Month: August 2019

Walked today: 6.8 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 110.9 miles

A dry, 56F morning was perfect for our walk to Nájera. All went well for the first mile or so, on a level dirt path winding through one vineyard after another… until we were abruptly confronted by this:

… and large loose stones are hazardous to foot health

Fortunately, it was only about a 10 floor hill and we were rewarded with a nice view at the top.

A relatively easy downhill path continued for several miles with vineyards surrounding us all the way.

Vineyards all around

The hill with the tower in the upper left corner is known as “El Poyo del Roldán” or Roldán’s Hill. It is here that Roldán (Spanish), Roland (French) was established as the greatest knight of Christianity.

The story of Roland and Ferragut closely mimics the story of David and Goliath; Ferragut is even described as a descendant of Goliath. The story goes that the giant Ferragut was sent along with 20,000 soldiers from Turkey to fight against Charlemagne’s army. Ferragut came out from Nájera, challenging any of the opposition to fight him one-on-one. Many tried and failed. Finally, Roland insisted on having his turn and fought with the giant for three days. In between spurts of fighting the two conversed about their respective faiths, and Ferragut revealed that his one weak place (his Achille’s heel if you will) was his belly button. A final battle ensued, having both agreed that the winner would be the one espousing the true faith. Ferragut tried to fall on Roland to crush him to death, but Roland stabbed him in the belly and won.

Sign at the base of Poyo de Roldán with local version of legend

As we approached the outskirts of Nájera (pop. 8452) we passed through industrial areas that seemed to be co-exiting well with the persistent vineyards.

Just as we entered town, we stopped for breakfast.

Nice bar specialized in tapas, we stuck with our usual

Having dos mas (two more) cafe con leche while waiting for Pension to open.

We checked in to our room in Pencion Calle Mayor (30€) at noon after having lunch and immediately went through our daily routine.

Our double room at Pencion Calle Mayor (shared bathroom)

Jim ventured out into the city looking for an ATM to replenish our supply of Euros and had to cross over the bridge to eventually find one, after retracing our steps of this morning.

Next we had a pasta dinner at a riverside bar/restaurant and wandered around a bit on our way back to our room.

We stopped by the Monasterio de Santa María la Real which contains the 11th-century church built by King Garcia III after a most unusual hunting trip in 1044. The story goes that as Garcia hunted partridge along the riverbank, his falcon flew into a nearby cave. Garcia followed and was amazed to find a beautiful statue of the virgin with a vase of fresh lilies and a burning oil lamp.

Visiting hours were over, but here is photo of Virgin statue in the cave.

King Garcia saw this as a blessing on the Reconquista, and used some of the money he plundered from the Moors to build a church here for the icon. The Virgin statue is still resting in the original cave, the original church built around it. Little remains of the original church except for the area around the cave. The statue originally wore a crown of jewels, which was later stolen and divided; the Black Prince Ruby made its way to England’s coronation crown!

From outside the current church, after destruction and restorations over the centuries, you can still see where the remains of the original church merges with the cave in the mountain side.

Main entrance to current church

We made our way back to our room, finished today’s blog entry, then called it a day.

Walked today: 4.6 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 104.1 miles

Even though we started later (7:15), it was a chilly 56F and perfect for walking. Our distance was short today, like yesterday. We want to stay in Ventosa tonight and it’s only a few miles up the Camino. Also, our bodies have been building stamina and adjusting to the routine well, so having a couple easy days, while still advancing, hopefully will give us a good base to pick up the pace in the coming days.

As the sidewalks of Navarrete ran out, we passed a cemetery with a beautiful gateway

that was recovered from the ruins of the historic pilgrim’s Hospital de San Juan de Acre, which we passed when entering Navarrete yesterday.

Leaving the pavement we followed a dirt path thru several miles of vineyards

and periodic clusters of olive trees abundant with fruit,

ready for harvest in the coming weeks.

We stopped at the first of only 2 bars in Ventosa (pop. 169) and had breakfast and waited until around 10:30 before walking the final distance to Las Aguedas.

Normally check-in time is 1:00, but if we arrive too early, we’re likely to have to wait longer, but, if we get there later, our chances of getting in earlier increase, based on our Camino experience. Go figure!

Las Aguedas is our favorite accommodation on the Camino out of over 120, so far. We stopped here by accident in 2014 and were overwhelmed by the interior decor and comfort.

The owner, Señora Rocio J. Bonet, is a superb hostess, graciously, welcoming you into her beautiful 18th century home, with period furnishings and yet all the facilities of a modern inn.

She prepares a delicious dinner in her dining room featuring Spanish cuisine and fine wines. Consequently we worked our Camino itinerary to stay here again in 2017 and were fortunate to book a room two days ago for tonight. It’s a B&B extraordinaire for 75€ for a large double room and ensuite bathroom +10€x2 for dinner.

