Albergues along the Via de La Plata

[handzondeck2]

Hi all

Does anyone have a favourite or quaint albergue on the via de la plata?

This will be the second time that I am walking this camino and would like to stay in some of the lesser known albergues if they are open.

I will be walking from Seville to Ourense then Santiago de compostela in April and plan to take about 42 - 43 days. Hoping to finish sometime early June.

Muchas gracias

Sharon

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hola - I have wonderful memories of walking up to the great albergue at La Calzada de Bejar and looking back in wonder down the valley and arriving cold and hungry to the Casa Anita at Santa marta de Tera with their homemade cooking and endless supplies of free wine. But...how to choose...Salamanca...yikes, I'll need to do it again

 

[+@^^]

in all my diary entries where i rated albergues highly
there was a hospitalero who made it especially special
so pass these by at your peril....
1 Oliva de Plasentia (400kays) - Monica made her place memorable with her stories, food, attention
2 Zamora (586kays) - eclecticly modern albergue carved into rock-face - volunteer German hospitalero went way out there to make us welcome and comfortable
3 agree with JohnnieWalker on Santa Croya de Tera(676kays) - Casa Anita - great food, v kind and friendly father and daughters hospitaleros, route suggestions...
.
that said, my best experiences were the surprises, where after a long hot tough painful shi77t day, to arrive with no expectation, and to have my spirits lifted by the smallest kindness

 

[Canuck]

...would like to stay in some of the lesser known albergues if they are open.

Sharon,

10km passed Mombuey, in San Salvador de Palazuelo. A nice and cosy little albergue with only 4 beds. It's donativo. You get the key from the lady in the big house kitty-corner with the church.

No bar or tienda anymore in the village. Bring your own food. If you don't have any, the lady hospitalera will prepare some for you but don't even try to pay her. At least, from my experience, I had no success in trying.

At the end of the day, you can climb up the church steeple, relax, listen to silence and watch the world unfold. On your way back to the albergue you can stop for a chat with the old folks sitting in the shade behind the church, in good old spanish fashion.

No glamour, but rewarding,
Jean-Marc

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, handzondeck2, lucky you, to be going back to the Vdlp.

If you like albergues outside of towns, sort of in the middle of nowhere, then the Albergue La Almazara is for you. It's about 6 km before Villafranca de los Barros, so planning stages might be a challenge. It's an old olive oil "factory", with parts of its original press still there. The rooms are in a modern addition and small (one bunk and one single bed each), bath off each room (I think I'm remembering this right), and lovely grassy yards all around. The complex itself is walled off -- you can see a picture and a lot of positive commentary if you can read Spanish here: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/alb ... a-almazara

We stopped for coffee on our way into Villafranca. It was one of the best coffees I had on the Vdlp, so that's a good sign. Last May when I passed by, it had just opened under new management. The family with the contract owns popular restaurants in Villafranca and they were using this as a way to expand. They envisioned having the albergue and using some of the other rooms for a kind of fancy restaurant -- white tablecloths, crystal, etc. I don't know how this side of the business is going, but they were fairly confident they could attract banquets, weddings,communions, etc, in addition to weekend diners.

It's part of the string of "albergues turisticos" owned by the government in Extremadura, which includes the albergue in Fuente de Cantos, Zafra, the one at the Embalse de Alcantara, one in Torremegia, and maybe one or two others. All in all, a very nice spot, relaxing, and in the middle of olive groves. It's very close to the proposed site of the refinery that has engendered strong opposition by camino forces. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[handzondeck2]

Thanks to all who have shared their experiences about all the albergues.

Sharon

Life is one big experience - live the dream and share it

 

[janeburley]

Hi there, I was in Salamanca last week and on my way out of town heading south to the mountains I saw that the albergue in Aldeatejada had a broken window and looked pretty neglected, does anyone know if it is still open?

 

[bjorgts]

Hervas!
If you leave the camino a bit, you will find a very nice albergue in Hervas between Aldenueva del Camino og Baños de Montemayor. It is an old railwaystation, and the hospitalero is (was!) very nice. Its picturesque Jewish quarter is well worth a visit.

Bjørg

 

[wbroeckx]

Just returned from the Ruta de la Plata:
My favorite Albergues:
Zamora
Lubian
Albergueria