After our refreshing swim, time to get serious and head up to the Monastery at the top of hill behind Piso Lavadi. We considered going cross country which should be shorter but wisely decided against it and followed the road. This meant walking to Marpissa, next village and following the road that spirals around the extinct volcano to the top. It was easy to find and fairly steep. Spectacular views the reward for the hard work. Wild flowers in abundance every where. Hot and bothered at the top an elderly warden in the church gave us some Turkish Delight (do the Greeks make it too?) and a small glass of brandy in exchange for a donation to look at the church and monastery. The small church is so different to those we saw on our Camino in 2016 which I find to excessive in every way. I much prefer the simple painting and decoration of this church. I didn’t realise that we had permission to take photos so I have no photos of it. We spent ages looking at the views at the top and coming down. I think we probably only walked around 10kms but were out almost 7 hours, much to our surprise. We had, had quite a few stops including doing some more shopping. Looking at the display of local olives and discussing which to choose at supermarket in Marpissa, the shop assistant asked us if we are Australian? We were pretty impressed and asked how she knew, she replied that we sounded like her uncles in Melbourne! The olives were excellent and we days later we went back for more but she wasn’t working. Our first evening meal in Greece was had at Mango Pizzeria. Very Greek, not. We did have excellent Greek beer called Mamos with our pizza. We had noticed that many houses and shops houses were being painted and cleaned up, we asked the waiter why? This is when I discovered that we’d arrived for Orthodox Easter celebrations and huge weekend for the Greeks. The only concern is that we hadn’t booked our ferry to Athens the following Monday!
0 Comments
On our first day to stave off jet lag thought to take a challenge and walk up to the monastery and church St Antonios at the top of the extinct volcano behind Piso Livadi. Didn’t look that big for us experienced Camino walkers. Headed to town for an explore and a coffee.
Refreshed with a dose of good coffee and second breakfast decided to check out the town and found an empty beach that’s not really overlooked by houses and it had really warmed up. Soooo, we found a cliff to shelter under, stripped off and plunged into the crisp Mediterranean. Beautiful clear ocean with no sharks, stingers, blue bottles or waves. Perfect. I swam out deep enjoying the lack of current or rips. Then along the cliff top came a scooter but it passed without even noticing two pale middle aged naked swimmers. Just starting to get cold and a car pulled up and a guy in a uniform got out. The back of his shirt said Security. OMG I thought someone has complained. He proceeds to fiddle around in the car, meanwhile we both have the giggles and getting colder. Eventually he makes his way down to the beach carrying a wetsuit, spear gun, fins, float and other equipment. Strips off to his shorts and with painful slowness gears up. We are stuck in the water getting numb with cold and pretending to enjoy ourselves waiting for him to enter the water. Finally with his head under the water we scuttled out of the sea to our shelter to dry off. We’d neglected to pack towels either. So had wait till the sun half dried us so our clothes weren’t soaked too. Planning and research, the lack of it, finds us in an idyllic village on Paros over Greek Orthodox Easter weekend. As we walked, observed a lot of preparations in restaurants and houses and thought it was for the summer season. We asked our waiter at dinner last night and he told us that they are for Easter. Immediately i had some concerns because we hadn’t booked our ferry to Athens on Monday!! Our journey to Greece was long and we managed to bookend each leg with a beer. Etihad isn’t the best airline I’ve flown and the seat cushions became really uncomfortable after a few hours fourteen hour flight forced us to get up and walk around. During our layover in Athens Airport, Manny craving something fresh bought a Greek Salad, after 24 hours of airline stodge was wonderful to taste real Greek feta and olives. With time to fill wait for the plane to Paros we found an exhibition of the artefacts found during the construction of the airport. Away from the tourist traps is what we sought, Piso Livadi and Logaras beach are small, quiet and peaceful on the opposite side of the island to Parikira the port and main entry to Paros. Our accommodation has seen better days but it’s only a few steps down to a lovely beach.
Tired, probably not the best start time to write my first blog post but will loose internet access soon, so it’s happening now. We had a frantic day. Drove back from Bluesfest, cleaned the van, did loads of washing, dealt with last minute panics. Such as Manny’s mother getting a $300 Telstra invoice for disconnecting the internet she hasn’t got. Fun, fun. Wouldn’t be the same without some drama. Train selfie ~ looking forward to a refreshing drink when we get to the airport.
I'm reacquainting myself with blogging before departure on our next adventure. Did walking the Camino change our lives .... well, not really but it was a fantastic experience and I'd recommend it to everyone - we had a fabulous time. We are gearing up for our next trip, which is completely unplanned, unlike our Camino in 2016. The plan so far is..... straight after Easter we are heading to Greece for a week and then to London to attend the 40 year reunion of student nurses I started training with in 1979. After that there are a few ideas of which include walking Hadrian's Wall and catching up with friends and family.
