Day 47: Orellán to Carrión de los Condes - the camino in reverse

Disclaimer: All voyages in this blog are being taken safely in the comfort of our imaginations - based on our plans and intentions for travel in 2020. What is reality after all? 

We left Orellón and its spectacular landscape, to resume our journey eastwards. As we headed towards Ponferrada, we realised that we were joining the Camino de Santiago - the pilgrimage route across northern Spain – but in reverse. Our map was a set of coasters:

We flew past Ponferrada (having stayed here a couple of times):

Astorga (also stayed once in 1988 I think – in very strange circumstances – to see some Gaudi):

and bypassed Léon:

until we reached a small town for a late lunch.  This was Sahagún, a town we'd not previously visited or even identified as being of interest to us, but the coaster-map suggested this was a worthy stop on our reverse-camino. In fact, a nearby monument that we passed identified this as the geographical centre of the camino (though which camino, and how measured, we have absolutely no idea):

Sahagún has an impressive gate near the Monasterio de Santa Cruz Benedictinas, around which the town had originally formed. The first settlement on the site grew up around the monastery consecrated to the saints Facundus and Primitivus. We learnt that the name Sahagún is thought to derive from an abbreviation and variation on the name San Fagun ("Saint Facundus"): 

This gate is the Arco de San Benito:

We drove through the arch on our way into the town and found our way to the small Plaza Mayor:

but couldn't find somewhere to park there, so wandered on.  But nearby, just behind the monastery, we found a space near the Church of San Tirso, an example of the town's reputation for having some of the best preserved Mudejar architecture:

We dropped in for a quick look:

but the reference to the pig reminded us that we were seeking lunch, so retired to a small bar restaurant on the edge of town, near an old bridge:

We were put in a good mood by this.  Looking across the road over dessert, we saw the restoration of another building: 

this time the Santuario de la Virgen Peregrina, but just had time for a quick look at the outside:

and a wave at the storks nested there:

Following our coaster-map, it was now just a short post-siesta trip to our accommodation in the equally small (and pilgrimage centred) town of Carrión de los Condes.

We'd booked into the hotel associated with the Real Monasterio San Zoilo, which is on the edge of the town:

This was one of our first bookings for this (virtual) trip, and is possibly a little more 'up market' than our normal fare. But it offers private parking and an historic ambience (I'm not sure which attracts us more):

So it was in to reception:

from which we were shown to the lift upstairs to rooms and corridors off the 'upper cloister' (now a lounge area):

down the long corridors:

to our room:

Somewhere in this Monastery hotel there is reputed to be an original pilgrims' foot bath (only open on appointment), but we're glad we have our own:

From the room we could also see over the quadrangles to what we think is still a 'working' monastery:

We had time just for a quick wander round the church and monastery, through its lovely cloister:

and into the church proper, before it was closed up for evensong:

So we retired to our own ceremony in the hotel restaurant:

which included dealing with a large shank of some indeterminate animal:

Lo and behold, there was also some entertainment in the restaurant, and a visiting singer called Enda Kenny was performing there, as part of his pilgrimage:

Tomorrow we spend some time in the area, chasing more Roman vestiges and delicacies.