Day: May 11, 2026

May 10: A day in Zamora

We had a leisurely Sunday morning hanging out in the apartment. Coffee with our usual morning games: NY Times Crossword (not too hard with autocheck), Connections, Bracket City, and Quintalist. Then breakfast: granola with the most amazing plain yoghurt we’ve ever eaten (at about 1/4 the cost of what we buy at Costco).

Then we did some food shopping and then we cooked a yummy lunch.

Later we walked for three hours on the Camino, Via de la Plata. That walk comes into town from the south. Photos below were taken when the sun was out but much of that walk was in heavy rain.

We’ve used our rain gear here in Zamora more than we ever did when we were actually walking the Camino. Weather here changes constantly. Sun then rain then sun then rain … . Usually the rain is light but sometimes it is hard. It’s been quite chilly. Highs have been in the low 60s and breezy. Our Airbnb owner complained that Zamora was becoming like Galicia.

While we were out of town, after the rain stopped, while we were still walking, I called my sweet mom back in Albuquerque. Mother’s Day!

After we got back into town we stopped at an ice cream store named “Unconventional World” because the sign said they had unconventional ice cream. I had a Dulce de Leche cone (basically caramel, smooth and creamy) and Charlie had mint chocolate chip. Not particularly unconventional, but we might just go back!

Breakfast
Poppies are blooming everywhere!
We walked along the river for a while. Looking back across the river toward Zamora. That tall building on the left is the cathedral. (We tried to go inside it a few days ago but it is closed for the month for some kind of renovation.)
We finally got out of town and into the countryside. The meseta!
We had to turn around. Walking into town, this would be the first bar the pilgrims would come to after about 11 miles without services, so this is where most pilgrims would stop. We would for sure. Alas, it was closed when we passed it. I was hoping to get a Kas Limón.
The bridge leading back into Zamora.

A mishmash of photos

We are always thrilled to find guisantes (peas) on the menu. Doesn’t happen often.
In Burgos you could put your compostibles in a bin on the street. It required a special card to open it. I’m not sure if you’d have to pay to get the card or maybe just go through some kind of orientation?
On the walk into Atapuerca. A goat’s portrait on the outside of a barn. I’d love to know the story behind that.
Close up of the goat. (Not absolutely sure it is a goat.)
Graffiti in a tunnel. Charlie and I aren’t big wine drinkers, but it seems a lot of the pilgrims we meet or read on the forum feel this way. Our motto would be “No café con leche, no Camino” but it doesn’t quite have that poetic punch.
In the bar we hung out in in Villafranca Montes de Oca. Every year I post a photo like this: men playing cards in a bar. We saw this happen a number of times on this trip. It probably happens in every town in Spain every day. My grandad used to go play dominoes at the filling station in Dora, New Mexico. He’d kid us and say he was “going to the office.” Of course, Grandaddy never worked in an office. He was a dry-land dairy farmer.

Shell

Our friends in Albuquerque, Moira and Henry, did the Camino to Santiago by car a number of years ago. This would have been sufficient for them to receive an Indulgence, assuming they went to the cathedral, said a prayer, and received confession and communion. No walking required. (Not to be confused with a Compostela, a certificate one gets only after walking 100k or more. And I don’t think useful for getting into heaven.)

Moira bought a pretty scallop shell pendant then and, before we left on Camino this year, she gave it to me! I’ve enjoyed so much having it on this trip. I originally planned to have it on the back of my backpack, where people generally attach their Camino shells. But, since we used a bag transfer service, that didn’t make sense so I put it on my waist pack which I did walk with every day. Thank you, Moira.