After getting lunch at the other bar in Ventosa, we did some planning for the next week or so, to decide our walk for each day, where we’d like to stay, then making reservations via email or Booking.com. The month of August is prime festival time and its not easy to know which towns will no longer have accommodations that match our preferences… a little planning will reduce the stress of finishing a long walk and not having a place to stay.

Our dinner tonight met our expectations, even though it was just Linda and Jim served by Rocio, our hostess. No other guests had arrived in time for dinner at 7:00.

The salad, paella and homemade citron sorbet was delicious and the reserve local wine was exceptional for a Riója and bottled here at the Alvia Bidegas in Ventosa. Hopefully we can buy it at Total Wine when we return home.

Our after dinner conversation included strategies to expand the Las Aguedas business into corporate markets and shared experiences walking the Camino. Señora Bonet is a good businesswoman and very customer oriented. We wished her well and retired to our room after an interesting, engaging evening on the Camino Frances.

Walked today: 4.5 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 99.4 miles

We had our taxi take us to a park on the edge of Logroño, avoiding a several mile walk through the city. So you might say initially it was like a walk in the park (sorry).

Oh. Did we mention that it was raining when we started?

The park is actually a combination golf course, camp ground, wildlife preserve and agricultural research area for white Tempranilla grapes.

We followed the path for a mile or so then climbed a hill with a nice overview of the park with Logroño in the background.

At the top of the hill we exited the park on a narrow dirt and paved road which paralleled the highway

until we approached the town of Navarrete and the rain stopped.

We stopped for breakfast after entering town,

then walked to the Iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Asuncíon and went inside.

Its a parish church whose construction started in 1533 and completed in 1645!

It is mostly known for its main alterpiece, considered one of the finest examples of 17th century Baroque works in Spain.

There were several other interesting art forms displayed in the church that captured our attention,

Santiago ( St James)

before we left, in respect for a morning service that was about to begin.

We continued our walk along the Camino into town center and Hotel Rey Sancho(55€). Our room would not be ready until noon, so we settled down in the nearby town square for a supplemental cafe con leche and enjoyed the cool breeze and shade.

We checked in at 11:40. Our room is wonderful and a real bargain.

Jim removed his boots and socks and Linda laughed at his feet.

I don’t see anything funny about his feet, do you?

We read, blogged, napped, then snacked for supper, still sated from our mid-day pintxos binge.

It was a delightful day spent in Navarrete, Riója, Spain on the Camino Frances.

Walked today: 7.3 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 95.0 miles

By first light we were on our way to Logroño. The temperature was a delightfully cool 61F.

We passed through a community garden area, then on a paved road through vineyards before joining a dirt path that continued to the outskirts of Logroño, just before sunrise.

We crossed a main highway via an overpass/footbridge then walked through a small forrested area.

After about 4 miles we passed the sign showing we were leaving Navarre and entered the region of Ríoja.

… then back onto a paved walkway up a gradual incline through an industrial section. then steeper, then back down again.

As we walked the final mile to Logroño, we chatted with a nice lady from Denmark who was on her 6th Camino. She lives on a small island with only 150 inhabitants. She appeared remarkably fit, especially so when she revealed she was 85 years old! We’ve hop-scotched with she and her companion the past several days and will probably encounter them again.

The final few yards were through a park along the Ebro Río then across the Puente la Piedra into Logroño.

The Puente la Piedra was originally built by Santo Domingo de la Calzada, in the 11th century then rebuilt by his disciple, San Juan de Ortega.

Logroño is the capital of the region of Riója, and has one of the highest per capita income of all Spain regions due to its wine industry. It has produced wines for over 2000 years, mostly reds from the Tempranilla grape.

The Pilgrim’s office is located next to the bridge, but didn’t open until 9 a.m., which wasn’t very useful for us at 8:20, so we continued across the bridge and found our own directions to the “estacíon bus” on a city map as we exited the bridge.

We skipped the old city section and headed uphill toward the bus station and arrived some 7.3 miles into our walk. After a little bit of struggling with the language to figure out what bus we needed to get back to Viana and where to buy the ticket, we succeeded in purchasing two bus tickets(1.30€) to Viana, departing at 10:00 a.m. There was a bar in the bus station where we bought breakfast and waited to board the correct bus. At 10:00 we boarded our bus and made the brief 15 minute trip to Viana.

We’ve had several meals at Mesón Kiko, a restaurant/bar just two doors down from Pencion San Pedro on Calle Medio San Pedro, #9. Unlike many of the other places we have visited in Viana, they are very customer oriented, especially for non-locals.

The owner is the chef and his 22 year old son runs the restaurant and doesn’t hesitate to try and communicate in French, English or Italian (tonight), making it easier for ordering, and flexible in offering what the customer wants. Their menu is varied, inexpensive, tasty and its available nearly all day long, unusual for Spain. If you are visiting Viana on the Camino or otherwise, we would highly recommend it.

For lunch today we had pintxos at two different restaurants. You get a pintxo and a glass of wine typically for about 2-3€. On Fridays and special days, in Viana, you get it for 1.5€!