This was the last visit to 'family and friends' during our Spanish Odyssey, to one of Manny's old school friends who lives in Logroño. Logroño is a very attractive city that is located in the famous wine growing region, La Rioja and also happens to be on the most popular Camino route the Camino Frances. Logroño is also well known for fabulous Tapas bars in the old city and if you ever have reason to visit I highly recommend spending an evening there, look for Calle Laurel and go from there. Manny's friends very generously took the day off from their busy work schedules to spend the day with us and arranged a tour of a winery in Haro and then lunch. Being towards the end of October we enjoyed seeing the Autumn colours coming onto the trees and grapevines on the drive half hour to Haro. The winery we visited is one of the oldest in the Rioja, Bodegas R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, they use traditional methods handed down through four generations of wine making which is a contrast to the other wineries in the area. We all expected to be on the tour with one of the winery staff but we were lucky to be included in a tour conducted by one of the owner/winemakers Maria Jose. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos during the tour, so you are stuck with my inadequate description of the almost 150 year old buildings and the visit. We were guided though underground storage areas, dark tunnels gouged out of the sandstone by Maria Jose's grandfather as part of a large project that the family continues to work towards completing. The tunnels, dimly lit and lined with oak barrels stacked 5 high. The wine barrels are hand made by the onsite by the winery’s coopers from imported oak. The walls of the storage areas are thickly lined with black mould due to the high levels of humidity and augments the ageing of the wines. After the tour we headed into the wine tasting room and tried some glorious wines with the tour group we had joined. A group of wine enthusiasts from Hong Kong, they were visiting four wineries that day and on a fairly tight schedule. Maria Jose's enthusiasm kept us all mesmerised and engrossed in the story of the winery and fascinated by her philosophy of life and the enjoyment of wine. The wine enthusiasts asked lots of intelligent, well informed questions and we benefited greatly from the questions and the answers because we know bugger all about good wine. The tour group moved onto their next winery. Maria Jose grabbed more bottles of wine and took us outdoors to sit in the sun to chat and sip her 25 and 30 year old wines. Time to go for lunch came and went and we continued sipping and savouring the wine and trying to pinch ourselves that it was really happening. Fortunately Maria Jose asked the staff to bring out some Jamon (Spanish ham) otherwise it would have been an entirely liquid lunch. We had a most memorable afternoon and it was a real privilege to sit and listen to such a knowledgeable person speak about their passion. I am without words to describe how lucky we felt. Author- Victoria NorfolkThis blog is a record of our recent travels including walking the Camino de Santiago Seriously wishing I took more notice in my Ancient History classes at school because this city has history, on top of its history. Our Hotel was opposite ''Muralla Punica', the defence wall founded in 229 BC! And we didn't find time to see it. Carthage is a seriously cool city. But I have to tell you about our journey to it first. Keen not to repeat the endless bus trip we endured to Almería, we took our second journey using a Bla Bla Car. A very nice driver again, making his way to work for the week as a suburban bus driver, 200kms from home. He was late picking us up (not happy Jan) due to attendance at his pregnant wife's ultrasound and we got to Cartagena just as his shift was due to start on the outskirts of Cartagena. He asked if we would mind finishing the journey on his bus? More than happy to oblige, we grabbed our backpacks and hopped on. The bus route, as it happened, passed within 200 metres of our Hotel! We checked into our Hotel, basically did a bag drop and headed out to have 'Menu del Dia' before exploring the city for the afternoon. Our Hotel offered Menu at a discount for guests so off we found a table outside and enjoyed a fine meal. Menu is served between approximately 2pm and 4pm and considered the main meal of the day. Set menu of two courses with bread, dessert, coffee or wine but the offering can vary. In Asturias it generally included a bottle of wine with small bottle of gaseosa (lemonade). You are guaranteed to be full for the rest of the day and don't require any more food (unless you are peregrinos). We've had it as cheap as 8 euros and paid 26 euros for a fabulous silver service meal and nearly always very good Spanish food. Only having a short time in Cartagena we had to choose what we wanted to see & do most. The tourist bus only ran every hour and we missed the penultimate one and when we went to board the last one disappointingly, it was only 10 minutes from the end. The tourist buses are a good way to get oriented quickly in a new city. We headed by foot into the old city, map in hand, to the Roman Ampitheatre. Which found quickly and spent some time looking at through the fence and circumnavigated looking for the entrance. Eventually finding it on the main Plaza a block away and it had closed already. Undaunted we saw the harbour walked down there to have a look and it being a lovely evening go on the Tourist boat and we arrived at the same time as the last one of the day docked. I was starting to get cross that we'd had such a long lunch and now missing everything when the Director of Language and Cultural Services noticed there was a Catamaran on the dock that had one more tour and saved the day. The boat took us around the harbour showing us the Naval Base, the oil refinery and lovely cliffs & beaches to the sounds of very loud '70s disco music, a genre I love. The group of Russian tourists who accompanied us must have too because they danced for the entire trip. By the next morning we had a plan and hired bikes from our hotel for the day. The bikes were old clunkers but before we knew it we were 3kms out of town. The bike paths are