I found a flaw in our pilgrim shangrala—– by morning there was not a single shred of toilet paper in the entire 40 bed Albergue. So we quickly moved on to a bar for our morning coffee and tortilla fatata—egg and potato omelet.

Dark clouds made the sun a spotlight highlighting a different field every few minutes, each field in turn giving its own beautiful song and dance routine. Look closely at the picture of the haystack. The people and tractor are miniature in comparison. I have no idea how the farmers get them so tall. Each bale is about 6 feet long and the whole hay temple was 11 bales tall by 20 bales wide.

After 9 miles we were at our final destination of Santa Domingo de la Calzada. On the advice of a fellow traveler I decided to splurge on a fancy hotel, one of the famed Paradores and it is posh. We hadn’t had our own bath or a real towel and sheets since May 2nd. The building was used by pilgrims for centuries and has lovely atmosphere.

We enjoyed a hot shower and I washed the clothes in the sink since the price of laundry was too steep even for a splurge day. After a big lunch of pizza and salad Alexandra went back to the room for a nap since she has a bit of a cold.

I went exploring the town and the local annual holiday for Santa Domingo. I was entertained by some young men in traditional clothes doing a traditional dance and later a band played in the street.

I moved on to the cathedral where there was a large museum of relics and religious art in the cloisters. The cathedral was not large but had the bones of Santa Domingo, a great patron of the pilgrims of the Camino. He performed several miracles including saving a young man falsely accused of stealing and making a roast chicken come to life. So to this day there are live chickens in the cathedral to commemorate this miracle.

After a nutritious dinner of local pastries in the shape of a chicken we spent the rest of the evening enjoying our fancy accommodations because it is back to communal living tomorrow and for the next couple of weeks.