Jane in Spain

DAY 45: THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 2017

What is the most frequently asked question by people we have met on the Camino after we tell them, we came together from St. Louis Park Minnesota and we walked from St. Jean Pied-de-Port to Santiago?

Everyone says, “Are you still friends?” And the answer, “yep, we are.” Terry walks faster and I walk slower but we still reach the same destination at the end of the day which is always celebrated by clinking glasses and having a toast. All good thing like the Camino come to an end, but not our friendship.

Today, we headed back to Santiago. Tomorrow Terry, (now known as Teresa which is her given name) flies to Paris and on Saturday flies back home to Minnesota.

David and I are continuing on to Madrid, Toledo, San Sebastián and Barcelona.

One last toast before we go our separate ways.

Hope you enjoyed following us on this blog.

See You Soon!

 

 

 

 

DAY 44: WEDNESDAY, MAY 31

We bought “excursion” tickets that provided transportation to Muxia which is a little fishing town with picturesque views. Our driver Martin stopped at the beach at Lires. This part of the coast is called Costa da Morte, Coast of Death.

We saw a few people in wet suits surfing. We were told the water is quite cold.

Our guide Martin said this is the cove of death and there are a lot of shipwrecks caused by the treacherous rocky shore. There are very strong rip tides.

This is called the Monument to the Prestige Tanker that spilled 70,000 gallons of oil into the Atlantic Ocean in 2002.

This is the famous Nosa Senora de Barca (Our Lady of the Boat) church. As the legend goes, the Virgin Mary herself met St. James at this very site and helped and encouraged him in his preaching throughout Galicia. It is also believed that by a miracle of God, the body of the saint, after his beheading at the hands of the Romans, was carried in a boat to Muxia where it was only discovered many years later and taken to Santiago.

Legend also has it that Muxia was the landing place of the stone boat that carried the Virgin Mary when she arrived in Galicia to help Saint James convert the locals. The granite stones found near the church are said to be the remains of the Virgin Mary’s stone boat: the sail, the helm and the boat itself.  This long rock is the boat. Part of it broke off and now they are having experts come to see how it can be repaired.

The piece of stone that broke from “Mary’s boat” has been moved near the church. They are hoping experts will find a way to reunite the two pieces.

This stone would be the sail and it is called the “pedra dos cadris” and believed to cure back ailments, rheumatic pains if you walk under the stone nine times.

David went around and under the stone twice. I think they got the legend wrong, this probably causes back ailements.

This is the inside of Our Lady of the Boat church. If you look along the sides, you can see some of the boats hanging on display.

This is our $37 room at the Hostel in Muxia. Great view of the Atlantic from our window.

For lunch we had Galician fish, mussels and the above pork dish.

There is a beautiful beach just a few minutes from our hostel which is where we hung out in the afternoon. We found some nice shells. David and I went swimming even though it was a little bit on the chilly side.

Santiago – Finisterre – Muxia is another Camino that can earn a Compostela. It’s short and only takes 3-4 days to complete. We’ll pass on this one. Maybe next time.

One last pilgrim’s meal — Octopus casserole and meatball casserole.

DAY 43: TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2017

Even though we have finished our Camino, the trail continues out to the Atlantic Ocean to Finisterre. In the Columbus era, Finisterre was thought to be the end of the world. Terry, David and I took a two-hour bus ride to check it out.

This is the hostel we stayed at in Finisterre.

The harbor at Finisterre.

There is a small fishing museum and it’s curator is very passionate. He told us all about how Octopus traps work and he had a lot of info about the underwater mountains in the harbor.

Very hot in Finisterre. Time for a lunch break.

This is an octopus and bean casserole.

Beautiful day on the water front.

This is the lighthouse on the very tip of Finisterre … it looks out at the ‘end of the earth’.

This is Camino marker 0.00K — the end of the Camino.

Time for a GinTonica.

Sunset is upon us.

Sunset wasn’t until after 10:00 pm.

Back in the main part of town, we crossed paths with Bjorn, a jazz musician from Germany — it was a nice surprise to see him again.

The restaurant had a nice beer stein collection but not as nice as Andy Karl’s.

DAY 42: MONDAY, MAY 29, 2017

PILGRIM RITUALS: There are a few rituals that pilgrims like to participate in once they reach Santiago. One is going to a Pilgrim mass at the Cathedral. And, if you are so fortunate, you may also see botafumeiro ritual take place at the end of mass. This is the largest censer in the world which is used for spreading incense smoke. It weights 175 lbs and is five feet in height. It takes eight men pumping a rope that is attached to a pulley system from the ceiling — it reaches up to 80 mph as it swings from side to side of the cathedral until it just about hits the ceiling.

