Villafranca Montes de Oca is yet another of those towns being supported by the Camino. It is recorded that in 1594 16,767 pilgrims passed through. There was a hospice founded here in 884 that continued in one form or another until the late 1800s. The town has one nice hotel, 3 (or more) bars, 3 (or more) alberques for the pilgrims to stay at, no grocery store and no bank or ATM.
The local church, out our front door, is said to have a very good Santiago Perigrino statue, but it is locked. It does chime the hours and quarters, but it is a piddley little bell, and won’t interfere with our sleep.
This evening before supper we watched a group of older ladies bowling on the plaza in front of the church. They use 10 pins a couple inches in diameter, and a couple feet long – they have trouble keeping them upright. The exciting thing is that at least some of the time, they bowl from the same end as the pins! The ball goes through the pins with a satisfying clatter of flying wood.
We walked part of this morning with a woman from Australia. Her partner took a taxi because “her blister broke and she couldn’t walk”. Vic scorned that one.
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