Mule Fashions

Of course the hat doesn't look so big on this fine mule. Mules are enormous. I should have put it on one of the skittish donkey babies.

Still in Avilés

I am still in Avilés for my day of rest and relaxation. I had breakfast with Irene and saw her off as she walked out of town. I´m going to print my boarding passes for tomorrow and then go to an actual hotel with actual towels and sheets. It will be great.
I failed to mention the highlight of yesterday. We walked through a village and happned upon what appeared to be some sort of donkey market. They were rounding up donkeys and, I guess, selling them. The best part was seeing the baby donkeys. They were quite cute. When I get home I will post some pictures.
Brian, make sure the washing machine is on stand by and that we have detergent. I will be washing everything I have with me immediately upon arrival.

Oviedo-Avilés

Yesterday, Sven and I tried to kill time until 7 p.m. by hanging out at cafés and using the internet and at around 5:30 headed over to the albergue which had opened early and was, in fact, full. There was, luckily, one bed left and a small couch. Sven, gallently gave me the bed and took the love seat which must have been awful to sleep on. I was finally able to take a shower (cold) and we had a drink with the rest of the group. Then Sven and I had dinner at one of the Sidra places. Sidra is cider and it is very popular here in Asturias. It is a sparkling apple cider with a pretty low alcohol content. The waiters pour it in a special way. They hold the glass in their left and down by their knee. They hold the bottle in their right hand up over their head and they pour it way down into the glass. They do it without looking so a substantial portion ends up on the street. It was pretty fun though. We got back a little bit late (maybe 10:30)and the Spanish couple who was sleeping on the floor in the entryway yelled at us telling us we should have been back by 8:30 p.m. which is, of course, absurd. I´ve seen said couple several times today but don´t know if they know that I'm the one who woke them up.
This morning we all got up and most of the group continued south on the Camino Primitivo but Irene and I headed back north to the Coastal route to Avilés. Irene, Sven and I found a place open for breakfast at the early hour of 7:30 and then Sven accompanied us a few blocks to our departure point to bid us farewell. It was really fun walking with him the last couple of days. He´s funny and he loves The Muppet Show and Mr. Ed.
Irene and I headed out on the lesser used route to Avilés and slogged through deep mud, got lost, found the route, etc. The last 10 of the 30+ km. was on the highway (it´s not a big highway but it isn´t fun to walk on as there sometimes isn´t much of a shoulder). We arrived at the Albergue after several long, and hot hours and now I'm milling bout Avilés. I believe I have been here once before but don´t remember it so much. It is quite a nice city. Oviedo was also really great and I'm glad I decided to make that detour. In a bit, I will go and look for a hotel or pension where I will stay tomorrow night and then Tuesday a.m. I will head to the airport and home. It´s been really quite fun and the scenery is beautiful. I think overall, this Northern route has more natural beauty than the route of last year. The other route though, I think had better villages and certainly I met people that I enjoyed more (I am glad that I met Sven at the end as he was my favorite person from this trip--Much like on the Portugal trip, we were glad to have met Doron as he was definitely the most fun person we met on that route).

Sebrayo--Vega de Sariego--Parasites!--Oviedo

I started out walking on my own but in the tradition of last year´s walk, when I got to the first cafe, Sven was there and the others soon followed. I walked most of the day with Sven, Aleix and Lucas. We walked up, and up, and up (it was similar to the first week). The trail got narrower and narrower and thorns scratched my legs. The views were quite spectacular though--green hills, farms, a beautiful monastery in the valley below. We got to the top of the hill, exhausted and sat in a small patch of grass. After about two minutes, Aleix alerted us that there were ticks. Yes, I had about 8-10 tiny, tiny ticks all about my socks and legs. I knocked them off and kept walking. About ten minutes later we got to a small village and I continued to pick off the ticks. we stopped and rested and I lifted my shirt a bit and found about 5 more. My crackerjack medical team, (A German policeman, a Catalan film student, and a French juggler--see photo) got to work sterilizing a needle and picking them off me. It was creepy but I really appreciated their help. We continued on to the small village of La Vega de Sariego where we had a nice evening as there was a shop AND a bar. It was great. My shower was great and I think I am parasite free. I spend most of my time now with Sven. He is great. He looks after me the way I look after the 79 year old woman. He makes sure I can make it up the hills. It is pretty funny. I guess, to him, it is like I am 79. Today we walked together to Oviedo which is the largest city in Asturias. Sven is a riot. He is 27 but loves Jerry Lewis and Columbo and 70s music. Sadly, tomorrow, he will continue South on the Primitive route towards Santiago, and I will head back north to Aviles to continue on the Coastal route. The older crowd should continue on this route with me as well. I´ll just walk a couple of more days and then return home on Tuesday. We arrived in Oviedo 3 hours ago at around 2 p.m but for some reason, the albergue doesn´t open until 7 p.m. which is a bust.