Typically, they light up the botafumerio at the noon pilgrim’s mass on Saturday (it used to be Friday evening.) You never really know when this is going to take place but it is quite the site. We were rushing into town on Sunday morning because we heard the botafumeiro was being done at the noon mass. It took so long to get into town and being a tired, weary pilgrim I said to Terry, “if we were meant to see it, it will happen — let’s not worry about it.” We slowed our pace down and became very relaxed about the whole deal. We didn’t even make it inside the Cathedral on Sunday and a “gin-tonica” celebration seemed like a better idea. I’m glad we didn’t try to make it to the noon mass — there were so many pilgrims arriving and rushing toward the cathedral. It would have been extremely crowded.

On Monday, we started wandering and we wanted to tour the Cathedral. It just so happened that we wandered into a noon Pilgrim’s mass. It was standing room only and we stood in the back of the church. We saw the botafumeiro  hanging above the altar but assumed that’s where they kept it. We were delighted when after mass, the eight men showed up to take their position with the ropes. It’s quite the process to light it. When it was swinging over our heads, we could see that it was filled with flames. What an amazing sight watching this flaming censer flying over the congregants. At one point, it just about hit the ceiling which made me gasp. Like I said the day before, if we were mean to see it, it will happen. And it did happen.

What an amazing sight watching this flaming incensor flying over the congregants.

When they started lighting the censer, all the cameras came out.

It is said that the censer was installed to cover the stench of all the unwashed pilgrims.

It takes eight men pumping the ropes to keep the censer flying from one side of the cathedral to the other.

The censer is way up by the ceiling. I wonder how safe is it for a 175-lb censer filled with flames to be flying at 80 mph over people’s heads?

This is the first time we heard a choir and organ at a mass.

Next ritual is to go to the crypt of St. James \which is located below the altar.

The tomb of St. James is located down the steps in a small room with a couple kneelers and a rack of vigil lights.

Next ritual is to put your hands on the shoulders of the St. James statue at the altar. There is a small staircase that leads up to the backside of the statue.

This is the small staircase behind the altar that comes down from the St. James statue. Notice the footsteps worn into the stone.

There is one more ritual which takes place at the Portico de la Gloria. It is no longer allowed to put your hand on the Jesse Tree because five finger holes have been worn away in the stone from the millions of pilgrims who have placed their hand there.

We are on our little balcony at the Nest Style hostel in Santiago doing some people watching.

Our balcony neighbor Kevin from Montreal joined in our little balcony happy hour. The face in  the window above is his dad Kevin who is from Ireland.

Out for some wine and tapas.

Our bartender Larissa was serving up cheese and red peppers.

This is a giant height-chair type table that we’ve seen in Galicia.

The table part of the height-chair lifts up so you can get out.

It’s a Monday night around 11:30 pm and this place filled up with musicians. We were leaving and it was very crowded. David and Terry had made their way out when this room full of men decided to serenade me. It was lovely. I made a video of it but WordPress doesn’t allow me to put videos on my blog. I did post it on my Facebook page.

 

DAY 41: SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2017

Exciting morning! It was our last nite as roommates. Now we’re heading out to finish the Camino. Only a few miles into Santiago.

Getting closer.

Monte de Gozo is the last hill before Santiago. It is where the pilgrims would get their first glimpse of Santiago and they could see the Cathedral spires. Medieval pilgrims fell to their knees, shouting and breaking out into songs.

Huge modern monument on Monte de Gozo. It’s still a long way into the city.

This is Larissa from Moscow. She was walking beside me and in a quiet voice asked, “is this Santiago?” I assured her it was and she looked very happy.

Coming down the hill from Monte de Gozo were many barrack type buildings … about 30 of them. One of the guidebooks called it a sprawling dormitory and recreational building — the price of an ever-increasing demand for accommodations. They looked like they could be Albergues but there wasn’t anyone around … or else they were all booted out at 8am.

We made it to the city sign. It was still another 2.5K into the city center and  Cathedral.

A few horse pilgrims riding in to town.

Not sure where they park the horses.

It is still a long walk into the city center.

Bagpipes and drum. Love the sound!

Lots of pilgrims gathering in the Cathedral square — many bikers today.

We finally made it to the Cathedral of Santiago which is the resting place of the apostle St. James. They Cathedral’s main entrance was under reconstruction and covered with scaffolding.

