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    • Camino de Santiago (Frances)
      132
      Day 18

      Rest day in Logroño

      September 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

      What a treat to wake up and not have to put on the backpack and head out. I couldn't rally last night to go to the famous Calle Laurel for a tapas crawl so we're doing it twice today, first at lunch then for late dinner.

      Our hotel has a great breakfast spread of ham, chorizo, salchichón, cheeses, breads and eggs however you'd like. We stuffed our faces and then went out to explore. We walked along the Gran Via which reminded me of the downtown San Francisco of my youth; relatively clean, modern and lots of shops. We toured a couple of churches then headed to Calle Laurel to sample some tapas. The area wasn't very crowded at lunchtime which was fine by us. I had to try the mushrooms at Bar Soriano I had heard so much about...yum. Other standouts were the torreznos (fried pork belly), patatas bravas, and the creamy tarta de queso (slightly underbaked, crustless cheesecake). Most of these places specialize in one dish so you eat that and move on to the next place. Shops started closing at 1:30 and reopen about 5pm. The restaurants close about 3pm and reopen about 7:30. So we went back to our room for siesta time.

      The tapas bars slowly started opening at 7:30pm and were in full swing at 8:30pm. Who are we having dinner this late?! It was a little more crowded but we always had plenty of space.

      Now were getting ready to hit the trail tomorrow.      Read more

    • TravelerCamino Frances
      1
      1
      Day 10

      Day 6 Estella to Sansol

      April 24 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 41 °F

      Estella to Azqueta to Villamayor de Monjardin to Los Arcos to Sansol. 18 miles in 7 hours. 41,641 steps. Started this walk in the dark at 6:20 am. Also did most of my walk looking like an unhomed person with my still wet laundry pinned to my backpack. Just one of the realities of the Camino. Still not much open in smaller towns on a Monday, so I was starving by the time I reached Sansol - and had a 4 hour wait until the only dinner in town. Hilly in the first half, and then pretty flat but very dusty. Lots of grape vines, olive trees and poppies today. I’m really living the poppies and badly want to pick some. Oh - and artichoke fields, which I’ve never seen before. Passed the Irache Vineyard (a big one in Spain), where they have a wine spigot for the pilgrims. I stuck to the water spigot. Based on the amount of wine getting dumped or spit out, seems like I made the better choice. Can’t imagine they are putting their best wine out for free. Visited an incredible iron workshop, where the artist was hard at work on a sculpture. If I didn’t have to carry, a large bull sculpture would have been coming home with. I never knew such fine detail could be done in iron.
      Stayed at the Palacio de Sansol, a restored palace from the 1200’s. A retired professor had grown up there and dreamed of restoring it for himself and pilgrims to use. Bought it for 30,000 euro and invested 1 million euro over 7 years. Lived in it for a year before he died. Now his son runs it. Our communal dinner was supposedly what the professor ate every night. Artichoke and jamon soup, followed by tortilla de potates and yogurt. It was good, but I would say the boredom of that meal might have been what did him in. Served by a woman who looked like my Aunt Cathy, and made me eat three bowls of soup. I didn’t dare say no even though two was quite enough. I fixed the broken washing machine door, so I was quite the hero and got to use the dryer for free. Which appeared to also be broken since my clothes were still damp after 1.5 hours. Fortunately the radiator was really hot and did the trick. Again, the glamour of backpack life.      Read more

    • TravelerCamino 2019
      1
      11
      Day 9

      Logroño

      August 30, 2019 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

      Nach der Nacht im marrokanischen Hostel sind wir recht früh los, um der größten Hitze zu entgehen. Ich habe ein Hostel mit Waschmaschine und Trockner ausgesucht (=Wäsche läuft), ein ägyptisches Kebap gegessen und jetzt gibt's Siesta. Tolle Stadt, wie so oft wie ein Schauplatz aus Game Of Thrones.Read more

