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!
It seems a good percentage of the cathedrals we come across are undergoing some sort of renovation. Without tourism I wonder if the activity would be so prevalent. The pockets of the faithful, an ever diminishing tribe, are only so deep. And somewhere I read how tourism is one of the top Spanish industries.
Love the poppies!
Yes, I’m sure tourism is the main motivation for all the renovation. We don’t see a whole lot of people going for mass in these cathedrals. I just looked it up, you are right,”Tourism and Hospitality” is the #1 industry in Spain. I listen to a Spanish language podcast of a couple who live in Madrid. He’s British and she is Madrileña. He was wondering why Spanish people don’t travel abroad more and she said “Why would you ever leave Spain, there’s so much to see and do here.” Guess you can tell Charlie and I tend to agree with her since we seldom go anywhere else either.
(Aside: So nice to be typing on a computer instead of a cellphone!!)