Jane in Spain

DAY 28, MONDAY, MAY 15

A traffic jam in a small town like Cacabelos in the middle of a Monday morning can only mean one thing — a church procession! And sure enough from a distance we could see a statue in the back of a truck go by with many people following. Oh the excitement.

It’s the feast of Santo Isidoro who apparently is the patron Saint of agriculture in the Cacabelos community. His parade float was decorated with a field of growing plants, a pair of oxen and a little mechanical donkey spinning around an olive press. Beautiful calla lilies, flowers and cherry branches.

The procession stopped in the town square where the local pastor said Mass.

The town crowded around to celebrate mass on this special feast day. After mass, we realized all the farmers had parked their tractors up the street. The tractors were all decorated with flowers and cherry branches.

The marching band played Blowing in the Wind.

The little kids decorated their tractors too. They followed in the parade after the big tractors.

The farmers tossed flower petals and cherries to us.

The cherries were delicioso!

One of the tractor carts had a display of giant green beans.

Back at the church they unload Santo Isidoro and put him back on his pedestal.

Floral arch is the entrance to the festival area.

Big kettle of octopus cooking for the festival lunch. Unfortunately we came to late and it was all gone. Quite the specialty here.

The chopped up octopus is served with potatoes and seasoning.

Back at the hotel, Terry chats with Michael from Vancouver.

For dinner, I had a big plate full of Octopus and potatoes brava. A great way to end the day.

 

 

 

 

DAY 27: SUNDAY, MAY 14

We really enjoyed the charm of Rabanal. There was a little stone chapel across from the Hostel.

The little chapel seats about 20. It has real candles too not the electronic vigil lights most churches have installed.

It’s a rugged road today. We are walking to Cruz de Ferro, one of the highest points on the Camino.

Mountainous and scenic, a whole new terrain with lots of scrub plants and wild flowers.

Foncebadon is in the mountains at about 4700 ft. We liked the energy here … kind of hippie central. It has been influenced by the Maragato culture which was derived from Berber tribes in Morocco. The building style is stones with wooden balconies. The ruins are many centuries old.

This is Carlos. He works at this Albergue in Foncebaden. He doesn’t speak English. He made our lunch today. Terry had a bocadillo and a bag of chips, I had the “special salad” with tuna.
This is Kim from Key West, Florida. She is an artist. She sold her art gallery and everything she had. She is exploring the possibilities of moving to Spain.

Rugged road and lots of uphill.

This is the road to Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross). For centuries, pilgrims have been bringing a stone from home that held their burdens to leave at the cross.  It has created a hill around the cross that continues to grow.

It was nice to visit Cruz de Ferro when no one else was around. It has the feel of a sacred monument.

This is the little chapel by Cruz de Ferro.

Beautiful area with mountains, a lot of scrubby bushes and wild flowers. Makes me think of the Wild Wild West.

Next stop after Cruz de Ferro is Manjarin. This is a funky Albergue. A little too funky for us.

 The Manjarin Albergue was run by Tomas, who fancies himself as the last modern day Templar. This is his processional statue at the entrance of the Albergue. The real turn off was no showers and an “open air latrine.” No thanks.

This is Moon from Sol, Korea. She was seriously thinking about staying at the Manjarin Albergue. She walked round a little and then we heard the sound of a chain saw. She came out quickly and decided to move on with us.

Over the hill came the cavalry — there were eight pilgrims on horseback with a guide. Shortly after a big “sag wagon” truck loaded with bales of hay came through. What a beautiful place for a horse ride.

Next, were on to Ponferrada, which I don’t have many photos of because it’s a big city and there wasn’t anything special about it. It does have a giant castle from the 11-14th century. The Templar knights were given it in 1107 to guard the road to Santiago. They have made some alterations to it.

Street corner in Ponferrada.

The most exciting thing about Ponferrada was my breakfast. On to Carabelos.

Continue reading “Astorga to Rabanal del Camino”

DAY 25: FRIDAY, MAY 12

CLOUDY, RAINY, WINDY

Now we are feeling a bit worn out and have dealt with a number of foot ailments and more. The many consecutive days of hiking with backpacks is starting to take its toll. We have slowed down and are taking more time to rest and appreciate the culture.