    • TravelerCamino de Santiago
      1
      11
      Day 12

      Torres del Rio to Logrono 22km 6 hrs

      September 16, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

      We seem to be picking up our pace, perhaps we are finally getting into a walking groove. The weather was perfect, overcast to start the day and when the sun did come out there was a beautiful breeze to keep us cool. Today we enter wine country, Rioja region. We passed through vineyards and olive tree groves. The smell of wild fennel growing is delicious! Again we started in the dark and surprisingly there were little biting bugs that were so annoying. Not sure if they were mosquitos or more like black flies. They disappeared once the sun came up. We came across our little cafe along the path which provided some much needed refreshments. We stopped in Viana for more food…we are hungry today. A delicious tortilla and cafe con leche. We walked a bit today with Femka from Holland but who lives in Spain and Emma and Callum, brother and sister from Australia.
      We are in Logrono for the night, where it is the beginning of a week long Rioja wine festival. When we entered the city, it was mind boggling to see the city streets filled with people singing and dancing and drinking and dressed in their regional colours. It was tough to navigate the streets to find our albergue. We are now having a siesta before going out to join the festivities….we can faintly hear the music from our room….hopefully we sleep tonight.      Read more

    • Jörg HörnleinSeis semanas en España
      Day 10

      Streifzug am Nachmittag

      April 23 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

      Heute war irgendwie ein „Keine Lust haben“ Tag. Das hat schon morgens angefangen, als ich den Rollo hochgezogen hab, bedeckter Himmel und ziemlich kühl. So ein Sch…, wo ist die Sonne?
      Die Motivation am Vormittag in die Stadt zu gehen, tendiert gegen null. Dann frühstücke ich ganz in Ruhe, setze ich mich dann hin und lerne noch Spanisch. Das geht so lange, bis ich wieder keine Lust hab. Na gut, ist sowieso Zeit fürs Mittagessen. Den Rest Linsen mit viel Gemüse aufgepeppt und weg damit. Dann kam ein bisschen die Sonne raus und meine Motivation kam auch wieder zum Vorschein. Warm angezogen und auf in die Stadt um noch ein paar schöne Motive zu fotografieren. Nachdem es wieder angefangen hat zu regnen, hab ich ein nettes überdachtes Strassencafé gesucht und auch gefunden. Auf dem Rückweg bin ich noch mal in den Mercado San Blas gegangen aber leider war da noch nichts oder nichts mehr los, ich weiß es nicht. In einem kleinen Obstladen hat mir eine Ananas zugeflüstert: „Kauf mich“. Da konnte ich nicht widerstehen und hab sie mitgenommen. Mit der „Beute“ unterm Arm ging’s wieder zurück zum Womo.
      Weiter geht’s wie immer: Essen, lernen, Essen kochen, Wein trinken die ganze “rutina diaría” halt…
      Morgen früh geht’s ein paar Kilometer weiter nach Haro.
      Eso es todo por hoy.      Read more

      See translation
    • Barb and AlanCamino de Santiago
      31
      Day 119

      Logroño

      June 28, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

      We have officially walked 100 miles now!!! We left just before daybreak and enjoyed a much cooler morning as we left Los Arcos behind. Today’s walk took us up and over many hills which gave our legs quite a workout. We are definitely in wine country now with vineyards next to us much of the way. We left the Navarra province of Spain and entered the La Rioja, which is a province and autonomous community in northern Spain with a renowned local wine industry.

      A wonderful part of doing the Camino is getting to know all of the people who are walking around the same speed as us. There is a group of us who seem to be staying in the same towns. Each morning all of us leave at different times and throughout the our walk we catch some, get passed by others, and it seems we all meet up during breaks and at the end. We had an enjoyable break in Viana today with Joshua (from San Francisco) Adam and his mom (from Slovenia), Noel (from Austin, Texas), and the four Spanish women we shared a room with. Noel used the street in front of the cafe to teach Adam the Cupid Shuffle to the delight of all of us. 🙂

      We felt great walking today until we had about 4 miles to go. Man! My feet got tired at the end. We ended up walking 18 miles by the time we got to our room, BUT we have our OWN room AND our OWN bathroom 🚽. 🙂👍🏻The bonus is it is also air conditioned, and we are enjoying that as we prepare our packs for tomorrow.

      Our routine each day is pretty simple now:
      1. Walk
      2. Get our beds
      3. Take a shower
      4. Wash clothes by hand then hang to dry
      5. Check out town/surroundings
      6. Eat (sometimes eating is first before checking things out)
      7. Buys snacks for next day’s hike
      8. Gather dry clothes
      9. Get backpacks ready to go for next day
      10. Go to bed 🛏 (add pictures and write about the day before sleeping)
      11. Repeat

      Tonight, we walked through Logroño ‘s beautiful cathedral...each church we go in seems to get more amazing. Logroño is quite large compared to most places we have stopped, and besides the plaza and cathedral, we won’t be able to really see much. Rest and sleep are more important. We plan to go all the way to Nájera tomorrow...another 17-18 miles.