San Esteban--Sebrayo

I walked this day with a spring in my step as I was so excited to be able to follow the signs--it seemed so easy and I felt I really owed a lot to Sven. I walked much of this day on my own but some of it with Ettore. When I arrived at Sebrayo (another very small place with an albergue, but no restaurant), Ettore continued on and I couldn´t believe my eyes when I saw Isabel and Renato from my old crowd. Yes, my two worlds had collided and my new young crowd (Sven, Aleix, Lucas) had caught my old crowd (Renato, Isabel, Irene, and Giuseppe). It was kind of great. We had all bought food before as we knew there wouldn´t be any but two vans came along and stopped in the "village" to sell food so we ended up with quite a spread.

Poo-San Esteban

I left Poo and enjoyed the sea views. I walked quite a bit with Ettore who has a penchant for walking right in the middle of the road while reading his guidebook. I moved on ahead and finally got to the town of Ribadesella. It is a nice little city and a big outdoor market was in full swing. I was delighted as I was, and am, in Asturias, the big cheese region. I sampled a number of local cheeses and then bought a big hunk of a goat´s cheese. I bought a few other items and walked about 3 more miles up a big hill to San Esteban--where there is an albergue, but no town, restaurant, etc. All day, I had been completely befuddled by the sign posting/waymarking. Ina, Christian, Sang Kyoung and Catherine know that on last year´s route, the shell symbol features the fanned out part of the shell pointing the direction towards Santiago. This whole day I was perplexed as there were tons of shell markers but seemed to be plastered up in any old direction. I was often lost and flummoxed. A few minutes before arriving at the albergue, I met up with, Sven, young German policeman. He explained that in Asturias, it was the base of the shell that pointed the way. This proved to be a godsend the following day. At the albergue some of this new and younger crowd also arrived. I had toyed with the idea of taking a bus ahead a day to catch up with my old crowd, but I was rather enjoying the new crowd so I kept walking.

San Vicente de la Barquera to Poo! (really)

So, I haven´t written forever and I don't even remember which day I walked this leg but it was very long (that whole 27 miles in a day--never again--rule has fallen by the wayside). San V. turned out to be a great albergue and we had a great group dinner with about 25. I worked in the kitchen with Luis and his wife, Sofi, a retired couple from Santander who run the place. We had a ball. I started meeting a new crowd, to include Simona from Slovenia, and Daniel from Germany. Whereas in my old crowd, I was the youngest, I am decidedly the oldest in the new group (apart from Ettore, the slow walking but kind Italian man--Pia, you can jump in on this, or maybe Gepetto, but I´m guessing that Ettore might translate as Hector??). The following day I decided to walk about 40 km. and started out with a bit of rain but it soon cleared and I found myself walking the crest of some foothills between the Cantabrian Sea and the Picos de Europa mountains. For about an hour or so, I had the best views imaginable. I walked on a narrow farm road with the beautiful mountains to my left and looking down to my right I could see the gorgeous, green hills, small villages and deep blue sea. It was great. It was even great when I found myself at a dead end and had to double back and lost about 5 miles. It was, the prettiest stretch that I have walked. I got back on the right trail and chose the coastal route which was longer but (yes, VJVN, in the words of Frank D.) stunning. I continued to the town of Llanes on the coast but got word via a French guy that the albergue was full so I walked on to Poo--another mile or two and felt so lucky to find a bed at the albergue. I had ended up walking somewhere between 25-30 miles and I was worn out. There I met more of the young crowd to include, Aleix, from Barcelona and Lucas from France.

Maybe it´s just the Salmantinos

Back when I lived in Salamanca, nearly 20 years ago, I really suffered at the hands of the Salmantinos (the people of Salamanca). Daily I would hear some comment as to how bad my Spanish was ("you´ve been here 6 months, wow, your Spanish is really bad"). It always came as quite a blow. I mean, let´s face it, I know my Spanish is pretty bad. I also knew that I gained 5 kilos over the holidays, and that I had a pimple on my chin but I didn´t really need the Spaniards to point it out to me. On this trip, however, I have met lovely people from all over Spain. Several of them, from the Basque Country, Santander, Madrid, and Mallorca, have told me that my Spanish is quite good. (I know it is not, but they can understand me so it´s good enough). The other morning I was walking and met up with a Spanish woman. We started talking and I was so excited to hear that she was from Salamanca. I told her all about how I had lived there, loved it, etc. Within minutes she said something along the lines of "Well, I can tell it´s been years since you have lived in Salamanca as I can tell that you are really struggling with Spanish". And then it dawned on me, maybe it is just the Salmantinos. Maybe if I had lived somewhere else and didn´t have people telling me daily that my Spanish was so bad, I wouldn´t have reduced the amount of Spanish spoken on a daily basis in order to have some relief from the criticism. LAM--what do you think?

