Ponferrada

Ponferrada

We are comfortable with the ebb and flow of our days. There are times we plan our distances based on where we want to spend our afternoon and evenings. Today we chose Ponferrada so we could spend some time in this area and visit the museum and castle of the Templar Knights. Our friends Victor and Pepe had told us about this and so we are curious to see what is here.

We walked about 12 miles today over a mountainous terrain and then straight down a shale path. As we approached the 'city' it started to look a lot like Napa Valley in the fall. The colors are vivid and are all my favorite colors-the colors of fall.

This area is infamous because the Templar Knights were once headquartered here. It seems that during the 11th and 12th century there was a three-tier class system. Royalty, The Knights, and the laborers or peasants. The function of The Knights were to protect the working class and interestingly, the pilgrims as they passed through. In those days, Pilgrims were considered potential prospects for the trade market and could easily be exploited. One of the functions of the knights was to protect them along the way so they could complete their journey without being held captive. There seems to be some mystery surrounding these Knights and the stone masons and when we return home we will research this history more fully. It is interesting and we look forward to studying this piece of history.

We will head to Villafranca Del Bierz tomorrow. Only about 17 miles...

Buen Camino. We are thinking of you each and every step.