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El Camino de Santiago

Juli - August 2023
Ein 18-Tage Abenteuer von Juan2go Weiterlesen
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  • ReisenderEl Camino de Santiago
    Tag 14

    Santiago de Compostela

    13. August 2023 in Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 77 °F

    We have officially ended our pilgrimage at the Plaza in front of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It was a bittersweet reaction with a set of mixed emotions for both of us. The plaza was full of pilgrims coming from the multiple Caminos leading to Santiago de Compostela. There we saw a few of the pilgrims/families that we met along the way.

    We connect again with the profesor from Toledo and his family which we had shared the dinner table a few days earlier in Melide. The girls wanted to go to Burgerking as they were tired of eating squid so many times. 😍 After a well deserved nap, we attended the 7:30pm pilgrims mass.

    We went out and had dinner, attended a musical comparsas gathering and listened to a group of Spaniard sing and dance to local songs. At night, the túnel where we came into the plaza earlier was transformed into a concert hall. There were different style of music being played around the cathedral until the late hours of the morning.

    Next day we walked around town admiring the history of Spanish architecture like the cathedral that was originally built in 1211.

    Yes, we ate a lot too. It doesn’t matter how much you eat here in El Camino, you more likely burn those calories as soon you are out from the restaurant. You will either be going up or down the hill but surely you will be doing both.

    The Cathedral is amazingly beautiful inside and out and that is all I am going to say. I am not going to spoil your future visit. That experience is for each individual to assess. These are holy grounds…

    The experience walking with Nick was very memorable and fun. I hope one day he had the opportunity to share it with his future family(and talk about the hill where I almost kill my self). This is funny now but wasn’t then..

    We have make our final hotel reservations for Madrid and will be flying from Santiago since there are no cars to rent, or train and I rather spent my time walking in Madrid than riding a 9 hour bus. Yes, more walking.. So far over 138 miles…    Weiterlesen

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  • ReisenderEl Camino de Santiago
    Tag 13

    Arzua to O’Pedrouzo

    12. August 2023 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    Today we walked 12 miles from Azura to O’Pedrouzo. In the last three days we have seen an increase count of people showing their bandages, etc. Tendinitis has been the most common complaints and the pharmacy had a brand new large box of knee braces.

    Today is our 8th day of El Camino de Santiago plus all the walking in between that we did in Pamplona, Leon, and Lugo. So, for the most part we have overcome the initial shock to the body. And of course, prior preparation helps. I would suggest to anyone coming to El Camino to prepare the body for the ponding beforehand. One thing I would do differently would be a different pair of shoes. More to come on that.

    Today we saw a family with a wagon with 3 children under 9 years old. At one point mom was breast feeding the youngerone maybe 1 year old. You be the judge(see video). So dad is pulling and mom is pushing the wagon. I would say, the trail from Sarria to Santiago is easygoing in comparison to the Pyrenees trail still it has some challenges if you are pushing a wagon. This section of El Camino de Santiago is the most popular of all the Caminos.

    We also saw another cyclists couple with dad pulling the cart behind the bike carrying a child. We used to have one of these when Nick was a toddler.

    El Camino de Santiago has been in my bucket list for awhile now, and since I am not getting any younger, I need to do it sooner than later. There are many reasons you would chose to do El Camino and there will be many things you learn about yourself and life in general in El Camino. You may not be able to solve all the problems of the world but you learn to understand them and in some cases hold your convictions and reject them. There in only one you in this world, you are who you are from day one, and that cannot be changed.

    As the day goes on, all I can thing is how awesome this journey with my son Nick has been. I am sad that is coming to the end. Tomorrow, we have 11 miles to go, so we are getting up really early to complete our last day of this pilgrimage and walk into the plaza of the Cathedral of Santiago by around 11:30am, refresh and find ourselves a spot on the noon pilgrims mass along with the many acquaintances we have made along the way. I am anticipating a few mix of emotions..    Weiterlesen

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  • ReisenderEl Camino de Santiago
    Tag 12

    Melide to Arzua

    11. August 2023 in Spanien ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    Up later than usual this morning have breakfast, visit our friends in the pharmacy, got some expectorant for my cough and out on the trail we went. This morning we were going at a moderate pace until we joined a group and started talking and walking at their pace.

