On towards Santiago

After our rest day in Leon yesterday we were back onto the bikes this morning.  A shorter, easier ride from Leon to Astorga before climbing over the final mountains on our way to Santiago.  We're aware that we're getting closer to the end.  In Leon a couple of alternative routes of the Camino join with the Camino Frances.  The numbers of pilgrims begins to increase somewhat notably as the other routes join, and as people who aren't completing the full trail begin to appear.  All that is required of a pilgrim to complete the journey is a trip of 100 kilometers; that is, to achieve a certificate of completion from the Cathedral in Santiago.  Pilgrims carry a passport which is stamped each day; cyclists are required, we're told, to get two stamps per day.  So, as a result there are lots of pilgrims who travel different itineraries.  Some begin from Pamplona, Logrono, Burgos, Leon, and (yet to come on our journey) Sarria.

The ride itself was a relative short 48 kilometers.  It was relatively easy riding and with an early start we were threatening to get to the hotel before noon.  Today's challenge, like the other days on which we've departed from a larger city, has been finding the route.  It can be a little worrysome as you deal with traffic, pedestrians, cyclists in an unfamiliar place.  In Pamplona, Estella and Leon there were climbs as we left the city.  It feels like there is more pressure on those days as we get onto the road.  Today the road was a little busier with traffic all the way from Leon.  We tarried along the way - stopping for coffee, riding a little more slowly than we could have and arrived about 1:30 or so.

Astorga itself is a fascinating place.  It can trace it's history back to it's location at a crossroads of the Roman Empire.  In the street outside the hotel is an archaeological site that reveals the foundations and flooring of a Roman Villa.  In the floor of the villa, still visible 2000 years later, are the mosaic tiles of a greeting area in the home.

The Roman history of Spain, at least in this region of Spain, seems to be more fully preserved than what I've encountered during our visits to Portugal.  In Portugal the Roman era is often subjugated by the Moorish Era, while in Spain the Moorish conquests and presence is rarely mentioned.  It may be that it is a regional difference and the Moorish presence is more visible in the south of Spain, yet in the architecture and language the influences of the moors seems considerably softer.

The landscape is becoming more rolling and I am expecting that over the next couple of days we will be experiencing more climbing on our rides.  If nothing else one of the benefits of the past week of cycling has been an improvement in my conditioning.  Hopefully that will pay dividends during our trip to Newfoundland in August.  The other benefit is a considerable appetite when dinner time comes around.  We wandered into the old city of Leon for dinner the last couple of nights.  On Saturday language confusion resulted in three dishes prepared for sharing by two people - Ensalatata (salad), calamari and lamb.  It was too much!  Last evening when we suggested ordering a salad each for our meal the waiter emphatically warned us about the amount of food it would include.  

We were thankful for the advice.  Although it left room for desert (I know, I know..."in your world, Jim, there is always room for desert," sings the choir.)  When the server began to list the options - cheesecake, carrot cake (I think)...he added, "Oh, and we have something else we like to call "Canadian Cake.""  How could that be resisted.  We needed to know what a Spanish restaurant might consider "Canadian".  It turned out to be kindof a thick slab of lightly frozen whipping cream with a chocolate syrup on top.  It was large, and the riding allowed me to justify my choice...and it was good....We suggested they might use maple syrup rather than chocolate, but as Canadians we approved of the naming.  As Sandy likes to say, "we're eating our way across...."  Once again it's proving to be true - relatively guilt free as our days on the bikes pass.

Once in Astorga this afternoon we wandered up to the Cathedral and the "Palacio Gaudi."  The Palacio is the last building Gaudi designed in his lifetime and is a museum about his work - perhaps best known by it's influences in Barcelona.  Unfortunately it wasn't open when we arrived, but the Cathedral was.  Unlike Burgos and Leon the cathedral here in Astorga was built a little later in time and shows some significant differences.  It is influenced more by German thinking at the time of it's construction than the French thinking that impacted the designs of Burgos and Leon.  It is a beautiful Cathedral holding items that date back prior to 1000 AD and the Roman temple that stood on it's current location.  This Cathedral was built in the 16th and 17th Centuries and is full, like the other cathedrals, with works of art that defy imagination.  To the Left of the main door is this representation of Jesus overturning the tables of the moneychangers in the temple;

Ultimately the cathedrals are a little overwhelming.  I could spent days just sitting and contemplating one or two of the illustrations that they contain.  Like the carving of the moneychangers there will be literally hundreds of carvings in the stone and altarpieces of each edifice.  Listening to the audioguides, which are provided free with admission (typically about 5 Euros each) becomes exhausting in itself.  The detailed descriptions are forgotten almost as quickly as they are heard.