Time for a quick celebration … GinTonica and tapas.

Being in Santiago was like our “graduation” from the Camino. We started crossing paths with many of the people we had bonded with at various places on the trail. There were many happy reunions. The first people we found were Helga from Iceland and Jezebel from St. Louis Missouri.

Getting giddy! We got in line to received our Compostela. We each had three credential books filled with stamps from many of the places we had visited on the Camino.

The Compostela document — my first name is in Latin … Joannam.

Ascension is a big church day and in Santiago, it’s a four-day festival. We crossed paths with Marina from England.

A happy reunion with Sebastian, a monk from Bavaria.

Sabastian joined us for dinner. He and David started singing choir songs at the restaurant.

We had quite the Galician feast … including sardines and octopus.

We left our mark on Santiago. It was a very good day.

DAY 40: SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2017

We are so close to Santiago right now … about 20K (12.4 miles). You can feel the buzz among the many pilgrims staying in O Pedrouzo. There are a lot of “shiny pennies” (those whose started in Sarria which is 100K from Santiago). They are very eager to get their miles done and get the prize. I was feeling tired from the cumulative miles and from the previous day’s 5am start but also excited to be getting so close to the end.

This is Terry and I in our last Albergue (ever!). Our dorm mates started getting up at 4am. By 7am, most were gone. We were still tucked in. They don’t boot you out until 8am.

The only dorm mate still around at 7am was Bjorne from Koln, Germany. He is traveling by himself and started in Sarria and hoping to make it to Santiago today.

It was hard to get going today but we only had 14.5K (about 9 miles). This first part of today’s trail was through a Eucalyptus forest.

These (Eucalyptus) treeas are very tall and appear to have no bark. Some had a circumference of 6-7 feet. It was a nice hike through the forest but we had some long, steep hills too.

The camino circles around the Santiago airport. It’s like the airport is blocking the trail and you have to walk around it.

Not sure but this must be the city? County? Line for Santiago. We’re still quite a distance away.

Even though were getting close to Santiago, there are still animals grazing.

It’s 11:45am and fatigue is setting in. It’s time to celebrate how close we are to Santiago. We’re on the last page of the map guidebook.

We didn’t celebrate too much. Back on the trail. We met Helena, Martha and Julia from the Massachusetts area. They walked with us to the next town. They started in Sarria and needed to be in Santiago tonight. 

Fatigue set in again. Time to stop for a beer and croquets for lunch. 

Back on the road again. Every time we go into a big city, there’s about 5-10 miles of industrial businesses that we have to walk by. You can tell were getting close to Santiago.

Thee’s about a half mile of fence with handmade crosses woven into the fence. Looks like a pilgrim thing.

We walked by the San Marcos campground. I didn’t really see anyone camping there.

It’s getting foggy over the hills as we enter our final destination for today, San Marcos. This puts us about 5-K (3.1 miles) from Santiago. We’re feeling really smart for choosing this stop before Santiago. We’ll get a good night’s rest before Santiago and even better, there are no swarms of Pilgrims hanging around … they’re all in a big hurry to get to Santiago. So we get a break from the pilgrim action.  We checked into a little hotel and found a Pulperia for dinner — this will be the 5th time I’ve had Octopus.

DAY 39: FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2017

A couple we had met, Ian and Valerie, told us how much they liked leaving at 4-5 am. They said, by 9:00 am you have half your day done and you can quit walking at noon. They said how wonderful it was to see the Milky Way. So, on our last Friday on the trail, we decided to start at 5am. Typically, we don’t get up before 7:30 and were the last to leave the Albergue. We had never walked in early morning darkness and thought it would be good to try at least once.

We packed up everything possible the night before and slept with our clothes on. The anticipation of the early morning escape made it challenging to sleep so it was no problem getting up at 5am. We tiptoed out of our Albergue room with our backpacks, trying not to wake up the other 14 people. A rainy day was forecast and we could see a little bit of lightening off in the distance.

There were four other pilgrims with backpacks out on the street heading for the camino. It was really dark. Terry used her cell phone to light the way. Because she had to hold the cell phone with one hand, she had to fold up one of her hiking sticks and I put it under her backpack rain fly.

The dark walk was very scary. It was raining. There was no Milky Way or stars to be seen. There were high walls with lots of vines. We couldn’t see how steep the hills were that we were going up and down on. We walked for over an hour in the dark and then daylight came. Terry put away her cell phone and at that moment we realized that the hiking stick we had stowed had fallen out of her backpack somewhere. Before I could even feel bad about it, three pilgrims walked up and wanted to know if we lost a hiking stick. They had picked it up and carried it for a half hour. What a stroke of luck.

