Reset search
One More Camino in Spain 2023One More Camino in Spain 2023
SatelliteEdit route
A 73-day adventure by Rosie Read more
  • 71footprints
  • 3countries
  • 73days
  • 500photos
  • 3videos
  • 36.8kkilometers
  • 34.9kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerOne More Camino in Spain 2023
    Day 1

    Ready to go

    March 28, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    We are packed and ready to head off to the airport. So excited! Tonight we fly to Paris, via Doha, as we are flying with Qatar airlines. We will spend about a week or so in Paris where we will be joined by our friends Carole and John Petrich, and go with them to Bayonne in the south, and to St Jean Pied de Port which is the starting point of the Camino. Then we take about 50 days walking across Spain, with stops in some of the small cities. We know this route well, and are looking forward to the familiarity and to the contrasts, as this time it is spring whereas in the past it has been autumn, and after the grain crops have been harvested. So we anticipate green fields!

    Anyway, this is just to start the blog. We hope that Paris is not too chaotic with the strikes and unrest at the moment! Am sure some normal life continues as well. Will report…. Only photo is of our bags - we are travelling light, just carry-on. Have been ruthlessly eliminating clothes! Next post from Paris.    Read more

  • TravelerOne More Camino in Spain 2023
    1
    Day 2

    Ah Paris

    March 29, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Just a very brief post to relate that we arrived here…felt like a very LONG journey…but all well, and found the hotel so easily…just straight on to the metro at Gare du Nord, down the line 5, and we found our hotel, a new Ibis for us, in the Bastille area…

    But have to say we are rather wobbly and spaced…but nothing that a good night’s sleep won’t fix. After checking in at about 4.30pm (that is about 28 hours after taking off in Sydney) and doing a bit of unpacking (not much to unpack as we have been so ruthless about little luggage) we set off for a walk towards Bastille, and finally stopped for a glass of wine in one bar, then for a little meal in another. It is very mild today, about 18°. The leaves are starting to make a green mist in the trees - some quite green, and some still totally bare. Very pleasant. And there has been no sign of garbage pile up, or any unrest in the area around here. The bars and bistros are buzzing, and Paris life seems normal!

    So now showered and ready for a long refreshing sleep…Amr has bought clementines ready for our breakfast (this is a tradition) and all is well. More information tomorrow!    Read more

  • TravelerOne More Camino in Spain 2023
    1
    1413
    Day 3

    A huge Paris day

    March 30, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    This will have to be brief-ish as it’s almost 11pm and we are drooping! But must try and remember the details….this morning after eating clementines in the room, we bought pastries and then went out for coffee…walked down to the tower of St Jacques on the rue de Rivoli, via Bastille which was buzzing with a market…then up along the Seine to St Michel where we turned up to St Germaine to go to the Vieu Campeur shops to buy walking poles, our mission for the day. Successfully accomplished, then had croissants at the patisserie that won’t best croissant of the year (formidable competition) in 2018, then went back to the hotel to drop the sticks, and have a mini break.

    Set out again for what turned out to be a big walk, despite getting the metro in the beginning to Louvre (turned out we walked a total of 23 kms according to my Apple Watch)…then wandered a bit, shops, parks, ending half way up the Champs d’Elysees, had a drink in our fave bar near the Opera (which is covered in scaffolding) which was very fortunate as during that time it suddenly had a short rain storm, then becoming sunny and clear by the time we set off again.

    Ended up walking most of the way back to our dinner place - Amr can’t quite remember where he heard of it (? Hartley) but it is Le Petit Célestin, on the quai Célestin and was wonderful. Our booking was 8pm, quiet at that time, and when we left at about 9.30 it was chaotically buzzing. Delicious food - barrata on endive and grilled prawns for Amr, asparagus and kidneys for me. A delicious mash, quite unlike Paul’s even though we are in Paris - sort of lumpy and flavoured and delicious…very small place, probably only about 30 places, and close to your neighbours. Fun.