The segment of the Camino we are at now is called the Meseta. My guidebook says it has a reputation for being, “boring, repetitive and bleak.” It’s flat, all sun and we’ve been told it’s similar to walking through Nebraska. Other pilgrims have confirmed this and also talked about the mental agony it creates. Taking all of this into consideration, we decided to morph ourselves through the Meseta. We enjoyed seeing it from the window of our comfortable bus which was full of our fellow pilgrims doing the same thing. The short three hour bus trip bought us eight days which is how long it would have taken us to walk the Meseta. We also learned that the winds were very strong and caused many to stop walking. We were happy, delighted and energized when we arrived in Astorga which sits on a hill. The Cathedral is prominent and it was our first stop.

It was about noon (on a Friday) and we were surprised to see a service taking place at the Cathedral. There were about 15 priests, bishops, monseigeurs presiding and a large number of locals attending. We figured out that it was the feast day of Santa Maria del Castro, their patron saint. After the service the presiders left and the congregation lined up to walk by the decorated statue and pay their respects. I was hoping they would parade through the town with the statue of Santa Maria but it became obvious that that was not going to happen.

Santa Maria del Castro, patron Saint of Astorga. 
Two elderly ladies came up to us and started talking in Spanish about the Camino. We stumbled through a conversation with them and they were all smiles. One of them kissed both of us — Euro style on both cheeks. We have found that old ladies love the pilgrims on the Camino. As we were leaving the Cathedral, I notice a poster that showed a procession and it had tomorrow’s date and a time of 7am. We were not totally sure what it was about, but I was willing to get up early to check it out.

Many of the big churches in Europe have now combined to become museums. They have nice audio tours and are loaded with many fascinating things. It only costs a few Euro and it is probably what is keeping these churches open with the declining congregations and lack of support they face today. The Astorga cathedral had a museum and it took us hours to get through it. Lots of history and many church splendors on display.

The ornate entrance to the Cathedral of Astorga.

Astorga is a very charming town and reminded me of German villages. We stopped for lunch and found our hostel. We walked around town. We came too late to tour the Chocolate museum. There were several stores that sold lots of chocolate.

Chocolate bars come in all shapes, sizes and flavors. Very inexpensive.

The government building has a clock that is very similar to a glockenspiel.

This is our hostel. Our room is the balcony above the sign.

All the hoopla was over by 9am. We met back at the hotel restaurants for breakfast.

This is one of the Astorga specialties. The two characters on the box are the same figures that are on the glockenspiel in the town square. They strike the bell on the hour. One type of La Mallorquina takes like cake and the other has honey and tastes more like Baklava.

Back on the road again. This one leads to Rabanal del Camino.

 

I know the after school program at Meadowbrook is ending soon. Hope you all have a great summer and I look forward to seeing you next fall.

Just wanted to share with you, what I ate for dinner last night. It was Octopus. I was somewhat apprehensive about trying it, however, everyone here in this region of Spain eats Octopus. So I ordered it for dinner. I followed our “5 bites rule” and decided I liked it. It tastes kind of like lobster but chewier and kind of like Calamari (Squid) but not as chewy.

There was a big festival in the little village we are staying in — it is the feast of Santo Isidoro who must be the patron saint of agriculture and farming. All the farmers decorated their tractors with flowers and branches of cherries and paraded through the town. It was very special to see how thankful this village is for its farmers and the food they produce.

Below are some photos from the day in Cacabelos, Spain. Hope you enjoy them.

Take care,

Jane in Spain

Juana in Espana

I am having a big plate of Octopus for dinner. Yum!  The other dish is Potatoes Brava which is potato wedges in a Siracha-like sauce mixed with mayo …  double YUM!

Kettle full of Octopus cooking at the festival.

The farmers decorated their tractors with flowers and branches of cherries for the parade through town.

The farmers tossed flower petals to us and gave us handfuls of cherries to eat.

The cherries here are delicioso!

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DAY 24: THURSDAY, MAY 11

CLOUDY, SPRINKLES, CHILLY

 

This is what I found to be one of the most interesting sites in Leon. The Monastery of San Marcos existed until 1837 when it was seized and abolished by Juan Àlvarez Mendizàbal (Prime Minister under Queen Isabel II).  Monastic life of the friars of St. James came to an end after 700 years. The monastery faced several auctions and constantly changing inhabitants and uses. In 1936 it became a concentration camp where Franco imprisoned his political prisoners. It is believed that 20,000 Spaniards passed through the cells and approximately 7,000 died.