This is the wall of Wisdom. Someone had posted a series of thoughts along the wall in both Spanish and English.

We stopped for breakfast at about 7 am. It was pouring rain and the little restaurant was packed with wet pilgrims. Backpacks and rain ponchos everywhere. We walked for another hour or so and took another break around 9:30 am.

When you start your day at 5am, it’s ok to eat ice cream at 9:00.

Back in the rain. We walked for about 8-9 hours in the rain. I don’t have a lot of photos because my fingers we’re so wet and prune-like that my I-pad didn’t recognize my fingerprint.

There was a corner in the restaurant that had a large log burning and plenty of coals. I noticed they had a very large cave-like oven for baking. Not sure what they baked in it but they were busy making coals.

Beautiful flowers that look like Fuschia.

A field full of purple and yellow wild flowers.

It’s now after around 1:30 pm and we still have a ways to go and its still raining. Giddiness has set in. Not sure the 5am departure was such a good idea.

We made it to O Pedrouza around 3pm. It was suppose to be a 12 mile walk today but it turned out to be over 16 miles. Someone who has walked the Camino three times told us the trail has changed a lot since she walked it three years ago. She thought the trail changes may have been made to accommodate the increased number of pilgrims walking it every year. We’ve heard a lot of people in a lot of different languages complaining about the guidebook mileage.

After checking into our Albergue, we strolled down to the “Pulperia” and had Octopus and prawns in garlic. This is the fourth time we have had Octopus. We like it so much, we’re talking about how we’re going to make it when we get home.

 

DAY 38: THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2017

The wild flowers here are amazing and they grow everywhere.

These are just some plants along the trail. Another hot day.

I find these grain storage units interesting. They come in all colors and sizes. Some are ornate and some are almost religious looking. It rains a lot here so I can understand why they are so high off the ground.

It seems like people who don’t live on farms also have these corn cribs. Maybe it’s a Galicia thing??

After a little more research, I was told that these units are filled with corn cobs to feed the animals and they are high to keep the mice out.

The Camino takes a turn here and there’s a beautiful tree at the corner.

A little snack stand on the camino sells cherries, grapes, bananas, oranges, nuts  and other things.

There was a German restaurant on the trail. Terry tried to order bacon & eggs from the counter by the register like we always do. The owner turned her around and told her to go sit at a table … the waitress would take her order. I asked for a Diet Coke and that was ok — I didn’t have to wait for the waitress, he just gave it to me. We sat at a table and watched the waitress clear and wipe down all the tables. Eventually she made her way over to us. We were ready to leave but wanted to use the restroom. Terry asked for a glass of water. The waitress brought her a cup of HOT water with a packet of sugar. It cost 5 cents. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

The trail led through a Eucalyptus forest. We stopped to watch them process trees.

This machine was amazing. It strips the bark off and then cuts the logs to the same size.

Here the bark is being stripped off. Our friends Brian and Diane from Portland wandered by as we were watching. Brian was not impressed … he’s seen the same equipment being used in Portland and northern Minnesota. Apparently, this is standard in the logging industry.

This is one of my favorite photos. This cow has its head stuck through the wall and was mooing. It reminded me of Cowntess on PeeWee Herman. I asked the farmer if I could take a photo. I called her Cowntess and he started laughing. His English was very good. He asked if we wanted to see a 2-day old newborn cow. We followed him through the dusty barn.

Here is the new baby Holstein which the farmer anticipates will start producing milk  in two years.

He has a total of 120 head … the family started with 30 head about 30 years ago after Spain denationalized the economy.

The farmer, whose name is Jose, said that this part of Spain (Galicia) is responsible for 40% of the dairy production in Spain.

We made it to our Albergue in Arzua. Wandered down the street and met up with David and Cheryl from California. They had just done the Pilgrims meal and recommended the spring rolls which were delicious.  They were a delightful couple … we chatted for a couple hours. Have crossed paths with them a few times since. Another great day on the trail.

 

DAY 37: WEDNESDAY, MAY  24

Some Camino bikers pitched a tent. They were sleeping in late — it was almost 8am.

I love these purple flowers and they grow wild everywhere.

