The Road from Santiago

  A quick bit of doubling back and off we go to find a foot route to Toledo. We will have to take to the tracks and then walk alongside CM-40 before heading north. Toledo is one of the many places I have said I said I want to go back to.  It is one of the fewer I really intend to and one I really mean it. If you want to conjure up the idea of a Fighting Fantasy city Toledo it.  Walls, Towers, a river surrounding steep lanes and cliffs, churches, a cathedral and a looming tower.  All this was enhanced when, as new time visitors, and with a child who had finally decided he would try out the English Language saw yet another giant gate and said ‘More-door.’ When we visited Toledo, once terribly butch capital of all that was aggressive and ‘Christian’ was having a moment and thinking how it should sell itself focused on its water past. People don’t seem much bothered about the inhabitants until the Romans turned up about 193BC when the chaps from Italia beat the local Con...

  We are heading out and towards Burguillos de Toledo.  We will go off piste for some of this.  Burguillos has 3872 inhabitants, all of whom live in somewhere which may mean ‘tiny village’ in Visigoth. So, welcome to Tiny Town. Roads are wonderful things. I remember seeing some of the wonderful structures opening up the villages of Asturias. Well, it appears the same is going on here.  A population of about 500 from the 1850s to the 1980s began to rise and rocketed after the year 2000. Politically it was a bastion of Socialism between 1983 and 1999 - when Anselmo de la Cruz Garcia was PSOE Mayor.  Julian Turrero Garcia-Patos then held the post for the PP from 1999 to 2011.  It has then been turn and turn about - with Jose Castro-Sanchez of ‘Let’s Win’ in charge from 2015-2019.  Currently Sergio Diaz Garcia of the PP is the man of the moment. Heading into town the Cobisa Restauracion SL . It opens 9am to 8pm everyday.  No one has reviewed it. ...

We are following the road and so avoiding several towns by accident, not by design.  Better have a few diversions La Bachata, by Manuel Turizo, is Spain’s best selling single - having shifted 1,140,000 copies.  Manuel is a Colombian chap who released this ditty on 2022.  It did very well across much of the Spanish speaking world. It only made 68th in Italy in 2022 and 23rd in Italy. According to surveys Palma, Mallorca, is the most dangerous city in Spain.  Well, it has 62.5 crimes per 1000 people.  Apparently violent crime is low but pickpockets are to be found in the nightclub region. This is what Travelsafe abroad website says.  I am not convinced at this ranking. Outside the Black Death, Great Plague and Covid the worst outbreak of disease, according to wiki [and I’m not convinced by this ranking either] was the 3-8,000 dead in the 1870 Barcelona Yellow Fever outbreak.   Apparently Yellow Fever struck in 1803 and 1821 as well. The wiki page on this...

  Welcome to Orgaz and straight to the castle. https://www.ayto-orgaz.es/rutas.php   The current castle is very intact and 14th century - with 15th century renovations. It was built on the site of a 12th century affair.  To be fair, it has not been all joy. During the 1520 Revolt of the Comuneros it was burnt down by Royalist troops. It is not, generally speaking, an easy place to visit. Weekdays you can get in from 1pm to 2pm. At weekends it throws the gates wide between 9am and 1pm. A month ago Marta said ‘ We loved the tour; they shared very interesting details, and the guide (whose name I can't remember, was it Luis?) was very friendly. It's great that they make the tour enjoyable; that's essential for a good experience. We booked a week in advance by phone, which I highly recommend. ‘ Orgaz is one of those places which has profoundly crowded old streets which are really easy to fall out of and into a scattered countryside. The Ermita de la Concepción. Is a well reno...