fantastic. We passed the enormous cruise ship that had come into port overnight and watched the passengers being collected to go on tours. Our next destination was a visit to the Museo Nacional de Arqueologia Subacuática (Museum of Marine Archaeology). Another fantastic museum housed in an equally amazing building. The ocean around Cartagena is rich in artefacts and on display is the wreck of Phonecian ship from the 7th Century BC and hundreds of gold coins from the 600,000 recovered from a Spanish frigate sunk in 1804. There is very good English signage and equally good display & information. We spent way more time there than we should have. Undaunted by the number of cruise ship tourists in town we headed for the Barrio del Foro Romano (Roman suburb) that is gradually being uncovered and restored. An entire suburb including Roman baths with underfloor and in wall heating. Again very good English signage and fascinating place to visit. You can see the remains of wall murals and some of the original columns and sculptures recovered. Fabulous if you like history. Saturated with history, we threw down some very nice Tapas with a glass of wine and rode out to Cala Cortina, a pretty cove about 3kms out of town to have a swim in the Mediterranean Sea. The photos lie, it was more beautiful than it looks. We enjoyed swimming in very clean, salty, shark free water that lapped beside us. Just as we were leaving the cruise ship steamed past on its way to Morocco and then Florida. Melilla is a Spanish Autonomous City located in Morocco, North Africa. We travelled there to visit Manny's family who have lived in Melilla for several generations. I had always wanted to travel by ferry, something romantic about arrival by ship and especially crossing the Mediterranean. Melilla is a military outpost and has a fortified border fence around the perimeter which I saw on our previous visit. You also see the presence of uniformed personnel in the streets and because we arrived on Friday afternoon, waiting to board the ferry, amongst them was a member of the Legion wearing his beret with feathers pointing up to the sky. I wasn't brave enough to take a photo. Apart from the military presence, Melilla prides itself on the harmonious blending of four cultures and religious tolerance. It has a large Moroccan community and smaller Jewish and Hindu groups who have lived in Melilla for a very long time. We didn't have time to find the Indian restaurants unfortunately, we were hanging out for a curry but the cuisine of Melilla has been influenced by the cultural blend and it makes for interesting food in the restaurants. Another pleasure is to drink Moroccan tea, fresh mint immersed in boiling water and a ridiculous amount of sugar. Really delicious but next time I'll ask to put the sugar in myself. Because we didn't have a plan and hadn't booked accommodation in advance we found a lot of Hotels were full. We were limited in our choice but found a room at the Hotel Rusadir. Advertised as 4 star but probably 2.5 would be more accurate. Accommodation is relatively expensive because the rates of pay in Melilla are higher and goods often tax free. Anyhow we were only after a bed for the night, our days were fairly busy. The location was very handy to the city centre and the harbour for the ferry. When not catching up with Manny's huge and very welcoming family we visited the Melilla La Viaje )the Fort), the Museo de Arqueologiá e Historia de Melilla and walked the length of the esplanade to the border with the Moroccan harbour area. Museo de Arqueologiá e Historia de Melilla: entry to this very good Museum is free which was a surprise. It is so good that an entrance fee would be acceptable. There isn't much English in the displays, at the entrance they had booklets in other languages but had run out of the English version. The staff just shrugged when Manny asked, a bit disappointing but the Director of Language and Cultural Affairs managed to translate the most important stuff. The importance of the visit to the Museum for me is that it gave me context for Melilla's existence. I'd always been uncomfortable in Melilla and felt a little besieged by greater Africa around the enclave. I couldn't understand why Spain would bother. But when you see the history of the region, Melilla has been an important trade portal for millennia. The city has rarely administrated itself being held by Carthage, Rome, the Moors, briefly the Berbers and then Catholic Kings of Spain. The Arabs developed a very effective and clever system of collecting and storing water which I'm sure made the city viable in such an arid region. The cisterns used to store water have been restored after being used to house animals earlier in the 20th century. In Spain there are many more beggars than we are accustomed to seeing, mostly they don't approach you but stand near entrances or sit on the pavements holding pieces of cardboard with words describing their plight. In Melilla it is different, youths in their late teens approached us asking for bread or food with sad, beseeching looks on their faces. Our first experience of this was shortly after arrival in the port. We went to a bar we fondly remembered from our last visit and sat outside in the sun. Two young men came up to us, one of them asking for bread. We only had a tapa of olives on the table. Manny spoke to him & offered him the olives. I then noticed his friend had circled around the behind us. Manny didn't realise till I told him afterwards. Luckily we both have a habit of sitting with handbags (all valuables inside) in our laps. Our backpacks too heavy for a quick getaway. We asked the family about it later that day and they confirmed that you have to be careful. It has been known for gold jewellery to be pulled off people. Good job peregrinos don't carry much! I've read since our visit, that after Barcelona, Melilla has the largest number of Modernist buildings. I went a bit crazy trying to capture good photos of them in the limited time we had. I wondered why there were so many and once again the 'Museo de Arqueologiá e Historia de Melilla' came to the rescue. The Jewish display explains that the Architect Enrique Neito was employed to design the buildings and the construction funded by the Jewish community.
