day. We passed through a number of small villages stopping for lunch at an Albergue in Tosantos. Our view was of cliffs with caves and a hermitage built into the side of some of the cliffs. We also walked by the 9th century ruins of a monastery just outside the town where we are spending the night.
Monday, April 16, 2018
Day Seven
Alex on the path outside of Castildelgado. The top of the hill is the end of La Rioja and the beginning of the Castilla and Leon region.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)