Category Archives: Spain

Galisteo to Carcaboso to Oliva de Plesencia

Backpacking, Camino Via de la Plata, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, , , ,

May 7 – Happy birthday to my sister Amy, and Happy Primavera to all!  Yes, today is another fiesta day here in Spain – Primavera, or the first day of Spring (according to another hiker – this may not be correct).  Not sure what this holiday entails, except rose petals and lots of drinking.  

Leaving Galisteo, we bade farewell to the town storks (see the two babies in the nest?), and crossed over an old bridge.

Once we were out of town, all the trail arrows were obliterated.  We thought the trail might have been moved, which happens from time to time, but we could find no alternative route in any of our resources.  So, today’s walk of 7 miles was totally on asphalt, following Google Maps, which thinks you are a car and directs you down a paved road.  Roadwalks are not my favorite – after walking any distance on pavement, a dirt path feels as soft as walking on pillows.  I don’t know how marathoners run for 26 miles, all on pavement.  Hats off to them!

We got to see some cacti in bloom:

There was a little town at the halfway point of our day, with a coffee shop, so we stopped in for a cup.  Spoke for a while with a fellow hiker from Australia of about our age, also doing short stages.  He lamented how the Camino Frances has been ruined by the youngsters who turned it into a partying experience, and theorized that is why all the oldsters are on this trail.  He confirmed our observation that this is no longer the least popular Camino – we are seeing larger numbers of walkers every day, and are having to book in advance to assure we have a room for the night.

We got to Carcaboso by noon.

Our hostal was rocking with folks celebrating Primavera, but we managed to get a room and a good meal.  

This quartet wasn’t rocking out for the kids, but with accordion and saxophone, they strode proudly down the street, playing all their songs by heart.

We checked out the church of Santiago Apostol, which was closed but had a collection of old Roman markers on display.  The flowers on the cross are also for Primavera, I think.

Now, I do my best to both educate and amuse my audience, so I would like to share the wedding traditions of Carcabos, which must be very important to merit a sign outside the church.  I would like to, but whoever translated this sign into English did not help my understanding – what do you think?

This is our second day with no wifi.  Hope we have some soon!  392 miles to go.

May 8 – After a breakfast of churros and coffee, we hit the road for a twelve mile walk.  Others are doing a 24 mile day to the next town that is right on the Camino, but we are detouring to a town halfway between.  The upside of this is a shorter walking day; the downside is that the last four miles walked do not count toward our Camino total.  Oh well.  Pretty sky this morning.

We met an Englishman named Tim, who was actually walking as slow as we were, due to a leg injury.  It turned out that both he and Jim were engineers who then got doctorates in sociology.  As you can imagine, they had lots to discuss.

I straggled behind, taking pictures.

This scene reminded me of Africa.  I expected to see a giraffe at any moment.

We bade farewell to Tim after 8 miles as we started our detour.  Even with his injury, he plans to walk 24 miles today.

The last four miles was along a busy highway, where we had to walk on the rocky verge in the hot sun.  No fun!  But now we are in a lovely Casa Rural, Jim has cooked us a delicious lunch, and I am looking forward to my siesta.  384 miles to go.

Riolobos to Galisteo

Backpacking, Camino Via de la Plata, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, ,

May 6 – We stopped in the Riolobos plaza to say good morning to the storks before heading out of town.  I love how dozens of smaller birds make their nests inside the tall stork nests.  Always such a flurry of activity and birdsong in the morning.

Today we are walking to Galisteo, seven miles north. Most hikers pass this town by without stopping, but we are going to spend the day.  We walk over an old footbridge.

…and admire some pretty flowers or weeds, depending on your perspective, growing by the side of the road.

We pass a solar energy farm, just drinking up those rays.  Southern Spain is the perfect place for solar power.

Galisteo doesn’t show up in our online resources, but local tourists come here to spend a day in the old walled city.  The wall was built by the Muslims, of course.  They really liked walls.  The houses now exceed the confines of the walls, so there is an inner city and an outer city.

We climbed to the top of the wall and walked all around the city.

Our guidebook raved about the food at our bar/hostal and they were so right.  Purple cabbage and shrimp was unbelievably good. Best meal we’ve had in a month!
399 miles to go.

Cañaveral to Riolobos

Backpacking, Camino Via de la Plata, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, , ,

May 5 – Twelve miles planned for today and rain in the forecast.  We had our coffee and toast with ham and cheese breakfast at the hostal, and were on the road by 7:15.  We climbed a mighty big hill as the sun came up.

At the top  of the hill was a shady wooded walk.  We haven’t had too many of those in Spain.  Very nice.

Then the rain started, first just a drizzle, then it poured down.

Mist on the hills:

The sky cleared by noon, then got breathtakingly beautiful.