Foolishly, we caught the ALSA bus from Malaga to Almería, a distance of just over 200kms. It took 5 hours!The ALSA buses can be quite flash with WIFI and waitress service. NOT on the milk run to Almeria, we stopped at every pueblo and holiday resort between the two cities. I may grumble but it is my own fault for not paying more attention. Of great interest to us though, for the last couple of hours we passed the famous greenhouses that cover every vaguely level patch of earth. They are plastic covered enclosures where vegetables and fruits are grown year round to meet the demands of the supermarkets in Northern Europe. It is a really arid environment, famously used to film the old Western movies and we were fascinated. Some very sophisticated operations and others stuck together with tape. We also wondered where does the water come from to sustain such huge agriculture? You may wonder where is Almería and why visit? It is east of Malaga and Manny has family members there to visit, also we catch the Ferry for our next destination. Almería isn't aparticularly well known city but the cruise ships do call in. I didn't have high expectations. Once again, how wrong can I be! The Alcazaba is a cracker, we spent several hours exploring it and accidentally overhearing the tours of the cruise ship passengers and looking down at the views. The city has charming streets, lanes and boulevards. It has a strong bicycle culture with an extensive cycle path network and roads where bikes have priority. If we had more time I would have liked to visit the National Park Cabo de Gata-Nijar and gone kayaking but it being low season is only available at weekends. Manny has an Aunt, Uncle and cousins in Almería who we visited and had lunch with, at a place called Aguadulce. It is a beachside suburb along the coast from Almería about a 15 minute drive. Although the area has seen better times, you could see how lovely and clear the sea water is and I was wishing I'd brought my swimming gear with me. The question of the source of the water used for agriculture was answered for us by the wife of one of Manny's cousins. Her Father is an organic farmer and all the water is sourced from artesian bores and from the spring thaw of the snow on the mountains behind the coast. Almeria's arid landscape and historic buildings have been used as the set for a number of famous movies including Lawence of Arabia, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, Indiana Jones movies, Patton, Queen of Thrones etc, etc. The Alcazaba is every kids dream fortress. Another pleasure in Almería is the narrow, traffic free streets that have shops, bars and restaurants. They still have individual shops in Spain. There are chains but here in Almería you can find a shop that only sells Ladies hosiery, several book shops, many boutiques and men's fashion shops. An entire shop selling Fragrances. A shop to buy a Fasinator & my personal favourite 'A Map shop', I love maps.
I love the North of Spain, the pueblos, the unspoilt landscapes, the green, the mountains, the fresh air.... I was convinced that I would hate the South and hadn't divulged this information to Manny. How wrong can you be? My first feeling of change was the hope that the food would be different because although I enjoy Spanish food, the lack of vegetables and that we are used to a variety of cuisines, makes us yearn for something more. Malaga is an old city with a vibrant youthful culture with a strong Arts community. We were lucky to be staying in the old city and once we adjusted to the hoards of tourists really enjoyed every minute of being there. I had a long list of museums and historical monuments that I planned to visit but as usual only hardly managed to squeeze any in. We did a boat trip out on to the very tranquil Mediterranean, saw the outside of the house that Picasso was born, it was on the way to our Pension, we saw it every day. High recommend the Jaleo Flamenco show at the Museo Interactivo de la Música. The Catedral, of course as Peregrinos we had to go, well that was Manny's justification as I complained about the Five Euros each. I managed to enjoy the visit despite myself. The decoration was far less elaborate than Santiago and it had some pretty good art works. We met up with a friend from home who was visiting for the weekend and spent the day being driven along the coast to the west of Malaga and saw some of the famous Spanish holiday destinations of the '80s. The beaches were busy with visitors from the colder regions of Europe. I had a swim & we enjoyed lunch by the beach before joining in with the Mijas Hash House Harriers for a run & dinner. We did a bit of retail therapy too. After wearing the same 2 quick dry outfits since the 24th August, it was time for some jeans, sandals & a dress. We saw the Roman amphitheatre and visited the Alcazaba, the fortress up high on the hill overlooking the old city.