The monestary now facilitates the museum of Leon and is also a 5-star Parador (historical hotel). 

Im not sure what this is … the monks were cloistered. Perhaps this is where visitors could talk to them??

This is the hotel lobby of the Monestary of San Marcos. It was featured in the movie “The Way”. The Martin Sheen character treats his Camino friends to a night at the Parador.

If I were in Kentucky, I’d think this was a bourbon, but not in Spain … it is a San Miguel beer.

This is the Basillica of Leon. 

New pews AND each pew had a heater under it. These old stone churches can be really cold.

This is the courtyard of the government building. 

Government building of Leon from the courtyard.

An entire school passed through this little street. Took over ten minutes for all the kids from small to middle school age to pass through.

I didn’t realize that Route 66 passed through Leon.

The ham leg with hoof on display at this tapas bar. 

Perfect lunch … a bowl of mushrooms! (David hates mushrooms.) There we’re two crocks with unidentifiable contents which I later discovered were “frog haunches” and “gizzards”. So glad I went with mushrooms.

This is the Cathedral of Leon which is an engineering marvel of it’s time. 

The stained glass windows are the soul of this cathedral. You could stare for hours at them.

This is the main altar area.

The cloister of the Cathedral was stunning too.

DAY 23, WEDNESDAY, MAY 10

This is the view from my bed. We’re on the 7th floor of a hostel by the river walk.

Poor pilgrim permanently sits on his bench in the town square.

Burgos is a grand medieval walled city. It was fun but time to move on to Leon.

Leon is a very old walled village  that has survived many battles and conquerors.

DAY 22: TUESDAY, MAY 9

We toured the Cathedral of Burgos which is one of the biggest churches in Spain.

There are many spectacular photos, however, my favorite is …

The papamoscas, which is the “fly catcher” clock. His mouth opens and closes as he tells time.  Not sure why an ostentatious church would have this goofy thing above a clock.

This little cart is what they wheel around town for Saint Days and Holy Week processions. 

For lunch, our friend Kate from Australia had, “soupy rice with rabbit”. They served her a giant pot of soup that could have fed a half dozen people.

Mary Poppins street was filled with umbrellas.

These people came from Toledo to create a flower display at the Cathedral that emulates the rose window from Notre Dame in Paris. We watched them work and it was impressive. They used live cut flowers.

A storm blew in around 7pm and damaged much of their work. They need to be finished by tomorrow.

We toured Burgos in this dopey little red train. It was only 5 Euro and it went all over town. It was well worth the money.

Kate, Terry and I had our own train car. It was a little bit scary on the round-abouts and some of the very narrow streets.

Time for a G&T. We continued watching the creation of the plant display at the cathedral.

These are not KKK figures, they are penitents. Usually during Lenten processions there are individuals who repent by parading around  in such attire.

 Lots of charm to be found in Burgos. 

Storm blew in and we hunkered down at a swinging bar near our hostel.

Tapas for dinner.

Loved this place!

Even the ceiling was funky.

Humberto from Toledo joined us. He was one of the guys working on the flower display. He was a bit smitten with Kate. Very interesting person … we talked about everything from bull fights to tornadoes.

DAY 21: MONDAY, MAY 7

We hit the road around 7am. The first town we hit was Villafria. Lots of stork nests here. A good stop for breakfast.

Stork nests are huge and usually perch at the highest point of buildings.

To enter Burgos,we walked for many miles around the airport and following a river.

The river walk goes on forever and follows around the city.

Medieval gate enters into the city center.

Middle of the afternoon is very quiet. Locals don’t come out until around 7pm.

A bench sculpture of a pilgrim resting his weary bones.

The Cathedral of Burgos is quite spectacular.

Planning to tour the cathedral tomorrow.

A pleasant surprise, we met up with our friend Kate who is from Australia. Last time we saw her was on our death march into Pamplona.

We shared a lovely dinner of oxtail stew, salad and a steak & cheese appetizer. It was delicious.

DAY 20: SUNDAY, MAY 7, 2017

Another beautiful day of hiking. 

We hiked through a herd of cows grazing peacefully on a Sunday morning.

The road to Ages.

Finally made it to Ages.

Found a nice place for breakfast.

