Walking the Camino de Santiago
After our dinner at El Meson, Francine retired to our albergue and I took a walk around the town. When I started, it was sprinkling a little, but it was soon pouring rain. To get back to the albergue, I had to avoid one of the steep stair streets that had become a waterfall. This meant striking down mazy side […]
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A rare composite photo that sums up our evening in Castrojeriz. On the left is our albergue, the wonderfully comfortable and brand-spanking-new Albergue Rosalia. The proprietors are young and enthusiastic, and the entire place was built into several older connected buildings and designed with homey comfort in mind. They preserved the old exposed wooden beams and quirkily uneven walls and […]
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This street-level window in Castrojeriz is just down the way from our albergue. It’s an odd one, what with its relatively small size, peculiar shape, and the fact that it latches on the outside. And what’s with the knocker on the middle panel under the Tau cross of the Order of San Antón? Part of me wonders if it’s not […]
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This park and monument were built in 1974 to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the proclamation of the Fuero, or Charter, of the town of Castrojeriz. The historical plaque is provided as a bonus picture below. We wandered through Castrojeriz, past a half-dozen or so churches, some unlikely looking albergues, and this park before we ran into a trio of […]
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As we walked past the Iglesia de Santo Domingo in Castrojeriz, we couldn’t help but stop by these skulls in the walls. No, they’re not a warning against pirates. These are meant to remind you that you will die – memento mori – so that you will take stock of your life and amend it. Always a good reminder, but […]
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A closer look at the lovely, if somewhat run-down, Iglesia de Santa María del Manzano – which I feel might mean the Church of Saint Mary of the Apple Trees. Honestly, I’m not even entirely certain that it’s still in use as a church. Date: 14 April 2016 Place: Castrojeriz (Castilla y León, Spain) Today’s map:
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As we approach Castrojeriz, the Camino passes in front of the famous Iglesia de Santa María del Manzano. The earliest records of this church are in the tenth century, but it was already an old and powerful establishment by that time. The current building dates 1214. You can also get a pretty good idea of how steep the hill of […]
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After leaving the ruins of San Antón, we follow the Camino through the intermittent rain towards the distinctive hill and town of Castrojeriz. There’s an old castle ruin on top of the hill, but the town itself wraps around the base. This is our planned stop for the evening, though we were uncharacteristically fuzzy about where in town we were […]
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Walking around the ruins a little bit brought me to what I think was the apse of the monastic church. Heck, it could be part of a bell tower for all I know – there really isn’t much left here. In any case, I thought it was beautiful. Date: 14 April 2016 Place: San Antón (Castilla y León, Spain) Today’s […]
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I‘m standing in the middle of the road, looking up through the ruins of San Antón. Three years before, I’d taken a very similar photo, but a dove flew through the window as I was taking the shot. You can see that here. This place really evokes for me the lonely centuries through which the Camino has passed. It is […]
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