Recently I had the pleasure of hosting my former post mate (the boy that lived across the Niger River) for two weeks in Benavente. I thought of it as a short vacation for him since he had been traveling so much. This was his chance to set down his backpack, relax, recover and catch up on his internet time. Thus I had him up bright and early to contort his body into funny yoga poses (yes that kind of spa) and we ate well and explored Benavente more thoroughly. A couple weeks ago was the Tapa Competition of Benavente. A tapa is the small snack served with drinks at the bars. Each participating bar (over 34) chose one signature tapa for the competition. For 2 weeks you could walk around and sample the various tapas then cast your vote! We ate fancy little seafood filled cones, olives on toast, stuffed chicken, and shrimp wrapped in ham and bacon, along with cow tongue and pig stomach. My how language barriers can affect an evening! My friend, tired of his relaxation has left to continue his journeys.
While he was here I had a great opportunity to explore Benavente a little more in depth. Yes aside from forcing him do yoga, I dragged him from his relaxation to explore the town. Benavente is not very big by normal standards. At the top you can see the view coming into town. There are about 20,000 people in Benavente, and they all seem to be under the age of 18 or over the age of 60. There is a huge age gap in between only filled on weekdays when the young teachers flock to town to work at one of the 2 schools before returning home to their trendy city residence.
Benavente can be best described as a town of contradictions. Due to its borderline size residents refer to it as a city while everyone else calls it a mere town. I like to see it as both, its where the city meets the town. Its also where the town meets the countryside. As a small town Benavente has the life of a city in its center. Live music in the bars on weekends, and ample opportunities for shopping, but just a short walk away and you find yourself in the Spanish countryside. In fact my walk home is through an open field.
My apartment is located on the outskirts of town, which I really enjoy. I am close to the Super supermarkets, and there is a lot of open space and sunshine here, unlike in town where the buildings sit right up next to each other and block out the warming rays of the sun.
Benavente, like many towns across Europe is where the historical meets modern. Amongst the new apartment buildings you can still find old decaying structures and crumbling forgotten staircases. Traditional local butchers and bread shops are dotted between the numerous supermarkets. As faith moves increasingly away from religion and towards commerce cathedrals and churches, though still located in town centers, become overshadowed by businesses.
Like a good European town Benavente was built on a hill, which has kept my legs in great shape up until now. In the old center of this town you can find the small Plaza Mayor and the Santa Maria Church built around 1180, around the corner from a the equally beautiful San Juan Church built in 1181.
Benavente remains on the crossroads of many bigger places. In the past this meant that Benavente was an important town, but nowadays it is nothing more than a town you have to pass through on your way to Galicia, Leon or anywhere north. One small piece of evidence remains of the old importance, the arch of an old medieval bridge that used to be in constant use as people moved around Spain. Tucked on the outskirts of town in what seems to be a forgotten park you stumble upon this lonely arch.
Behind the arch you can see all that remains of the old castles of Benavente. There remains only one tower after the French destroyed the castle in the 19th century.
Also on the bottom of the hill is where all of the parks and deserted countryside are found. On our explorations Jeremy and I stumbled upon some empty country lanes that have seen many years go by, and were indescribably beautiful in their simplicity.
