Do not proclaim freedom…

Week 5

One more week to cross a good part of Castilla y León, visit 2 countries, 4 provincial capitals, many cathedrals, and to discover that they lied to us!… The land of the Great Bustard is not Cáceres but Zamora!…

With the (relative) drop in temperatures, we left our mountains to continue north, and when we had given up on the idea of spotting ibexes in the Sierra de Gredos (where they are easier to see, to the point that even the logo of the natural park is a ibex), a mother and her baby crossed the road right in front of us. The ideal end to a 3-day stay in Sierra de Gredos, before arriving at our next stop: Ávila.

Ávila

Ávila is the highest regional capital in Spain, with 1.182 m above sea level. That doesn’t mean it’s cooler there (the weather guys lied to us when they said the temperatures were dropping…), but apparently it often gets snow in winter (which probably makes for pretty photos). Ávila is known for its walls, preserved intact around the old town, and because of this same walls the city is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Ávila is also famous for its cathedral and all its rosary of churches of all types because yes, it is here where Teresa of Ávila (or Teresa of Jesus for friends) was born and lived, a Spanish Carmelite nun, blessed and saint and, in case this was not enough, Doctor of the Church.

The city walls of Ávila are quite beautiful, but the omnipresence of products derived from Santa Teresa (Santa Teresa cookies, Santa Teresa fresh fruits and vegetables, Santa Teresa sausages, Santa Teresa ham, Santa Teresa beauty products, etc. ) ends up being a bit tiresome… Ávila got the idea of “holy business” very well: you cannot park less than a kilometre away from the city walls without paying 12 euros, to which you have to add the tickets to the different churches and the cathedral (each with a different entrance), access to certain parts of the walls (another entrance) and an endless number of “typical” or “local specialties” restaurants, souvenir shops with the image of Teresa and luxury hotels within the city walls. Ávila belongs to the World Heritage, indeed, but to that part of the World with enough money to spend a day in the old town without running the risk of receiving a call from their banker… In the end, all a little far from the philosophy of Saint Teresa…

At least we took advantage of our stay in Ávila to do our laundry ☺️, before heading to Salamanca. Along the way, we found by chance an emblematic place to spend the night since we were right next to the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de la Peña, not far from the town of Arapiles. It turns out that it was precisely here, on the hill where we were, that the Duke of Wellington gave a historic beating to Napoleon’s (Bonaparte) army in 1812, destroying the latter’s hopes of invading Portugal and expelling the British-Portuguese army from there, and reinforcing Wellington’s reputation as a wise soldier and excellent strategist. The French army was only saved because Wellington’s allied Spanish defenders withdrew from a part of the hill without warning Wellington, allowing the French to flee… Anyone who has ever cooked a Wellington sirloin will know how the Brit did it to take down Bonaparte’s army… 😜 So it was there, on our little hill that the battle of the Arapils, together with the defeat of the Russian campaign the same year, changed the course of history and marked the end of the domination of Bonaparte on Europe…

Salamanca

Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain and the fourth oldest in the world, but even more impressive is walking among its walls where you can still read Latin inscriptions written in bull’s blood, or discover Romanesque paintings in the corner of a hallway of the old cathedral, after being, just two seconds before, in the new cathedral (which still dates from the 16th to 18th centuries). Because yes, among other great ideas, the people of Salamanca had the good sense to preserve their old cathedral and build a new one right next to it, when most other cities built their cathedrals on top of each other… However, they did not have the same good sense with the wall that surrounded the old town and that, unlike that of Ávila, here was almost completely destroyed…

Salamanca’s heritage is simply incredible! As if the different faculties of the University were housed in buildings, each one more beautiful than the other… As in Cambridge or Bologna, the walls seem overflowing with History (with a capital “H”), and when you are lucky enough to visit the University Headquarters (the building of the Higher – or traditional – Schools: literature, sciences, law, arts, as opposed to the “minor schools” such as engineering and other professional or more recent training) by the hand of the Rector’s assistant, as we had the opportunity to do so (thanks again, Isa and Juan Ramón, for this experience), it is like walking through a history book where each chapter would be punctuated with an anecdote transmitted from generation of students to generation of students since times immemorial…

The monumental jewel of the city, however, is undoubtedly the set of its two cathedrals, and especially the old one whose walls are still covered with Romanesque paintings from the 12th and 13th centuries. On the walls of Salamanca one can also see the “victor” (victory or victor, in Latin), which students who successfully complete their doctoral thesis can choose to paint on a wall of their faculty, together with their name, for posterity. Some famous people and politicians have also had this honour, but among popes, emperors, kings or other writers and philosophers, the one that stands out the most is undoubtedly the last one that has been painted, posthumously, on a wall of the Higher Schools building: that of Miguel de Unamuno, emblematic and charismatic rector, omnipresent at the University of Salamanca who, according to the official version, died of a sudden illness, with no official explanation as to why Francoist Falange agents came to visit him at home, a few hours before he was found dead… The quote that accompanies his “victor”: “Do not proclaim the freedom to fly, but give wings.”

