This is a short day, 5.5 miles. We are doing short days instead of days off off. I think it’s a good idea in general because there is little to do in some of these sleepy Spanish villages. The down side is that there are some interesting cities where we could spend a day.
There was evidently a Hospital at this convent. The disease they were known to treat was Saint Anton’s Fire. There is evidently a fungus that can get into rye grain. This fungus, I understand, causes some really bad effects. So, people who eat rye bread would get Saint Anton’s Fire. In Castrojerez they make their bread with wheat. Pilgrims would come to the convent, eat the bread and be miraculously cured of Saint Anton’s Fire.
We had lunch at a small tavern in town. Per a suggestion from another Pilgrim we had met earlier we had croquettes and a salad. Half the croquettes, the best tasting ones, were black. It turns out that they were blood sausage croquettes.
One thing that American pilgrims have to know and deal with is the Spanish rhythm of life and adjust accordingly. Whenever you’re hungry the restaurants close and don’t open until you want to go to bed. We usually get to our location about 2:00 pm. That is good because most of the lodging places open then. Restaurants close from 3:00 until 8:00. The only place to get something to eat is a sleepy bar and often they have a very limited menu. This is not the case at lodging that supplies dinner.
