PigTailz

Mosteiro de Carboeiro, Galicia, Spain

The Mosteiro de Carboeiro is maybe one of the strangest places I have ever been. This twice abandoned monastery has strong Lovecraftian horror vibes. Located in the municipality of the Concello de Silleda, this is next level creepy.

Mosteiro de Carboeiro was founded around the year 936 by counts of Deza, Tareixa Eiriz and Gonzalo Betótez. The monastic house was reformed in 1171 and construction of the new Romanesque church began. Carboeiro was abandoned and the surrounding lands were put up for auction in 1836. There is more info on the website here.

The engravings around the door in the photo are influenced by the Pórtico da Gloria of the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela. The images represent the the Elder Musicians of the Apocalypse.

Before entering the mosteiro, I went to buy the entrada. There was a woman working alone in a dark room. The room was very large, but everything was brought to a small triangle of light from the doorway. The light fixtures hanging behind the small desk were not in use. Around the corner everything was completely dark.

She explained that the renovations of the buildings had been made with the thought that the concello would run electricity to the buildings. In 1931, Carboiero was deemed a historic site, and in the 1990s the Xunta de Galicia began renovations to preserve the mosteiro. Lights had been installed during the 20 year renovation, but the project was abandoned before completion. She did not explain why. My best guess is that this is a cursed shrine to Dagon. But who knows.

After paying, I explored the courtyard. Remanants of the old stone fountains were strewn about and covered in moss.

Inside the church were exquisite roman arches. I had a laugh at how many lights were installed but not in use. But it was absolutely stunning.

And this is where things start to get weird. Paint from early frescoes appears to depict the outlines of giant, man-eating sea creatures and demonic eyes.

Oh… and the terrifying demonic symbolism? There´s more. On either side of the church is a door. Above each door, there is a symbol combining christian symbols with nautical or pagan symbols that are representative of the local culture.

A closer look at the doorways reveal this is actually a passage way to the shrine of Cthulu below.

If you are brave enough to pass through the archway, a narrow spiral stairway winds its way to the catacombs(?) below.

After returning up the stairway, I found the remains of Francisco sin Cara. I do not actually remember who the tomb belongs too, but the headless casket made me laugh a little in my belief this place is maybe a bit cursed.

My final piece of evidence that this is a cursed ritual site is a ponte do Demo… I mean seriously this is how they name the bridge near the mosteiro.

León, Spain

New Years Eve in León!

This is another layover city. I arrived late at night. It was dinner and then bed. The restaurant was nextdoor to the cathedral, so I snapped a quick night time photo on the way back to my hotel.

I began the next morning exactly where I left off.

After breakfast, I wandered for a bit of shopping. There was a bit of a feria or rastro in the morning. I enjoyed the colorful buildings. The architecture/street/design

There were a couple of really fun stores selling ceramics and art from local artists. My favorite shop of the trip was El Escribano. There were a number of historical replications, if you will. It was a mixed media art shop containing recreation of various historic imagery in every imaginable form. That is a lot of sentence in one sentence.

These are some of the various sculptures around the city. There is not so much consistency to the style which makes things more interesting.

Praia das Catedrais, Asturias, Spain

I have been dreaming of coming here since before Covid and decided this year I was coming for my birthday if it killed me. The cautionary tale comes first on this post. When arranging my travel, I was not aware that this beach is only visible a few hours each day at low tide. I was fortunate to meet someone willing to give me a ride home if I wanted to miss my train to see the stone cathedrals.

Happy birthday to me, I made it to see Praia das Catedrales!

I arrived late the evening before. There is a train from Santiago de Compostela to Ferrol and Ferrol to Catedrales. This is an unacceptably long train ride, but only about 4 hours by car.

In the morning I went down to the cliffs to go and see the beach… but there was only water! I was quite concerned that I had traveled to the wrong place. There was a big cafe next to the camper parking and I sat down to Google my next steps.

Google reassured me I was not mistaken. I learned from some other visitors about the tide. My train was leaving about 30 minutes after the low tide, so it would not give me much time to see anything. They offered to let me come back with them later in the afternoon. And I said yes. Of course I said yes. I did not even care if they murdered me in the back of the van if I finally got to visit!

Once low tide rolled around, I climbed down the stairs to the sandy beach below. The weather was wet and gray and cold. Which is great for photos without so many people in the way. My dad always comments about the lack of people in my photos. He says it must be lonely to always adventure alone. I don´t think he realizes how long I wait for people to get out of the way!

The beach is named for these alcoves and hollows in the rocks that resemble cathedrals. The stone features have been carved out by the strong tides in the Cantabrian Sea.

You can see how high the water rises with high tide by how high the barnacles are forming. The beach is inaccessible except for a brief window around low tide. And staying out can be dangerous as the tide rises quite quickly once it comes back. Apparently many tourists have been stranded in the smaller caves further along the beach.

There is a place where you actually have to climb over the wet rocks to see the landmarks you find in the online photos. This adventure might not be accessible with mobility issues. If you time it just right, and are okay being a little soggy, this is a fantastic trip. Just be sure to get out when the tide starts coming back up.

Just as I was leaving the beach, I saw a large tour bus arriving just in time to not see the beach. I felt really bad for anyone that paid for the trip only to miss seeing the beach by 45 minutes. I hope they got to enjoy some of the natural beauty of the place, even if they missed the main attraction.

Faro de Tapia de Casariege, Asturias, Spain

This was a short stop just to watch the sunset.

Ponte de Sarandon, Galicia, Spain

This was a long walk near of the river Ulla. I think it was between 18 and 20 km in a straight line along the river. This route passed by the Areal de Barres on the opposite bank of the river. After more than a month of gray skies and rain almost every day, warm sun and blue skies begged for an adventure.

I dropped into the path near of some country homes, and went straight to this abandoned mill near the river. The water was very high and fast in the rainy season.

Okay but really, how beautiful is this tree. It looks like an old troll looking underneath. I love it so much.

I found a cache today too! I guess someone else thought this space was just as beautiful and perfect that they could hide a reward

There were streams coming from the river that you could cross on these small wooden fairytale bridges.

And I made a friend.

Today´s special adventure was visiting with all of the mushrooms and fungi of galicia. I hear a lot of people here go foraging for various mushrooms in the fall, so I purchased a book for identifying the Setas. Unfortunately, they were all in only two categories of seta. One type was ¨do not eat¨ and the other was ¨You can maybe eat, but it looks like one you cannot eat, and you cannot tell by this photograph which one, so do not eat.¨

Cautionary tale …

These guys are poisonous and contain some sort of black powder that I assume is also poisonous. The powder is fine, and if you are curiously poking it with a stick, you may send those spores flying. So don´t do that.

These guys are also poisonous. Instead of fancy spore pouches, these smell like rotting corpses. The smell is not so strong unless… you step on it… and it gets worse if you get curious and decide to get close and poke it with a stick.. So don´t do that.