Day 10: San Mateo Festival in Logroño

I’m happy I was able to spend an extra day here to enjoy the festival. While I didn’t get to see any grape stomping 😭, I still got to experience a little of the culture here. I loved seeing all the multi-generational families celebrating together. I went to a wine and tapas tasting at the Espolon, the main park in the old town, and had some delicious snacks and wine. I spent a couple of hours just wandering around, watching the parades and musical performances. I needed to do laundry, so I found a lavenderia where I met a fellow pilgrim from California named Susan. She and I chatted while we did our laundry, then decided to meet back up in the evening. We walked over to the bull ring, but weren’t able to get tickets for the bull fights so we just walked along the river back to the old town and found a place to eat. It was around 7:30 and we learned that we couldn’t get dinner anywhere until 8:30 PM at the earliest. There is great food in Spain, but it can be a challenge to get a meal sometimes. I tend to arrive in a town in the afternoon when everything is closed for siesta and I’m usually hungry then. I can sometimes find a snack or at least a Spanish tortilla, but I’m usually too tired to wait up for their late dinner hour. It seems that people stay up pretty late here and things tend to open after 10 in the mornings The pace of life is actually really nice in Spain, but I’m just not used to the hours they keep. Last night, the music didn’t stop until around 5 AM! Thank goodness for my earplugs!
I also met up with some pilgrims that Grace and I met our first day in France at the start of the Camino. We’ve actually stayed at a couple of the same places so we’ve gotten to know them a little bit. They all served in the Navy together and now they’re retired and doing the Camino. How cool is that?
Today was a holiday, but I think things open back up tomorrow, so hopefully the music won’t go all night again and I’ll get a good sleep. I have a pretty short walk tomorrow, only about 13 km, so I’m planning on a late start. I’m actually slowing down quite a bit for the next couple of weeks because Amy isn’t meeting me until October 13 in Léon so I have plenty of time to get there.Read more