The easiest section for a culture vulture that has good accomodation_?

[Finisterre]

I tend to just keep going from dawn til dusk,
My mother in law has mobility issues. Six miles would be a good day from her.
But she has asked if she could join for a section.
Is there any section of say 30 miles that has loads of churches, cathedrals, paradors, museums, taxis?

You get the picture. A sort of holiday in a holiday.

 

[oursonpolaire]

Estella to los Arcos is 57km, which might suit you. There are a number of intermediate stops with facilities -- the longest stages without are 10km and 12km. Estella has the Maesztu museum as well as the churches of San Pedro and San Miguel (for access, take the back street, rather than the 18344 steps as I did); Los Arcos and Torres del Rio have remarkable churches, and Viana is an incredible renaissance city-- your mother will get to see the grave of Cesar Borgia! IIRC it is all wheelchairable if that's how she travels. If she can only walk short distances, get the number of the local taxi from your last stop, and you can easily call to have her driven to the next stop.

 

[David Tallan]

I tend to just keep going from dawn til dusk,
My mother in law has mobility issues. Six miles would be a good day from her.
But she has asked if she could join for a section.
Is there any section of say 30 miles that has loads of churches, cathedrals, paradors, museums, taxis?

You get the picture. A sort of holiday in a holiday.

I'm thinking Leon to Astorga. At about 50 km it is just about 30 mi. Leon has my favourite Gothic cathedral of the Camino with walls that are just frames to hold the splendour of the stained glass. Leon also has the Royal Pantheon under San Isidoro, called "the Sistine Chapel of Romanesque Art". And a very nice parador. Astorga also has a nice cathedral in a completely different style, a beautiful Episcopal palace by Gaudi that now functions as a pilgrimage museum, and is also famed for its chocolate museum. In between is Hospital de Orbigo, with its famous bridge, the site of one of the best documented chivalric tournaments of the middle ages where, in 1434, Suero de Quiñones and ten companions camped beside the bridge for a month and challenged all knights who tried to pass (166 of them) to just in his ladies honour.

 

[nycwalking]

I'm thinking Leon to Astorga. At about 50 km it is just about 30 mi. Leon has my favourite Gothic cathedral of the Camino with walls that are just frames to hold the splendour of the stained glass. Leon also has the Royal Pantheon under San Isidoro, called "the Sistine Chapel of Romanesque Art". And a very nice parador. Astorga also has a nice cathedral in a completely different style, a beautiful Episcopal palace by Gaudi that now functions as a pilgrimage museum, and is also famed for its chocolate museum. In between is Hospital de Orbigo, with its famous bridge, the site of one of the best documented chivalric tournaments of the middle ages where, in 1434, Suero de Quiñones and ten companions camped beside the bridge for a month and challenged all knights who tried to pass (166 of them) to just in his ladies honour.

Side note: thanks for history lesson.

 

[Deleted member 67185]

And a very nice parador.

I agree with David's recommendation. Does anyone know if the Leon Parador has completed its remodeling and opened its doors yet?

 

[rappahannock_rev]

Logrono to Navarette to Najera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

31 m / 50 km by my count.

Churches, cathedrals, paradors, museums, taxis (and good bus connections).

Doesn't get any better....

 

[peregrina2000]

I agree with David's recommendation. Does anyone know if the Leon Parador has completed its remodeling and opened its doors yet?

I was curious, too, and google tells me no rooms will open till 2020. The attached article is pretty interesting (if you click on the photo, there’s a whole gallery of lots of photos showing the demolition works).

Así es la reforma integral del Parador de San Marcos

Tras casi ocho meses de actuación, las obras avanzan a buen ritmo y han 'vaciado' el interior del edificio histórico para darle un aire moderno y vanguardista | Se habil

www.leonoticias.com

I think they have demolished the entire modern wing that extends back along the river. And the article says that the interior of the original building has been stripped clean and will be redone with “vanguard” furnishings and decoration. Groan. Who puts vanguard furnishings in a Renaissance building? I’ve been in a couple of paradors that do this, like Santo Estevo de Sil and the one in Viseu in Portugal, and I am not a big fan. Why don’t 15th century buildings have furnishings that are complementary rather than jarring? Maybe I am just not modern enough.

