Hontanas to Itero

Hontanas to Itero

We tried calling  a few dentists in Palencia, the closest city and not on the Camino, but they said they didn't speak English and had no room. Need a new plan. Later that evening I found a dentist that was listed as an emergency dentist.

This was a fountain in a fancy house's backyard.

Leaving Hontanas.

There was a bar in Hontanas that had a famous character named Vitorino who could drinka litre of wine from a porron (jug with a spout) by pouring it onto his forehead and letting it flow into his mouth without drawing breath. How do you ever discover those talents?

Lovely morning walk. It was a great walk this morning.

Arco San Anton. These are the ruins of the ancient conventio de San Anton. This was the ancient monastery and hospice of the little known order of St Anthony also known as the Order of the Hospitalier Brother's of St Anthony founded around the 11th century. They provided shelter and care for weary and sick pilgrims on their way to Santiago. By the the time they reached San Anton many pilgrims needed care. San Anton also became known for the order's sacred symbol, the T shaped cross known as the Tau, the nineteenth letter of the greek alphabet. It symbolized protection against evil and sickness. It has become known as the Pilgrims Cross or Cruz del Peregrino. San Anton also  became famous for curing the medieval illness know as St Anthony's  Fire ( a fungal disease caused by the ergot fungus on  rye grains that caused gangrene and death). They fed their patients clean wheat bread, herbs and fresh food from their gardens. St. Anthony's fire was particularly common among the poor as they would eat the lesser grade grains and,  because St Anthony's  Fire is a cumulative disease,  eating lots of the infected grain over a period of time just made you sicker.

 Cupboards still survive that the monks used to leave bread and wine for the pilgrims passing by.

Behind the ruins was a garden that a man tended. It was made up of branches and twigs from the trees and placed into different shapes.

They built the road right through the ruins. This arch was where the pilgrims would enter into San Anton.
Back on the path and a few kilometers find us looking at Castrojeriz. To me it looked exactly like what a medieval town should look like. A castle on the hill, church at the foot and stone houses at the base of the hill.

Castrojeriz was a major stopping point on the medieval camino as is evidenced by the 8 pilgrims hospitals that were here. Pilgrims would arrive here from Roncesvalles with fevers, sores, illness and physical aliments and were treated at San Anton and the hospitals here.

Castillo Castrojeriz was built sometime around the 8th century. Rumour says that Julius  Caesar actually had it built. Over the 8-9th centuries it was attacked by Celtiberians, Roman, Visigoth, Christian and Muslims.

This church was a small version of Burgos with chapels and lots of statues,  paintings etc.

We walked these streets looking for a pharmacy to see if they could help with Roz's tooth. The Pharmacist said that we had to go to a dentist. Roz's foot and tooth were bothering her so we took at taxi to Itero. Roz made a phone call to the emergency dentist and we were told to just show up tomorrow.

Excellent pilgrims dinner. The two ladies are from Holland and are sisters Ester and Judith. We kept meeting on them on the Camino.

At the end of our dinner we were served this Galacian liquor. I slept well this night although i am not sure whether it was the massage I had or the liquor. Maybe both.