Santo Domingo
I got an early start this morning which was good, when I say early start I mean 0630 rather than the 0700 that I had been. The hotel was nice and made me a picnic to take with me again as breakfast was later than I wanted.
I started alone but when I got to the first stop I ran into the American girls Maddie and Fiona that I’ve been walking on and off with the last few days. We were having some conversations about the pros and cons of walking with music while walking. Fiona also was telling me about her university paper that she's working on in which she wants to interview people about their experience with nature and covid and its impact on the Camino.
It wasn’t as hot as the other day which was nice but with all the harvesting it was super dusty and pretty much unsheltered the entire way which made it tough going.
Santo Domingo was lovely; one of my top places so far. The accommodation was a little far off the track but wasn’t too bad and they didn’t speak any English which was tough but they were so lovely in trying to communicate they actually rung someone who could and had me talk to them and they translated it.
I had lunch with the others and had a pilgrim meal the second I’ve had I think while on the walk, was super stuffed. While sitting here we got talking to another pilgrim who happened to be another Kiwi. The only other Kiwi that I’ve come across though I do know there are a few others here. He has been travelling around Europe for a few weeks and will go back to visit friends before returning back to NZ.
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After lunch I went and explored the town, they had a pilgrim deal that you can explore some of the town's things for a deal. I started off at the convent and the attached cathedral. It is as beautiful as most of the churches are but also quite simple. There was a museum set up as well that had a lot of exhibitions about the carving of ivory and the Asian input with the religious artefacts.
The next place I went is up the bell tower. Nothing too impressive but had amazing views of the city as well as the historic bells and clocks. Everything was fine while I was up there but later ran into the Aussie guy who while was up there spotted a bush fire and rushed down to tell the guy at the information desk. We later went around trying to find it, was a bit concerned that no one else seemed to be concerned about it but seemed to be under control the next morning when we left.
The cathedral in Santo Domingo was the best though absolutely stunning and totally worth the visit. I think that I spent like an hour or so going through with the audio tour but was so worth it. The stonework and design were amazing, the mosaic down in the crypt just looked stunning I couldn’t imagine the time required to complete it. There were even chickens in the church which we were assured were rotated out every three days in summer so the chickens are well looked after.
