Walking out the front gate of Viña Femita at 6:45.Villafranca del Bierzo is a charming, historic but well maintained town… even in the dark.a modern (1999) pilgrim statue on the bridge leaving Villafranca.color and silhouettes of Villafranca at first lightA new sidewalk for pilgrims has been added since our last Camino, making for a safer way up through the mountain gap.the new walk ended after half-a-mile at the junction of the secondary road and the auto viatunnel through the mountain to the leftthe Camino taking us along the national highway with a crash barrier for pilgrim protectionwinding our way through the gap along the national highway and occasional overpasses of the autovia.more of the same for most of this morning’s walk the gap is about 1500 feet below the surrounding mountains, but still around 1600 ft above sea level.The entrance to Perejé (pop. 39) suggested this small hamlet might have re-opened a favorite breakfast stop at the halfway point of the Villafranca to Trabadelo walk… which has been closed since the pandemic. The disappointment continued today as the cerrado (closed) sign was still on the front door and the chairs/tables across the street were still chained up, preventing use.the stacked logs tells us we are nearing the saw mill in Trabadelo and we walked among the 400 year old chestnut tree forest.walking into Trabadelo and our albergue dominance of both sides of the road.entrances of Bar/ restaurant/ albergerelatively new addition of private rooms and owner’s residenceview of our building from rearthe double windows on ground floor is our room, overlooking the poolinteriors of our double room, retro decor1950’s decor, typical of many Camino “habitacions”
Our first choice to stay in Trabadelo was Nova Ruta, a small hotel nearby where we have stayed the past 3 Caminos. However, it was booked when we were doing our planning in March, so Os Arroxos was our second choice.
Nevertheless, we had breakfast at Nova Ruta when we arrived in Trabadelo this morning and were immediately recognized by the owner of Nova Ruta. We explained why we were not staying with her and she understood. Jim asked if they still had pork cheeks on the menu and she confirmed and reserved a table for us for lunch.
1st Course at Nova Ruta: Ensalada Rusa2nd Course: Baked Chicken for Linda, Carillera (Iberian Pork Cheeks) for Jim
We enjoyed our meal, said farewell to our friends and headed back to our albergue/room and chilled for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
P.S.: The water in the pool was very chilly due to the 50F nights, so we decided not to indulge, inspite of it being right outside our room.
P.P.S: As the sun got hotter, Jim was eventually overcome with the temptation to take the plunge.
As day was breaking, we walked past this large winery with nearby vineyards on the way out of Cacabelos.we left the road and began walking through the vineyards…. Villafranca del Bierzo (our goal for today) and the mountains (our goal for the next several days) were off in the distance.vineyards all around
We made a right turn off the main road and the pavement continued a few hundred yards, before we took another left into a dirt road that headed into the vineyards.
In our previous Caminos, we’ve taken the recommended route that is 75% pavement and somewhat risky with small or no shoulders along the way.
Today, just to be different, we took the alternate route through the vineyards which was slightly longer but definitely more interesting and less boring than the road. It took us through the village of Valtuille de Arriba, (pop. 82), which had some restored homes but the majority if the buildings were in various states of ruin. A couple of the houses had been about 50% renovated, while the other half of the house was still in ruins.
some partial reno on a residenceruinous structures in town centerthis house was in bad shapeanother half-renovated residence structures barely standingtown centerwalking out of the village into a gathering of strangely leaning treespretty vineyard scenerymore pretty scenery the dirt path became a narrow paved road passing some homes and small farms/vineyards on the way into Villafranca del Bierzothe Iglesia de Santiago
As we entered the town we faced the Iglesia de Santiago with its Puerta del Perdón, a doorway for pilgrims who were too sick to continue to Santiago. They could walk through the door in lieu of completing the pilgrimage and receive the same indulgences.
Puerta del Perdónthe Castillo
The Villafranca del Bierzo Castle was built in 1515 over the remains of a previous fortification. Its first owner was Don Pedro Alvarez de Toledo (second marques of Villafranca) and since 1850 by Don Joaquin Caro y Alvarez.
More of a fortified-palance than a castle, it was ransacked in 1809 by the English and in 1815 and 1819 by the French during the Independence War.
It’s under private ownership, not open to the public and we’ve never seen the inside.
The streets and steps into Villafranca del Bierzo mid-town are very steep. Jim did a little dance after missing a step near the bottom of this run and amazingly remained on his feet the final steps into the street without incident… but he was clearly much more cautious the rest if the day.
our second breakfast, while waiting for checkinour albergueview of the street from our final waiting spot to checkinLinda waiting
We finally checked in to Viña Femita at 1:00.
had our best pizzas of the Camino today with a glass of Mencia wine.
Tonight we had a light dinner, cooked by the Juan’s mother. Viña Femita was built on the site of the family home, which burned when Juan was a child. In it’s place, Juan has built a very nice albergue/hotel… and is continuing to add to it, including a new section of 7 additional rooms which should be open for guests in the next month.
Jim and Juan
Juan’s dad grows Mencia grapes in his vineyards and produces some very nice red wine, as evidenced by the bottle Linda and I had with tonight’s dinner.
Our dinner wine (Mencia)
You’ll notice from the photo, the bottle has no label. It was selected from Juan’s collection especially for us.
We had a delicious vegetable soup and Jim had a portion of very tender breaded fried chicken breast. It was more than we should have eaten after our late lunch pizza, but we’ll get a chance to walk it off tomorrow on the way up into the mountains.
It was a nice ending for a delightful day in Villafranca del Bierzo for Camino2023.
Jimandi 