While we were admiring the clouds, we missed the turnoff to Riolobos.  We are so used to following yellow arrows that we didn’t realize this road would not be marked.  We saw the town get closer, then get farther away!  By the time we were sure we had made a mistake, we’d walked an extra two miles, then had to reverse course and retrace our steps to the turnoff.

16 miles walked today.  An extra four miles, and I don’t get to subtract them from my total.  Drat.  And now my feet are sore.

407 miles to go.

 Casar de Cáceres to Cañaveral

Backpacking, Camino Via de la Plata, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, , , , ,

May 4 – So, as we planned our hike forward, we encountered a little glitch in today’s walk.  The alburgue in the next town of Embalse de Alcántara, about 10 miles north, is permanently closed, and there is no other place to stay unless we walk another 10 miles to the town after that. Twenty miles is not a problem for the robust young hikers who whiz past us every morning, but for us it is too far for a day’s walk.  We looked on the online Camino forum, and saw that several folks had success in getting a taxi to take them the ten miles to the Embalse (reservoir), then walking the last ten.  This sounded like the plan for us.

We asked the lady who rented us the apartment yesterday how to arrange for a taxi in the morning, and she stopped us in mid sentence.  I’ll drive you to Embalse, she said (in Spanish of course).  Would you prefer to ride down the road, or take a 4×4 Jeep down the actual Camino so you don’t miss any of the sights?  We asked for the 4×4, and she agreed to pick us up at 8am. Another adventure!

She picked us up promptly – Jim rode shotgun, and I sat in the back with the packs. We passed the other peregrinos who were just leaving town.  We waved at Carolyn, our only American friend.

We had to stop while a shepherd drove his flock across the road.

It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day.

The Camino passed through several farmers fields, and Jim volunteered to jump out to open and close the gates so the Jeep could drive through.

More peregrinos!  They must have gotten up very early this morning.  We passed about two dozen total.  This Camino is getting popular.

Our host stopped to show us some ancient Roman stanchions.

After 45 minutes of driving, including several miles of highway, we reached the reservoir.

Our host pulled right up to the yellow arrow and pointed the way, assuring us that we would have all trail and no road walking to get us to Cañaveral.

We walked on old Roman road, past Rio Tajo, and through some pretty mountains.

The Hostel Cañaveral is a real treat, modern and colorful, and has its own restaurant where we enjoyed a scrumptious menu al dia. The town is small and quiet.  We walked past the closed church and admired the mountains beyond.
417 miles to go.

Cáceres to Casar de Cáceres 

Backpacking, Camino Via de la Plata, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, ,

May 3 – We hated to say goodbye to our Hotel Iberia and its breakfast buffet, but it was time to hit the road.  As we only have a 7 mile walk to Casar de Cáceres, we had an extra cafe con leche and left at 9am.  There was a lovely promenade on the way out of town, with roses blooming on either side of us.  So nice!

As soon as we were out of Cáceres, the yellow arrows deserted us.  We walked a while on the side of a busy highway, but that didn’t seem right.  We saw a path in a field to our left, and figured we must have missed a turnoff.  Jim bounded nimbly over the barbed wire fence.  Me, not so nimbly.  We walked for a while on what was obviously a cow path, until we came to the obvious cows.  They didn’t look pleased to be sharing their meadow with us.

We got to the top of a hill where we could survey the terrain, and, sure enough, there were a half dozen other hikers all walking along the highway.  Duh.  It took us two more barbed wire fences and one metal gate to get out of cow territory and back on the the road to Casar de Cáceres.  An adventure!

We had the choice today of staying in a hostal, or renting a two bedroom apartment with full kitchen and a washing machine for 5 euros less.  Guess which we chose?  A two minute trip to the Dia gave Jim the fixings of an eggplant mushroom chicken casserole, along with fresh strawberries.  Yum! Our clothes are hanging out to dry (yes, there was a washing machine, but nobody has an electric clothes dryer), and we are lounging in our living room.  Life is good!

After our siesta, we walked across town to visit the Museo del Queso.  As we had been to the Ham Museum a few miles back in Monesterio, it was only right that we should see the Cheese Museum too.  Friend Doug informs us that there is a Mustard Museum in Wisconsin. If we could get them all together, what a sandwich we would have!

This area is known for a special soft cheese made from sheep’s milk.  We learned as much as we could glean from the Spanish-only text.

While looking at cheese making tools and furniture, we struck up a conversation with Carolyn, originally from Chicago.  She is the first American we’ve met since we’ve been walking.  She just started her Camino yesterday.

Casar de Cáceres also boasts a fine church, complete with gargoyles and storks.

429 miles to go.

A Day in Cáceres 

Camino Via de la Plata, Flashpacking, Spain, Travel, , , , , ,

May 2 – The city of Cáceres was officially founded by the Romans in about 25 BCE, although it has been inhabited since prehistoric times.  It was overtaken by the Muslims in the ninth century, and they built a wall around the city.  This did not stop the Christians from taking it back several hundred years later.  Part of the wall remains:

There are stretches of Old City that show no evidence of modernization, making this a popular place to film movies about medieval times, and episodes of Game of Thrones.