Into Every Life...

some rain must fall. So, I have had beautiful (albeit sometimes too hot) weather since I began so I shouldn´t, and won´t complain...had a bit of misting rain today. It wasn´t bad..very light and actually kind of cool temperatures even. One of the days, while I was in 100 degree Valladolid, it evidently poured here so I am still feeling pretty lucky with the weather. After another wonderful stay in Valladolid, I took the train to Torrelavega (which is not on the Camino) and walked only about 5 miles (on a road with a sidewalk) to Santillana del Mar where I stayed last night. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous town full of old stone buildings, old stone streets, etc. It is incredibly well preserved. It is also incredibly well touristed and as it was a Sunday there were tons of Spanish day trippers there...that and the many souvenir shops, made it a little less charming than it would otherwise be but it is still a really lovely place. I felt a little bit lonesome--missing my friends from Valladolid, missing the camino friends that I had met (who are a few days ahead of me now)and not enjoying so much the new camino people that I met.
This morning I walked about 20 miles to San Vicente de la Barquera, yet another really pretty seaside town. I am in Cantabria which is quite beautiful with lots of rolling green hills and seaside views. There are tons of small scale dairy farms where the cows actually graze on grass. I expect to see more of this in Asturias which I will enter tomorrow--I am eager to try some of the cheeses here as they are well known in Spain and, maybe, beyond. In Santillana del Mar, it is typical to have a snack of a small cake, or cheese tart and to have a glass of milk. It was funny as there were these sort of walk-up places where you could by a glass of milk and a sweet snack.
I walked part of the day with a nice Italian man. He walked a bit slower than I did and it is hard for me to not walk at my pace. I eventually left him behind on the trail but he must have continued onward as he is not at the albergue. It is a pretty good place and they even made lunch for us which was great as I was quite hungry upon arrival. I will have dinner there as well.
I have heard from Irene (from my old crowd) they are a couple of days ahead of me so I doubt that I will catch them. But, if the weather remains cool, I may do a pretty long day tomorrow (40 km.?) as well.
I always feel awkward knowing that you all are reading these hastily thrown together posts, but now I feel even more foolish as my favorite student of all time, Miguel, is now following this blog. He is the best writer that I have ever known and this is based on his writing at age 14 or 15. (Valerie, you are the co-best/funniest writer). Yikes. I hope everyone had a Happy 4th. The paella was great!
CCW--I´m developing quite a farmer´s tan--not a Massachusetts Farmer´s Tan but a rest-of-the-USA farmer's tan. I´m sure it will be all the rage on The Cape.

Nothing Says the 4th of July Like Paella

Thursday afternoon I took the train down to Valladolid to spend a few days with my friends, Maite, Maria Jose and their families. It is a really wonderful break. Like last year, when I did this, it seems so luxurious to have my own, quiet bedroom, a nice clean bathroom, a huge bath towel, use of a washing machine, and wonderful meals. Yesterday was MªJose´s daughter, Julia´s 4th birthday party. We all went to a park in the evening for a big party and picnic. There were probably about 50 people there. It was fun to see some old friends again. Today we will go to MªJose´s for lunch--Paella. Tomorrow I will take the train back up to resume my walk. I may get off the train before reaching Santander and skip some of the city walking. I think I have it all mapped out. I hope everyone as a fun and safe 4th.

Güemes-Santander-Valladolid

This morning after waking up late--almost 7--I had breakfast with some of the group and said my goodbyes and then headed off on my own. The scenery over the last few days has been nice. I left the Basque Country several days ago and am now in Cantabria with rolling green hills and rocky coastlines. It´s lovely but maybe not as dramatically beautiful as the first week. The last couple of days have featured green hills dotted with small farms, villages, etc. but also dotted with housing developments as we are closer to Santander (a big city). It was a very short walk today as I walked a couple of hours and arrived at Somo to take the ferry over to Santander. I was delighted to see Manolo and Juan and their guide at the dock and we rode over on the boat together. On previous caminos they have had a guide for the whole route to help them but on this trip they have guides working in shifts. Juan has some sight so is able to fix meals at the albergues, etc. and help Manolo as needed. So, now I am in Santander and will, like last year, take the train to Valladolid to visit my friends, Maite and Maria Jose and their families. I´m looking forward to it. I will probably stay two or three days with them. I will then return to Santander and resume walking. Sadly, I´ll have fallen a few days behind the group but I guess it will be an opportunity to meet other interesting folks.

