Today was wonderful all day long – including the hotel and food! The walks have all been wonderful, but there’s been mixed outcomes with a couple of the hotels. But today I got started early, walked alone the whole time with one cafe stop and got here by 1:15. Early!
Then the owner of the hotel, an old watermill, was completely wonderful. No English, but articulate so that I could get by. So so nice. She said she could do a load of laundry when I asked about doing it somewhere. 7E for one load. Yes – I’ll do it! That load I did never dried, especially the socks, ach, mildew ripe.
Then she gave me a restaurant name for the menu el dia – the 3 course meal that I had twice and I was in time for it. Finally, she said she does a dinner here and it could be at 7:15. Really?!! That’s amazing. And I’m hungry enough that I want both lunch and dinner today. Actually, I always want more food, though am just fine. I finished my almonds and peanut M&Ms today. That’s been my back up for 2 weeks, will have to resupply if I can find somewhere. Here’s my treat today:
This is a local treat, called the little hanging man. It’s from a Saint Domingo legend that occurred here. A young man and his parents were on the Camino in the 1200’s (?) and a young girl in the inn they stayed in fell in love with the young man but he was indifferent. To get revenge, she hid a silver cup in his bag.
She then turned him in to the authorities. The penalty for theft at the time was death by hanging. When his parents left to go to Santiago de Compostela, they went to see their hanged son and when they reached the place where he was, they heard the son’s voice announcing that Santo Domingo de la Calzada had preserved his life. They immediately went to the house of the City Mayor and told him the prodigy.
Incredulous, the mayor replied that their son was as alive as the rooster and the chicken that he was preparing to eat. At that precise moment, the rooster and the chicken jumping from the plate and began to sing.
From that day on, there have been chickens at the cathedral. Until today! Look in the lower left of this photo and you can see the chicken in the coop, just the red head shows up – it’s probably really nice behind this area. Above the coop is a piece of the gibbet!
This church was great, not because of the church, though it’s huge/amazing, but because of the saint that it’s named for – Saint Gregorio.
Saint Gregorio was born in 1019 as Dominic Garcia. He wanted to be a monk, but they told him he wasn’t smart enough for the studying. So he left to be a hermit in the forest near where the town is now. His sole concern was to make life better for pilgrims. To that end, he cleared several kilometers of very thick briars. According to legend, he was told by the owner that he could clear what he wanted for the pilgrims, but only as much as he could do in one day. So he cleared 5 k in one day. Another version is that with his scythe, he hit one tree and the others miraculously fell down. Supposedly a part of his scythe is now covered with silver and hanging above his burial memorial. I couldn’t find it, but here’s the memorial and if you look at the top, there are chains from Christians that he saved from the Moors.
He also built the first bridge in the town and opened travel for people on the Camino and took away the bandits that ferried people.
The town grew from where he was buried in the middle of the Camino path in this area. The cathedral was raised over his grave and the houses gathered. Saint Gregorio of the Calzada, or Causeway.
More great symbols of pilgrims, just love coming upon these. They’re throughout the cathedrals, towns and it’s interesting to see each town’s presentation.
I loved today’s walk – again. Completely alone this time, not even a brief conversation except in my head. And I even managed to quiet that down. I didn’t sleep at all last night, but when I get going in the cool morning and the farms stretch out in front of me, I just can’t believe I’m getting to do this. There was cloud cover, perfect temperature, a bit of a breeze and grapes to snack on – just one bunch! – in the morning. Then vineyards changed to wheat fields and the farmers were out in their tractors. It was beautiful with the Camino stretching out in front and a few pilgrims in front and back.
Reb's Walks! 
Loved the story about the local treat! Enjoy every moment.
Xo,
Jill
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