Arc de Estrella

We checked out the Concatedral de Santa Maria, where the service in progress continued regardless of the tourists gawking about. It has a very impressive carved wooden altarpiece, but is pretty small as cathedrals go.

Santiago, patron saint of Spain, is here with his walking stick and water gourd:

Outside the Catedral is the statue of a local Saint, San Pedro de Alcantara.  You touch his feet for a blessing.  Look how shiny his toes are:

The Templo San Francisco Javier has been deconsecrated and turned into a museum.  For one euro, you can explore from the tip of the highest tower to the cistern several stories down.

Views from the bell tower:

Exhibit of Nativity statues from all over the world:

Semana Santa exhibit:

Cistern below the church:

The Iglesia Santiago was closed, but signs of Saint James were in evidence outside. His carving above the door:

His shells:

His lucky storks nesting above:

And the Camino passing by the door:

The Iglesia San Juan had some lovely Madonnas:

We looked at old things in the Museo:

The art exhibit had a not-quite-Picasso:

…and a not-really-Van Gogh:

The Museo Arabe displayed collected Muslim artifacts from around the world:

Care for a game of Moors vs. Crusaders?

A lovely day!

Valdesalor to Cáceres

Backpacking, Camino Via de la Plata, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, , , ,

May 1 – Happy May Day, Labour Day, or International Workers Day to you!  Whatever you call it, it means everything in this country is closed today to commemorate this holiday.  No coffee for us in town this morning.  Luckily, Jim saw the lights go on at the Repsol gas station as we walked along the road at 7am.  We jogged across the highway and got some cafe con leches out of a machine to fortify us after our night in the alburgue.

Lived through last night with the snorers, the farters and the moaner.  I’ll say no more about that.  Pretty sunrise pictures today.

Eight miles will get us to the city of Cáceres, where we will take a rest day and see the Old City.  It is really cold this morning, making me wish I had gloves and long johns.  Walking usually heats me up pretty quickly, but not today.  I smell funky from sleeping in my clothes.  Can’t wait to get to our room for a nice hot shower!

Cáceres is full of tourists for the holiday.  The Camino takes us from the industrial edge of the city into the Old City.

When Jim was trying to book us a room in Cáceres, we didn’t know about the holiday, and couldn’t understand why all the hotels were full.  We ended up at the Hotel Iberia Plaza Mayor, which is right on the main plaza in the heart of the old city. What luck! It’s a beautiful old hotel, full of antiques, and kitschy odds and ends.

Wonderful shower, wonderful wifi, wonderful window that opens onto a balcony to facilitate hanging up our freshly laundered clothes.  Wonderful doner platter midday meal.  Wonderful afternoon siesta.  Tomorrow we explore the city.

436 miles to go.

Alcuéscar to Aldea del Cano to Valdesalor 

Backpacking, Camino Via de la Plata, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, , , ,

Apr 29 – Another gray morning, but much warmer than yesterday.  Ten miles planned for today.  It is drizzling, but no wind.  A good day to walk.  The rain made the purple flowers bloom.

Sheep in the rain:
Cows in the rain:

Here’s Jim and an old Roman stanchion.  Jim is the one on the right.

At mid morning we came upon a little town where we got a cup of coffee. It had an old Roman bridge, still in working order!

We were passed by another young German, and spoke with him for a while.  He met his wife walking the Camino Frances – how romantic! Now they take turns hiking while the other stays home with their son. He’s very concerned with the world political situation.  So are we.  We reached Aldea del Cano by 1pm, purchased our groceries before the shop closed at 2 (remember, no shopping Saturday evening or Sunday!).  Would you like to have some Special U for breakfast, or some Arroz Inflado? The latter sounds like it might explode in your stomach!

We found our lovely hostal, the Casa Rural.  After a shower and a rest, we went out in search of our midday meal and found that the sun had come out like gangbusters. Hope that’s the end of the rain for a while!

451 miles to go.

Apr 30 – Yesterday we wrestled with the decision of whether to walk a 14 mile day into the city of Cácares, or break the walk into two 7 mile days by stopping in a teeny village with only one alburgue.  The loveliness of this Casa Rural and the possibility of sleeping late, coupled with the forecast of more rain, helped us decide to break the long walk into two.  So seven miles today.

We slept in, and Jim brought me coffee and toast in bed (breakfast in this country is always just toast).  

Our hostess provided marmalade- a real treat!  A wonderful Sunday morning.  We started walking around 9am – another chilly and windy day, with dark clouds threatening more rain.

The land was flat and filled with cat tails and scrub pine, reminiscent of the Outer Banks or Fire Island.

