Villafranca to Atapuerca

Hola!  Greetings from an all-day sunny Spain.  Whoohoo!  No rain at all! 14 miles and 32,333 steps.

Look what a beautiful start we had.  We had some major uphill (Huff Huff - Puff-Puff) for a couple of hours and then we traversed the mountain top.  It was spectacular.  Very cold for a little bit and then we warmed up...of came the down jackets until we hit the top where the wind howled and we put those jackets back on.  These are the Spanish Sierras and the snow covered peak is Montes de Orca if I interpreted the Spanish sign correctly.  Could be the other way around?

A the top of the mountain was plenty of pine forests. Dennis is headed off to get a better, more private look at them.  Teehee!

The nine-ten miles of our hike was through wilderness, no towns, no bars, no coca-cola zero.  In the middle of no where was this Pilgrim Oasis.  There were direction arrows pointing to numerous countries but I couldn't find anything for the United States.  I found Canada and I figured that was at least close.

North end of a south bound ass?

This is the Cathedral in San Juan Spain.  It is believed that San Juan was a disciple of Santo Dominico de la Calzada.  

A tribute to Santo Dominco.  According to the information in the church he is shown as an old man with the long grey beard of a hermit.  He is shown as a barefoot monk holding a staff which represents all of the years helping pilgrims along the way. 

This beautiful crypt (?) is known as "Baldaquino Cótico" It depicts a Saint lying down.  It was not clear from the information as to who the Saint was.  It is in the center of the church and quite ornate.

This is called the "Retable del Jucio Final o de las Animas"  I thought reading exactly what the sign said was better than my translation.  

We walked through farmlands almost all day.  People on the Camino tend to forget that they are walking across peoples farms.  I have been told that, in Spain, a farmer or land owner must allow walkers to cross their land.  I am not sure if this is true. Actually, almost all of the Camino is across farm lands.  I thought this was quite the handsome lass. 

So we went in this beautiful, classy little bar run by a very conservative looking older couple.  And as I was sipping my Coca-cola zero, I spotted this statue in a very prominent place.  It was about two feet tall.  Hmmm.  Every man's dream?

This is our hotel in Atapuerca.  We had a dickens of a time finding it..  No where on the building does it say, "El Pesebre de Atapuerca."  We walked around trying to figure it out (on tired feet).  We found a little bar and the bartender was most unhelpful.  Very rare in Spain.  Now I find out that is our dinner destination.  Hope the food is better than her attitude.

Our hotelier explained that the house we are staying at was originally a small farmhouse.  The animals lived in one room and the family primarily lived in the room next door, called the Glory Room.  It was called the Glory Room because you felt glorious when you were finally somewhere warm. You are looking at the manger. for the animals.  The sleeping quarters were directly above the manger or animal's quaraters so the animal body warmth would travel upstairs and help keep the people warm.

Another day and onwards to Santiago!