Santoña--Guemes

Yesterday I walked this route and it wasn´t hard but I felt very tired--due the previous day's long walk. It started out with an early morning climb over a large hill jutting out into the ocean. It was a difficult climb as it went up a rocky little path with lots of prickly plants --very steep, and just as steep going down the otherside. On the other side was a very wide, very long (2 miles?), very beautiful beach. As I decended, I saw an older, heavyset man walking down the beach carrying a bucket. He was buck naked (he was quite far away) and walked towards the many rock formations on the beach and stood among them doing exercises. I think he was pretty sure that there was nobody else around. I averted my eyes and carried on across the lovely beach.
Arriving at the very special albergue, I was delighted to find Manolo and Juan. I don´t know if I have mentioned them before. They are two blind fellows from Mallorca. They have walked many caminos before. They both work for ONCE(this is Spain's national organization for the blind. As employment, many blind people in Spain work for this organization and sell national lottery tickets. The lottery is very popular here and has been for years). They are fun and I hadn't seen them for a few days. They are also in a group of blind people that performs plays all over Spain. They are nice and funny and it was great to catch up with them again.
The albergue in the small hamlet of Guemes is lovely and they feed you dinner, breakfast, and lunch, and provide a room and you provide a donation of any amount. The whole operation is run by Don Ernesto--a local priest who looks like Santa Claus (white hair and beard) but dresses like Father Guinesse (hippy like). Last night at this place, way up in the hills among the cows, there was a concert with a group from Catalunia. A young chorale group and orchestra--they were great. A large tent was errected on the grounds and one or two hundred people came in from the neighboring villages to see the show. They were very talented group and it was fun to have an activity. Don Ernesto made special mention of Jeanine, the 79 year old French woman.
There was a party of sorts afterwards where we had loads of tapas and some beers. I said farewell to the group (as I will be heading off to visit friends for a couple of days). We all went to bed very late at 11:30 p.m. which was about 2 hours later than usual. It was the first time since I've been here that I went to bed when it was dark.

Pretty Hot (85), Pretty Long (22 mi.) Pretty View (craggy coastline, green hills, mountains): Castro Urdiales to Santoña

I spent the afternoon in the really charming fishing town of Castro Urdiales. While sitting in a tiny park, an elderly woman dressed in a suit and with a beauty parlor worthy hair do, walked by and commented to me about the weather, etc. She told me that her doctor told her that she was supposed to go out and walk every day. She hiked up her skirt just a hair to show me her knees to explain that they were not in great shape and showed me the elastic knee braces. She continued on her walk and later joined me on the bench and commented on one and all that walked by, ("Ah, today´s youth", etc.). Another older woman sat across from us --fortunately she was listening to music and couldn't hear the comments of my new friend. She said, with disdain, "Look at her legs", "look at that jewelry she has on". She asked if I smoked and pulled out a pack of Pall Malls. I told her no and she claimed that she did not either and put the cigarettes away. Towards the end of our 30 or 40 minutes together on the bench, she asked me to guess how old she was. I told her I couldn´t guess but imagined she was well into her 80s. She is 96. The clincher was, that I cannot utter one syllable in Spanish without people asking where I am from, due to my atrocious accent. She, never once, asked. It was rather refreshing. I'm sure it is due to the fact that she was hard of hearing.
The following day I walked alone on a very long, hot day to the town of Laredo and took the small boat across the inlet over to Santoña. Brian, surely you know of Santoña as the birthplace of Juan de la Cosa.
I've fallen in with a group of others...some of whom I have mentioned but mainly consisting of: Isabel (Spanish--she looks somewhat like a younger, more feminine version of Dame Edna); Irene (Italian/Belgian/Luxembourgian) who is very nice and an excellent interpreter with her wealth of languages; Renato (very nice, quiet Italian man); Giuseppe (very funny older Italian man from Sardinia; Juan Carlos (Spanish policeman); Jose (Spanish fireman) and a couple of others. They are nice, and fun, but it is not such a close connection as I had last time with Ina, Sang Kyoung, Christian, Carlos and Catherine...that maybe can´t be matched.

Pobeña-Castro Urdiales

I set out this morning with Oliver and Stefan, two Germans. The majority of the walk was alongside the coast which was beautiful. We arrived after only about 3 and a half hours to Castro Urdiales, an old fishing village. I guess it is more of a town than a village and is quite pretty. I planned to continue on with them about 7 more miles to the next albergue but we met up with two French Canadians who had reports that the next albergue is very bad (dirty?). So, I left my stuff at the albergue here and will have a nice day here in the town. It is the last day of the town festival so maybe there will be some activity connected with that. Or, I can sit by any number of the cafes along the water and hang around. Tomorrow will be a longer walk. Today it is pretty hot (in the 80s) but not as humid as at home and there is still an occaisional breeze which is quite nice. I will walk a few more days and Thurday I plan to go and visit my friends in Valladolid for a few days. It should be a nice break. I will try to post some pictures then.