We found this delightful little Albergue that served breakfast. Rado made us bacon & eggs. His English is very good. He is a native of Palas de Rei and his family runs the Albergue. He is a marine engineer but took a year off to help the family with the Albergue. The Camino was packed with pilgrims and we kept quiet so no one would come in. Rado was funny … people would jump in through the door. Most didn’t even say “hola”. They would ask to use the restroom. He thought it was really rude that they didn’t even say hello when they came in. So he would say, I’m sorry I do not have a restroom. Go 200 meters and there’s a bathroom. Then he looked at us and told us … haha, it’s a field — they can go to the bathroom there. Rado also told us about his fear that the increase in the number of people on the Camino. He said in a couple years it will be like Disneyworld.

Rado said that these are very old wooden shoes. The road used to be very muddy and this is what people would wear through the mud.

Today’s cow parade.

Had to take a photo with the big shell.

We crossed paths with our friend Jezebel. Haven’t seen here since Najera. Now she’s on crutches. Had some bad tendenitis on the hill at O’Cebreiro.

So happy to find a shaded part of the trail.

We walked for a way with Karen and Robert from New Jersey. They expressed their fears about our leadership in the US.

Another quaint little church.

We walked by a Sant Goban facility on our walk into Melide. David’s company Cardinal used to do business with.

We’re not sure what this basket thing is but we’ve seen a few of them.

Hot, hot, hot! We felt like we were in Death Valley. It was 90 degrees. We stopped for a bite to eat. The people at the far table knew us — they called out, “hey Minnesota”. We couldn’t figure out where we met them and neither could they. 

At the table next to us was David from Rome, Italy and Yidah from Israel. Yidah’s birthday was yesterday and they had quite the party last night.

We had scallops for lunch and they were amazing! We asked if we could keep the shells. They took them into the kitchen and cleaned them for us.

We got settled in our Albergue and went to find Wifi. We met Ian and Valerie from Seattle. Ian was a cartologist who worked for NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). He just lost his job because of Trump’s budget cuts.

We went to the Cathedral of Melide. I really like this statue — it has such clean and simple lines.

Another happy reunion — Louis and Sarah from Venezuela. We met them in Sansol and haven’t seen them since April in Logrono.  And now, we discovered they are our dorm mates in Melide.

Another round of Octopus. Louis told us this restaurant was the best place in Spain for Octopus and we think he is right. It was delicious. They season it with a little bit of paprika and kosher salt.

Along with the Octopus, we split a mixto salad and it was a great dinner.  Ready for bed.

DAY 36: TUESDAY, MAY 23

Water leaking …. have to take everything out and reconnect the Camelbak.

It’s 7:30 am. The piggies are still sleeping.

Long walk today. I thought this was an interesting arch made by the trees.

We stopped for breakfast. Noticed that there is a deaf blind person walking the Camino. 

Today’s cow parade.

Hotter than hell today. We made many stops.

This place had an ant motif. Go figure.

We have not seen this tree before. Very interesting.

We stopped in a church and the priest was singing with the kids. The song — universal — “If you’re happy and you know it …” in Spanish.

I have no photos from Palas de Rei. It was not very interesting and we were so tired by the time we got there. We ate and went to bed. 

DAY 35: MONDAY, MAY 22, 2017

YAY! The countdown is on … we are six days away from Santiago. This is the 100K marker which indicates that we are 62 miles from Santiago. We are giddy with excitement. To receive our Compostela, a certificate stating that we have walked the Camino from Sarria to Santiago, we need to show our credential and it has to have two stamps per day to show that we have walked the entire way. We collect stamps (Sello) and usually get 5-6 per day. So no problem there.

This is the 100K marker … we are 62 miles from Santiago.

We had breakfast with Steve and Helen from New Zealand. We later crossed paths with them in Portomarin.

Love the donkeys grazing with the horses.

The scallop shell is a symbol of the Camino.  All the pilgrims wear one on their backpack. These were decorated. it was too hard to pick just one. So we moved on.

This is Portomarin from a distance. My philosophy is, “if you can see it, you can walk it.” It took a good hour to get there.

This is what greeted us at Portomarin. We walked for hours in the hot sun. We walk over this lengthy bridge and I can see something on the other side … no, that can’t be a giant flight of cement steps — it’s a monument? Wrong. It was a huge flight of steps we had to walk up.

After a short stop for a little snack, we were back on the trail in the hot sun. Still have a ways to go. We met some gentlemen from England and walked with them for awhile. It helped to pass the time on this long, dusty trail.

Finally around 4pm, we found our Albergue in Gonzar and it was very nice. Terry and I are quick … we know that you throw down your backpack and run for the shower. 

We had dinner with Mike and Steffie from Germany. 

