Carrion de los Condes

I stopped at the Villalcázar de Sirga (translates as the town of the canal path) to look at the spectacular architecture of the Templarchurch such as the entrance.

Some of the delicate carving.

The pulpit.

A general view of the south entrance.

I met another pilgrim but he wasn't very talkative.

For the night I stopped in Carrion de los Condes at the Monasterio San Zoilo. It had been deconsecrated and turned into a four star hotel. The cloisters.

One of the many upper cloisters.

Another view of the upper cloisters.

The library.

A general view of the monastery.

The Meseta

The meseta is a limestone plateau that covers a large area of northern Spain with rolling hills and an endless expanse of wheat fields and big open skies.

 I stopped in Hornillos del Camino and found the best place to eat, the Green Tree, a five star rated restaurant with some great food.  I missed out on the music which was a live Irish band that night.

                                      
 A small village snuggled in a small valley was a relief from the open scenery.

 Then it was a walk along a country lane....

 before climbing out of the valley back onto the plateau.

 But there were some sights to see such as the 15th century ruins of the monastery of San Anton.

 And my destination for the day, CAstrojeriz, a small village with a castle on top of the hill.

 With some great views from the top if you still have the energy t climb to the top.

 And the next day is was back to walking over the peseta with its endless views, such as the rad ahead,

 or the endless fields to either side.

 But there was a reward of the fine architecture of San Martin, the best Romanesque church in Spain.

Burgos on El Camino

I walked into Burgos through the park that runs alongside the river through the city.

 There had been a lot of celebrations in the city the night before with several stages set up in plazas and workmen were sweeping about the detritus of the night before's party.

 But some of the older buildings were still visible such as the monastery.

 Although the church net door was obscured by hoardings and beer crates.

 An ornate entrance.

 One of the gateways into the inner walled city with an enclosed balcony above the archway, a typical feature of many buildings in the north west of Spain.

 A distant view of the cathedral and a church from over the river.

 Another great piece of architecture at one of the entrances to the old city.

 And the park along the river continues right through the centre, taken from the bridge over the river right in front of the gate seen above.

 Some details of the carvings above the archway.

 The front of the cathedral.

 The outer walls of the castle on the top of the hill.

 The castle entrance.

 A section of the city walls seen from the castle.

 A view over the roof tops of the city. Nothing special but the scar on the hill in the distance is a quarry and the same one that I had walked past some three hours earlier on El Camino.

 The castle on the hill is quite high and has steep sides and you can look over the spires of the cathedral .

Just below the castle is a medieval church with nothing special about it but it does have a curved triangular window which is unusual although judging by the design and the stonework it is a later addition but I am not going to stick my head out and volunteer a date.

San Juan de Ortega

It was a lovely morning walk through shaded forest paths. In the forest was a monument to 300 people executed here at the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Another 10 bpdoes were discovered in 2011.

 And then around a corner was a sign post plus other structures made in the forest from spare wood.

An assortment of signs and totem poles.

And a prayer tree.

Ad then the path dipped from the forested mountains to a stream and the monastery of San Juan de Ortega. The entrance to the church where at sunset on the equinox, the setting sun lights up the sculpture of the Virgin Mary at the annunciation. 

                                     
 The entrance to the monastery.

 The courtyard inside of the pilgrim hostel.

 The old entrance to the hostel.

 The cramped conditions inside the hostel dormitory but every one like the price at just 7 euros a night.