Sunday: "Lezama to Pobeña"

Well, I decided to cheat yesterday. I did not sleep at ALL the night before due to the fear of bed bugs. In the middle of the night, I had decided I would go to Bilbao, check into a full on hotel, find a laundromat and wash all my clothes, backpack, etc. to try to get rid of the bugs but...I had a change of plan. I took an 8 a.m. train the few kilometers into Bilbao with Irene, Giuseppe, and Renato (another Italian). We got to Bilbao, had breakfast, walked around the old, historic area and along the river to the Guggenheim museum. Bilbao is the biggest city in the Basque country and it is quite industrial. When they opened the Frank Gehry designed, Guggenheim museum, it really helped Bilbao turn itself around. It has become a tourist destination and it is quite a nice city. From the museum, I called my friend, Nigel, (from last year´s walk). I took the metro out to the village/suburb where he lives with his wife, Teri, and youngest daughter (teenager). He met me at the station and we went to the house where I took a shower (it was hot out)and then went for a walk around the village. The village was having a festival and we saw the bacalao (salted cod fish) cooking contest. Then we had lunch at the house. It was quite a nice break. The original plan was that Nigel would drive me to Portaluguete (on the outskirts of Bilbao) and I would walk about 15 km. to Pobeña. But, it was hot, and getting late, so he just drove me to Pobeña. I made him drop me off down the block before I went to the albergue. I felt so guilty about not having walked that day that I told the girl working there. She didn´t care. When the others arrived and I confessed that I had not walked, they confessed that after the museum, they took the metro and walked just about 2 miles. So, I felt better. I also felt better that there were spare beds so I didn´t take the place of a walker. One reason to skip these 20 or so miles around Bilbao is that it is very industrial with lots of highways, petrochemical plants, etc. When I arrived in Pobeña I went down and had a walk along the beach and then met a few new people (since we skipped a few days, we met others that we had not seen before). There were also some people who were just starting out from bilbao. We did see the blind people that we had last seen on day one. One of them was in teh bunk next to me. He snored very loudly and very long last night. I was exhausted from having had no sleep the night before so I was still able to sleep but his snoring was all anyone was talking about this morning.

Good Day Bad Dog: Gernika to Lezama

I milled around Gernika the previous afternoon and the few old buildings that remain are quite lovely. There is quite a bit of historic interest. The albergue seemed to be fine. The following morning I set out and as everyday, the walk started with a big walk uphill. As I came down I passed a really pretty house and out ran a dog and bit me right in my big, fat calf. (And no, Dad, I didn´t antagozine the dog.) I was pretty terrified and went running the rest of the way down the hill. A few minutes later, Jan, the man from Belgium arrived and after I had washed it, I put on some iodine. It barely scratched the skin. The pharmacist told me to go to the doctor but it was a Saturday afternoon and no place was open. I continued walking and went through a really pretty little town and then arrived in Lezama. It was the first day that was hot and there were a few stretches without shade. When I arrived in Lezama, I circled the alleged albergue twice because it didn´t appear to be an albergue..the reason being that there was a bride in the doorway and lots of wedding guests milling about. I finally found out that yes, it was the albergue but didn´t open until later. Evidently the upstairs of the brand new building is used for functions. I went to the bar with Roberto and Idioa (basque name) and ended up having a great time wth them. They bought me a pretty tasty lunch. At 3, we were able to check into the albergue being run my Deitmar, German citizen. He alerted us that there were reports of bedbugs at the albergue where we had stayed the night before. Later that night I found some bumps. I haven´t had any more so I hope that if it was, bed begs, that I didn´t transport any with me. Lezama wasn´t much of a town --apart from a church and a handful of houses, it is a modern suburb/housing development of sorts. For dinner, a bunch of us went to the same place where we had lunch. I ate with the French couple, Irene (from Belgium) and a few others. Although my dog bite now appears to be two scratches with a 4 inch circular bruise around it, it does not hurt. I´m not too worried what with having had the rabies shots and tetanus shot a couple of years ago with the bat scare. People walking behind me later reported that when they walked by the dog was tied up.

Amazing Day 5: Markina to Guernika

Yet another beautiful, sunny day with blue skies and amazing views. Like yesterday, today´s walk was through many forests so shade was generally overhead. This route, so far, is incredibly beautiful with no unpleasant or industrial areas (inevitably this will change on either side of Bilbao). I love chatting with the locals but I haven´t had many opportunities thus far. Today, however, I did have a few pleasant encounters. The best was when the camino cut right through this old man´s property alongside his house, in his yard/cowpen. I asked him if he minded that so many people walked through his yard. In true old man Spanish fashion, he replied that he didn´t mind and he minded even less when they were women. He asked where I was from and I told him and then this old, rural, Basque farmer, with a wheelbarrow in front of him and a pitchfork in hand, informed me that my countryman, Michael Jackson, had died. I was delighted to have a news source in the middle of a cow yard. And yes, Mom, fear not, I did ask him about his cows. He didn´t tell me the breed but informed me that they were not milk cows but meat cows.
I have just started exploring Gernika and the map provided by the tourist office differentiates the pre 1937 bombing buildings from the new buildings. There really are only a handful of original buildings. They have rebuilt some of the city in a nice style but generally it really just isn´t as charming as most Spanish villages. I was headed to the small area where the original old buildings stand and came across this library so I stopped in.
Last night, in Markina, was my first big social outing-group dinner of the trip. A bunch of us went to the alleged bad restaurant for dinner. It was the French couple, Giuseppe, Kepa, me and a few others: Juan Carlos ( lives in Hendaye just over the border in France although he is Spanish), Irene (is from Belgium but of Italian parentage--she has walked here from somewhere in france near the swiss border), Pau (kid from Barcelona) and we also met Jan, who has walked here from his home in Antwerp, Belgium.
I have been speaking Spanish a lot more on this trip than on the previous two which is pretty fun. I rely on Juan Carlos so much to translate for the French couple that last night at the restaurant, I leaned over and said, "Tell the french people..." He alerted me that I was speaking to him in ENglish and not Spanish. I´ve asked Kepa to teach me a couple of Basque words (hello, good morning, etc) but I´ll have to write them down, I¨ll never remember. Incidentally, the restaurant was okay--actually tasty and a very low price compared to anywhere else we have been.
I´m covering less kilometers/day than on my previous two routes but the hills (which continue to be there) make it considerably more time consuming.