Inside was decorated beautifully with ivy.

It had one of the best bathrooms in Spain.

This is Pilgrim Jim from Colorado. He is a brewmaster at a small microbrewery. This is his second time doing the Camino.

This was the tough part of today’s hike.

A resting area. The sign reads something like, Since the Pilgrim has mastered the mountains of Navarre in Burguete and saw the fields of Spain he has not seen a more beautiful sight as this.

This is our Albuergue for tonight in Orbaneja Riopico.  Very nice and no roommates.

Very friendly bar at the Albuergue. Pilgrims dinner featured stuffed eggplant, lentil soup, pork or chicken.

Nice outdoor patio where we made plans and reservations for the rest of the Camino.


DAY 19: SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2017

We stopped in a little town for breakfast. 

This is John from Seattle. He is a former Marine. He said he had enough of the pilgrim crap … he was staying in hotels from here on out.

We hiked the Matagrande and yes it was steep. It was also a very long walk through the woods.

Footbreak needed after Matagrande.

This is Chubbie from Hungary. He was walking barefoot. He said it felt like a massage for his feet.

Lots of good trails to take.

Interesting rest area.

These are the wild hombres from Barcelona (plus one guy from Argentina.) 

This is the monestary at San Juan. The accommodations were not as nice as the one in Roncevalle.

The monestary was full. They served 75 for dinner that night. We had about 25 people in our room.

DAY 18: FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2017

We walked along the freeway for many miles. 

This is Villafranca Montes de Oca. If you look at the top of the bell tower you can see huge stork nests with the storks sitting in them.

This is our Albuergue for tonight.

Our room has four beds. We are sharing our room with Harry and Ji Young from Sol Korea. The man on the left is Jon from France.

This is Anthony from Melbourne, Australia and Jon from France. They were a lot of fun.

It was Kentucky Derby Day …. I am wearing my lucky Derby shirt. I placed my bets thru my sister Mary all duds! Mary said it had been raining for 8 days prior to Derby.

This is Ji Young on left and Harry Kwon on the right. Harry spoke really good English. His father was an engineer and they lived in Indiana for a few years when he was 9 years old. They are biking the Camino.

DAY 17: THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017

It was hard to say goodbye to Quinn and Emily. They headed off to Barcelona and we were back on the trail.

Last night, Quinn and Emily took me out to dinner for an early Mothers Day gift.

We’re back on the Camino and Quinn and Emily headed for Barcelona.

The road to Viloria de Rioja.

Grañón is a very charming town surrounded by many miles of green fields.

At this Albergue in Viloria, I was lucky to get a mattress on the floor.  

Terry scored an upper bunk.

The kitchen and dining room were kind of garage like but very neat and very charming.

Maria & Tony run the Albergue. They made Paella for dinner.

We had dinner with Quique from Madrid, Spain. He was doing the Camino on bike. Also at our table we’re Lydia and Giselle from Germany. They had walked from Bremen, Germany and were doing the Camino in segments over five years.

DAY 16, WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017
SUNNY AND PERFECT
It’s been fun being with Quinn and Emily. I think we’re all weary travelers and needed an easy rest day.

We wandered through town. Quinn was impressed with the size of these giant tomatoes.

We found the dollar store.

Found the liquor store.

Terry and I thought we were ordering hamburgers. This is what we got. We mixed it all together and it was great.

Can’t get enough of this warm sunny weather.

We toured the cathedral of Santo Domingo. Very interesting. It’s also a museum and they charge 5 euro to tour it. You can get in free if you go during mass times.

This is Santo Domingo. Many legends exist about his miracles .  The most famous is the one about the hanged innocent man and the chickens. The descendant chickens live in the cathedral.

This is the fancy perch in the Cathedral for the hen & rooster descendants.

Here’s a close up of the Rooster.

THE FAMOUS LEGEND OF THE INNOCENT HANGED MAN & THE CHICKENS.

A Germán family (father, mother and son named Hugonell) were on the pilgrimage to Santiago. In Santo Domingo they stayed with a farmers family, and the farmers daughter tried to seduce Hugonell but, as a pious pilgrim, he refused her. She became so angry that she hid some silver items in his pack and after they left, called the authorities and accused the boy of theft. Upon finding the items in his pack, the boy was found guilty and hanged.