After spending a lovely week in Madrid being Tourists and catching up with family & friends we headed off early Friday morning to meet up with our Bla Bla car. What is a Bla Bla car? I hear you think. It is a ride sharing website, similar to Uber but for longer distances. With some anxiety we arrived at the car park outside the Real Madrid Football Stadium to meet our BlaBla car. It is a convenient walk from Manny's Aunt, where we were staying. Being old, we got there with enough time to have coffee, go to the toilet and still be 15 minutes early. Our driver, Andi, was late due to the heavy traffic. A little more anxiety. Then the third passenger was waiting in the wrong place and had to make his way round to us, once Andi got hold of him. To our surprise, he had been in the bar having coffee when we did. He wasn't old too but had flown in from Majorca that morning. We thought we had an early start. Finally we headed into the Madrid traffic and we were very grateful to not be driving the 500kms to Malaga. Andi proved to be a good driver and the other passenger, a gregarious fellow. The car was comfortable and we enjoyed the journey. We got to Malaga mid afternoon, hungry and with no accommodation. Andi had dropped us a close walk to the city centre. The first Plaza we got to had an Irish Pub with drunken Englishmen ordering beer, loudly, which was a bit of a culture shock for us, after weeks of Spanish immersion. We sought refuge in a 'Spanish'ish bar and had some food. The waiter was fascinated by Manny's excellent Spanish, he is always being complimented on it by Spaniards. Anyhow he gave us some guidance on finding a place to stay and we called into 3 places that looked fabulous and were full. The last rang ahead for us to a pension with a vacancy & gave us directions. We headed off into a bit of a dodgy looking area and found the Pension. I said to Manny, make sure they show us the room first. We learnt the hard way on the Camino but put up with the room because we were out the door at sparrows. Anyhow need not have worried, the Pension was cheap & really nice.
Manny's cousin and his wife took us for a day trip to Toledo. I knew I'd heard of Toledo but not really why, other than it that isn't the one made famous by Klinger in MASH. A quick read of Wikipedia gave me a potted history but didn't prepare me for the beauty of the city. Spain is famous for being hot & dry and there has been little rain this summer. The drive from Madrid passing over yellowed plains and flats with little vegetation. Then up from the horizon rose Toledo perched high above the plains. The history of Toledo is fascinating and you need more than a day to see all the museums and wander through the narrow streets and have a mooch in the shops. We visited El Greco's house, the Jewish Museum and took the tourist train. The train took us outside the walls and circumnavigated the city with a stop that gave us a magnificent view of the old city and a really vivid idea of its military defences. Apart from the history I loved the colours of Toledo.
We planned a few days rest in Santiago and time for Manny to visit a family member & old friends of his parents. After the high of the previous day and an amazingly restful night in a nice Pension, we were up early to visit the Catedral to complete our Pilgrimage rituals of hugging St James and to attend the Pilgrims Mass at midday. We heard from pilgrim friends, they had only just got a seat at Mass the previous day when they arrived at 11am, and not sitting together. Entering the Catedral is nearly as overwhelming as arriving in the Square the previous day. Every surface has very elaborate decoration, so we decided not to visit St James but took good seats on the Pews and examined the Catedral and watched people while we waited. I imagined that the Pilgrim Mass may have been a bit touristy or not taken seriously but I couldn't have been more wrong. It was conducted by 5 priests, a Nun with an angelic voice and the sermon, taken as an opportunity to speak to pilgrims of the world. The priest spoke at length about refugees. We were pleased to notice the priest from the Church in O Pedrouzo join in too. It was a pleasure to observe a living Church and see the rapture of the devout. It was a wonderful experience. After Mass we had a big lunch and celebrated our 25th Wedding anniversary. We moved from the Pension to an apartment & spent another 3 days exploring Santiago. Less said about the apartment the better, a long and negative review was posted promptly after we left. Moving away from the negative, we visited the Pilgrim Museum and the Catedral Museum, wandered around the wonderful streets of the old city and completed our pilgrimage by visiting the Crypt of St James and hugged his effigy. Also ate some good food and enjoyed the atmosphere. Finding words to explain the experience of walking the Camino are difficult to find but I would never hesitate to recommend anyone to do it.