    In every town, right of the bat you have a hill to climb to get you warmed up. I cannot described it but in every section of El Camino you discover the beauty of the Galicia region and it comes in multiple flavors, the the nature, the people, the relaxed state of mind of people from all over the world, the Spanish culture, etc. For now, we are just taking it all in and enjoying the walk.

    Definitely, to do El Camino you most have the courage and the commitment to walk all the way, collecting your stamps on El Camino passport along the way and not getting intimidated by the effort, because it take an effort to get through it all.    Weiterlesen

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  • ReisenderEl Camino de Santiago
    Tag 11

    Palas del Rei to Melide

    10. August 2023 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    I would say, bring your appetite when you come to Spain. We are eating like never before. From Caldo Gallego, tons of bread with it, delicious pastries, espresso coffee, pulpo, croquetas, patatas, you name it. El Camino gets you hungry. We have met people in El Camino and later see them again and again, at the albergue or hotel, at the restaurants, etc. Some of those who started from Sarria are continuing to Arzua 17 miles away, however we need to slow the pace and stay in Melide to used it as a recovery day. Melide is known by the Spaniard as the best place to eat squid(pulpo) in Spain.

    However, before eating we need to stop by the pharmacy to get a second knee brace and an ankle brace for Nick. Nick did not had the opportunity to walk and get in some conditioning before making this trip due to the studying requirements for his Bar exams. So he jumped from book work to walking over 125 miles by the time we get to Santiago de Compostela. So far, we have walked 98.6 miles. We have 52 kilometers to go and there is a lot of walking to go places once we get to our destination.

    Today we met again with the three Italian families, the two guys from Rome, and the Italian family. At lunch, we met a professor, his wife and two young daughters. They shared the large picnic type table were we stuffed our self on squid, caldo gallego, chorizo, croquetas, 4 cañas (beers) each and a 2 litters of water each. Yes, we were hungry and dehydrated. The we went for iced cream. We are consuming about 5 to 6. litters of water per day each. Where in the Pyrenees was colder and wet, here in Galicia the weather is a bit warmer and sunny.

    One of the coolest thing we did today was to walked through a hurd of about 16 cows walking through El Camino in the opposite direction. We stopped first for a second and I said “Hola” to call the farmers attention.. He said “Pasen, pasen”.. Some of these cows were quite large. Nick went first with the camera recording the encounter. All I am thinking is about becoming a matador NOT Ole for me here.. Lol.

    Tonight, we went easy on the food and drank 2 letters of water before bed, and you know what that means. I did sleep soundly in between.. :0    Weiterlesen

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  • ReisenderEl Camino de Santiago
    Tag 10

    Puertomarin to Palas del Rei

    9. August 2023 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F

    Nick has been concerned about my attitude “El Camino will provide”. So he is now taking on calling hotels, Pensiones, Albergues and anything in between. He do not want to sleep under the stars. This week we got caught with a wave of people, and families from all over the world that we have met making the pilgrimage this week. Hence, the availability of rooms near the path of El Camino are all booked. We are trying to minimize the colateral walking. Some Pensiones and Hotels located off the path offer transportation where they get you and bring you back to El Camino trail.

    We walked for 9.5 hours today. We are a set of broken bones held together by our commitment to finish El Camino de Santiago. This route is not difficult on a fresh body, but miles and miles are beginning to accumulate. The say that the body will adjust, we are waiting for the to happen.

    I have been limping for a while from pain in the bottom of my feet and my left hip is beginning to tell me that is there.. My main concern is the coughing that is progressing. I am having some losenges(whatever spells) to help with the cough. Nick’s knees are not in good shape. Today, a group of Spaniard ladies, one of them offered to help. She reached behind the knee and two/three fingers down and Nick jumped. She then started massaging the area and it offered relief for about 10 minutes, but we’re about two miles away. So he sucked it all up and continued. We have a few tough day in front of us but we are determined…    Weiterlesen

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  • ReisenderEl Camino de Santiago
    Tag 9

    Sarria to Puertomarin

    8. August 2023 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F

    Is early in the morning and we feel we were the last leaving Sarria today we soon got into our marching rhythm and three miles into it we stated passing people of all ages and from all over the world. You knew everyone had a smile in the faces and politely we told each othe “Buen Camino” as we passed by. Our first phase of El Camino was at time lonely due to the fact the you were crazy or somehow crazy to go walking across the Pyrenees.

