While one was laid up, the other walked around

 Hello, everyone.

As the title says, I was laid up with the injury, but DH walked around Madrid and took many, many pictures.

Today, the little gems at La Mallorquina, his favorite bakery on the Puerto del Sol:

I wish I could enjoy these lovelies! 

More from the day of the Long Walk

Hello, everyone. 

I did a short post while en route about the very long day,  but as the monastery didn't have wifi, there wasn't a lot in it.

Today, a little more, from Aljucen where we should have stopped. (We should have broken the very long day into halves.) 

Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. The sorrows are symbolized by the swords.

San Isidro Labrador. Notice the angel tending his plow at one side. San Isidro would go to daily Mass, and the employer made a fuss about him arriving later than the others. "Be on time or else!" he is said to have declared.  San Isidro went to Mass anyway, and when the employer went to see if the field was being plowed as directed, he discovered that the ox was harnessed and the plow was working,  but no one was visible directing the plows progress. An angel had taken the plow until San Isidro got there after Mass.

There is an information sign outside, too.

Back at home

As mentioned in recent posts, things happen sometimes and we had to suspend our Camino for this year. 

While working on healing, there is time for a little sewing. (With the embroidery machine, there isn't even a foot pedal!) The crumb-pieced bag is progressing. 

The little bird's flower looked incomplete,  so:

From the stash, a sequin and a bead to make a center for the flower.

The plan for this bag involves an adjustable, removable strap. The bag lining with some slip pockets is ready. There will be a zipper closure, too.

An art project?

Hello, everyone. 

I was looking around just now, in the airport,  and saw (indoors) rubber trees with birdhouses hanging from their branches. 

What the heck. I guess the designer thought the fake trees looked incomplete without some fake birdhouses. Will we next see the addition of fake ants, ladybugs, and Japanese beetles?

One more Madrid meal

Hello,  everyone. 

We strolled out after dinner this evening and washed up on the shore of the place with the lovely tapas the other day. (Next door to the McDonalds)

They had a daily special that wasn't on the menu: merluza, grilled, with salad and mixed cooked vegetables.  (Potato, green peppers and red peppers.) There was a "dressing kit" consisting of a little cup of wine vinegar, a  larger cup of olive oil, and a packet of salt. I sprinkled all of the vegetables with the vinegar, sprinkled everything on the plate with the olive oil and salt. Oh, by the way, bread service was on the table but it wasn't included with the meal. Unlike in Portugal, they charge for the whole basket.

 In Portugal, they only charge you for the bread that you eat,  and they do count the untouched rolls left in the basket while writing the tab. These guys, and some other parts of Spain we have been in on this pilgrimage just charge for the "bread service" whether you eat it or not. Tacky! I chalk it up to another of the unfortunate hangovers from the lockdowns a couple of years back; the hospitality industry just about died altogether and parts did die. (We had a lot of One Meal A Day days on our Salvador and Primitivo walk in 2021.) So the survivors look at things differently. 

Almost forgot to take a picture!

I wasn't in love with the...it looks like a drizzle of balsamic vinegar scattered over the plate. But that's just me. The merluza is the fish steak.

Another little evening stroll...

Hello, everyone. 

We stepped out for a short walk, to get a bit of fresh air, and have a glass. The neighborhood around our place (Casa de Huespedes Prado) has many little bars, restaurants,  coffee shops, etc. Also there is a washateria and some small food stores. And--can't forget this!--a bookstore with lots of books. 😉

Today we tried a place we hadn't been to before.

tinto de Verano 

Olives in vinaigrette,  with DH's lemon beer in the background 

The croquetas were good, as usual they are the right size for two bites each.

The weather today was nice. It may return to a mix of sun and rain again tomorrow and on through until Thursday. 

The second day's walking (found in drafts)

Hello, everyone. 

We got up early again today and walked a little over 19km.

view of part of the trail.

Stone building in a wheat field. 

A short break in the afternoon

Hello,  everyone. 

I have been mostly working on encouraging the leg to get it together. (T'all know the drill: rest, elevation, hot water bags, etc.)

This afternoon we strolled out for a bit. 

