32 km to the parador

I have VN to thank for pointing out that there is a
parador just a few kilometers off this Camino. The logical stage today would be for me to walk into the very pretty city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, but I have to be there on a business day because of several errands — Vodafone store, buy some train tickets, see about some tick prevention. So stopping here will give me a very short day into the city tomorrow, Monday.

I started out today by retracing my steps to the first church on yesterday’s tour, and then carrying on through several small towns. I met some señoras who had just picked up their bread from the delivery truck, and we chatted a bit. The sister of one of them lives in Los Angeles and has an undocumented caregiver, who is suffering very much with all of the chaos and cruelty. They told me they pray for the US and can’t understand how we have come to this. There’s really nothing to say.

After going through several more small towns, I came to a turn-off to the church and monastery of Estibaliz. It is a beautiful Romanesque church, with a monastery. The Benedictines had been there for about 100 years, but recently left, and this order of very young nuns (originally from Colombia) moved in. The nuns are embroiled in a dispute with the government over who owns what. This means that the museum on the site is closed. My guide from yesterday told us that the nuns who occupy this site are extremists, worse than Opus Dei, he said. They are the Pilgrims of the Eucharist, but I haven’t found a whole lot about them. They do serve beer!
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spain-nuns…

From the church, I headed to the parador, which is in an old monastery. I had a very good learning session with Mapy, after adding a few kms onto my walk. But it was a great day for walking, with total cloud cover and expansive views in every direction. When I got to the Parador, I saw a sign pointing towards another Romanesque church. The woman at check-in said it was about 2 km away, so I dropped off my pack and headed out to see it. San Pedro Quilchano. It was a very nice walk, but the church was pretty much in ruins. There were two beautiful windows, but that was it. Oh well.

The parador is very nice, and I had a good lunch in the restaurant, quite a contrast from where I was yesterday!

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/agurain-s…Read more