In the morning, we had a good view out our window in Hotel Belorado of the nearby Convento de Santa Clara and the Camino trail right under the window.
The Convento de Santa Clara, on the west outskirts of the town, in a field called Bretonera; hence it is also called Convento de Santa Clara de Bretonera or Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Bretonera. It was founded in 1358 but rebuilt several times. The convent church was built in the 16th century. During the religious suppression of Mendizábal between 1835 and 1836, the community was forced to leave and the property confiscated. Later, life in the convent resumed as normal. It is presently used by the Order of Santa Clara (Clarisas).
8:19 AM – Belorado: Convento de Santa Clara from our hotel window (telephoto, 90 mm).
8:19 AM – Belorado: Convento de Santa Clara and Camino trail (with yellow arrow on utility pole) with garden in between, from out room in Hotel Belorado.
8:19 AM (Cropped, Paint) – Belorado: utility pole with yellow arrow pointing up (straight ahead) for pilgrims on the path (see red circle), from out room in Hotel Belorado.
We ate breakfast at the bar of the Hotel Belorado: MT coffee/Don orange juice (4€); 2 bananas; 2 marguerita larga.
We departed Belorado at 8:30 am. On the way out of town, we crossed over Río Tirón on a footbridge parallel to the road bridge, Puente “del Canto.”
The Puente “del Canto” (Bridge of the Song) replaces the one reconstructed by Santo Domingo with the help of San Juan de Ortega in the time of Alfonso VI (11th century). It had 11 unequal arches, but the middle part was demolished in order to transform it into a highway bridge; preserved are the outer parts of several arches of sound construction in the Romanesque style. The medieval bridge replaced a Roman one that may have existed as early as the 4th century; all that remain of that bridge are one span, two cutwaters, and part of another arch.
8:44 AM - Belorado: footbridge and parallel road bridge replacing one built by Santo Domingo.
9:36 AM – Near Belorado: MT on gravel path west, with wheat stubble.
We saw sunflowers with smaller heads. We saw a tractor pulling a special trailer with 10 hay bales on their side (probably to stand up at a big haystack, using a hydraulic arm under the slanting trailer bed). By the time Don figured out what this was, it was too late to take a picture.
We passed through Tosantos (pop 80), Villambista (pop 82), and Espinosa del Camino (pop 52). After Espinosa del Camino, where was a small rise (alto), after which we descended toward Villafranca Montes de Oca.
Along the trail, 1 km north of Villafranca Montes de Oca, we saw what turned out to be the remains of the 9th-century Ermita de San Felices. We first thought this was another of the stone huts that used to guard fields.
This is all that remains of the ancient monastery of San Felices de Oca. Its origins date back to the Hispano-Visigoth time in the 6th century; there was already documentary evidence of its existence in 863, when Count Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, founder of Burgos, donated several churches and lands to the monks of San Felices. According to tradition, the count was buried here, and the monastery continued to prosper until 1049, when the King of Navarra handed it over to the monks of San Millán. All that remains today is the square apse of its church built of large blocks of sandstone in which some Romanesque steles, a domed cover, and a Mozarbic horseshoe arch are integrated. Archaeologists have confirmed that the foundation is Visigothic and that they reused Roman materials.
San Felices, or Felix the Hermit, lived between the 4th and 5th centuries. He was probably born around 450, lived about 100 years, and died around 550. He was known as a holy man, and one of his disciples became San Millán de la Cogolla.
10:45 AM – Ermita de San Felices: Don at south side of what we first thought was a stone hut, with only a small window.
10:46 AM – Ermita de San Felices: MT by large portal on west side.
10:47 AM – Ermita de San Felices: MT and portal.
10:49 AM – Ermita de San Felices: stone sign at top right of portal: “La Ciudad de Burgos en su MC Aniversario al Conde Diego R. Porcelos, su fundador, quien, según la tradición aquí reposa. – I-III-MCMLXXIV” [The City of Burgos on its 1,500th anniversary to the Count Diego R. Porcelos, its founder, who according to tradition rests here. - 1-3-1934] (telephoto, 76 mm).
Friday, August 29, 2014, 12:17 PM - Burgos: statue of Diego Rodriguez Porcelos on Arco Santa María city gate (Cropped).
10:51 AM – Ermita de San Felices: MT with stone Camino marker on path by hermitage.
10:43 AM – Near Ermita de San Felices: first view, across a sunflower field, of Villafranca Montes de Oca - church and hotel (telephoto, 307 mm).
We arrived in Villafranca Montes de Oca (pop 200) at 11:20.