    Walking to the restaurant we had noticed many police and flashing lights vehicles driving back and forth, but later when we left there were hundreds of them everywhere…and clumps of police standing round on street corners…we had to detour round Bastille to get back to the hotel…sort of scary in a way…I think they must have had a threatened attack and had police everywhere to make it difficult…anyway, safely back and no news of anything…can still hear sirens…so while I say Paris is normal, this wasn’t! Off to sleep…    Read more

  • TravelerOne More Camino in Spain 2023
    14
    Day 4

    Another wonderful day

    March 31, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Writing up earlier today, still a little fuzzy with jet lag, but feeling fresh with thoughts on the day so far…it is now about 5pm, and we are back in the room, having a break and respite till dinner at 8pm, in a restaurant Amr has booked in the Marais, an 11 minute walk from our hotel.

    So the day started with clementines and pastries (pain aux raisins for me) then coffee in a cafe down the street. The area round our hotel, just a short walk from Bastille, is new to us, and just lovely. Many bars and cafés and pleasant neighbourhood feeling. (All signs of the huge police presence throughout the city last night had disappeared by the morning, and no word on what was going on). We have booked one local restaurant for tomorrow night - Le Petit Bréguet.

    So once fortified with coffee, we got the metro to Denfert Rochereau, quite close to Montparnasse, but another place new to us. Good vibe here too, the lovely Parisian buildings, and parks. We were there to visit the Museum of Liberation, just opened in 2019, on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Paris. Interesting and well presented, enjoyed our time there and I learned a lot…part of the visit was descending into the bunker - 100 stairs down and up, no lift! I made it, but plodded a bit!

    After emerging from there we needed a break and sustenance - crossed the road to the bistro on the corner - perfect place. Buzzing with people having Friday lunch, and that wonderful French vibe…indescribable, and there are so many places like this all over the city. Amr had onion soup and I had toasts with caramelised onion and goat’s cheese grilled - both divine, and sparkling water (this time served in Paul approved glasses!!). A very satisfying break.

    Then we walked from there down Blvd St Michel down past Luxembourg gardens to the river. The gardens were all locked, weird, but a woman told us that they shut it when it is windy (and it is quite windy today) for safety..?? Then we walked along the left bank to the Pont Neuf and to our favourite Place Dauphine for a drink. Decided to sit inside which turned out to be a good choice as while there it started raining, and we were happily sheltered and warm. However eventually we had to leave, as more people came in seeking shelter and we had drunk our rosés, so we set off in the wind and rain (not teeming, but wet!)…decided to take the metro instead of walking and when we emerged at Bastille it was sunny and large amount of blue sky.

    So now downtime, and I will add dinner when we return…

    Now back from dinner, and yet another fun fab night! Amr is a little hazy about why he knew of this place - Le Progrès - but it was a success. Had booked for 8, and looked so busy when we arrived, but got seated in a good corner spot. Great atmosphere, and great food. I had 6 snails, and then sword fish with baked aubergine covered with vegetables (amazing) and Amr had green beans and a blood sausage and mash…all yum. Off to leisurely shower and bed…

    P.S. forgot to mention the wine tonight, and know Paul will ask…we had a half litre of a Brouilly which we had had and knew we liked…(related to Beaujolais I think)…    Read more

  • TravelerOne More Camino in Spain 2023
    2
    Day 5

    An excursion to Chartres

    April 1, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Another good day - we decided to take the train to Chartres - we last went there 36 years ago! It is quite cold today (this is not a complaint, I love it but did need all my layers, and I think tomorrow will be colder). And each day it is sunny, with rolling clouds that turn into rain lasting about 5-10 minutes now and then! We had anticipated this spring weather, and it will probably continue like that when we start walking. Also from the train, about an hour’s journey, we could see the green fields with shoots of the crops looking so lovely, and such a contrast to the fields in September. And the trees just have a green mist around them - some still without leaves, so beautiful! By June they will all be in full leaf.