His grief stricken parents continued to Santiago, but stopped to see their sons remains on the return journey (thieves were left to rot on the gallows as a warning to others). They were delighted to find that he was still alive, claiming that Santo Domingo had held him up so he did not die. The parents hurried to the magistrate and asked them to cut him down their son, as he was clearly innocent. The magistrate had just sat down to a hearty chicken dinner, shouted, “Why he is no more alive than this roasted chicken I’m about to eat.” At this, the cooked chicken stood up on his plate, miracously brought back to life feathers and all, crowed.

In remembrance of this story, live chicken are kept in the cathedral which are said to be descendants of the resurrected fowl in the story. A piece of the gallows is displayed on Santo Domingo’s tomb.

Taken from, “A Village to Village Guide To Hiking The Camino De Santiago”

Ahorcaditos (little hanged men) are sweet almond cream pastries shaped like a shell. Very popular here. A little bit on the weird side though.

We found the tomb of Santo Domingo in the crypt of the cathedral. 

The cathedral museum had a statue of one of my Swedish favorites, Santa Lucía.

Lots of nooks and crannies to explore at the Cathedral.

We were even on the roof level of the Cathedral which gave a great view of the courtyard and mountains in the distance.

Emily is a dog lover and couldn’t resist petting Chico who is a Burmese mountain dog.

This is another Santo Domingo tradition, a little on the crazy size. The women shown here are carrying cakes on their heads. They parade through the town as part of the Santo Domingo festivities held around May 11. After they process through, everyone eats cake. Go figure.

DAY 15: TUESDAY, MAY 2, 2017

SUNNY AND COOL

This was a very easy day. Less than five miles to Santo Domingo where we planned to take a rest day. My son Quinn and fiancé Emily are going to join us there. They started in London, went to Paris, then to LaRochelle France and San Sabation, Spain. So excited to see them. 

We had been hearing about all the cold and snow back home. Also hearing that the beginning of our Camino in the Pyrenees was also experiencing cold and threats of snow. So glad we got through it when we did.

Camino artwork in the round about leaving Cirueña.

The road to Santo Domingo. Love walking these roads.

Camino people love dual purpose — when the shoes wear out, make a trail marker out of them.

Had to walk through an industrial area to get into Santo Domingo. Not very pretty.

We finally made it to Santo Domingo. Here’s a sculpture dedicated to the Camino.

Lovely chapel near our hotel.

The chapel doesn’t have a cross, just Mary dressed in real clothes.

Many of the churches in Spain have replaced vigil candles with the electronic version. Probably a lot less maintenance involved but there’s a lack of sacredness. Too electric, not natural. 

This is the Santo Domingo “hanging man” cookie. I will tell the whole story in next blog.

This is the Santo Domingo rooster cookie. I will tell the story in my next blog. Delicious — very flaky.

The bakery had a big selection of other delicacies too.

Lots of chocolate animals.

We were having a beer and the bartender ran out and wanted to know what size socks we wore. He gave us a free pair of “900 year anniversary” (of Santo Domingo) socks … a freebie. A little odd but we loved it. I’m getting the feeling that Santo Domingo is a very strange town with lots of oddities …. the hanging man cookie, the Rooster in the cathedral and happy hour socks. Quinn posed with the bartender and his new socks.

DAY 14: MONDAY, MAY 1, 2017

SUNNY AND COOL

Another adventure awaits! As we left Najara, we saw the preparations being made for the May Day festival. 

We were a little bummed that we didn’t get to experience the festival but needed to get some miles in today.

This is a portable oven. They use it for baking bread at the festival but I think it would do well for pizza too.

At 8am they had it stoked with wood and good coals. This dude was already baking bread for the day.

This looked like a swing set structure with two cow? Bull? skulls hanging from it. Now sure what that festival fun was all about and I think I’d rather not ask.

Beautiful hike to Cireuna. Could see the snow capped mountain in the distance. Love walking through this beauty.

Happy reunion! We crossed paths with our friends Louis & Sara from Venezuela.

Stopped for breakfast in a small town enroute.

Louis said he wanted to see a bullfight in Santo Domingo. We thought about it. Unfortunately, the bullfight isn’t until next week. They will soon be extinct because of all the animal cruelty protests. Not sure if we really wanted to experience it or not. Love the poster. Notice the female picador on the horse. 

