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Wise Pilgrim APPCarrión de los Condes sits at the junction of the pilgrim road and the Río Carrión, a position that made it a prosperous medieval town. Today it's quieter, but enough of the old architecture survives to justify a proper exploration.
The Iglesia de Santiago has a magnificent Romanesque frieze over the doorway — a procession of 24 elders of the Apocalypse that ranks among the finest Romanesque sculptural programs in Spain. The Iglesia de Santa María del Camino, at the other end of town, has a Romanesque doorway with scenes of the Tribute of the Hundred Maidens.
The Real Monasterio de Santa Clara, still an active convent, has a small museum with a notable collection of medieval art. The Monasterio de San Zoilo (now a hotel) preserves a Renaissance cloister with intricate vaulting — you can visit without being a guest.
Several albergues and a range of restaurants serve the town. The Café Bar España doubles as the local bus stop — inquire about schedules at the bar. All services available.
When leaving Carrión de los Condes, stock up on water. The next 17 km to Calzadilla de la Cueza have little shade and no reliable water source. In recent years a seasonal roadside kiosk has appeared at roughly the halfway point, but don't count on it.
San Zoilo is the patron — unusually, it's a movable feast celebrated on the Monday following the second-to-last weekend in August. Corpus Christi is also a major celebration. Market day is Thursday.
Carrión was one of the most important towns in medieval Castile, positioned at a river crossing on both the pilgrim road and the north-south trade route. Charlemagne reportedly used the fields here for an encampment. The town's name derives from the Counts (Condes) who governed it — the same counts who appear, unfavorably, in the Cantar de Mio Cid, where their mistreatment of El Cid's daughters drives the poem's final conflict.