    Chartres is a lovely small town, and the cathedral is still amazing!! The famous stained glass windows are so intricate and beautiful, and I had forgotten the very wondrous stone carvings all around the choir. So we spent time admiring the cathedral, and then found a crêperie for some lunch - I love a ham and cheese crepe, and Amr had a hot dog Breton! Essentially a white frankfurt with onions, cheese and mustard rolled in a crepe! Both content. A bit of wandering round the town and got the train back.

    Carole and John arrive tomorrow and we have to work out plans…we are all booked on a TGV on Thursday down to Bayonne, but that is a declared strike day, and we don’t yet know if our train will be affected….maybe we should change to the day before, but perhaps everyone has already done that…when they arrive we’ll work out a strategy…

    Off to dinner just down the street soon. Very relaxed.

    Just had to edit and add that we had yet another fabulous dinner! Just in the little dive half a block from the hotel - packed of course being Saturday night, and throbbing, great food, happy ambience. It seemed to feature food from the Auvergne and Aubrac area, where we walked in 2015, and featured aligot (the amazing mash which is half butter and half cheese) and wine and meat from there. We started with aligot croquettes, then Amr had his usual beef tartare, and I had grilled octopus on the textured mash (must have a serious discussion with Paul about this!) and we shared a crème brûlée…perfect. A half litre of house red rounded it off.

    Have to mention that on a blackboard they offered 1 kg of beef to share for €69, we noticed it and laughed (and thought of Paul) and then the table next to us ordered it (the 3 boofy boys shared it, the 2 girls daintily ate burgers)…all so tightly squeezed in a small space, you are quite intimate with your neighbours. Funny. Now off to bed.    Read more

  • TravelerOne More Camino in Spain 2023
    24
    Day 6

    Sunday in Paris

    April 2, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    A really cold day today…no rain, but cloudy and mostly single figure temperatures. I wore all my layers, but walked with a spring in my step…quite invigorating! We emerged seeking breakfast and found today was the Paris marathon!! More than 70,000 people running through the city, via all the famous landmarks…great for us, as many roads closed off which is great for pedestrians - no cars - though getting on the other side of the runners can be a problem…like trying to get through the traffic in Cairo!!

    So we didn’t have a specific plan for the morning, just walked along to the Tuileries, then popped into shops when we needed a thaw from the cold! Wandered into UniQlo, always fun, and Galeries Lafayette in the food hall where we bought and ate a baguette ham sandwich.

    Our only commitment was a tour of the Opera Garnier at 2pm. This is the original, traditional building in Place de l’Opera, and we have never seen inside. The newer, modern Bastille Opera seems to be the main venue for opera (where we saw Rigoletto last visit) so were excited to view the interior of this older rather majestic building. We went to our favourite café nearby, l’Entracte, for a warm up and drink - hot chocolate for me and wine for Amr - till 2pm. The tour was excellent…actually seeing the interior was the amazing part, totally OTT decorated, built for people to socialise - to see be seen - in the late 1800s - the opera then was secondary! Sort of beautiful, but a bit over ornate for me…the round ceiling painting was replaced by Chagall rather than repairing the original…a bit out of sync with the rest of the decor, but rather good!

    Then we walked all the way back - clocked up about 14 kms today - and got back to the hotel to meet Carole and John!! Great to meet up…we went to a very noisy bar for a drink (Le Tiny Cafe) which Amr had been curious to try, then on to a slightly quieter bistro for a meal. All good, and fairly early as of course C and J are totally jet lagged just off the plane with a 9 hour time change, but holding up fine. Tomorrow is John’s 80th birthday!! Such fun.    Read more

  • TravelerOne More Camino in Spain 2023
    21
    Day 7

    A productive, satisfying and sunny day!