Linda shared two pintxos with Jim and then opted for a nice plate of melon, pineapple and jamon (ham) and decided not to indulge in Jim’s second set of pintxos, baby eel on salmon and pickled olives/hot peppers.

We napped much of the afternoon and had supper at Mesón Kiko, bidding our farewells to the staff.

Walked today: 4.9 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 87.8 miles

We’ll start off with an update on the dangling-in-limbo-photo of the Croatian couple, which was thwarted from its intended recipients and abruptly returned to us from cyberspace. While waiting to get into our room yesterday morning, Jim re-looked at the rejected email address which appeared to be missing the @xxxxx.com. So, he took a wild guess that the couple might use Google like the rest of the planet and maybe even gmail, and attached @gmail.com to the original e-mail address and pressed send. Unlike the first e-mail, we didn’t get a rude message about invalid e-mail. Consequently, we figured it must be someone’s e-mail address, but was it our fellow pilgrims from Croatia? At 9:30 last night, we received a reply from the couple, thanking us for sending the photo. Incredible, huh?

We left Los Arcos at daybreak this morning to beat the 90F+ forecast for today. It was a short walk, so Linda decided to carry her full pack.

On the outskirts of the village we passed a cemetery with a strange inscription over the gateway.

Translated it reads, “

“I once was what you are, you will be what I am”

We scurried by the cemetery, quickly, and entered the fields again on a nice, flat, straight, dirt, farm road which lasted for about 3 miles.

we left the dirt road for a paved one just outside Sansol

We stopped for a break at a modern albergue/bar in Sansol then walked on to Torres del Río.

walk up the hill into

Torres del Río

We stopped by the unusual 12th century Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with its octagonal floor and eight sided architecture including an octagonal lantern on top of the dome… the only structure of its kind. Its sculptors were Mudejar (Muslims) working in the service of a Christian master builder. Its construction and initial use are assumed to be the Templar.

Our walk for today concluded, we then worked out plan B.

We originally planned to stay in Torres del Río tonight, but everything was booked. Sansol also was booked. So we called ahead and found a place in Viana. We arranged for a taxi to take us to Viana (35€!) and decided to skip the section from Torres to Viana, which is a pretty difficult walk, having walked it twice already. We’ll booked San Pedro(50€) for two nights to use as a base for our walk to Logroño tomorrow, then return via bus from Logroño (~2€) then get a cheaper taxi to Logroño the following day to continue on. We’ve booked places to stay for the following 4 days to prevent another plan B adjustment.

Our original choice to stay tonight:

Soon after we arrived, we walked along main street in Viana at lunchtime. Iglesia de Santa María de Asuncíon to the left, is known for being the burial place of Cesare Borgia (1475-1507), a Navarran military hero. It also is supposed to have a beautiful Santiago retablo, but until tiday, we had never seen it because the church is closed except for mass.

But tonight at 7:30, after pintxos for supper,

we noticed the church doors were open so finally we got to see inside.

At 8:00 we called it a day and headed back to our room.

Walked today: 7.8 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 82.9 miles

What a nice walk we had today. First if all, we beat the heat by starting early. Second, it was mostly flat on smooth farm roads. Third, it was just long enough to push us just to the point of building stamina without approaching exhaustion.

And while some may suggest it was monotonous, we thought it was beautiful and interesting.

About a mile after leaving Monjardin we stopped to capture a sunrise. A minute later a young couple was attempting to do the same with a selfie and we offered to take their picture. Their camera wasn’t getting a good image so Jim took a photo of them with his camera which turned out much better and attempted to airdrop it to their phone. They also took a photo if us. When the airdrop didn’t work, we attempted to email it to then, also without success.

The couple was from Croatia and was walking 25 miles a day to get to Santiago in 20 days, so they hurried off.

Here is their photo.

And our photos, showing the first sunrise shot of Linda and the dramatic change in the colors in just a couple of minutes.

The scenery today was mostly recently harvested fields of hay, with an occasional vineyard, olive orchard and white asparagus fields.

Hugh stacks of hay seen frequently

We reached Los Arcos at 9:30 and chilled in the plaza de Iglesia de Santa María de Asuncíon until out room was ready at noon. We chatted with a man from Hungary who was taking a break before continuing another 12 miles before stopping for the day.

Just before noon, the church doors were unlocked so we took a peak.

In addition to seeing this beautifully ornate 12th century church, the organist was rehearsing his music for the upcoming service which we recorded.

Our room was ready at a few minutes after noon and we were pleasantly surprised.

Compared to last night’s albergue at 40€, this place was a real bargain at 55€!

We had a late lunch at the nearby Restaurant Mavi, recommended by the Hostal Suetxe owner, and enjoyed a delicious salmon filet dinner with fresh vegetables, wine and dessert for 12€ each.

We spent the rest if the afternoon enjoying our spacious room, resting and doing chores.