Author: Thom

We lunched in a picturesque truck stop in Villafranca Montes de Oca. It was easily some of the best food I’d had on the Camino to that point, and it was stupid cheap. The place was full of truckers and Guardia Civil. Based on some certificates on the wall, the proprietor was once a member, so it makes sense that […]

Finally! Lunch! Here we see Viola and Eamon heading for a likely looking place for lunch. The sign advertises it as “the Pilgrim’s stop on the Camino”, and that was good enough for us. It had a sort of truck-stop vibe, perhaps influenced by the lineup of trucks (and military vehicles) in the parking lot, just out of shot. Inside, […]

We arrive in Villafranca Montes de Oca, looking for some lunch. There are a handful of towns on the Camino named Villafranca (the French village). This is because as the Camino road began to be claimed from bandits and Moors, the local nobility encouraged settlers to settle along the Way. The settlers – whatever region they might have been from […]

Here we see Viola pointing at the wee ruin I posted the other day. I love this photo because it shows the terrain and colours of this part of the Meseta, as well as the relatively small number of pilgrims on this stretch of the Camino. And by the angle of the plants and the streaming of Viola’s hair, you […]

This wee little pile of stone, about the size of a large hut, is all that remains of the once mighty Monasterio de San Felices de Oca. It was once part of a venerable Mozarabic church and monastery, built in the ninth century and dedicated to the hermit San Felices of Bilibio. According to tradition, it is the resting place of Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, Count […]

Just after we left the village of Villambistia, one of my fellow pilgrims snapped this photo of me. You can see the village in the background. I’m scruffy, wearing my sunglasses (a rarity), and my hat is in “windy” configuration. It was a beautiful morning, chilly but sunny. Date: 11 April 2013Place: just past Villambistia (Province of Burgos, Castilla y […]

In the courtyard of the little Iglesia de San Esteban in Villambistia is a fountain that, if local legend is to be believed, is a mystic fountain. It requires only that you dunk your head, and it will cure you of your fatigue and exhaustion. While this ordinary refreshment might be true of any fountain, the locals are quite insistent […]

As we walked through the sunny (if breezy) Meseta, a rainbow broke out over the village of Villambistia as we approached. We took this as a good omen. In our case, this is also brief stopping point, as we take a couple of days off from the Camino Photo of the Day for Christmas. Happy Christmas to all! Date: 11 […]

Finally, we found a place for breakfast. The “Kas” advertised by the sign over the bar’s entrance is soda. Today, I tried it for the first time, drinking some orange Kas to go with the boxes of orange juice already consumed. Thanks to all of the citrus – not to mention Viola’s cold medicine! – I was feeling much better […]