Walking the Camino de Santiago
This is the entrance to the main church in Belorado. I love the tufts of greenery growing out of the portico. The church has been rebuilt or restored quite a few times, most recently in 1910, though the present plan of the building dates from the 16th Century. The interior has four side altars, including the Immaculate Conception and Our […]
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Belorado is just a hop past Villamayor del Río. Our small lunch didn’t really satisfy, so we stopped for tapas here. This particularly colourful neighbourhood is the old Jewish Barrio el Corro, more than a thousand years old. The town itself is even older, dating back to Roman times. In any case, the tapas is great. This is the town […]
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Simply delightful. There’s just something about this home in Villamayor del Río that caught my attention. It might be the gorgeous blue colour of the crumbling plaster, faded in time to a rustic patina. It might be the potted garden out front or the large central dutch door that leads directly into the kitchen. Or perhaps it’s the combination that […]
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We stopped for lunch in Villamayor del Río at a restaurant called Casa Léon. It’s a bit off the Camino and just a little swankier than your normal pilgrim place. This lady was hanging on the wall in a corridor. I’d love to know who the artist is and what the name of this piece might be. Date: 10 April […]
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The Camino follows the N-120 highway for a bit. We are approaching the prosperous town of Villamayor del Río. The inhabitants of the town are known as “the people of the three lies” since the town is neither a Villa, nor Mayor, nor has Río. Nevertheless, it was originally founded in the year 598, and that should count for something. […]
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This is, undoubtedly, one of the more famous signs on the Camino. I’m willing to bet that nearly all passing pilgrims stop a moment to look. Most will photograph it. What does it mean? I’ve no idea. It is located after Viloria de Rioja just as the Camino approaches the N-120 Highway (again). Date: 10 April 2016 Place: Between Viloria […]
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The village is tiny. Many of the villages of the Camino are compact, with the houses practically touching one another. Viloria de Rioja by contrast with its 37 inhabitants sprawls down several streets that sort of converge here. Date: 10 April 2016 Place: Viloria de Rioja (Castilla y León, Spain) Maps!
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Weirdly, the village of Viloria de Rioja is not in the region of La Rioja. I assume it was at one point, medieval borders being what they were. Tradition has it that Domingo Garcia (later Santo Domingo de la Calzada) was born in Viloria on May 12, 1019. Today was seriously windy. We spent all morning walking into the wind. […]
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In the rolling green fields just past Castildelgado, we find this sign. It claims that we have only 576 kilometers to go before Santiago. By comparison, we’ve walked perhaps 200 to 250 so far. Reports vary. Let’s assume we’re one-third of the way into our Camino. Of course, as we know from long, bitter experience, the distance signs on the […]
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I‘ve often said that Spain, or at least the northern part we visited, isn’t a country so much as several different countries jammed up together. Each has its own geography and climate, its own food, its own culture, and even its own language. Here are a couple of funky things that let you know that you’re probably in Castilla rather […]
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