Walk to Logrono

Today's long walk was not as interesting as the two evenings that flanked it. After posting last night we went down for dinner and learned that there was a festival going on outside our tiny hotel. The festival involved a boy's handball game, the cutting down of a tree, and some homemade sausages which a local shared with us. That was a big deal in a town of 49 and it was wonderful to see.

When we arrived in Lograno today, the first day of its annual wine festival was underway. Huge crowds, and as we enjoyed tapas, a parade of drum line bands. Really fun to watch.

In between those two events was a 17-mile walk that included vineyards, olive groves and a lunch stop in Viana just as church let out. We are now in the Rioja region and the wine is not only delicious but ridiculously affordable. We had two wines and two tortillas (dinner) for 6 euro (less than $7)!

A couple other funky pitstops are pictured, including a stand where a woman carries on a Family tradition selling food and trinkets and offers a pilgrim stamp that says Figs, Water and Love.

We saw fewer pilgrims en route but still managed to run into familiar faces once in the big city (despite the crowds!). Also met Robert and Lenora from Seattle, who have done several pilgrimages here and elsewhere (like Japan) and had a quicker pace than us despite being well into their 70s.

One final note: the doors in these medieval cities are so beautiful. Wish I had started taking pics of them sooner. I now want a door with a knob in the middle, and maybe a sliding, have-fun-storming-the-castle-type slot on top!Read more