Day 26/27 - Lovely Salamanca This blog entry covers 2 days. The 26th was the walk to Salamanca, and the 27th has been a rest day here covering the sites. We will be on the road again tomorrow. We left Pedro de Rozados this morning, ready for our relatively easy 18 km walk to the large city of Salamanca. Being hungry for breakfast, we stopped at a small village to look for a cafe/bar that would do bacon and eggs. It was closed of course, but were told that it opened at 9:00. This was rather curious, because it was right next door to a hostel were people had to be gone by 8:00. The Spanish don't seem to have capitalism down pat yet. After breakfast, we continued on a great walk thru farm land, opening and closing many gates. The approach to Salamanca was long and hot, out in the open sun. We entered Salamanca on an old Roman bridge. Salamanca, with a population of 228,000 is the largest city and capital of the Province of Salamanca. The streets here are like a maze. The main plaza de mayor is huge, and was very impressive when it was all lit up at night. The city centre was just a continuos stream of people, with many staying out to 6:00 am. The cathederal here is also very impressive. Tonight we say goodbye to one of our walking buddies, Petya from Bulgaria. Her holidays are over, and she must return to work. She wants to finish the Camino at a later date. Buen Camino Petya! Bernard the Irishman and myself will carry on. Anyway, here are some pics of the trail and of Salamanca. Terry
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We left the monastery at Fuenterroble de Salvatierra this morning early, because we wanted to get a jump on this 28 km day. Unfortunately, this area is very badly marked. We ended up walking 2 km's past where we should have turned onto a path. We only new, when we came to a little town and a man asked if we were perigrino's. When we said Si!, he told us that we need to go back 2 km's and turn. We walked back to the spot, but there were no arrows there at all. We took it anyway and ran into arrows further down the track. Thus adding 4 km's to our day. We also had to endure a 300 meter rise in elevation, which today brought us to the highest point on the via de la plata. I hope that the pictures do the views justice. The hardest part of the day, was walking down the rocky hill path to the roadway. Walking on the road the final 12 km's in the afternoon heat seemed to take forever. We lived on apples and orange juice from our backpacks today, as there were no towns in the 28 km stretch. Can't wait to see if there is a decent pilgrims menu tonight. Tomorrow the big city of Salamanca. Have a look at today's pics. Terry I have a rather fascinating pilgrim of the day for you today. Michael from Ireland is retired, and has done many camino's. How many camino's you ask! To date he has done; The Camino France's - 3 times The Camino Portuguese - 1 Time The Via De La Plata - 5 TIMES!!! This totals 8200 kilometres!!! He has done the VDLP so many times, he can tell you about every twist and turn in the whole 1000 km path. He knows the people who run the hostels by their first name. So I think that makes Michael pilgrim of the decade! Anyway, we had a great breakfast this morning at the Calzada de Béjar farmhouse this morning. We set out at 8:00 am for the town of Valverde de Valdelacasa which was only a short 9 km walk. It was great to have the chance to stop and have a break in the day instead of having to go straight thru. The next stretch was to Fuenterroble de Salvatierra, only another 10 km. The hostel here is an old monastery. Everything is very old and gothic looking. A communal meal is included tonight, so we will see what the monks cook up. So onwards tomorrow! Here are pics from today. Terry On the walk to Calzada de Béjar today, we passed from the dreaded province of Extremadura to the province of Castilla y León. The transformation from a desert type area to a lusher greener land seemed almost immediate. The walk today was also made more pleasant, in the fact that the towns now are spaced closer together. No more 30 kilometre days just to get to the next village. It's nice to come to a town and to be able to get a cafe con leche every once in a while. We have ended up at a very hospitable farmhouse albergue, that is also doing a meal. The meal was fantastic! Thus proving my point that the farmhouse alberques are the best. First course was a bowl of homemade vegetable soup. It was brought out in a big pot, and served to us all. We even had seconds. This was just what we needed, as vegetables are hard to come by here. Sure beats the ham and cheese on a bun. Next they brought out some very nice pork chops, with a fantastic salad. There was red wine of course to wash it all down. Next came ice cream for dessert. Just as we finished stuffing ourselves, they came out with some type of homemade liquor. Of course we had to sample it. There were 9 of us, including people from Ireland, Bulgaria, Holland, Italy, and France. I was the only Canadian. Not much else to say today, except here are the pics from today's trail. Terry Last night in Oliva de Plasencia, we were all kind of stuck, since there was no restaurant in the whole town. There was not even a mercado. All there was in this small village was a small tiende (corner store). We all pitched in to buy enough stuff for a spaghetti dinner, as well as supplies for breakfast. It was ok but I hope we don't have to do that much. I cooked up the bacon and eggs for breakfast, and then we set out on our trek on the Roman road, which today included a stretch thru the Roman arch of Cáparra. It was kind of awe inspiring, seeing the remnants of this Roman town out in the middle of nothing. The walk there was very pleasant in the