Breakfast was the usual, except there were three of us this time. Marian has finished her Camino and although she had been hoping for 3 nights in Salamanca it is not to be. The celebrations in the city this weekend have doubled the cost of a room and she says they are pretty much all sold out. So she is heading home to Holland tomorrow.
She is a wonderful lady, a veteran of travel, hiking and hitch hiking as well. She has some amazing stories to tell. Travelling alone though must exacerbate the difficulties of walking travels. On this specific camino solo women pilgrims are less common, mostly solo males and couples/pairs. Marian and Isabelle are very different women but strong and independent in their own ways. Marian tells of stories of earlier adventures in South America, Africa and through Europe which are genuinely interesting.
We packed our belongings and checked out after I completed some essential banking online . Jenny had purchased a SIM card for my phone whilst in Salamanca so now we have internet 24/7 wherever we go. At the grand cost of $EU10. What took us so long??? Down to the tourist office for some quick travel option advice and then to the local laundromat to wash our things whilst we still had the luxury of such a service. Managed a light lunch and coffee while waiting for wash and dry cycles.
Then down to the Salamanca Museum where we viewed a selection of paintings and sculptures of exclusively very old religious art.
Then off to the cab rank for a very special accommodation experience in a very old castle in the countryside to celebrate our halfway point on the Via de la Plata. It is a special privilege that we will never again experience and we didn't want to pass up the opportunity while we are still here in Spain, camino or not. So a bit of 'time out' from our pilgrimage for the night. Rather than walk to it as originally intended and collapse on the bed exhausted at the end of the day, we determined it was better to arrive fresh to maximise our enjoyment of this historic landmark.
The castle is impressive. A totally different experience to the previous one. The first was empty and eerie whereas this one is occupied and attended. No problem getting food here!
The stone appears in good condition and is beautifully carved to give round corners to the structure and round three storey turrets at each corner. A stone bridge gives access across a 12 metre wide, 8 metre deep moat which has been dry for a very long time. Our room is in the oldest section, being in the foundations I guess that’s to be expected. We have a large window but with a narrow slit outlook over the moat. I imagine it would be at almost water level if the moat were filled. The room is substantial with a king size bed in the middle of the room, a table and chair, a large wardrobe, our own wifi, several cabinets and in the bathroom a large bath tub and shower, toilet, bidet and hand basin. The towels are bath sheets and of high quality. Breakfast is included at 0700 and we have the option for dinner in the restaurant, but it doesn’t open until late so we declined as we have an early start and a 25km walk tomorrow.
Today has been cool so I hope it remains so tomorrow. We explored the castle, a privilege only for guests, and enjoyed seeing the internals of the place. There are 60 rented rooms, so quite a bit we were unable to see. However the lounge, drawing and library rooms were all open. They had no windows so I imagine that's why the candle stick maker was so prominent in those days. The owners personal quarters were heavily secured and private and had solid stone 5 metre thick walls, and a 20cm thick door and windows. A true walking in history lesson.
Enjoyed a nice lunch on the patio and rose after our self guided tour. Then time for sleep preparing for tomorrow. Breakfast at 0700 and away by 0730. Will be interesting to see if we see anyone on the next part. They will all be strangers. We think all the pilgrims in our bubble have now ceased their journey or some of the more gung ho will be well ahead.
You may prefer to skip this video. It's a bit long and is only the castle that we stayed in. David is providing a tour of the whole castle. So unless you have a fascination or passion for castles, perhaps give it a miss.
That is a seriously impressive castle.
Thanks for the preview.
JT