Feelings of the Day: Parks and public spaces are extremely important to the people of Spain. I don’t just mean the tiny lots whipped up with minimal resources and thought, that dot Canadian villages, towns, and cities. I mean serious nature set aside for multiple uses that draw people of all ages. A healthy society includes healthy communal spaces.
Full Day’s Events: After a lazy morning, and a small early lunch, all four of us ventured to Soria in the North. Only a half hour away, Soria is the capital of its namesake province and the city has a whopping 40k people who live there.
Our goal was to stroll around the Araje Natural Soto Playa (Soto Playa Natural Site), beside the Duero river, and see the many points of interest in and around it. We saw many hiking trails veering off from the curated paths for walkers, joggers, and cyclists. They looked fun but some were a little risky for me. The walkways and trails had trimmed trees beside them, and modern art scattered like seeds here and there, but the park was almost empty. I first thought it being a workday might have helped with the emptiness, but little did we know there was an unbridled force of unnatural nature just around the bend at the BBQ/picnic area…LANGOSTA GIGANTE! Also known as the giant lobster, it had already torn apart a pedestrian bridge and was awaiting our arrival. Who knows how many families had been boiled and shucked after failing to avoid its claws of…DOOM! Ahem. Now onto your regularly scheduled post.
Continuing along the path, we went under an active train bridge to a pedestrian bridge. Crossing it, we saw to the left a red and cream brick structure with religious overtones. Our hosts said it was an interesting location so we went up and saw a cave opening, closed by a metal fence at the moment. Inside it, more than 1500 years ago, would have lived Saturio of Numantia after he gave away his fortune and lived as a hermit here. He is the patron saint of Soria and the current buildings are from the late 1600’s, built to honor him. It was also closed. We were here at siesta time in the afternoon (generally 1 or 2 until 4), but the views were wonderful.
Following the river, passing by some older gents grilling what looked like skate fish, we had a coffee then entered the Monastery of San Juan of Duero. This structure belonged to the knights hospitaller, built in the early 1100’s, and inhabited until the 1700’s. Two unique and interesting things we felt were spectacular: the two decorative side altars and the arches of the cloister that have different shapes.
As we were walking back to our car, a view of the Soria side of the river encapsulated modern Spain so well with a kaleidoscope of structures from different eras.
It was time to drive back to Almazan. There we all prepared braised artichokes (parsley, white wine, dried mint from a tea bag my wife found in our place, and oregano), R made risotto (homemade broth, wine, and morel mushrooms), and J made quail (stuffed with morels, dried and fried bread crumbs, and foie gras). A Spanish 2021 Corpinnat rose from Recaredo vineyards accompanied the meal with joy and glee for this top tier meal. Amazing what can be done with local ingredients, except for the morels which are Canadian and were picked by J. 5.4km and 12 flights walked.
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