    Here, Sarria is the minimum distance to be able to acquire the Compostela certificate. Specially in august where everyone in EU are on vacation. I have never seen a stranger, we met people the we saw in Lugo, at the many restaurants in Sarria and on the street of this small town.

    As we walked we saw this all lady walking up hill she answered back is whispering sound “ Buen Camino”. Sarria to Puertomarin was a difficult section since we have no fully recovered from the Pyrenees. We may not recover at all since we continue to pile up more salt to the injuries..

    We have made so many notes in the trip to write a few books. Will see..    Weiterlesen

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  • ReisenderEl Camino de Santiago
    Tag 8

    Lugo / Sarria

    7. August 2023 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    We reached Sarria Sunday evening. We easily found a hotel an went and had dinner. Restaurants do not open for business until 8:00pm, so be ready to eat late in Spain.

    The next day we were still dealing with blisters so decided to spend another night in Sarria. We were informed that there wasn’t a room available so we moved to the Alfonso Noveno hotel. We dropped off our bags and then drove 30 minutes to the city of Lugo to return the rental vehicle. Lugo city center is a beautiful old city built by the Romans and it is sorounded by this tall stone walls. We walk through the main gate an wondered around the city. Walked into El Camino de Pedro coffee shop and was helped by the owner, a woman from Honduras who had immigrated to Spain 15 years ago. We had some interesting conversations with her about her own journey.

    We walked around the city and over the Roman’s walls were we had the opportunity to walk through ancient history.

    After a 30 minutes buss ride, we were back to Sarria. Nick wanted to eat pasta that night so we visited a very charming restaurant called ”Roma 1930”. Instead of pasta, we end up sharing the biggest T-Bone stake in our lives. There, we were introduced to “Chupitos”, a local liquor made of grasses of coffee. We had two of each and we were set for the night. Of course we had to walk a kilometer to get to the hotel 🥹    Weiterlesen

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  • ReisenderEl Camino de Santiago
    Tag 7

    Driving across northern Spain

    6. August 2023 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    We started the phase 2 of our trip resting and recovering from the blister and muscle that we didn’t know we had. Going downhill is draining and for the most part, El Camino downhill sections are rocky, with sharp incline and very long.

    La Ciudadela in Pamplona is very charming and beautiful. It seems to me that people are running on a slower clock and it takes a few days to adjust to that lifestyle.

    A lesson learn is to make sure you are flexible with your schedule at least when vacationing in Spain during the month of august. For the most part the entire European Union is on vacation during this time. For us, we lost a day due to no train availability to move a cross northern Spain. I had to spent $50 on an expedited international driver license so we could rent a car. There were no cars available on Sunday other than a cargo van.

    So we ventured on a Toyota cargo van. 75€ in diesel and rolled out of Pamplona around 11:30am. On our first stop we immediately realized we didn’t know how to engage the van in reverse. So while I drove Nick was watching YouTube videos until we figured it out. Wow, that was a headache.

    We reached Leon by 2:30pm and had lunch and visited the cathedral the center of town. We then continued to Sarria since the Lugo’s car rental office would be closed.

    It was a bit challenging with a manual transmission cargo van with limited side vision when goin in reverse. In these small towns, do not trust google maps that’s all i am going to say. We had a delicious dinner and spent the night at a hotel in Sarria. We started to realize the limited availability of hotels.    Weiterlesen

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  • ReisenderEl Camino de Santiago
    1
    Tag 5

    Pamplona

    4. August 2023 in Spanien ⋅ 🌬 68 °F

    Pamplona Spain 08/04/2023
    We are surprised of the cost of food so far. We had a 3 course meal with a large bottle of water and two bottles of wine for 41 euros together. You will not find that in Texas or perhaps Mississippi for the matter.