 

[C clearly]

with “vanguard” furnishings and decoration.

What is this - a decorating style? I've googled a bit and not found any definition.

 

[Finisterre]

Pleased to see Leon suggested, and surprised Burgos didn't get a mention.

I had Leon in mind. I've got some fantastic photos of little dogs being walked on the walls. I will concentrate the research I think, round there.

My other idea was Pontevedra Vigo Valenca area.
Leon is better isn't it?

 

[amancio]

Logrono to Navarette to Najera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

31 m / 50 km by my count.

Churches, cathedrals, paradors, museums, taxis (and good bus connections).

Doesn't get any better....

Completely agree with you, stunning churches, and even chances for diversions to the monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla.

Another possible option might be Frómista-Villalcázar de Sirga-Carrión de los Condes-Sahagún, flat as flat can be.

Any of those two would do, I guess.

 

[peregrina2000]

What is this - a decorating style? I've googled a bit and not found any definition.

I am by no means a decorating guru, but what I have seen in some of the paradores that do this is a lot of low slung, sharp corners, straight lines, metal, modern looking pottery. Not sure this is an actual style, but when the article used the term, that is what I thought of. Nothing stuffed or ornate or carved wood. But don’t rely on anything I have said, please.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Estella has the Maesztu museum as well as the churches of San Pedro and San Miguel (for access, take the back street, rather than the 18344 steps as I did)

We were going to climb those stairs but were rescued by a local who took us a bit farther west on the camino. There, on the left, was an outdoor elevator to access the church. But tell your mother-in-law that you had them install it just for her.

 

[RENSHAW]

Viana - Logrono - Naverette - Taxi to Najera - Santo Domingo?

 

[lt56ny]

I agree with David's recommendation. Does anyone know if the Leon Parador has completed its remodeling and opened its doors yet?

HI Dave I just went to the Parador website. I saw the Leon Parador and recognized the building right away. I never realized that was the Parador as I walked out of Leon early in the morning. I did a little checking and it looks like it is closed at least through the end of 2019.

 

[amancio]

Actually, the Parador in Santo Domingo is, in my opinion, even nicer than the one in León.

 

[David Tallan]

Pleased to see Leon suggested, and surprised Burgos didn't get a mention.

I had Leon in mind. I've got some fantastic photos of little dogs being walked on the walls. I will concentrate the research I think, round there.

My other idea was Pontevedra Vigo Valenca area.
Leon is better isn't it?

Since the question was posed in the Camino Frances forum, I assumed you were looking for a stretch on that Camino. Pontevedra, Valenca, etc. are on the Camino Portugues. If you are opening it up to all the Caminos, that certainly opens up the set of possibilities!

Burgos is certainly great, with a huge confection of a Gothic cathedral and a nice museum of evolution, but the variety of architectectural offerings in Leon combined with the proximity of Astorga drives it above Burgos in my ever so humble opinion. Although, I did like the Estella to Los Arcos and Logrono to Navarette options. Neither has quite the huge magnificence of Burgos or Leon but they do have a number of nice places strung along, places of a size more representative of the Camino as a whole.

If we are thinking along those lines, another possibility might be Molinaseca to Vega de Valcarce, which is about 30 miles, passing through Ponferrada with its impressive castle, and Villafranca del Bierzo with its churches (and a castle, too, though that one remains privately owned by the nobility so can't be toured). It also passes through some very nice scenery.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

If you do want to walk the Leon to Astorga stretch your mother-in-law will appreciate your taking a street bus from Leon to Virgin de Camino and avoiding the pavement. Not a lot to see there either. The modernist/brutalist church in Virgin is worth stopping for though.