Rest Day in Zamora

For the life of me, I can't understand why Zamora is not more of a tourist destination. It's a lovely, lively little city. There are streets lined with modernist buildings from the early 20th century, art deco and all that, just beautiful. The castle, which dates to pre-roman times, has been restored and is very visitor-friendly, such fun to walk around. AND, there are more than 20 romanesque churches, ranging from the tiny cozy Santiago de los Caballeros (where El Cid reportedly prayed) to the larger romanesque churches around the center, with all sorts of beautiful capitals and different types of decoration. To top it all off, the old city is walled and sits right on the banks of the Douro/Duero River, with its old roman/medieval bridge for pilgrims to cross.

Yesterday was my lucky day, for two main reasons. First, my dear friend and walking partner Danagrina arrived from the U.S. and we will continue on together tomorrow. Second, in the morning I got a ride out to the Visigothisc 7th century San Pedro de la Nave, 23 km from Zamora in the middle of nowhere. The hospitalero at the albergue heard about my plans and wanted to see the church, so he drove me out, and then I walked back. It was one of the high points of the Camino so far. Both the inside and the outside of the church are just spectacular.

The carvings on the capitals are beautiful, some are vegetal, some are human scenes, but they are almost all in untouched condition. It was a terrific way to spend a rest day. The 23 km back to Zamora were pleasant, all except for the 8 km I had to walk on the highway because I lost the arrows on the way back to town. (I get lost when the arrows are pointing in my direction, so imagine how hard it was for me to follow the arrows backwards).

Tomorrow I will start walking again, 20 days or so to Santiago, all is well, the scenery is changing, but the weather keeps blessing us with cool and cloudy. No complaints!