New superimposed on old, Merida A shorter day, but good as it allowed time to explore the Roman city of Merida. Founded by Augustus way back when as a site where retired soldiers were gifted land, it became a prominent city in its own right, and boasted the usual array of temples, forums, theatres and … Continue reading Via de la plata day 10: Torremejia to Merida, 15.6 km →

Hand harvesting grapes at night We started before the crack of dawn as it was forecast to be a hot day. Fortunately we determined that the local cafe opened at 0530, so we were suitably caffeinated for the day ahead. We did miss a fork in the road in the dawn light, but the result … Continue reading Via de la Plata day 9: Villafranca de los Barros to Torremejia, 27.2 km →

Feria and the castle thereof A scenic day, but clearly not picturesque, as the above was only one of the two photos I took, and this is of a town far in the distance. Leaving Zafra we had a climb up to the Alto de San Cristobal in the dawn light, which gave us great … Continue reading Via de la plata day 8: Zafra to Villafranca de los barros, 19.7 km →

Plaza Chica, Zafra. Abandoned during daylight hours! Longer days = earlier starts. Beating the heat is probably the most popular topic of conversation at the moment, and it's forecast to creep back up to 37⁰ by next Monday. At least the Spanish have perfected beer consumption in a hot climate: ice cold beer poured into … Continue reading Via de la plata day 7: Fuente de cantos to Zafra, 25 km →

Clearly my organizational skills have diminished as there was a rush for the door before 0500 of those determined to secure a bed at the small albergue recommended as the end point for today's stage. We left at 0700 after first having made coffee in the kitchen! The first part of the day was the … Continue reading Via de la plata day 6: Monesterio to Fuente de cantos, 20.4 km →

Castillo de las Torres in the wee hours The morning session was great - more dehesa lands, more animal bingo, more country roads. Eventually we arrived at the autostrada, but with the initial benefit of it being a great coffee stop - not to mention my first Napolitano of the camino. After the service area, … Continue reading Via de la Plata day 5: Real de la Plata to Monesterio, 21 km →

The storks have added their own decorations to the bell tower of the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Gracia in Almaden A shorter day, but doesn't classify as a rest day as there were too many hills! As my heels showed some hot spots after yesterday, I channeled my inner Max and walked in socks … Continue reading Via de la plata day 4: Almaden de la plata to El Real de la Jara, 13.9 km →

Unusual pine trees. I believe their botanical name is pinus pom pomas Due to the intimidating "very hard" categorization of today's stage, and the anticipated hot day, most of the inhabitants of the albergue were up well before the crack of dawn in order to beat the heat. I was amongst them, partly because it … Continue reading Via de la Plata day 3: Castilblanco de los Arroyos to Almadén de la Plata, 29.4km →

Almost the entire albergue was up early in an effort to beat the heat, but that meant the first few kilometers in the dark. It also meant starting before cafe opening hours! Where the path crossed the road the gas station has a cafe attached, but for some reason I was the only one who … Continue reading Via de la plata day 2 : Guillena to Castilblanco de los Arroyos, 18km →

A picture of concentration trying to get both myself and the sign in. I don't think I have ever seen a Camino sign that big. And there's probably a way to not make it a mirror image! The first day is always a challenge, trying to unearth the muscle memory, along with the camino routines … Continue reading Via de la plata day 1: Sevilla to Guillena, 21.8km →