    April 3, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Today is John’s 80th birthday!! He is a no fuss person, and they have had family celebrations before they left, but we want to make things good for him today…! They both had a good sleep last night, and felt ready to take on the world this morning. But our first decision was what to do about the strike on Thursday, which is the day we have tickets on the TGV down to Bayonne. The media remains silent, but we and everyone knows Thursday will be a chaos day when nothing is working, so we decided to go to the ticket office at Montparnasse station and try to swap to Wednesday. We tried online with no success, so stood in line and waited for ages with a numbered ticket (like sitting in a Medicare or Centrelink office waiting your turn)…While waiting, Amr was bored as he could get no reception on his phone (even though I could on mine!) so he started fiddling on the self serve computers in the room, and put our booking number in and got our journey and names etc up, and requested a change and managed to find a train on Wednesday, leaving at 10am which is perfect, and swapped us on to that!! There were many trains that were “complet”, so very lucky! And the machine printed out new tickets, and no charge!!! So he quickly did the same for Carole and John, and we are even sitting next to each other!! That was the train to Bordeaux…we had separate tickets from Bordeaux to Bayonne, not a TGV (that was the best we could find when we originally booked) and couldn’t get the machine to do that, but by then our number was finally called and a very nice man organised the last leg for us, and we are set to leave Paris before everything shuts down - metro, trains, buses…phew! And we are so happy to have an extra day in Bayonne, and we have organised the extra night with the hotel there…so happy, and relieved, as Easter was going to be complicated anyway…Amr gets huge accolades for making that big change ….!

    So with light hearts we set off to enjoy Paris, a beautiful sunny day - cool but gorgeous. Got the metro back to St Michel area had a little refreshment at a cafe, and walked round Notre Dame, still so much work to do, but they are faithfully and meticulously restoring the beautiful cathedral. Then we walked back a little along that end of rue de Rivoli near Les Halles and went to book Chez Denise for dinner tomorrow night…all they could offer was 10.30 pm!! And tonight totally booked, so we changed plan and got a booking for tomorrow lunch at 2pm…perfect…John and I just love their menu as among many other yum things they have tripe, liver, kidneys!!! So we will be happy.

    Another stop for refreshment (actually I had an onion soup, felt hungry) but the others had drinks…Then we kept walking along the streets, got the metro back to Bastille and walked along the raised walkway we had discovered last time in October 2021…it goes for about 4 kms from Bastille to Bois de Vincennes, and so pretty…it was lovely in autumn, and equally gorgeous in spring - so different, the leaves just appearing, and the fruit blossoms out.

    Now back at the hotel for R and R, dinner at another local bistro across the road at 7.30.

    …back from dinner. Really good. We started with a cheese and charcuterie board, then Amr and John had a gravelax dish and Carole and I had scallops with carrots and an orange sauce…delicious, but SO many carrots!!! Even Ted would be stumped I think! I did quite a good job and almost finished them, with a bit of help from Amr! Altogether a great day.    Read more

  • TravelerOne More Camino in Spain 2023
    11
    Day 8

    April in Paris - our last day here

    April 4, 2023 in France

    Another glorious day - cold, cloudless and everything sparkling! We assembled after breakfast and just walked at will …our first destination was the Jardin des Plantes, as this is Carole’s particular interest, and it is a beautiful place to wander. Sadly the huge greenhouses were closed on Tuesdays, but we had fun anyway. Then nearby we found an old Roman site that Amr had read about and we had never heard of…remains of an amphitheater…right in the heart of Paris!

    From there we walked across to rue Mouffetard, always delightful with so many varied eateries and fromageries, patisseries, poissoneries, and every food you could imagine. We sat in a cafe there in the sun. Then on via the beautiful church St Étienne du Mont, the Pantheon, down rue St Jacques (with all the Camino markers in the pavement leading to Notre Dame) to Blvd St Germain to the square with the markets, and food shops where the winning croissant shop is, and surrounded by gorgeous apartment buildings. All bright and shining in the fabulous weather!

