Carrion de los Condes

For 500 years, pilgrims stayed and healed at the Monastery of San Zoilo in Carrion de los Condes. Today, the Monastery is a high class hotel with Michelin priced (and Truck Stop inspired) restaurant.

The monastery features a “Camino de Santiago” theme, which stands in stark contrast to the treatment of pilgrims. And, yes, I stayed here. Paid more than what I’d paid for the past week in accommodation, including a €50 dinner that could have come from the bowels of an East London greasy spoon (and would probably have tasted better).

I wanted to see the Monastery, and the only way to do so is to stay here. Not my proudest and most pilgrim moment, I admit.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back to being Just A Pilgrim, but tonight I am grumpy Mikka, angry at myself for spending so much money to, essentially, just witness the Church (again) strut its riches while asking for more.Read more