As we walked over the last couple weeks we have seen fields of sunflowers that were not yet harvested. They are dead, of course, their heads drooping, and all facing east. What is it about dying sunflowers that causes them to all face east? Is there a force in the universe I don’t know about? And why haven’t these particular fields been harvested?
It’s funny how different towns affect you differently, some not well. Villarmentero de Campos was one of those. Everything was closed. The only coffee stop was an albergue that looked like it was run by ‘70s hippies. The inside was so unclean that we preferred to drink our coffee outside with the geese and the chickens. The large old church was set aside from the town in a field. Its apertures were walled up, probably in an attempt to forestall collapse. It was just as well it was locked.
Moving on 4 km to Villacázar de Sirga, it was a different story. It had a massive church (Iglesia de Santa Maria la Blanca) which apparently once had enormous defensive walls that may have been of Templar origin. A number of miracles were attributed to the church, and it became a pilgrimage destination in its own right. The walls and towers were lost in a 1755 earthquake, and no sign of them remains. The west wall of the church collapsed in 1888, but it has been restored. The main entry still has a grand porch with carved friezes, although one of the pillars is far from plumb. The interior features a number of painted life sized statues. The main altar retablo, and a second one in a chapel dedicated to Santiago, are painted panels framed by gothic carvings.
Additionally, to the town’s benefit, the bar across the square was clean and most welcoming. They actually had hot dogs in the display case – each with a wiggle of mustard and ketchup. We didn’t have one, as there was no telling how long they had been there. Only 4 km separated the two towns, but worlds apart in the impressions created.
The 20 km walk today on a gravel path alongside a highway brought us to Carrión de los Condes. Tomorrow is to be a rest day, so we will get to know it well. It was apparently one of the richest cities in Northern Spain in medieval times. Two major churches, several minor ones, the remains of a convent and a monastery that is now a luxury hotel, and another that is an albergue will outline our day.
Incidentally, the buzz on the Camino last night was all about the 84 year old Canadian guy on his 12th Camino walk who had a seizure in an alberque and was taken to hospital. None of these facts may be true.
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