    We are at a boutique historic hotel in “El Casco antiguo de Pamplona” the old historic center of Pamplona. It reminds me El Viejo San Juan in Puerto Rico. Pebble stone narrow streets with shops and tons of tapas bars and restaurants and tons of people.

    The church bells rings on the hours is a common sound in Pamplona. Is like all are coordinated 30 seconds apart and you hear the bells ringing for almost 5 minutes nonstop.

    We visited the pharmacy and bought some medicine to treat Nick’s feet blisters and then we took a short walk to the busy area where the tapas and other restaurants were located. We ran into the Canadian couple who we met in the last water break before the pick of the Pyrenees and later through the suicidal hill drop where I almost killed myself. We talked for a bit and follow their recommendations for dinner.

    Everyone that suffered through El Camino has been very kind and friendly. Every time you see each others is a huge and a kiss in both cheeks like you have known them for ever.. In a way, it is sad that we may not see them ever again but their memories remain of a shared portion of “El Camino de Santiago” Francés..

    Live goes on. Tomorrow all the friends we have made along the way (the British father and son, as the Hungarian also father and son, the Italian family, the Croatian couple, the Canadian couple, the three American girls, Helen the British pink shirt lady, the tow French girls, the Priest, the French family, the cyclists Spaniard couple and many more wonderful people the we have met are moving on to their next phase of El Camino de Santiago. Some are going all the way to Santiago de Compostela and others just through their custom respective routes.

    This the end of our first phase of El Camino. So far we have walked 49 total miles. The second phase is the recovery phase by staying an extra day in Pamplona. We will commute to Leon and then Triacastela where the next 79 miles 10 days challenge awaits..    Weiterlesen

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  • ReisenderEl Camino de Santiago
    Tag 5

    Zubiri to Pamplona Spain

    4. August 2023 in Spanien ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    Zubiri to Pamplona 08/04/2023
    At this point, every muscle of my body hurts. Even thinking hurts. After 4 hours of sleep, we were back on the trail at 7:30am for another 6 hours walk to Pamplona. My feet and knees are swelling considerably and Nick has some mega blisters. I have a couple of them but but manageable for the most part, at least nothing has become infected. We ventured out hoping we will get something to eat in the next village like we have done before but we realized later that was a mistake.

    As we were hitting the path, we passed this tall mystical person, he seems to be a Priest, he had a green rain cover with a cross and an emblem/patch attached to the rain coat, square glasses, had not shaved in a few days like me. He was slow moving but steady and consistent.

    Time move fast or slow in El Camino but you have to keep walking and thinking and solving all the world problems, a few “Hail Mary” for inspiration are required. El Camino will hit you hard regardless your physical condition. These was the third 16 miles day.

    After a very long climb through some tall grasses, we got to the top of the hill and I looked backwards and saw this mystical man looking down and moving forward. I waved at him to call his attention. We saw this mystic person 3 or 4 times again along the way. Somehow he kept catching up with us. He was a tank moving through with nothing that would stop him.

    We walked 6 kilometers and found someone trying to communicate with a local elderly man about a place to eat, I clearly understood what the man was saying and translated in English to the Croatian couple. He was saying all these villages from here to Pamplona are small of about 100 residents and there are no food. At that point we looked at each other and said let’s keep pushing forward. It was raining and cold but was better than having the sun on your backs. I had 1.5 liter’s of water and Nick had two. In our minds that was enough to make it to Pamplona.

    Later we met another gentleman Doctors Cesar, an anesthesiologist from El Paso Texas, an Israeli couple, the two French girls, the 3 old ladies from Spain, 4 super heroes in to one young man that was killing it, 5 horses , six cows and many other peregrines walking along the path. I may be composing a new Christmas song. Get it? El Camino brings people from all over the world but definitely they walk a lot more in their daily lives than we do in the USA.

    We agreed that all the kilometer’s marking along the path are incorrect. 😎😎 Just a way to said you will get there. There in no easy pass to Pamplona, it is all down hill “NOT” but walking 16 miles a day is brutal regardless. We reached Pamplona by 1:30 pm local time.    Weiterlesen

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