Fabulous Day 4: Deba to Markina

It´s another bright, sunny, clear day here in the Basque Country. It was a bit warmer today (around 75) but most of today´s walk was through the forest. I´d say the first three hours were walking straight up a mountain. It was difficult but I got an early start--around 7 a.m. so it wasn´t too warm yet. Kepa (I have learned this is the Basque translation of Pedro aka Peter) walked with me part of the day which was good as it was nice to have someone to follow to try to keep up my pace. Today is the first day that we are away from the sea but we are in a very nice old village and the walk through the mountains was lovely. The last hour was walking down a very, very steep hill of broken up rock. I am only glad that it wasn´t raining as it would have been quite dnagerous otherwise. We arrived early at around 1 p.m. and bought some groceries and had sandwiches in the park while waiting for the albergue to open. The French guy who we met who had been here the day before told us that the guy who runs the albergue would try to convince us to go to a restaurant and would show us the way. ´We don´t know if this guy has a cut in the business of the restaurant or not but sure enough within seconds of arriving he was walking us to the restaurant. We did not eat there as the French guy assured us that it wasnt´very good. It is about 6 p.m. and the rest of the crowd has trickled in. Marie and Patric arrived on their bikes and planned to stay but the aforementioned restaurant man talked them into continuing on 6 or 7 kilometeres to the next village to stay at the monestary with the monks. He said it was a very beautiful and special place and since they were on bikes it wouldn´t take them long. I am a bit envious as I had also heard that it was a nice place but it was hot and I didn´t have the energy to carry on. I will visit tomorrow but won´t get to partake of the dinner, etc. The church in this town is quite interesting as it is built around these 3 huge monoliths that take up the center of the church. There isn´t much along the lines of written explanation about it but I guess I could ask Mr. Lilloman at the albergue or maybe the librarian here at the library as she is quite helpful and friendly.
Tomorrow it is off to Guernika. You may know this village from Picasso´s painting. IT is really a sad story as Hitler wanted to test out some bombs so his good friend, Franco, the Spanish dictator, told him to go ahead and bomb the small Basque village of Guernika. Some of the old part of the town remains but much of it is new.
Nothing really funny to report on today´s adventure. We saw some beautiful horses and lots of cows, sheep, chickens, etc.
Hope all are well. Hello to Nutmeg (cat and human).

Great Day 3: Zaurutz to Deba

Today was the hilliest day yet but I hear tell that tomorrow will be worse. The views remain fabulous. I passed many vinyards, farms, rolling hills and/or mountains, and continuing beautiful views of the coastline. There are a couple of frustrations. The first is my horrible ¨guide¨book which is put out by some british organization. It is essentially some guy walking, taking notes, typing them up, photocopying them and selling them. There are no maps and the descriptions are confusing. It´s very frustrating to not know when you will find the next water supply, or food, or how many km. it is to the next village. Today I was feeling exhausted and thought I had 10 more miles but alas it was only 4. The other problem is that unlike Ina, I do not have a grandmother who has provided me with shoulder pads to place between my backpack straps and collar bones. Last year it wasn´t a problem due to the wearing of a thick, fleece jacket. Today, I remedied the problem by folding up a thick pair of socks and wedging them under the straps. I wish I had thought of this days ago before I developed the reddish purple raw patches on my skin. LIve and learn.
I encountered many goats today but none were interested in walking with me. I tried to follow up on my friend, Valerie´s, advice and photgraph one of them wearing my sunhat. They were not accomodating. A nearby mule, however was. I thought I had taken a picture but alas, it is a short movie. The hat isn´t really all the way on his head, due to the barbed wire fence that was between us. It was hard to put the hat on and take the picture.
I arrived in town and was able to snag one of only 8 beds in the albergue. The two french couples, christiane & andre (on foot), Marie and Patric (on bike) have also arrived. So has the spanish guy from bilbao. Brian, he looks a bit like the jockey/detective from the 1980s era Dick Francis dvds. Unlike the jockey though, this guy has some sort of pierced lip with a spike coming out of it. I have also met a french man who walked from Le Puy, in france, to santiago and is now walking back. He is doing this to prepare for his 4 month walk from Seattle to Monterey, Mexico. And, move over Christian, I might have a new hero. Jeanine is a 79 year old French woman who is walking from Arles, France. She fell down yesterday though so took the bus here. She is a bit beat up but perseverant. Unlike the other french people, she doesn´t seem to understand that I don´t speak french and talks to me at length. I get about 5% of what she is saying.
Okay, I must run as there was a power outage here at the internet facility and this has taken forever to write.