      Nothing major bothering our bodies so far. Alan has a foot that bothers him mainly in the morning...Seems to be a nerve thing, we think. Some of the others in our group have been dealing with blisters. I hope we continue to avoid them.      Read more

    • TravelerCamino de Santiago
      Day 12

      Rioja wine festival in Logroño

      September 16, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

      What great luck we had coming into Logroño on the first day of their week long wine festival. We could not believe all the people in the streets singing, dancing, drinking and drinking and drinking. They fill up 2 L Coke bottles of wine and drink!’ How will they keep this up for 7 days!!!
      We had some delicious paella and wine of course. Had lots of fun people watching. I’m thinking the streets of Logroño will be much quieter when we leave tomorrow
      Grateful that our albergue is quiet tonight      Read more

    • TravelerCamino de Santiago
      Day 11

      Gutter kebab

      April 2 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      It's not always smooth and it's not always glamorous. I do try to be self aware though. And so I do see how stupid it was to be frustrated I could 'only' find incredible tapas, and not a meal. Notwithstanding, they do add up, they don't involve much veg, and I was quite hungry, quite tired, and reasonably hormonal. I gave up in the end and had a very reasonably priced kebab in a gutter. We'll try again tomorrow.Read more

    • TravelerThe Camino Revisited 2018
      1
      Day 18

      Sunday in Logroño

      September 9, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      Totally relaxed! It was a very easy - no major gradients at all - walk of just under 10 km from Viana to Logroño. We still left early in the cool morning air - there had been thunderstorms in the evening and night, even though we walked yesterday under a cloudless sky. And they predict more for later today. The festivities in Viana did continue on into the night as warned! Woke at 3.30 and heard music and revelry, but at 7 am the street cleaning truck was doing its thing and when we left the street was spotless, and ready for the bulls!

      So we have left Navarra and the Basque lands now. Arrived in Logroño at about 11 am but the room was ready, and the bags arrived soon after, so we were all set. We are here for 2 nights in this very good hotel, right on the edge of the old centre, and right on the Camino. After changing from our barely sweaty clothes, we went on a reconnoiter, all fairly familiar from 5 years ago, and a really lovely town. We of course first checked out where the laundromat was, and it’s hours!! Amr was happy, and is there now doing the washing with his kindle. But first after checking, we went into the main centre and found a crazy crowd - again...! Weekends! We discovered there was a Rioja agricultural and wine expo, and the main square was packed. Plus there was a mass just starting in the adjacent cathedral adding to the chaos. Anyway, it was fun, and we had a beer and some tapas for lunch, and after that I found I could better cope with the madding crowds...which were finally starting to thin out.

      So all good..I am having downtime in the room (wifi seems excellent!) and Amr is having downtime at the laundromat! Tomorrow will be a relax day, and the next 2 walking days (Tuesday and Wednesday) are also both under 20 km, as a longer walk has been split into 2 shorter sections...perfect. Tonight there is Masterchef España on TV!!!      Read more

    • My CaminoMy Soul-o Camino
      2
      1
      Day 10

      Logroños 12 miles (100 total!)

      July 8, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F

      Mantras
      Listen to my body.
      Let go.
      Hold on.
      Feel safe to be vulnerable. Be vulnerable to feel safe.
      Keep on moving

      Today was “Serene Solace” as my dad called it. As I left the tiny village this morning, I felt a bit uncomfortable in my body but soon shook the pain.

      I love this journey and the excitement of the unknown, just steps ahead of me. Every turn, every new Camino arrow showing me the way, heading west with the sun at my back….pure happiness. 🌞⬅️

      Today is a TREAT YO SELF day. I’m staying in a private room with a fancy shower and BIG bed with a beautiful balcony looking out over the busy town. Tomorrow will be about 17 miles and I’m ready for it!

      Also I ate 2 donuts, a bag of strange Doritos, 3 café con leches, and a double scoop ice cream cone. #adulting #iburn2000caloriesaday #treatyoself
      #selflove

      PS I hit 100miles today!! 400 to go!      Read more

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    Plaza del Mercado

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