Don't know whether it was Mondayitis or I didn't want the Camino to end but for the first time I felt like staying in bed. We made a late start after buying some supplies for lunch. This end of the Camino has been a bit of a chore, particularly the last 50kms, the scenery is pretty, the paths wide and easy going, the hills not challenging for long and the crowds ever increasing the closer you get. Everyone is friendly but we miss the camaraderie of the Camino Primitivo and the solitude. Being our last day of walking before our arrival in Santiago, we found ourselves discussing our experiences during the walk. How much we have enjoyed the people we have encountered. The physical challenges and injuries we sustained. And what we'd do better next time. What were the highlights for us each? Also how we would answer the difficult questions. The ones about whether we had a spiritual enlightenment (providing the lightening didn't strike us first) during the journey. The day wore on and our energy sapped as the temperature increased. Manny found his Achilles giving him problems and needed to slow down. The walk seemed endless, passing first the airport runaways, two TV Stations and we had read that you can see the Catedral from Monumento de Monte do Gozo, a lookout above Santiago but when we got there nothing could be seen but at least there was a kiosk to buy a drink. Our decent into Santiago was long & slow through suburbs, busy roads and crossing roundabouts. Our faithful yellow arrows replaced by more difficult to find brass shells embedded in the pavement and road signs. Finally we reached the outskirts of the old city and started passing Pilgrims who had completed the Camino earlier that day, seeking their accommodation, who gave us smiles of acknowledgment, no longer saying the familiar "Buen Camino" and probably recognising the exhaustion in our faces. Our first sighting of the Catedral really perked us up, it had been a long 20kms and we were in the shady narrow streets of the old city. Before we knew it we passed under a large archway with a busker, playing the haunting sounds of Galician bagpipes into the Praza do Obradoiro, the large square at the front of the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela. We did what most Pilgrims do. Hug each, strip off our backpacks and sit and stare at the Catedral. The afternoon sun lighting it up beautifully. I don't remember a feeling of huge elation at the time but after weeks walking all day, crossing three provinces through some isolated, spectacular countryside and living with fairly simple needs of water, food and a bed for the night, the incredible beauty of the Catedral and knowing we had done it, we had met the challenge, felt good. After a long sit we found our accommodation and left our packs to find the Pilgrims Office to get the final stamp in our Credencials and receive our Compostela, certificate for completing the Camino. The queue was long and full of travel worn Pilgrims excited to be there. With our Compostelas in hand and still in our dirty Pilgrim clothes we headed to a Tapas bar for a celebration and some much needed food. A cold and foggy start to the day but I don't mind because you know once the sun rises and burns it off the day will be beautiful. There were many walkers on the path today, the Camino Norte walkers also begin to join in too, they follow the northern coastline of Spain, we walked the Santander to Gijon section of this Camino route. After having a gripe yesterday about the litter left by Pilgrims, I noticed that after Arzúa, the local Council has placed wheelie bins at very regular intervals and there's a lot less mess. Also having a pee in the bushes is almost impossible because of the foot traffic. And there are so many bars that are open. The walk today was easy. The path is wide and the surface often well maintained. We made good time despite several food and coffee stops. Second breakfast was a bocadilla filled with tortilla. Probably more calories than we needed. My hunger has reduced now that the walking is so much easier. We both vacuumed our food when we were in the hills of Asturias. After a post shower bite to eat (Pimentos de Padron again) we took a walk around O Pedrouzo and as you do on the Camino found ourselves at the Church. Evening Mass was under way and we slipped into the back of the full Congregation. A few locals but mostly devout Pilgrims, some we'd said "Buen Camino" to during the day's walk. The Catholic Mass is familiar to me from my school days and despite it being in Spanish (obviously), I could tell that the Priest gave a cracking sermon and a special blessing to all the peregrinos. It was an opportunity for us to remember a dear friend on the anniversary of his death and be part of what is good about the Church. Tomorrow we walk the last 20kms into Santiago de Compostella. The people on the Camino are interesting to observe and categorise. There are the weekend warriors, generally Spaniards squeezing in a quick stage. The supported walkers who carry day packs and stroll along without a care in the world, they know where they are staying and how far they need to go. The Rushers who have a schedule and have no time and race past everything. The people in search of something, a partner, a purpose. Lots of regulars who walk each year and are an excellent source of information and guidance. The really shocking thing is the amount of rubbish that pilgrims drop, particularly little bunches of toilet paper (ladies!) along the verges. Even more so now that the routes have merged. The walking is pretty easy now and the scenery pleasant. My blisters were healed when I got brave enough to take the Compeed off. The shin splints improving slowly and I'm walking well with regular Panadol (thanks Ann), I did need them. We had