Wonderful Day Two: San Sebastian to Zarautz

It was another beautiful day of walking. Going up the hills is tough but the views down to the sea can´t be beat. Going down the hills is tough too--I can feel it in my knees so I try to follow the advice of physical therapist, Sang Kyoung, who told me that I took too big of a stride. So, I walk in baby steps going down hill. It is harder to keep up with the goats that way but I manage. (I do have photos of said goat--of course, you can´t tell how big he is so he just looks like a regular goat--I´ll try to post some pictures later). The walk today went down a steep hill into the village of Orio. The steep main street was lined with beautiful old houses dating from the 16th century and some from the 15th. I was pretty impressed that this little village had the wherewithall to put historic markers on the buildings (written in Basque, Spanish, and even English). It made it much more intersting to read about each of these amazing structures. The day was probably 70 again but a little less breezy and I would have preferred it cooler--especially on the two occaisions that I got lost and ended up walking an extra mile or two. I am now in yet another beautiful seaside town, Zarautz. I was here years ago where I stayed at the youth hostel where I met some young Germans (I was young too). One of them, most notably, had the middle name Adolf. I´m not making this up. Another convinced me to go to Pamplona for San Fermines (running of the bulls) where I ended up sleeping in the park. Oddly enough, I just might be staying at the same hostel although it doesn´t look familiar. These seaside resort towns are pretty spendy and even the hostels cost a lot. On the upside, it is 7:30 p.m. and I¨m the only one who has checked in to my 4 bed room so I think I might have my own room for the night which will be great.
Last year, the sage Norwegians told us that the 2nd day of the Camino is the most difficult. Last year I had no problem on the 2nd day. Today I feel completely exhausted. I had a short nap though and maybe I will catch my second wind.
After arriving I showered, washed clothes, and went and had a pretty good lunch at a restaurant. I walked along the seaside promenade and around the old historic center of this cute town. None of it looks familiar to me at all though.
Last night at the hostel in San Sebastian the two French couples invited me to share with them the dinner that they prepared. It was really nice of them and I enjoyed it. I love how even though they are in a hostel and are preparing quick and easy meals, they still have a first course, second course, cheese course and dessert. God love the French. Since it is technically, a youth hostel, I did meet some youth. A very nice girl from Slovenia was there (yes, LAM--she knows of your cousins´Falcon Crestesque wine empire)for a week as she is taking an entrance exam/audition for a music school. She plays the guitar. There was also a Scottish girl who was adorable and had a wonderfully sweet and, suprisingly comprehendable, Scottish accent. She could go to the U.S. and be a t.v. star. She is traveling around spain until the money runs out. She hadn´t traveled to the U.S. but back before she was born, her father visited often due to his career as a body builder. She hopes that he and her mom will join her in Bilbao to go the Guggenheim museum as he is now an artist. The other walkers are still all French and Spanish people with the exception of Giuseppe who is, shockingly, Italian. He looks to be well into his 60s and is very friendly. He will remember my name, he says, because both his mother and daughter are named Laura. I have not encountered any of the crowd at the albergue yet today--it could be that they are all scattered in other rooms. It could also be that it is expensive enough to warrant people traveling together to opt for a pension and have their own room. Who knows?
Today´s fashion report: In addition to the giant hat, I wore shorts for the first time (knee length--not the first time in my life but the first time on one of these spain walks)and for the first 5 hours of the day as I looked at my shadow with my shorts and my giant hat, I thought that I looked like an Australian boyscout.
Tomorrow I walk to the town of Deba--it might be quite small so not sure of the internet access.