Villafranca Montes de Oca welcomed pilgrims as early as the 9th century. This is one of several Villafrancas along the Camino that became home to Franks arriving as pilgrims and returning as artisans, thus giving these towns their familiar appellation. The Spanish translation for goose is oca, giving a romantic notion of wild geese, whereas the name may actually derive from an earlier Roman settlement Auca, which was destroyed during the Muslim invasion of the 8th century. During the Middle Ages, it was shaped into a new urban nucleus to the north. The village is located at the foot of the Montes de Oca, formerly a wild unpopulated area and notorious for the bandits that roamed its slopes preying on pilgrims. The bandits in turn would pray for protection from the saint himself in the Iglesia de Santiago (rebuilt several times, most recently in 18th century in Neoclassical style) or perhaps find shelter from the 14th-century pilgrim Hospital de San Antón Abad (Hospice of Saint Anthony Abbot), which has been recently restored as a hostel and hotel.
12:21 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Camino sign showing “proxima población” (nearest town) as Villafranca Montes de Oca and distance of 12 km to San Juan de Ortega.
12:31 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: sign for town, with church, 2 hermitages, and gate to Hotel San Antón Abad; sign reminds us that we are still in the Riojilla Burgalesa region.
12:31 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: sign for town – close-up of 2 hermitages (Ermita de Nuestra Señora de Oca [far out of town to S] and “Ermita de San Felices a los pies del Camino de Santiago” [Hermitage of San Felices at the foot of the Camino de Santiago]) and gate to “Antiguo Hospital de peregrinos de San Antón Abad.”
12:34 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Iglesia de Santiago el Mayor from near the sign (scaffolding on left).
The sign at the entrance to town says that Iglesia de Santiago el Mayor [Church of St. James the Greater] was built in the Neoclassical style in the late 16th century, and was rebuilt in 1790-1821 in Baroque style. [It was being renovated in August 2014.]
We found 3-star Hotel San Antón Abad (double 70.20€ including buffet breakfast). We got sellos there: “Hotel San Anton Abad - Real Hospital d Villafranca Montes d Oca.”
Hotel San Anton Abad is in the former Hospital de San Antón Abad (Hospice of Saint Anthony the Abbot), which has been recently restored as a hostel and hotel. Because the pilgrim hospital was founded in 1377 by the Queen of Castile, as witnessed by the royal coat of arms that adorn the entrance gate, it was sometimes called the Queen Hospice. [However, the hotel’s brochure says that is the coat of arms of the “Reyes Catolicos” (Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabela) of the 15th century.]
San Antón Abad (St. Anthony the Abbot, aka Anthony the Great, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, c. 251-356) was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers. He is often erroneously considered the first monk. However, he was the first known ascetic to go into the wilderness (about 270-271), and is thus known as the father of the hermit movement. Accounts of his enduring supernatural temptation during his sojourn in the Eastern Desert of Egypt inspired the often-repeated subject of the “temptation of St. Anthony” in Western art and literature. He is the patron saint of animals and is often represented with a pig.
12:20 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – front of hotel from near the signs; main entrance was in the center, reached thru the iron gate and up some steps, but old hospice entrance was around corner on left end.
12:18 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad - old hospice entrance (with royal coat of arms) on east side.
12:17 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – old hospice entrance and Iglesia Santiago el Mayor down the street.
12:17 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – east side with 2 gates to bar and hostel part (and to back door of hotel).
12:15 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – long pink staircase from 2nd [US 3rd] floor down to hotel back door by bar; on the opposite side of the hall, there was another staircase down to the hotel reception.
3:22 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – Don at bottom of pink staircase.
3:21 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad - Don at bottom of pink staircase (closer up).
12:15 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – lounge area in corridor on 2nd [US 3rd] floor where we waited while our room was cleaned.
12:15 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – other end of same corridor, toward staircases.
1:17 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – Don with wooden rocking horse in that corridor.
11:55 AM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – MT by window in our room No. 208.
12:26 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – flowers on table by window in our room (MT in mirror taking this photo).
11:56 AM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – MT by wardrobe in our room (view from window corner).
11:56 AM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – twin beds (matrimonio-style) in our room.
12:00 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – Iglesia de Santiago el Mayor from our window.
12:27 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – view to right from our window, including part of pelota court.
1:49 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – 2 men playing pelota with rackets on court below our window.
Basque pelota (pilota in the original Basque language or pelota vasca in Spanish) is the name for a variety of court sports played with a ball using one’s hand, a racket, or a bat against a wall (frontoi or pilotaleku in Basque or frontón in Spanish), although more traditionally with two teams face-to-face separated by a line on the ground or a net. The roots of this class of games can be traced to the Greek and other ancient cultures. The term pelota or pilota probably comes from the Vulgar Latin pillota (ball game); it is related to the English word pellet. Around 1700, while the game evolved into tennis elsewhere, rural and alpine communities kept the original tradition. In the Basque Country, local versions evolved to the peculiar style of the pilota: instead of playing face-to-face with a net, the Basques began to fling the ball against a wall. The first recorded pilota matches took place in Napoleonic times. In different versions, players may use their hand, a racket, or a bat.