a super lunch (Pimentos de Padron again) sitting out in the sun and with only 3kms to our destination. One of those lunches that we will remember fondly because of the location, the weather and wonderful food. The restaurants and bars are more frequent now and it is easy for us get the timing right. For those of you who are concerned about the difficulties we have with food, let me explain. The Spanish don't really do breakfast, they have a heart starter of coffee & cake. Not the food of peregrinos. Therefore accommodation that includes breakfast sounds good but generally isn't satisfactory for pilgrims. We started having the second breakfast. Generally coffee and a bocadillo later in the morning. In Spain the main meal of the day is eaten between 2pm and 4pm which is again difficult for the peregrinos because this is prime walking time and you really don't want to stop & take a long lunch. Once the kitchens close at around 4pm, they don't open again till 8.30 - 9pm, way too late for pilgrims who apart from being ravenous need to get to bed. So you find yourself planning days around the location of bars & towns where you can buy food that doesn't require refrigeration. The Camino Primitivo passed through some sparsely populated areas and we were slow walkers due to the rugged terrain and my shin splints. I got out of bed the wrong way this morning. We had a good night in our 5 star Alburgue, that wasn't the reason, I think two days of not having proper food caught up with me. Anyhow we set off on a promise of breakfast 2 .7kms at Casa Camino, advertised as open from 8am. Me, thinking I can make it that far before I really need some decent food & a coffee but no further. We got there at 9am and it wasn't open. No sign to say when or if they'd open. At this point I lost it. Every Spanish bar puts a little sign in the window explaining why they are shut & when they'll open again. This fancy place run by Pommies - nothing. I wrote a very "un-Pilgrim" like note on their flyer and put it in the letter box. Manny checked the guide and tried to placate me with the next bar is in 11kms. It didn't work. After a couple of kilometres we found a bench and ate our lunch for breakfast and I felt better but still had to wait the 11kms to reach the first bar and a caffeine infusion. Whilst enjoying enormous Bocadillas filled with freshly cooked omelette and large coffees an old acquaintance from our first night on the Camino Primitivo sauntered in. A lovely fellow from Amsterdam who we have run into several times during the last fortnight. He is a very experienced walker and has done many of the Camino routes, this year he started in Madrid and crossed some of the remote mountains into Asturias. We were all pleased to see each other and had a good catch up and said our goodbyes. We planned to walk 13kms today into a town called Melide which is where the Primitivo route meets the Camino Frances (French Route). At 15kms we still hadn't arrived, yet again elastic Spanish measurements. No accommodation booked we thought we'd look around and then decide whether to stay or walk further. The French route is the most popular and there are many more accommodation options but my foot had walked far enough and we found a nice looking Alburgue and checked in. While settling into our bed area we were surprised to discover that our friend from Amsterdam was in the adjacent bed and he immediately invited us to share a celebratory bottle of Rioja with him. He was pleased to share a room with us and assured us that he didn't snore. Don't believe that skinny people don't snore! I have been developing a sense of loss as we approached the confluence with the Camino Frances and was sure that I'd hate Melide but I actually liked the place. The old part that is. It has narrow streets, some decay and residents get on with life despite the flow of peregrinos that ooze through and past them. The countryside is still beautiful but less remote. The hills less demanding and we don't have as many opportunities to look back and be amazed at how far we've walked in the past few hours. Don't know if it's the drugs or the Physio but I walked more easily this morning. It became less accurate as the day wore on but it felt good to feel good, while it lasted. We shortened the length of the walk to 13kms but somehow like all measurements here it was further than that advertised, coming in on Strava at 15.1kms. On the title of my posts I'm never quite sure whether to use the local Gallego name for the places we visit or the Spanish name. Our guide book varies in its usage and sometimes I have difficulty finding our destination on Google maps and/or paper maps because of it. Mindful that some of you may be looking up our location I try to put both spellings if I can. Many people have made comments on the blog which we both enjoy. I always respond to the comments but I'm not sure they realise that you need to tick the box "Notify me of new comments to this post by email" to be notified that I responded to the comments The unseasonably hot weather continues and today was up in the high 20's. We mucked up the food again today. The bars we'd planned to eat second breakfast in didn't open till midday and 1pm and the Alburgue we checked into told us on arrival that the local bar was closed. No Peregrino meal tonight. The Council run Alburgues tend to be self catering. Luckily rural Spain still have mobile food trucks that visit villages and hamlets and these super fast little vans, like the 'Kangoo' at home, who tear around the countryside delivering fresh bread. Never get in their way, the bread must be delivered, even at Sparrow's on Sunday morning. So we were able to buy food for dinner and fresh Tuna Empanada from the bread man. All today's peregrinos were in the same boat, so we all shared