    We had our lunch booking for 2pm, so we meandered along the river to the Point Neuf, via Place Dauphine, which so transformed from when Amr and I had a drink last week inside a bar because it was cold and wet and grey outside…today all the outside tables were occupied and people just sitting and relaxing on benches! Lunch at Chez Denise was as good as ever. Never has it let us down. Amr had beef tongue, John had calves liver, Carole had salmon with a mustard sauce and I had lamb with white beans which we have had before and I couldn’t resist. Was very tempted with the kidney dish, and also there were lamb brains which I love, but the man next to us had it and it just looked such a huge helping that I resisted, as I couldn’t count on anyone else to help me!! Very, very good, and we all shared an île flottante for dessert! So we have eaten for the day!

    After lunch we parted company - J and C walked back to Bastille, and Amr and I walked further along, through the Tuileries, similarly transformed in the sunny day, with people enjoying sitting in the chairs round the ponds…got as far as Concorde and got the Metro back. Downtime now, and we meet up at 7 for maybe a drink, but not to eat…    Read more

  • TravelerOne More Camino in Spain 2023
    Day 9

    Grateful to be in Bayonne!

    April 5, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    We are now in Bayonne and very happy. Our TGV to Bordeaux left on time and zoomed down with no stops…got to Bordeaux at 12.15, a beautiful sunny day and a little warmer than Paris. We had 3 hours till our regional train left for Bayonne, so we sat in a nearby cafe and had lunch…all perfect!

    Then at 3pm we found our platform and sat in the train for Bayonne, and 5 minutes before we would leave there was an announcement to leave the train and evacuate the station! Apparently a bomb threat, so everyone in the station on all trains was herded out, and further and further up the little streets and alleys round the station….actually we were happy that we had got to Bordeaux without mishap, and we feel sure that there would have been disruption tomorrow, our original booking, but now we had to hang round, sit in the gutter and wait till they declared the place safe in about 2 and half hours! Great cheer when we were finally let back, and we rushed back to our train, even though it had been disappeared from the departure board, and thank goodness…we got seats, and eventually it left, with all the extra people who would have wanted later trains, and people sitting in the aisles and crammed in!

    By Bayonne many had left and we finally arrived here just after 8 (instead of 5.20) but it was still light, it hadn’t been rainy etc…could have been worse! So now all settled in our hotel and looking forward to 5 days here over Easter. We went over the river and had dinner and chilled, and now about to crash!    Read more

  • TravelerOne More Camino in Spain 2023
    2
    Day 10

    Perfect day in Bayonne

    April 6, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    What a lovely day! Weather gorgeous and the town alive and sparkling. I don’t think I mentioned before that we have arrived just at the time of the Foire au Jambon - the ham festival…a weird coincidence as last time, in October 2021, it was also the annual ham festival…but now realise that in 2021 it was probably postponed from April till October because of covid? That is my theory…anyway, what a bonus, as the place buzzes, and it is all about jambon- the ham like prosciutto, not like what we have in sandwiches!

    Today is also the day of the strike, which is why we avoided the train journey today, and there was a loud and long march through the town at about 10.30, protesting about the retirement age changes…but after that I suspect the marchers went on to join in the ham festivities! We all went to the centre where there are stalls of so many ham producers are showing off their wares…from all around this region. Today is the first day - it continues over the weekend, but today they selected the winning ham of the year.

    After that excitement, we wandered separately to explore. So happy that Bayonne is showing off so beautifully for Carole and John who haven’t been here before. Amr and I had fun strolling around - checked out the beautiful cathedral (world heritage site) and cloisters, I had a lemon sugar crepe and we had a drink at a busy bar where there were quite a lot of people dressed in traditional Basque dress, and playing music and singing, all for the festival. Bayonne is French of course, but also Basque with many signs bilingual, and even a touch of Spanish which is very close…they are very conscious of being a special region! And it is!

    After a spell of afternoon downtime and reading kindles in a pretty park by the river, we had an early (7pm) dinner. Delicious trout, and John had pork. And we started with pimientos padron and croquettes - our favourite Camino tapas!! All is lovely.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English