Stage 9: Najera to Santo Domingo

An easy-breezy walk today--13 miles, gentle hills, wide paths/farm roads. Clear sunny day and little shade so we were plenty sweaty by the end.

You know you're walking in the right direction (west) in the morning when you see your shadow.

We skipped a formal breakfast and stopped first for an orange juice in Azofra and then for a sandwich at a golf club (!) in Ciruena, a sad ghost town where rows of apartment buildings have sat empty and uncared for, presumably since the housing bubble burst in 2008. Felt like a sci-fi movie set. Not sure how the golf club stays in business, except perhaps by welcoming pilgrims to its restaurant.

Met local kitties and more pilgrims along the way, including a woman architect from France who speaks five languages, is very involved in a Catholic social services organization and will be having an audience with the Pope on her way home to Paris next week. Feeling like I've got some work to do!

We passed a few fields of dead/dying sunflowers. Not sure what that's about. One theory suggests it's an economic opportunity since the Ukraine/Russia war began. Apparently that is where most of Europe's sunflower seed oil comes from. Have no idea if that's true. Someone please research it and let me know!

Apart from that I'm not sure what to say about San Domingo. It's a lovely town. Honestly they're all starting to look alike. Didn't go into the cathedral because we were too cheap to pay the admission fee. And besides, we've seen some pretty beautiful churches already. Now we're off to get us a proper dinner.Read more