May 9, 2013 - Cenar en Zafra

In looking for an affordable dinner, I stumbled across two restaurants that were serving dinner at 5:30. As you who have walked in Spain know, it's neatly impossible to find food between 4 and 8 pm.

The first restaurant I found served dinner for 9 euros. It was in the Plaza Grande. But I didn't care for the menu

I continued to walk down toward one of the two remaining gates of the city and I found this sweet restaurant, la Marquesa. It is an old olive mill and the floor is glass so you can see where the olives have been ground, pressed, and bottled.

The food was excellent. El Menu del Dia for 8 euros. I had ensalada mixta, lomo plancha, batatas, vino and a chocolate pie with molasses to die for. And I was hoping to lose weight on the Camino!

Olive Grinder

Olive Press

Lovely Patio

Lomo Plancha y batatas

OH MY GOODNESS PIE!

VDLP 2013 Day 1: Zafra

May, 2013
There are two albergues in Zafra. One is the donativo municipal. It is clean but stark.  I showed you the posters for both in the previous post.

The other albergue is a private and is called Albergue de San Francisco. It costs 10 Euros plus 2 Euros if you want desayuno. It is absolutely beautiful!

This albergue has 3 rooms with 5 to 6 beds in each. It has nice showers for each room. There is a kitchen where you can cook, a beautiful patio and garden. It opens at 11 am. They allowed me to leave my mochilla there while I saw the city. Very, VERY nice people!

Nice rooms.

Hot showers!

Nice clean bathrooms.

I spent the morning seeing the Alcazar, and the museum at the Convent de Sta. Clara.
Both were gratis though the Museu accepts donations. 

The Alcazar was built by Lorenzo de Figueroa, the Duke de Feria, in 1437.  It's a really cool fortress that has battlements and a keep. There are 9 towers and you can ask for a key and walk up on the roof. It is now a Parador Hotel, so if you have some extra Euros, you can sleep there!  It's really quite a lovely building, and worth seeing.

Courtyard with fountain.

Long quiet halls.

There was some gorgeous furniture!

Zafra from the battlements

There were spectacular views in all four directions.

Next I visited the Convent de Santa Clara.
The Convent was built by the first Duke de Feria and his wife in 1458.
Their funeral monument is made of alabaster
and built into the wall of the main altar.
 The Baroque altarpiece is from the 17th century.  

There were many treasure to be seen in the Convent.

This flay was used to whip oneself to pay for sins.
Ouch!?

A life sized Baby Jesus

Beautiful Courtyard - for the nuns only!

The altar flowers were fresh and very fragrant

Ceiling

Well, they looked better than they tasted!

You don't see the nuns. You say what you want,
put your money in the little revolving door,
it turns,
and out come your cookies!

The place to buy sweets is easy to miss - watch for the door under the staircase.

After visiting the convent and museum
I bought cookies from the nuns.

I didn't really like them

but it was fun buying them,

and I was happy to help the nuns.

It has been a wonderful day.
Now it is time for some lunch and a siesta.

Below are more photos of Zafra.

Hasta luego!

Annie

VDLP 2013: Zafra, Finally!

Our plane got very much behind in Philadelphia. There was some sort of emergency and at one point we were number twenty-something in line at the runway. We finally got off the ground about an hour late, and that put us into Madrid a bit late.

There were several peregrinos on board but all were headed for Pamplona.

My first stop was the Renfre station at T-4. We landed at T-1 so I had to find the shuttle. I finally got to T-4 and found the tiny Renfre station on the first floor, tucked into a corner by the Cercanius. Hooray! I made it! Well...not quite.

There was a disabled gentleman and his wife trying to make reservations somewhere and the one solitary clerk did a great job for him while the minutes ticked away. I was unable to buy a ticket to Zafra from the machine so I had no choice but to wait. Forty five long minutes later I had missed the only train to Zafra for the day. Exhausted and hungry, I made my way to the Avenuda de las Americas bus.

This bus took me to a metro station where I caught a train to within a block if the south estacion de autobuses. There I was able to get a ticket to Zafra on a line called Avanza Bus.  The coach left at 11:30 am and cost 20,15 Euros.

The buses in Spain are Mercedes Benz buses!

I made the connection by 7 minutes so there was no time to eat or drink. This was one time I wished I had carried some food!

The trip to Zafra was five more hours. I was feeling the lack if sleep, but more of food and water. Two hours into the trip the bus stopped for a 20 minute break and I almost cried with joy as I slugged down a beautiful glass of zumo naranja and found a bag of Mr. Corn!

Armed with a new full bottle of water I enjoyed the scenery into Zafra. The bus windows are huge and great for sightseeing!

I missed a great photo moment when we passed a ruined rooftop holding six nests of storks, each nest with a mother and two babies! Because of the way the road was situated up high, I was able to literally look down into the nests It was an incredible moment!

I had booked a room at the Hotel Cervantes. It's cute, clean and inexpensive but highly perfumed. Luckily I'm only here one night. My head is pounding from the scent but I stripped the bed and am using my sleep blanket and so far was able to sleep about five hours. I paid 28 euros.

On the way to the hotel I saw a poster advertising a new albergue in Zafra, but I'm happy where I am.  There is a mercado a couple of blocks away, I have air conditioning, and I'm happy!

It is now 2:08 am. My body thinks it is morning but I better try to get a bit more sleep. Tomorrow I hope to find the Albergue and officially begin my Camino.

That's all for now.