morning, walking thru farmland and forest to get there. One huge estate had an impressive set of bull heads at it's entrance gates. (See pics) After the Roman arch, there was still 24 km's to go in order to get to Aldeanueva del Camino. This walked was very hot and long. The paths covered in large stones are the most difficult, as they roll around under your feet as you are trying to walk. Anyway we ended up at a very respectable. Alberque tonight. Tomorrow will be an easy day of just 15 km's. Here are today's trail pics. Terry Today started out early again, and we left Galisteo while it was still dark. It was hard to find our way out of the town, because the path was very poorly marked. We made it as far as the main square, when we could not find any more arrows. Luckily a Spanish pilgrim knew the way, and we followed him out. The first stop was a small town called Carcaboso. This was an 11 km road walk. Then it all seemed to fall apart. Everyone was going in and out of the store on the edge of town, and we thought we would get some trail food. I went in the store to have a look around, and purchased an apple and a yogurt. When I exited the store, everyone was gone! Unbeknownst to me, they had gone up a few streets to a cafe bar. I walked up one street then came back to the store. Then up another and back. I thought I would wait awhile to see if anyone came back, and ate the apple and yogurt that I had bought. After about 1/2 hour of not seeing anyone, I decided that they must have gone on the trail. I went back to where we exited the trail, and seen a sign for "Plasencia", and had it in my mind that this was the next town. I road walked all the way to this town. There was massive road construction going on with numerous road circles. Once I made it thru the construction mess, I went to the information office to find out where the alberque was. It turned out I WAS IN THE WRONG TOWN. Instead of "Plasencia", it was supposed to be "Oliva de Plasencia", which is now 22 km's away in the other direction. Since both were equal distance from the last town, I did't feel guilty taking a cab to the proper town. Anyway we all met up at the alberque here in Oliva de Plasencia . Anyway a comedy of errors today. Here are some pics. Terry We left Grimaldo early this morning, so that we could get some km's in before the heat of the day. Armed with headlamps, we made our way thru town to the country trails, headed for Ríolobos, with the guide book promise of a good breakfast available there. So it's 13 km's to get in before breakfast. The trail was a nice country path, thru multiple gates. This has been the first time since starting the trail, that I have heard water flowing thru creeks and streams. The landscape is noticeably greener. We seen acres of tobacco, corn, and red chilli peppers. In Ríolobos, we indeed managed to find a place that would do eggs and bacon. We ate and had a good rest before continuing onto Galisteo, which was another 8 km's. This is a very old walled in city. The alberque here is very nice. Way better than the one we stayed at last night, which was littered with spray cans of bug spray. Tomorrow it's off to Oliva de Plasencia which is another 23 km's. Here are a few pics from today. Terry We decided that instead of taking a rest day after the hard walk yesterday, we would simply do an 8 Km walk to Grimaldo. It was a very pleasant walk through acres of cork trees. You could see where the bark is stripped from the bottom of the trees. In Grimaldo, we are at a basic little hostel, where we are catching up on laundry, and having an afternoon nap. Poor Petra is dealing with a backpack of fleas. She is spraying and then washing everything. Just a few pics from today. Tomorrow a reasonable 21 km to Galisteo! Terry We left Casar de Cáceres this morning at 7:30am, with high hopes of walking 22 km to an alberque that was on a lake. We had visions of going for a swim and having a fairly easy day. Little did we know. With the trip thru the park as being the hardest day on the trail, this day was easily number two. The walk was pretty good up to the lake, but the alberque there had closed, and there was absolutely nothing else there. We were totally exhausted, and pondered on what to do. It would be another 12 km in the mid day heat walking on a very hot, rocky, dry trail. We divided up our collective remaining water supplies, and divided it up. We had about a 1/2 litre each. It was a tough go, but Bernard's rendition of "Danny Boy" made it all the more pleasant. We stubbled into Cañaveral were there was a cafe/bar as soon as we came in. The taste of that first glass of water, was something to be savoured. How often is the value of a glass of water overlooked today. We guzzled down a bunch of water there, and just sat for about 45 minutes. The total was 34 kilometres. The alberque here in Cañaveral is very nice, and they provide a breakfast in the morning. We plan to sleep in, and do only 8 Kms to Grimaldo. Here are some pics from today. Terry Today we had an early start, and we're looking forward to a good breakfast at the local restaurant. Little did we know that it did not open until 9:00. Our only alternative was to go to the open gas bar, and get a coffee. It was a cool short 12 k walk to Cáceres, where we took in the sites of this beautiful city. The plaza mayor was huge, and there were numerous old churches. We lingered around Cáceres probably a little to long, because we still had a 11 k walk to Casar de Cáceres to complete. After eating something, we set out in the heat of the late afternoon. The trail was hot and dry, but we ended up at the alberque here ok. Resting up for a 22 k straight go tomorrow . Here are today's pics. Terry |
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