Carrión de los Condes

Christ surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists

Carrión de los Condes is a small town with two fascinating churches and a monastery.  There is not much more activity there now than there must have been in the times of El Cid.  The Condes, or Counts, of Carrión were two cowardly rascals who ran away from El Cid's pet lion, one of them hiding himself in the toilet chute.  Imagine a medieval castle's water closet and you get the idea!

Against his better judgement the hero married his daughters to these two ne'erdowells.  On the journey back to Castilla they stripped the girls, tied them to trees and whipped them, saying that they were not noble enough to be married to real counts.  Of course they got their comeuppance, which you can read about in the Romance del Mío Cid.  I have the version in Menéndez Pidal's Flor Nueva de Romances Viejos.  If you want an English version, you could try this one:  The Lay of the Cid, but I haven't read it and can't say if it's any good.

Archivolt Carvings Church of Santiago- two fighting knights

The Church of Santa María is slightly older than the Church of Santiago, but the main doorway of the latter is fascinating, with archivolts showing a range of figures, including dancing acrobats, a grieving woman and fighting knights.  I hope you can make them out from my picture.

This is Romanesque art.  Carrión is on the Camino de Santiago which is one of the best places in Europe to study this early medieval artistic style.  And walking along under a perfect blue sky across the rolling flat and empty plains of Castille, you can almost feel the pounding of horses' hooves in the distance and sense the imminent arrival of El Cid on his batte charger!