Olmeda de la Cuesta

Today was a 33 Km day with a bit of elevation (470 m). I left at 5:30 out of an abundance of caution because we had reservations for the 11 am tour of the Roman ruins in Noheda.

The first 16 or 17 were on asphalt but on very untraveled roads. I think 4 or 5 cars passed me. From the little town of Tondo, it was all off-road and very nice. But still lots of dead fields.

The tour of the ruins was so interesting. A farmer found some tiles while plowing in 1985, and in 2005, they started excavating. What they found was not the residence but the party place. The villa itself has yet to be found. This was just a huge venue for raucous large day-long events that began with a bath (they have found the baths, which for a private compound are huge, and bigger in fact than the baths for the whole town of Segobriga). Then came the over-abundant meal, then the entertainment (either music or drama). The mosaics are pretty amazing —one series of panels tells the story of a princess whose father beheaded her suitors because the oracles had told him he would be killed by his son-in-law. Another series of mosaics was more familiar, involving Paris, satyrs, Artemis and somewhere hidden there was a scallop shell. This lead our guide to joke about the Camino passing through here in Roman times. There are many acres more to explore, and some funding has been given to forge ahead. They are hoping to find the villa, the slaves’ quarters (they estimate there were about 70), and other parts of the estate.

From the ruins we had a few kms along a national highway but it wasn’t bad. And then the last kms were quite beautiful. All off road, and even with the dead or dying crops, it was majestic.

We got to Villar and into our Casa Rural. The guy in Bar Goyo is really nice but was totally frazzled because his two helpers didn’t show up. We got sandwiches and came back to our place. All in all, a great day.Read more