These are the gentlemen we met on the trail — Philip from France, John and Peter from England. They were at the table next to us for dinner and we later found out they were our dorm mates.

Big surprise — Morina from Australia showed up. We were so delighted to see her. We haven’t seen her since Zubiri. It was quite the party at this Albergue. A good day.

So happy to hear from you all. I will try to answer your questions. I don’t think I can bring an octopus back for you to try, I have not seen any in the grocery stores here. However, there is another delicacy I think I can bring back that comes in a jar.

These are baby eels. It would be interesting to try. If they didn’t taste very good, we could cover them with Ragú spaghetti sauce and put add a little Parmesan. What do you think??

It is very hot here this week. Full sun and 80-90 degrees. I have a water reservoir called a Camelbak in my backpack. It holds 2 liters of water but it adds 4-lbs to my backpack. There is a tube that comes around to the front so I can drink water whenever I want. I usually drink at least 2-4 liters per day.

The blue tubes we are wearing are connected to our water supply.

They do not celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Spain. That’s a Mexican celebration of their victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

They do not serve very much corn here. Usually corn is found in salads. We have had  potatoes and they are usually very good.

Now here is an interesting thing they served for dessert after we had Octopus — it is cheese with quince jam.

The cheese is a soft cheese and you put it on bread then you slice off some quince jam. It was very good.

Time to get back on the road again. Hope you all have a good summer!

Adios amigos!

 

 

Hi kids!

It was really fun to see you all on Face Time last Monday. Terry and I are walking across Spain. The road we are walking is called, “The Camino de Santiago de Compostela” but most people call it the Camino.

It is very hot here. We walk for about 6-8 hours every day. We see many interesting things.

This is what part of the Camino looks like.

There is a cow parade every day.

Lots of chickens and roosters crowing.

Many pigs.

Donkeys help the farmers with their work.

This is one of the places we stayed overnight at. Many times we share a room with other people walking the Camino.

We have had a lot of different food. This is Octopus. It was delicious!

This is how they cook the Octopus.

On the Camino we meet many people from all over the world. These people are from southern England. The guy on the far right’s name is PegLeg. He is a para-Olympian and even though he is missing part of one leg, he is able to do the Camino. Some times he rides in his chair and pushes with his arms. He is very strong and courageous.
Well kids, it’s time for us to get back on the trail. We hope you have a great summer! I hope you know that you all are so lucky — you have the best teacher in the world. Please give Ms Bell a hug for me. I miss her!

Adios Amigos!!

DAY 34: SUNDAY, MAY 21

What a change a day makes! Sarria is the starting point for many who are doing the Camino. To get your Compostela, you only have to prove that you have walked the last 100K which is from Sarria to Santiago. We are so spoiled by having the peace and quiet of the trail. Today, it is crazy. Countless number of pilgrims hiking through. We are seasoned old dogs who have come from St. Jean Pied de Port. All of a sudden there is an endless stream of people wearing new tennis shoes and clean clothes. They carry little day packs and have sent their back packs or luggage forward with a courier. 

Terry called the rush of pilgrims  a combination of the State Fair and Grandma’s Marathon. AND, it’s only May — June, July and August will be much worse and the whole Camino will be packed with people vying for miles and beds. 

Leaving Sarria, by 9:30 am there were so many people on the trail ,we had crossed paths with six people we had met previously in different places on the Camino.

Horse riding pilgrim with two horses … one for himself and one for supplies.

This camino tree looks like a work of art.

This structure is something they store grain in … I think in Iowa they would call it a corn crib. You see them everywhere. They’re somewhat small and you see them in yards, not just on farms.

On the trail again. The rock walls remind me of Ireland.

So hot today … even the cows can’t stand it.

This was delightful … Galician guy playing Irish tune on the bagpipes on the trail.

We stayed in a town called Morgade which has a population of 4. We had to call several times to make sure we had beds reserved because there is nothing else around other than the Morgade Albergue.

We loved this place. We shared this dorm with 4 other women. Yay…. no bunk beds. We met two delightful, very tall women from Mexico City, Mexico. Laura is an executive with Ford Motor, Madrid who is accompanying her 80-year-old mother, Lupe (aka Guadalupe). This is Lupe’s dream to walk the Camino. They are both very sweet people who speak very good English.

This is what you get for lunch when your order a “mixto salad”. Cost is less than 5 dollars.

Dog is not dead … he’s just hot and decided to lay down in the street. Cars drive around him.