our purchases and a feast was had. The Alburgue we are sleeping in tonight is 5 star. An old stone building (you may have noticed I like them) thoughtfully converted for use as an Alburgue by an Architect. The woman who runs it lives in the house next door and was born for the job. She makes everyone welcome but keeps us all in line too. If you didn't have food with you, without her guidance, we all would have gone to bed hungry tonight. The Alburgue does have a vending machine with chips, biscuits, chocolates, not sure how old they are sandwiches and beer! The vending machines often have beer here which we find unusual but welcome too, especially on a hot day. In fact beer is usually cheaper than soft drinks. Glad to be back on the road but the route out of Lugo was depressing and dangerous during the rush hour. It took us through several tunnels which didn't have any pedestrian footpaths and some pretty squalid suburbs. Finally we got out of the city and turned on to a road that headed west through an area of new development with enormous houses and seemed to be endless and boring after the stunning scenery in the earlier stages. The first bar, where we'd planned to have breakfast, wasn't open. No worries the next, at the 10km mark wasn't too far was it! With my ankle problems we were slow and sat down with coffee, toast and omelette at 11am. While we enjoyed our breakfast more peregrinos arrived including an Australian couple from Melbourne that we've been chatting to for a couple of days, a young Italian couple and some British women who had started their Camino that day. The minimum distance to get a Compostella is 100kms and unbeknownst to us, Lugo being 102kms away is a popular place to start, particularly with Spanish peregrinos. Feeling refreshed we carried on. The walking was fairly easy with rolling hills, pretty countryside and farms. The cloud cover cleared to a glorious day and just to add interest we came across road works laying bitumen across the entire road. Six peregrinos got priority over the cars, passing through first. Can you imagine that happening in Australia where the car rules? The arrangement for our booked accommodation was to telephone when we arrived at San Romao & they would collect us & drop us off in the morning. Finished walking for the day we ordered some bocadillas (big fresh rolls filled with cheeses & chorizo) and beers at the bar in San Romao. Relaxed in the garden and chatted with other pilgrims, eventually getting out the phone to make the call and discovered we both had no service. Good job I speak the language says Manny and headed into the bar to ask the owner if they'd mind calling for us? The call placed, they'll pick us up in 15-20 minutes, no problem. An hour later we are still waiting. 5pm a young guy arrives and driving at great speed indicates that he'd come from Lugo (why he took so long) we'd be the only guests in the country Pension and he could take us back to Lugo to their other Hotel. Manny said that we'd just spent 2 nights in Lugo. So he took us to a village & opened up the Pension and proceeded to make up the room. We had no idea where we are and wishing we'd gone to the Alburgue. The young man left us with the keys, said he had to go back to Lugo (probably to run the other Hotel) and would come back later and sleep the night and in the morning give us breakfast and drop us back. So, we are alone, no idea where, in an empty Pension. We showered and consulted Google maps for a bar. 450 metres later we both had a Gin and Tonic in a restaurant with a good reviews on Google. Later, after our refreshments, I looked at our map (Michelin, a non-digital device very popular before the 21st century for finding your way, made of paper) and found we were located on the main road between Lugo and Santiago de Compostella in a village called Guntin. Which would explain the many big trucks passing by our windows. Moral of the story - ask more questions.
When we asked about a taxi, the landlady at O Càdavo suggested that we catch a bus. After agonising over the decision we decided that my foot was too painful to continue and Manny has walked 375kms, feeling fatigued and needed a rest. So we took the bus to Lugo. Lugo is a fascinating city surrounded by an imposing wall built by the Romans between 260 & 310 A.D. The dates are mind blowing and as you walk the full circuit on top of the walls I kept thinking of the Legionnaires marching around and the hoards of slaves used to build it. The people of Lugo use the walls to exercise, walk their dogs and as an above ground walkway. Inside the city there is a fabulous Cathedral with very elaborate decorations and many other buildings that reflect Lugo's importance on the pilgrimage route and in Roman times. I took advantage of being in a city, Googled physiotherapists and got Manny to ring the closest. I had an hourlong appointment and although still in pain he has worked wonders. I have a bad case of shin splints which is the source of the pain. I can walk normally again and have some of that adhesive tape that the footy players wear in an attractive purple colour. We had another rest day exploring the city and enjoying a long leisurely lunch in the main square. My photos don't feel like they caught this wonderful place. With only 100kms left, this morning we planned the length of the stages to Santiago to make it manageable for my foot and booking accommodation. All the accommodation we wanted in Santiago was already booked. As a last resort we found a place on AirBnB. In 50kms the Primitivo route merges with the Camino Frances and the last 50kms may feel like a Pilgrim super highway into Santiago.
|
AuthorMy interests are photography and family history research. And I like to cycle and travel. We are walking the Archives
May 2019
Categories |