It rained on and off, and we got to Valdesalor around noon.  The alburgue was locked, with a note on the door to pick up the key at the bar down the street.  Now the rain was pouring down.  We reached the bar, which was locked and dark, with no sign telling us what to do now.  Jim asked a woman passing by if she knew where we could pick up the key.  She asked us to wait five minutes, then she came back and opened the bar.  She signed us into the alburgue and gave us the key.

When we got back to the alburgue, the door was open and it was full of dripping wet people arguing in Spanish.  We claimed two bunks quickly, and left them to sort out the rest.  All the 14 beds were filled, and more people kept coming in to get out of the rain.  There is only one bathroom, and the door has been locked since we got here.  It’s going to be a 😩 😭 miserable night.

444 miles to go.

Mérida to Aljucén to Alcuéscar

Backpacking, Camino Via de la Plata, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, , ,

Apr 27 – Back on the road for an easy 12 mile day of flat terrain.  Got to pass by the aqueducts one more time as the sun came up.  So long, Mérida!

A reminder of how far we have yet to travel.

The nice folks of Mérida built a bike path alongside the highway, which gave us a way to walk safely out of the city.

Several miles out, we walked around the Proserpina dam, built by the Romans to provide water for the aqueducts of Mérida. Quiet and so pretty in the morning light.

We met a couple from Montreal who are walking their fifth Camino, and were passed by two bikers. We walked through a little town with an open church (a woman was cleaning inside) and we stopped for a quiet moment.

Walking into Aljucén, we saw some Camino-themed graffiti at the highway underpass.

Aljucén is a town of 247 souls, according to Wikipedia, but it has three alburgues and two restaurants that cater to pilgrims.  There is no hostal near this town where it is possible to get a room with a private bath, so this will be the first of our Alburgue Days.

At an alburgue, you get a bunk bed, access to a shared hot shower and a toilet, an outdoor washtub and line for laundry, and access to a shared refrigerator and stove.  What you don’t get is sheets, towels, shampoo or, usually, privacy. A diehard pilgrim spends every night of his/her Camino in an alburgue, at a nightly rate of $11-13 per person.  We have been carrying shampoo, a lightweight travel towel, and silky traveler’s sheets / pillowcase on the chance that we would need them (the traveler’s sheets are really a miracle – they fold into a sack the size of a little packet of tissue, and only weigh a few ounces).  We picked the Alburgue Annalena because the pictures online showed that the bunks were in four bedrooms instead of in one big dormitory.  As it turned out, no one else chose this alburgue, so we had the whole house to ourselves.  Annalena came by at dusk to check our passports and wish us Buen Camino.

472 miles to go.

Apr 28 – Woke up to a cold, windy morning with rain in the forecast.  Even though the rain had not started when we left the alburgue, we opted to put on our raincoats because it was so cold.  Within an hour, a cold rain started to fall.  Not many pictures today.  We were passed by a woman from Holland and a man named Christian from northern Germany.

Although we only walked 11 miles today, I was beat by the time we got to Alcuéscar, from walking into the wind.  We passed the alburgue and decided we deserved a night in a hostal.  Unfortunately, the Hostal Olivo was overpriced, with very mediocre food, and no wifi.  When it rains, it pours.  461 miles to go.

A Day in Mérida – parte dos

Flashpacking, Spain, Travel, , , ,

Apr 26 – As our whirlwind tour of Mérida continued, we walked to the edge of town to see the Aqueductos Milagros – ancient Roman aqueducts that are considered miraculous because they are still standing after more than 2000 years. These are one of the original four aqueducts that supplied fresh water to the city.

We were happy to see our friends the storks nesting on top of the aqueduct.

Next we swung by another church, but that one wasn’t open either.  It did have an odd statue out front though:

I thought maybe it represented a pilgrim with sore feet, but the plaque said, “To those who make possible the Semana Santa (Holy Week) of Mérida”.  I guess they hoist a lot of floats and parade around in this town too.

Now here’s an interesting story.  In the 1400s, a knight of the Order of Santiago decided to build his palace on the site of the ancient Roman Temple of Diana.  Rather than knock down the temple and use the bricks, which was a very popular construction technique, he incorporated the temple into his design, using it as the front porch!

In 1972, the city fathers were going to knock down the palace and restore the temple, but cooler heads prevailed and they decided to leave it as-is, as the temple would have fallen long ago if not for the upkeep by the owners of the palace.  So, a win-win all around!

Finally, we visited Casa del Mitreo, a typical Roman villa that is currently being excavated and restored by archeologists.

Another tile floor, this one showing either the Roman gods or the zodiac – not sure…

And then it was time for lunch!  We really enjoyed all that Mérida had to offer. Tomorrow, we’re back on the road!

A Piedad statue at the roundabout and view of our home in Mérida – the Hotel Zeus.