April 7-9: First three days in Zamora

We took a two-hour bus ride from Palencia to Zamora on Thursday. Walked the mile from the bus station to our Airbnb with our packs and suitcase. It felt good to walk and get our first view of the city. Raquel was waiting to check us in and she made us feel very welcome. She kept saying “this is su casa“.

Our apartment is on one of the main streets in Zamora but it is a pedestrian street and we are on the 4th floor, so it is quiet. We spend a lot of time leaning out the window watching the locals stroll by. Today is Saturday and it is a bit of a party atmosphere. We’ve seen three bands of sorts in the street, all made up of mostly older men. We just took this video from our window a few minutes ago. Whistles and drums: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KsFWCDdN4Y415AVb7

This was when we were out walking earlier. Kazoos??https://photos.app.goo.gl/qYVjc6Cf7UqsLa917

Seems like a neat way for older men to spend their time.

Zamora, population 60,000, is on a less-traveled Camino called the Via de la Plata, a 620 mile walk which starts in Sevilla in southern Spain. About 1.6% of pilgrims reaching Santiago this year so far have walked this route. We talked with some of the Via pilgrims yesterday outside the municipal albergue. They seemed to be in great spirits. We plan to walk the Camino a few miles in and out of Zamora while we are here.

Gronze, our Camino guide, says: We enter Zamora via the medieval bridge over the Duero River; the city is considered the capital of Romanesque architecture, boasting the highest concentration of churches and monuments of this style in the world.

There are 20 Romanesque churches here. It has an impressive old town. We visited the castle today (in pouring rain, alas).

In addition to popping in and out of churches, much of our first three days here has been spent food shopping and cooking. We love shopping in Spanish grocery stores and being able to cook in an apartment.

Our apartment living room.
View out the window. That’s a court house across the square.
This is the frieze above the door of the courthouse across the square in the above photo. I took this from our apartment window with my phone’s telephoto lenses. It’s amazing the detail we can see. Maybe as good as binoculars.
View of the medieval bridge across the Duero River. This river will eventually end up in the Atlantic at Porto, Portugal, where it will be called the Duoro.
These boys were hanging out in a niche in one of the churches. (Shot from a distance with telephoto lens.)
Here’s the church where the boys were sitting. Can you find them?
That’s all paint except for the guy in the multicolored hat.
We got to see this stork’s nest from above. Charlie shot this from one side.
And I shot this from the other. Same stork. Of course, we were using telephoto lenses.
Approaching the castle.
It was surreal seeing this large group entering the castle ahead of us. They were in a line, all with an umbrella. That’s only about half of them!

2 thoughts on “April 7-9: First three days in Zamora”

  1. That’s a lot of churches to pop in and out of! I am amazed that you do so much cooking while traveling. I love shopping in the markets when traveling (especially farmers markets) but always go for things that don’t need much preparation.

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