We visited a pizza place for a glass and a pizza.

After enjoying the made from scratch pizza with ham and mushrooms, we went down the block a ways.

We had a mug of sangria--actually it was more the Tinto de la Vera, summer wine, with fruit slices and ice and bubbly water mixed with the wine, and a mug of lemon beer.

One of the tapas in the picture above is missing,  the first snapshot froze and the tapas got nabbed before the second try. ;-)

The missing tapa, like it's friend in the picture, was a slice of bread, drizzled with olive oil and a tomato slice and a sausage slice and a cheese slice. The pair remaining on the plate

are tortilla de patata and a cheese slice on bread with some olive oil. Yumm!!!

Should you want to locate the wonderful sangria, it's on the next corner down from the pizza place:

I just had to share this

I like a lot of Spanish food. One of my favorite dishes is tortilla. I like the fancy tortilla con verduras (has vegetables added) and I like the Tortilla de Rabano that we have been making at home, using radish. I love the Tortilla with radish, mushrooms, and little shrimps. 

This is the simple, delicious, plain tortilla de patata. I almost forgot to take the picture. 

Cáceres to Madrid

Hello, everyone.  We stayed at Cáceres for a couple of nights. 

Yesterday's post didn't show the beautiful models that are on display at the Oficina de Turismo there.

This is a detail of the interior of the church model. Isn't it amazing?

This is an overall look at the interior side of the model. They left one side open so it can be seen.

This, by bending and reaching between the window and the model, is a look at the front.

We took a taxi to the train station this morning (used Trainline.com to make the tickets) and arrived just before noon at Atocha Station. Then, our lodging being a ways away from there, we took a taxi there. Arrived in the neighborhood too soon for check-in and found a cute (and tasty!) coffee shop.

DH had a bagel with salmon. It looked great, salmon piece and avocado and lettuce mix inside the bread item. (I am not sure a New Yorker would have called it a bagel, it looked too tender and tasty for that, but it was round.) I had bocadillo de Jamon y queso, and the bread was a nice flattish thing in maybe the chiabatta family, very tasty, and in addition to the cured jamón and the cheese the lady had included sliced tomato and a drizzle of olive oil. Yum!

I put the area the coffee shop is in into the photo, so it can be located by interested people. 

The famous pastry shop

Hello, everyone.

DH went out this morning, to find some breakfast, and brought back goodies.

Over the times we've walked Caminos, we often had a few days of "slush time" at the end. We're in a habit of spending those days in the city with the airport: Madrid. DH discovered the pastry shop in Puerta del Sol, probably because there is usually a line going out the shop door in the morning.

He also brought yummy things for me, a warm wedge of tortilla de patata and a cold carton of salmorejo soup. Salmorejo is in the gazpacho tribe of chilled soups.

The weather is surprisingly cool here for early June, so the warm tortilla was especially welcome.

Things happen sometimes

Hello, everyone. 

In the last couple of days it has become clear that this is not the year that we complete the Camino from Seville to Santiago. A few days back, we started from Mérida, heading north as always. We hit the only two possible intermediate stopping points before noon. The more viable one, Aljucen, according to the books, was pretty much a dead zone at just before noon. We didn't see the albergue,  nor did any bar/restaurant/Cafe look like it was open. As it wasn't 12 yet, we just headed on. This was a mistake; the remaining 19 km were a solid stretch of no rest stops, only a few trees and rocks, and very little shade. When we got to the next place, Alcuescar, and found the monastery, we had racked up 39 km for the day. Oops. 

We stayed at the monastery overnight, enjoying a communal meal that involved pasta salad, hot dogs, cold tomato soup, and rennet pudding. (Thanks to the hospitalero and fellow travelers who put that together!) Then we crawled into bed. 

The next morning,  my leg was bothering me, but we were in the back end of nowhere so I just soldiered on.

Found an open bar for coffee, there was an albergue there but my brains hadn't caught up from the previous day, so we continued on to Valdesalor, for a day total of 26 km.

The next day it was obvious that no walking would happen. We took the local bus the 10 km into Cáceres, found a place, and settled in gor a couple of nights to see if the leg would settle down. It didn't. We have decided to accept reality and suspend our Camino for this year.

