Archives for June 2017

Today I slept in.  I did not walk up until 8:45am which for me is pretty darn late.  Then I just layed in bed for a while and relaxed.  It was really nice.

About 11:00am I ventured out into Madrid.  Taking the Metro to the plaza del Sol and then just wandering.  I managed to find San Gines which is famous for Chocolate and Churros.  In a word Yum!  I just wandered without a real destination.  After about a bit I came upon plaza Santiago and the church of Santiago.  I went in and found that mass was in progress so I stayed and attended mass.  It was really nice.  After mass i wandered some more and did some very important shopping for my Granddaughter and future Grandson.  It is always fun to get a little something for them.  It is really the only souvenir that I need from my trip.

Today is the finals of the Champions league for Soccer.  Real Madrid and Juventus are playing in Wales.  The streets are crowded with Soccer fans and I know that tonight is going to be a big party in Madrid.  I have an 6:30am flight so no party for me.  Cannot wait to get home to see my family.

All in all another great Camino experience.  Hasta luego and Nos Vemos pronto Spain.

Today as always was a little emotional.  This is the third time I have walked into Santiago.  Our day started in a local bar.  I was up early so I had a chance to have two cafe con leche’s this morning. A treat and delicious.  I met a couple of pilgrims from South Africa.  They were on day 36 on the French route.  It was fun to talk to them.  The bar owner drew faces in their cafe con leche’s a nice touch.  On our walk today I came across a good size group of Aussies.  Since I have such a fondness for my good friends down under I spent some time chatting with a few (being shy and all I really had to put myself out there, lol). I spent a good amount of time talking to a couple from Brisbane.  His name was David and he is apparently an internationally recognized neonatologist.  Having published over 160 articles and papers according to his wife Carol,  Most of our talk was about wine.  A topic that I can hold my own in.  We talked about wines from Australia and California.  David had lived in San Francisco for a year doing specialty training at UCSF med school and had an affinity for Sonoma and Mendocino county Zinfandel.  We talked about wineries as they had invested in one in Margaret River in Australia.  It was a good conversation.

Then it was time to make the final push into Santiago.  We walked all 27k pretty fast with only one quick stop after 20k. For many in our group it was their first time walking into the Cathedral square.  As always there were tears and hugs of joy.  We took some great pictures together and then headed to the pilgrims office to get our Compostela’s.  When we got there the line circled the courtyard.  Most of our group did not stay as they could go the next morning with less of a line.  I need to stay as did Manolo and Iratxe since we were all leaving tonight.  After an hour and twenty minutes I finally got my Compostela.

We all met up in the square to go to lunch.  Before we did Iñaki let me take a shower in his room.  A blessing as I stunk pretty bad after a long fast walk.  Then off to lunch we went.  It was great to have one last meal together.  After lunch we headed to the Cathedral.  I wanted to at least take a few minutes and give thinks for the opportunity to be able to walk into Santiago again.  I love that Cathedral.  Then I headed for the airport and my flight to Madrid which is were I am now.

Today we walked 36k taking an alternative route from the Camino Norte to The Camino Frances. The Norte normally joins the French at Arzúa which is 2 stages from Santiago. The alternative route only takes one stage on the French. Tomorrow we will walk into Santiago.

We decided that walking only 19k a day for three days was just not enough. Funny I know but we walk about 5k per hour so if you only walk 19k it takes less than 4 hours which puts us at the albergue at 11:30 ish in the morning.  That is a lot of time to do nothing.  The walk was very interesting.  We walked 10k along the normal route into a little town that was having a market day.  It is always fun to see all of the venders and what they have to offer. From fresh churros to pulpo (Octopus) to fresh vegetables to close and anything else you might imagine.  This is the mall once a week.  At the end of town was were we had the option to take the alternative route.  Off we went on a road that led us though trees that were commercially planted for for paper, or for wood to make furniture.  This road meandered through the hills with ups and downs but no real towns.  After a good while we came upon a church with a fountain across the road.  We were all hunger and tired so of came the pack and we all dug for any food we might have to share.  It was really cool.  We had bread, cheese, meat, nuts, apples, bananas, anguilas which are Baby eels and a delicacy in Spain.  We put everything in the middle of the table and had a feast.  The anguilas were actually good.  I had to taste them just because.  We ate everything and even had chocolate for desert.  It was great.  At this point there are 9 of us walking together.  Iñaki, Kota, Manolo and Iratxe from Pais Vasco near Bilbao, Gildo from Italy, Fabian from Germany, Francesa from France, and me.  All of us communicating in mostly Spanish with some Italian and French thrown in for good measure. The

We are staying at El Albergue De Boni. An albergue along the French route about 27k from Santiago de Compostela.  The owner Boni is a very friendly man.  We are staying in a new building with 14 beds.  Not bad.  The albergue is relatively new.  The showers were awesome with even a whole message setup.

For lunch today we had a traditional Churrasco lunch. Beef and Pork ribs and steaks that they bbq and then bring to the table on a grill that is very hot.  Served with of course patatas fritas and wine it was awesome.  10 euros.

Tomorrow Santiago.