I just read this post on the Spanish forum, here to be exact:
http://fsvr1.ibdinternet.com/read.php?6,332394
I think it does a great job of explaining why I love the Vdlp, so I thought I'd translate it and share it with you. I've taken some license to omit some of the phrases and I probably didn't fully capture all the nuances, but since I'm not lyrical in any way I thought this did a great job of saying what I would say if I were! It's written by a Spaniard from the north of Spain, but it resonates with a non-Spaniard like me as well.
"The Vdlp gives us in springtime, the dehesas (meadows, pastures) -- a real luxury, a delight for the senses, and when you lift your eyes and take in all that surrounds you, it is emotional and enriching. The castillian plains, intimate friends of the harvest; those mountains of Zamora, entryway to the meseta for the gallegos, and then Galicia.
The Vdlp give us history, as do all Caminos, but this is a rich history, varied and spiced with many details. Sevilla, Mérida, Cáceres, Salamanca, Zamora, Ourense and even the city of Santiago, to mention famous cities. But we can't forget the towns, the hallmark vessels of our history, such as Zafra and Galisteo. The common denominator of all Caminos, romanesque, gothic, barroque styles, incredible popular architecture, with its perfect expression in Caceres. And as if that were not enough, we can't forget Italica and Caparra, important references in our history.
It also gives us emotion and gastronomy -- emotion with the bulls and their raising. And I won't even mention the ham and all its goodness.
And what to say of its people? Happiness is emited in Andalucia, and it's consolidated in Extremadura. And so as to remind us that life is a compendium of many experiences and ways of life, there is the austere, inland Castile. It allows us to focus on our inner selves. And then, arriving in Galicia, it reminds us that in addition to happiness, the harvest, and art, there are our ancesters, all our memories, and our emblematic "morrina" (yearning homesickness is about as close as I can get).
What does the Vdlp take from us? It takes something, all the Caminos impose their taxes and their tolls, but in distinction to many other Caminos, the Plata takes our sweat, much more sweat than the rest of them, and I'm speaking of springtime, so think carefully before going in summer or beginning of fall.
Those of us from the north, for some reasons or others, go to the Plata maybe to be different, maybe for the people we will meet, or maybe because the variety strikes our fancy. But as many examples in the forum can attest, we keep going back, and it just has to be that way."
http://fsvr1.ibdinternet.com/read.php?6,332394
I think it does a great job of explaining why I love the Vdlp, so I thought I'd translate it and share it with you. I've taken some license to omit some of the phrases and I probably didn't fully capture all the nuances, but since I'm not lyrical in any way I thought this did a great job of saying what I would say if I were! It's written by a Spaniard from the north of Spain, but it resonates with a non-Spaniard like me as well.
"The Vdlp gives us in springtime, the dehesas (meadows, pastures) -- a real luxury, a delight for the senses, and when you lift your eyes and take in all that surrounds you, it is emotional and enriching. The castillian plains, intimate friends of the harvest; those mountains of Zamora, entryway to the meseta for the gallegos, and then Galicia.
The Vdlp give us history, as do all Caminos, but this is a rich history, varied and spiced with many details. Sevilla, Mérida, Cáceres, Salamanca, Zamora, Ourense and even the city of Santiago, to mention famous cities. But we can't forget the towns, the hallmark vessels of our history, such as Zafra and Galisteo. The common denominator of all Caminos, romanesque, gothic, barroque styles, incredible popular architecture, with its perfect expression in Caceres. And as if that were not enough, we can't forget Italica and Caparra, important references in our history.
It also gives us emotion and gastronomy -- emotion with the bulls and their raising. And I won't even mention the ham and all its goodness.
And what to say of its people? Happiness is emited in Andalucia, and it's consolidated in Extremadura. And so as to remind us that life is a compendium of many experiences and ways of life, there is the austere, inland Castile. It allows us to focus on our inner selves. And then, arriving in Galicia, it reminds us that in addition to happiness, the harvest, and art, there are our ancesters, all our memories, and our emblematic "morrina" (yearning homesickness is about as close as I can get).
What does the Vdlp take from us? It takes something, all the Caminos impose their taxes and their tolls, but in distinction to many other Caminos, the Plata takes our sweat, much more sweat than the rest of them, and I'm speaking of springtime, so think carefully before going in summer or beginning of fall.
Those of us from the north, for some reasons or others, go to the Plata maybe to be different, maybe for the people we will meet, or maybe because the variety strikes our fancy. But as many examples in the forum can attest, we keep going back, and it just has to be that way."
