Mondoñedo

Galicia is beautiful! And I've only been here for just over a day!

I walked through a town called Lourenzá which has a one thousand year old monastery. Well it used to be a monastery. It's now a church, museum and town hall.

What I learned was that in the mid 1800s the Spanish Government raised money by selling off stuff that wasn't theirs to sell. They sold monasteries, charities and common land. The Government asked some rich people to organise the sale. I guess the government equated rich with clever but maybe they didn't consider that perhaps you have to be a little bit selfish or even greedy to be rich. The rich folk divided the land into lots and auctioned it, but they made the size of the lots so large that only rich folk could afford them. Surprise! Surprise!Most of the land ended up in very few hands. Worse than that, the charities and monasteries used to provide education and medical aid to the common people, and the common land provided grazing, wood and hunting. All of that support disappeared. The result was that many people had to leave the countryside to take low wages in factories (owned by the rich) or emigrate, or lead an even tougher life if they stayed put.

Anna was the wonderful Asturian host who took the time to speak to me in Spanish.

Photos - Mondoñedo cathedral

The Fonte Vella (old spring water source) at Mondoñedo

The old monastery at Lourenzá

Galicia

A stand pipe. These have been a godsend ever since I landed in France so I had to get a photo

A furry caterpillar. I see these, maybe, every other day and I love the way they bumble along

Me with a camino signLæs mere