Don went out to see the town, look for places to eat, and take photos. According to MT’s iPhone, it was 84˚ F here and in Burgos.
12:24 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Casa Rural La Alpargateria [hemp sandal shop] back to NE of hotel; the blackboard out front called it a “Bed & Breakfast” advertising double/single rooms from 18€ and offered massages.
12:25 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Restaurante (Bar) El Párajo [the bird] farther to NE of hotel, with sign outside for “Menú Especial Peregrino 10 Euros” and “Rooms Habitaciones.”
12:26 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Nuevo Mesón Alba (“La Parada del Peregrino en el Camino” [The stop for the pilgrim on the Camino]) and Panadería - Horno de Leña [bread bakery – wood oven] a bit farther to NE of hotel.
12:40 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: old half-timbered building past hotel (to S).
12:41 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: back side of same building.
At 1 pm, we went to the restaurant part of Hotel San Antón Abad for lunch (per the card in our room), but a sign on the door of the comedor (dining room) said it started at 2 pm. While waiting 1 hour, we washed clothes and hung them on a clothesline near the albergue part of San Antón Abad.
1:09 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – MT with flags near hotel entrance.
1:11 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – MT with flags near entrance (from same level).
1:13 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – Don with flags near entrance.
1:44 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – Don and MT with Spanish flag near hotel entrance; in background are pilgrims on bikes coming up drive from iron gate.
1:38 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – MT with laundry on hotel/albergue clothesline.
2:05 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – Don with laundry on hotel/albergue clothesline.
In hotel dining room, we had the 12€ menú del peregrino (same as regular 14€ menu): 1st course: both had gazpacho; 2nd course: we split berenjere rellena de carne (eggplant stuffed with meat) and bacalao con tomate (cod in tomato sauce) with salad vice fries; dessert: MT fruit salad/Don strawberry-vanilla ice cream cup; bottle of wine; water; and bread.
2:12 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – lunch/dinner menu in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish (12€ with pilgrim credential vs normal 14€).
2:19 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – MT with wine, water, and gazpacho (served with bowl of chopped peppers and onions to add).
2:20 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Hotel San Antón Abad – bread and gazpacho (close-up).
2:32 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: Don’s eggplant stuffed with meat (bottom) and MT’s bacalao with tomato sauce (top).
2:33 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: dining room with MT on right (German couple in right foreground).
Villafranca Montes de Oca: old photo of Hospital de San Antón Abad – hall with arches, where hotel dining room is now (www.hotelsanantonabad.com).
12:35 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: corridor leading to dining room.
3:14 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: same corridor toward reception desk (jefe [boss] reading newspaper in chair).
Villafranca Montes de Oca: old photo of Hospital de San Antón Abad – corridor with arches (www.hotelsanantonabad.com).
3:20 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: screen (with chamber music scene) behind computer at reception desk.
Around 6:60 pm, we went to a tienda de alimentación (grocery store) to get yogurts.
Near the hotel, we saw a group of middle-aged and older women on the concrete pavement (shared on the other end by the pelota court) playing a game with a wooden ball and nine wooden pins (set up in 3 columns of 3). One lady would stand right behind the pins and sling the ball through them to knock down as many as possible; then they set all the pins back up, and the same lady would roll the ball across the concrete at the pins from the other direction (the ball, with no finger holes, usually bounced noisily before rolling); then another lady would take her turn. We later found out the game was called los bolos (ninepins).
6:45 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: pavement near pelota court – women playing los bolos; setting up the pins for the lady with the ball to knock down from close range.
6:46 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: pavement near pelota court – women playing los bolos; same lady rolling ball at reset pins from other direction at longer range.
6:46 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: pavement near pelota court – women playing los bolos; next player about to splatter pins from close range.
6:47 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: pavement near pelota court – women playing los bolos; third player (in pink) having just splattered the pins from close range.
6:47 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: pavement near pelota court – women playing los bolos; some ladies in a huddle while others retrieve splattered pins.
6:48 PM - Villafranca Montes de Oca: pavement near pelota court – women playing los bolos; third player (in pink) seems to be going again, having just splattered the pins from close range.
After the grocery store, we went to Restaurante El Párajo and bought ham (MT said it was prosciutto) and cheese bocadilla (sandwich) and went back to the hotel to eat.
At 9 pm, we closed the window (for road traffic and church bells), but the air conditioning didn’t turn on with the thermostat in our room. Don went down to the desk and the older man (jefe = boss) tried to explain in Spanish and then took Don to the comedor, where a lady explained in English that they turn off the air conditioning for the whole hotel because it gets down to 6˚ C [43˚ F] at night. The jefe explained more in Spanish by writing down numbers. So we opened the window again.
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