Santo Domingo de la Calzada – October 5, 2016

Vic is soldiering on through her blisters.  It takes a half an hour in the morning to get them appropriately bandaged, but she made it through the 24 km of today’s walk.  I can only admire her devotion to a cause.

We have been to Santo Domingo de La Calzada before – via bus some 10 years ago with Bob and Liz.  At that time we had no hotel arranged or available, and some entrepreneurial elderly lady picked us off the street and lodged us in her home/hostel.  This time we had a hotel booked.  It is of the two star variety of the 2/3 star choice, but quite adequate, and very friendly.

Santo Domingo de La Calzada is another of the Camino cathedral towns. The cathedral itself seems to have been demoted to a museum behind a 4 euro paywall, and the religious aspect taken care of by the adjacent Ermita de la Virgen de la Plaza.  It is a very plain church that serves its function admirably.  The main church/museum Entrada Catedral gains its notoriety from a legend that is best explored through the Wikipedia article on the legend of Dominic de la Calzada.  Suffice to say that I think we saw the chickens when we were here before with the Australians, but that may have been a wine memory.  That should get you interested in the Wikipedia article.  There are chicken statues everywhere, including on the face of the cathedral.  Interested now?

We stopped for lunch today at the ‘alto’, the high point of our walk, at the Golf Club at Cirueno.  We had a wonderful paella at a lower price than an inferior one last night.  The golf club is obviously the reason, and the only reason, for the town existing.  The town is one of those condo developments similar to the Florida of the 60s.  There are dozens of three story buildings of condos that are just sad.  A few show signs of occupation – a couple lawn chairs on the odd balcony – a larger number with For Sale signs on them, and the vast number just shuttered and forlorn.  There is also an area of town houses that follow the same pattern. It seems all fairly well maintained, or perhaps vandalism and decay is just slow here.   Further up the hill are streets of curbs and street lights and weeds.  You wonder how the Golf Club can keep going.

At dinner tonight we got to thinking about the groups that form on the Camino.  Because most of the pilgrims stay at the albergues where there is an opportunity for mingling, people form groups to walk together.  The commonest groups to my eyes are pairs of middle aged or late middle aged men or women – I’m not suggesting gayness here, that’s not part of my observation.  Young men seem to come in groups of several – hearty mates all ‘round.  Young women tend to be solo – Vic calls them honeypots at the coffee bars. There are the married couples of all ages, but not in the majority of walkers.  What brought the subject up was the three middle aged women and the younger guy in dreadlocks that arrived at the restaurant together.  The Camino has many stories to be told.