Foot break alongside the road. We take the boots and socks off and take a nice rest. A little further down the road we passed a “golf community”. The golf clubhouse was busy but the community was a ghost town. This was a new developement in 2008 and no one bought into it. There are beautiful condos and no one lives in them. 

Happy hour at the only bar in Cireuna.

Nice accommodations in Cireuna. No bunks, double room with bath. We did the Pilgrim dinner in the dining room with about 20 other people including our friend Jazebel from St. Louis and Steph from Majorca. It was a good dinner and a good day on the Camino.

DAY 13: SUNDAY, APRIL 30, 2017

CLOUDY AND OVERCAST

Got an early start … the Muni boots everyone out by 8am. We stopped in Ventosa for breakfast.

Smoothies for breakfast.

Met some German people who were using a cart to transport their backpacks. They let us try it and it is very light. 

Newly planted vineyard.

A beehive shelter can seat a dozen people. 

Jazebel from St. Louis, Missouri and Helga from Iceland. Jazebel had to be rescued on her first day on the Camino. She tried to walk from St. Jean Pied-de-Port to Roncevalle (through the Pyrenees) in one day. She was about 5K from the end and it was about 9pm. She decided to stay in a shelter on top of the Pyrenees overnight. A windstorm kicked in and it became very cold. At midnight she realized she would not make it through the night. The shelter had an emergency phone and she called the rescue crew. They came in a jeep and picked her up. There was no place available in Roncevalle for her to stay so they took her to the Fire Department in the next town, Burguette. One of the rescue people gave her his room and she stayed the night there. Terry and I could have easily made the same mistake of trying to go to through the Pyrenees in one day. The guidebooks are very misleading about distances. Fortunately we were so jet lagged and overwhelmed by the steep trail that we stopped at Orisson and they happened to have beds available. 

The comforts of home (ha ha).

Terry booked a room though “Booking.com”. We made our way to the address. It seemed kind of odd. It was an apartment and we had to go up 5 flights of stairs. Zuelena would like to study to be a pharmacist and is earning a little extra money by renting out her apartment. She gave us the keys and left. It was nice to have a quiet place.

It cost about $10 each to stay in Zuelena’s apartment.

The apartment had a small living room and patio balcony.

We ate dinner at a nearby restaurant. A Spaniard asked me where I was from. After responding with Minnesota, he began to tell me that he was a Timberwolves fan and that he really liked basketball. His favorite team is Orlando.

DAY 12: SATURDAY, APRIL 28

SUNNY

It took forever to walk through Logrono which had a fairly good size downtown area. We stopped at a church that had an original Michael Angelo painting. It was sealed behind glass and vaulted doors. To view it cost .50 euro and it had to be a .50 euro coin. We walked all over trying to find someone who had proper change.

Downtown Logrono.

Michael Angelo original.

Exterior entrance to the church in Logrono.

This is an origami project using wood panels that are folded in precise places to hold itself up.

Ham shanks on display at a local meat market. Once again, the hoof is part of the deal.

At the edge of Logrono is a very large park system with a lake. 

We had lunch by the lake. What a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Another character doing his thing alongside the Camino.

At last, Naverette is in site. It was a long day of walking.

Another winery. Loved the giant bottle of wine on display.

This is the Albergue where we had a reservation. We were 40 minutes late and the guy sold our beds. We were lucky to get to beds in the Municipal Albergue. We were in one of the rooms with 12 bunks. The town was full. An older couple almost slept in the church but were able to get the last beds on the 4th floor of the Muni.

Nice assortment of tapas at a nearby bar.

DAY 11: FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2017

SUNNY AND COOL

Beautiful day and another adventure ahead.

Camino honor system. People were nice enough to leave out fruit and beverages for the early morning pilgrims. You would just take what you wanted and leave the payment in the shell.

On the way out of Sansol through Torres del Rio.

A charming Albergue nearby.

Hiking through very scenic hillside and vineyards..

Another fine dining opportunity in the middle of nowhere.

A little shelter on the Camino for stranded pilgrims.

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Hippie entertainment at the top of a steep climb. Several people were camped here in tents.

Can’t get enough of the poppies.

This was our Albergue in Logrono. It is much nicer than the Municipal Albergues. 

We ate dinner at a nearby place. Many people were playing this game. We haven’t figured out what it is yet.