This is Paco … he is one of the 4 people who live in Morgade. He runs the  Albergue which his family owns and he works so hard. His English is excellent. He was overwhelmed with the herds of Camino people that came in on Sunday. He said Saturday and Sunday were wild with a record breaking number of people. When we arrived, the place was rockin’. They had Irish musician playing in one of the rooms and the place was packed. We felt so lucky that we could go upstairs and lay down until all the commotion settled down around 3-4 pm.

Paco said this was a hospital at one time. His family started with a littled sandwich shop next door and eventually bought the facility. The did some remodeling. I think they are making a ton of money and we were so glad to see that … they work really hard.

This is one of the public areas at our Albergue.

This is another public area. There was a plexiglass ceiling over this patio …. so let it rain!

This is a different dog and he is not dead either. He was laying under our table.

We met a huge group of people from Sweden in the outdoor bar. There was a constant turnover of people.

This is the little chapel that belong to the hospital that Paco’s family now owns. They had to lock the chapel because people would write on the walls, sleep in it and everything else.

This is a view of the Morgade Albergue, it has the most spectacular view from the back patio. Nearby, the cows graze.

This is the back patio of our Albergue. We love this place!!!

Thank you so much Bob for being one of our most loyal followers! I so appreciate your encouraging words especially after a day of hot sun and hills. Wish you were here to enjoy some octopods with us hahah! The beer and wine flows freely here … its just about free and much cheaper than soft drinks (like a coke, 7UP,  juice) believe it or not. However, gin & tonic is a bit pricey … not because of the cost of gin but because of the little bottle of tonic which costs much more than a beer.  Even though there is a lot of blood, sweat and tears … we are having a great time. Cheers!

DAY 33: SATURDAY, MAY 20

Heading for Sarria and the last 8 days of our Camino adventure. It was a beautiful sunny day. We followed the river out of town and came across these pilgrim statues in a park.

We started walking with Gina from England (originally from Maylasia). We wandered into a cabin like restaurant and asked if they could fry us some eggs. They had no problem with our request. Typically, you don’t find eggs on a breakfast menu.

Today we’re at a lower altitude but its still an amazing view.

We followed the highway to Sarria. There was an alternate route through the woods and hills that was about four miles longer. We opted for the highway and it was a difficult route because the path hasn’t been used much and was a bit overgrown. Sometimes we had to walk on the shoulder of the road which felt dangerous.

It took about four hours to reach Sarria. It’s a bigger town so it took awhile to find our hostel.

One of the locals told us this place was “famous” for its Octopus. So we had to check it out.

All they serve is Octopus and they close for the day at 4pm. It’s like a beer hall with long tables. You can get potatoes to go with the Octopus but we just split an order. It was delicious.

They seasoned the octopus with a little oil and paprika. It had a taste that was very similar to lobster.

Dessert consisted of cheese with a fruit jam. There were some hard cheeses and some soft ones. This tasted like ricotta cheese. You put it on bread and then cut a piece of the fruit jam and put that on top. It was actually quite good.

The Octopus is boiled in water in a giant copper kettle. They use a scissors and snip up the pieces. The head is not used for anything. We did notice that a young boy came into the shop a little before 4pm. They filled his container with the heads. We were thinking that maybe it was used for animal feed??

We spent the entire afternoon basking in the sun and blogging. As you may have noticed, I am just about caught up. There are a number of restaurants by the river and it’s such a serene place with a lot of people enjoying the afternoon.

Walking back to the Hostel I noticed this milk machine. I think you insert money, open the smaller silver door and it refills your container. There are a lot of vending machines in Spain.

We finished the night by having donor kebab for dinner. Nice change of pace and we hadn’t had one since Pamplona.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 32: FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2017

It’s a foggy morning. This is the Camino path going out of Biduedo.

Many of the stone buildings have slate roofs.

Another village to wander through.

This mosaic is embedded in the road in front of the town church in Tricastella. It shows the three castles the town was named after that no longer exist.

Tricastela church with cemetery surrounding it.

Little park on the way out of Tricastela.

Rest area with a natural spring coming from the side of the mountain.

The Camino winds through many very small farm villages.

The camino often follows rivers too.

I don’t know what this yellow flowering tree is but I love seeing it.

These women are from Italy — northern Italy, Genoa and Rome. They had been on the Camino for two days and continuing for two weeks — just a short get-away trip.

Coming out of the hills, you can see the monastery of Samos. The original parts exist from around 690AD.

A view of the Monastery from the town.

