Camino Photo of the Day: Cross of the Valiant
This monument is roughly halfway between Santo Domingo de la Calzada and Grañón. It commemorates a hand-to-hand fight between the champions of these two towns in medieval times. They were to determine which town had the right to graze their animals on the surrounding disputed field. For their champion, the people of Santo Domingo chose a professional fighter, paying him handsomely and indulging him with rich foods while he trained for the fight. The people of Grañón chose a local farmer named Martín García, who continued to do his farming chores and fed himself with caparrones (red beans). I won’t get into the details of the fight, but suffice it to say that Grañón has pasture rights here to this day.
Date: 09 April 2016
Place: Between Santo Domingo de la Calzada and Grañón (La Rioja, Spain)
Bonus: here’s a closeup of the sign.
Maps!
We started the day in Azofra, lunched in Santo Domingo, and are pushing on to Grañón!