Readers will join geographers in saying that Salamanca is also known for the river that runs at its feet: the Tormes, which gave its name to the famous anonymous Spanish novel “The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes”, which takes place in Salamanca. So to close our Salamanca chapter, we followed the Tormes until it reaches the Duero, at the border between two countries (Spain and Portugal) and 3 provinces (Salamanca and Zamora in Spain, and Beira Baixa, in Portugal). Here is the Arribes del Duero International Natural Park, where the river of the same name (Douro in Portuguese) has carved impressive canyons in the rock that today serve as a natural border between both countries. The numerous viewpoints over the canyons are exceptional observatories to see dozens of birds of prey (mainly Egyptian and black and griffon vultures) that fly around there…

Arribes del Duero, Zamora and Villafáfila Lagoons

During our night at the confluence of the Tormes and the Duero, we were able to see one of the peculiarities of the Duero in the Arribes area, which are the enormous variations in the river’s flow, to the point that the Portuguese hydroelectric plant of Bemposta (just above from where we were) is equipped with a siren that sounds every time the plant starts up. The level of the Duero then increases by almost 2 m, and its flow is more like that of an overflowing river than that of the calm river we saw when we arrived. It is quite impressive to see the flow changes caused by the hydroelectric plant (and imagine the consequences this must have on aquatic vegetation and fauna)…

So we took this opportunity to take a closer look at the Bemposta power plant and, incidentally, add a country to our list since half of the dam belongs to Portugal (and we obviously parked in that half… 😁). We then returned to the Vía de la Plata, that axis that once linked Seville with the Bay of Biscay and along which all types of food and precious metals traveled, in Roman times. We stopped in Zamora (capital of the province of the same name), to discover an extremely pleasant and quiet town, whose historic center displays a mix of old stone churches and more or less preserved modernist buildings. The mix is quite successful, but in addition to its architecture, what we really liked about Zamora was the atmosphere of tranquility that permeates the city. As if life there were smoother than in other places, less stressed, more relaxed… The excellent restaurant where we ate, Alsiguiente, undoubtedly also contributed a lot to our appreciation for Zamora… 😜

Finally, we finished that day in the Villafáfila lagoons, small natural lagoons lost among wheat fields that, after remaining dry for several years, recovered a little water during the last rains a few days ago. As a result, they have become a paradise for passing migratory birds (and local residents too). In just a few minutes, we were able to see dozens of lapwings, avocets and stilts, as well as the occasional egrets and groups of storks. Initially, we were supposed to visit several lagoons, but in the end we only saw one, because when we started moving along the first dirt track we saw between wheat fields, we found ourselves literally surrounded by Great Bustards! They seemed to come out from the grass like mushrooms in a forest, closer and closer to us. After seeing what we saw in the fields of Villafáfila, who will make us believe that the homeland of the Great Bustard is Cáceres? Lie! All the bustards in the world are in Zamora! 🤣

León

After some sweet dreams with bustards, we continued on our way, but not without crossing paths with 3 more bustards in a field, next to the road… Direction Léon, capital of the province of the same name and a mandatory stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela (350 km away from here). The most surprising thing about the city is undoubtedly its cathedral, narrow and vertical, which makes it seem taller than the others. The San Marcos Palace (now partially converted into a luxury hotel) is not far behind, with its façade completely sculpted with a level of detail that would almost make you think that the Dremmel already existed at that time… 🤔

Although León was founded by the Romans (them again), there is not much Roman left in the city today, apart from a bridge. However, the monastery of San Isidoro is considered the Sistine Chapel of Romanesque art, and the city is also known for being the cradle of parliamentarism, as it hosted, in 1188, the first parliament in Europe. There are also some pieces of a wall, which here has the particularity of being inhabited (some houses were built attached to it, between two pillars, from the Middle Age onwards…). In the narrow streets of the historic center one can also find some curious shops, as if emerged from another era, such as one specialised in the sale of dried pork intestines, to make sausages and other types of “embutidos“…

Astorga

From Léon, the initial idea was to continue straight north, but… listening only to our adventurous spirit (and a little to Google Maps too… 😜), we decided to detour a little to the west to visit Astorga, a town known today for its cathedral (as monumental as the one in Léon) as well as its episcopal palace, built by Gaudí (the same one as in Barcelona) at the beginning of the 20th century. Astorga also has a wall and… that’s about it, for what was, once, Asturica Augusta, a prosperous Roman city, sister of Mérida (the two cities being then linked by the famous Vía de la Plata of which we have been talking for several days and that initially ended here)…

Embalse de Villameca

Finally, for the weekend (last week we took the decision to look for quiet places and not move during weekends, to avoid the crowds and the motorcycles that seem to multiply, on Sundays, to go at full speed along small rural roads…), we settled on the edge of the Villameca reservoir, about twenty kilometres from Astorga, and halfway to our next stage, on Monday… Two days enjoying the views of the nearby snow-capped mountains, the lake with its blue waters and the heathers in bloom… The ideal place to meditate throughout the weekend on all these pilgrims we have seen those days, walking towards Santiago de Compostela, and who reminded us of these things that we have in common, in a way: the desire to travel and improve oneself, in the sense of setting a goal and striving to achieve it, and along the way, the discovery, including of oneself…

Next week, we will probably be close to adding one more country to our list… 😉

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In Villameca, as anywhere else, LEAVE NO TRACE!

– Always travel on public ways and respect the signs.
– Limit noise and interfere as little as possible with wildlife.
– Respect the other users.
– Leave rocks, plants and other natural features as you found them and respect historic sites.
– Take your waste with you and throw it into the appropriate containers, in the nearest village.
– Do not camp inside protected areas and do not make any fires.