We toured the Samos Monestery. In its heyday it housed about 80 monks and 200 students. Today, there are a total of 9 monks living here. There is one brother, one novice and seven priests. The priests are all assigned as parish pastors in other churches. How can they afford to keep the massive building in operation you may wonder as we did. Well, in Spain there is no separation  of church and state. The government subsidizes the facility because its considered a historic place as most churches are.

In Samos we crossed paths with Robin, Kristy and Michelle from Nova Scotia, Canada. They were our roommates in St. Jean and in Orrison.

We had dinner with Bob and Bonnie from Carmel, California. Bob is former lawyer who after 35 years of practice became an episcopal priest. He runs marathons. Bonnie only does half marathons. (They enjoyed hearing my Grandma’s Half Marathon story — hahah). They are staying at the same Hostel as we are and we also toured the Monestery with them.

These are our digs in Samos. I am just super thankful that I’m not in a bunk bed. We are heading for Sarria next which is the last 100K of the Camino. Many people start in Sarria. We have made our reservations for the remaining 8 days or our Camino. Beds are scarce because of the record breaking number of people doing the Camino at this time.

DAY 31: THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

Trabedelos is located in the valley between mountain ranges. It felt kind of like a dead zone. A dying town with little energy. We were eager to get moving again. 

The road out of Trabedelos.

We connected with Deb from Arizona who used to work for Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Arizona. It’s a small world on the Camino. Deb connected with the two women we shared a cab with when we arrived in Bayonne, France.

A lotta roosters running around.

There are massive, tall bridges that connect the mountains and they are planted in these little villages beneath. It’s a skyway of trucks.

Field of sheep grazing.

This is a giant dog — some form of Saint Bernard. I think he was suppose to be guarding the sheep but he seemed to like posing for photos.

The little villages are always interesting to wander through. So many interesting pieces of culture and history.

One little shop had a very large display of rosaries. 

Nice rest stop in Las Herrerias.

Back up the hill to O’Cebreiro. Took this photo shortly (minutes) before the fog and rain rolled in. This is the beginning of the Galicia region which very much resembles Ireland.

Many of the homes and buildings in O’Cebreiro and Galicia are made of stone and have thatched roofs. There are also a lot of slate roofs. This is a historical model of what a typical dwelling from the Celtic era 1500 years ago until the 1960s.

It started raining so we stopped for lunch — we had Galician soup made from cabbage and some croquets that were made of potatoes and cheese.

By the time we were done eating, the sun was out again. This is the place where we ate lunch. Next stop, down the hill to Biduedo.

This is the hostel we stayed in. The blue tractor has a glass garage. 

I went outside after dinner and it was still very light out at 9pm. The farmers were bringing the cows back to their barn. Lead cow got a little out of line and went its own way. The farmer was not very happy when she started drinking out of a public fountain.

Across the road from our hostel was a very humble, small church. Biduedo is two blocks long and mostly stone barns and farm buildings. The church has no pews. Just an altar and a stand with a bible or lectionary on it. They have fenced in the rose bushes probably so the cows leave them alone.

Front entrance to the little church in Biduedo.

Continue reading “Cacabelos to Trebedelos”

DAY 29: TUESDAY, MAY 16

This is our hostal in Cacabelos. We spent a second day here to heal foot wounds and get caught up with blogging. 

We sat under an umbrella and watched the pilgrims go by. Did a little blogging. Ate lunch and chatted. A wonderful way to enjoy a warm 80 degree day.

Terry clinks glasses with Brussels from Champagne, France. That’s not a typo, her name is Brussels and she is from Champagne.

Some pasta and a glass of wine for lunch.

More chatting with Brian from Portland. It’s very common to compare routes and plans with fellow pilgrims.

We strolled to the other end of town. The river goes under this house.

Our destination was this church. Supposedly there was a painting of a young Jesus playing cards with St. Anthony of Padua. Church was locked — so disappointing. We really wanted to see if it was on green felt and if there were dogs also playing cards with them.

The church was surrounded by an Albergue. There were two people to a room which we thought was decent. Down side was that the restroom and showers were in the courtyard. 

This is a very old wine press. It’s massive.

This is how it works. I don’t think its been used in a very long time. Looks like some parts are missing.

Cacabelos is a very beautiful village.

Checked out a nice Irish bar on the way back. Tapa served was mussel garnished with a pico de gallo.

More mussels for dinner and they were fabulous.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped to chat with Candace who works at the bakery. The oven is very deep. One side holds the wood for the heat and the other side where the bread goes is about 8 feet deep. She had a really long paddle for putting bread in and out. Next morning we walked down and picked up some fresh pastries. The bread looked amazing.