After a cup of cafe con Leche at Aldea del Cano, we saw the cutest young horse.

Raciones, table-sized tapas dishes. Cured meats and fried cod. Yum!

Low-tech heating pad. No electricity required! 

We are going to cut the trip short and do some determined resting and healing. God willing, we will return to this Camino.

After the long walk

Hello,  everyone. 

The day after our very long walk was less long. Not great, but less long. Today, in need of rest, we took the bus to Caceres, our next town. 

This is a thematic sculpture about the historic sites in Caceres.

The weather is getting warmer. 

A long, long walk

Hello, everyone. 

I warned y'all that yesterday there might not be a post. As it happens,  not only were we very tired, the monks we stayed with had no wifi at all. I suppose it's an opportunity to experience the calm of contemplation.

We walked, according to Strava, 39 km yesterday.  Yes it was hard. And I have no desire to repeat the experience. Today we did a shorter day, but it wasn't short: 26 km. We're staying in Valdesalor this evening. 

We did make it into town before a rainstorm got going, and then the rainstorm went somewhere else.

A poster display at the monastery.  They want folks to ask Father Leocadio, their founder, for miracles.

Leaving Aldea de Cano, we saw the cutest baby horse! (I don't know if it's  a foal, female, or a colt, male.)

Rest day in Mérida

Hello, everyone. 

We scheduled a rest day in Mérida because there are a number of things to take in. We therefore didn't stay in the pilgrim albergue in the town. Albergues typically limit a pilgrim's stay to one night. We will always figure out a place that accepts  a two night stay if it's a rest day.

As I mentioned yesterday,  we hit  Mérida during the festival. There have been people in Roman-like costumes everywhere. The city had gone all-in on this, apparently for a number of years. School groups trekked across town in Roman-style dress with little banners to the Amphitheater (an actual Roman place) and watched presentations and cheered that they're the sons of Augusta Emerita. Which they actually are. There have been bands of "Roman soldiers" marching around the town, dressed in Roman legion-like costumes. Every toddler, almost, has a tunic and either a draped shawl (for girls) or a sword or shield and maybe greves (for boys) and they're all having a wonderful time.

Today we visited the Amphitheater,  where we saw part of the elementary school stuff, then we wandered over into the arena, then over to the shrine basilica of St. Eurlalia de Boveda (of the arch) which was lovely, and the nice man there had a sello for my pilgrim credencial. Then we wandered some more, found a grocery store and picked up some hand sani (great for cleaning a blister too) and sunscreen and cheese slices and local wine. With all this loot we went back to the hotel to eat at midday and rest during the siesta. 

Tomorrow we head out again for a long day, probably, and it's possible I will be too tired to post after arriving. 

You don't see a costumed plastic pig very often. 

The explanation of where St. Eulalia is buried.

The actual spot of her tomb.

The temple of Diana, fixed up for the Fiesta.

Walked into Mérida

Hello, everyone.  

Today, after yesterday's 27 km walk into Torremejia, we had a shorter 15.5 km walk into Merida. The sun was out at sun up and the sky remained clear all the way until almost 4 pm...when we were heading out of our hotel to the laundromat. While we washed clothes, it rained vigorously and slacked off just as we got the laundry folded. It's very obvious that the local area was having a dry spell, so I suspect that they're happy to see the moisture.

Merida is having a Roman fest this week. Lots of folks in all ages have dressed up as sorta-Romans and gone down to the tents and palisade by the Alcazaba to view the re-enacting and explaining of such things as Roman colognes, weaving, Roman weddings, and so on. Mostly explaining, but they all had copious amounts of visual aids to show. There were tents inside the (temporary) palisade set up as they might have been. 

Other Roman soldier kit items.

There were even some costumed fellows inside the Alcazaba with more tents and an eagle on a stick.

The Alcazaba was very interesting. A military site here actually goes back quite a way before the Moorish conquest. The Moors rebuilt the site with blocks taken from the former city wall, some of them ended up with carvings from their former use still visible.

We're going to have a rest day here to build up our energy after 9 or 10 days of walking.