Glorious Day 1--Irun to San Sebastian

Well, any apprehension or doubts I had about this trip have since dissipated --Today´s walk was amazing. There were many high hills (or maybe mountains--I don´t know but maybe Hugh Grant could come and measure them) but worth the climb as the views are extraordinary. Beautiful green hills dotted with charming little Basque style houses, sheep, cows and goats. The sea is gorgeous--from up high there is a great view of the beaches, fishing villages, and lots of little boats. The weather was stunning (about 70 and very clear, not humid, plus a nice breeze). After the first big hill I descended into a beautiful old village. The tourist office was housed in the former residence of Victor Hugo when he was writing there. They had converted it into a Victor Hugo musuem and had a nice slide show/presentation (in Enlgish even) where they read from his journals describing the area and then showed photos of the very places he was describing. I got some lunch fixings and ate in the central plaza and then took the 1 minute boat ride to the opposite side of the inlet to another cute village and continued onward. The last hour walking into San Sebastian was all up in the hills along the coast wtih smashing views of the blue water and rocky shore below. It was spectacular. I did get a little warm towards the end but much of the trail today was through forested areas so there was a lot of shade.
I donned for the first time my brand new and ridiculously large sunhat. When wearing it, I look like and elderly Korean woman exercising, or an elderly British woman gardening. I suspect to others I look like exactly what I am--an old American woman walking--with a giant wide brimmed hat. It helped a lot with the sun though.
Last night at the albergue in Irun I met a few others. I think everyone is French or Spanish. Most notably I have met Victor and his brother, Armando. They are Spanish retired men in their 60s and have walked several of these routes in Spain and are quite enthusiastic about it. Incredibly enough, with one or two exceptions, I seem to be the youngest one at the albergue. I talked with a French couple this morning and what with my complete mastery of French, I was able to ascertain that they are from a town very near the village of my friend, Isabelle, who I visited there years ago. They knew of her family due to Isabelle´s parents furniture business. (LAM--I did not tell them of our close connection to the mayor or our attendance at the antique car rally).
I walked mainly on my own today which was great--I did have a companion for awhile in the form of a very large, black goat. He was standing in the trail and at first I was bit startled as he was huge (I thought it was a pony at first)and had big horns and what initially I thought was a menacing look. But alas, he seemed friendly and walked just ahead of me on the trail for a few minutes. I thought when I got to the main road he would stay put but no, he continued with me for a bit right down the center of the road.
I am now in San Sebastian which, if you have not been here, is a really lovely city with a great beach. There is no pilgrim´s albergue here but the youth hostel reserves some beds for pilgrims. I have had a really great shower, washed clothes and am now using the free computer. I feel very clean and content. The hostel is a bit out from the center of town and I guess in a bit I will have to walk back down into town for dinner. I don´t mind but I might mind the walk back up the hill.
(Ina--I think you would really like this route. It is beautiful. If you ever do another walk you should come here)
(Char--can´t wait to hear of your plan for my next adventure. Is it the Inca trail?)
I hope everyone is enjoying the summer. I sure did today.

Arrived in Irun

I had an okay flight to Madrid and raced through the airport to make my connection to San Sebastian. I arrived and walked out of the much-smaller-than-I-expected airport across the street to the bus stop. The bus driver pulled up going the other direction but told me just to get on and ride the loop. So, we drove through the beautiful seaside town of Fuenterabia/Hondarabia where all of the median strips on the road were filled with beatiful hyndrangea bushes--all colors: pink, lavander, pale blue, brilliant bright blue, fuschia and purple. The houses are mainly white with brightly painted wooden shutters, doors and window boxes full of flowers. Oh, I forgot, I was going to walk the mile over the border to France but I forgot. I have been to a bar for my first pincho (tapa)and watch the girls who worked there set up for the town festivities---seems like a festival is starting and all of the shops, restaurants, etc. are decorated. I also noted at the bar that there is an automated machine where you can make wagers on sporting events. Some 80 year old guy appeared to be placing a bet on the Tour de France.
I have sussed out the albergue where I will stay the night but it doesn´t open until 4 so I have another hour to kill.
The weather is great--it seems to be about 70 with no humidity and a nice breeze. I hope it holds.
Happy Father´s Day, Dad (and all dads, really)

Third Time's the Charm

I've decided to go back to Spain for another walk as the other two were so enjoyable. Although I vowed never to do a walk in the summer, I have my ticket and leave tomorrow. I'm not nearly as excited as the last two times and I imagine it is because I don't feel terribly well prepared and because I worry about the heat. This is the Camino del Norte, the Northern route which goes along the North coast of Spain through the Basque country, Cantabria, and Asturias. I've visited this area before and it is gorgeous: beautiful beaches, rolling green hills, and amazingly charming villages. The landscape will, undoubtedly, be magnficient. I will start in Irun (in the Basque country--just East of San Sebastian next to the French border) and will walk for three weeks. As I won't have time to make it all the way to Santiago, I figure I can walk in a pretty relaxed way. If I only feel like walking 10 miles one day, then that is what I'll do. If there are some villages that I really like and want to stay an extra day, I can do that too. I am concerned, somewhat, about the hills and, more importantly, the weather as I do not enjoy hot weather and it will be the summer in Spain. The North is generally cooler than the rest of the country and I hope that I can get most of my walking in during the morning while it is still somewhat cool. I'm heading off on my own but might meet up with Nigel (he walked a bit with us last year) and lives near Bilbao, a city that I will pass through on this walk. Sadly, for the first time, Catherine won't be on hand for this trip (unless she is concocting a madcap scheme to turn up unexpectedly). Nor will young Ina be participating. I trust I'll meet some interesting people though. I've decided that if I am not enjoying the walk, or if it is too warm, I might visit some friends for a few days and either return to the route or not. We'll see.

Arriving in Santiago

Wednesday morning, Ina, Christian and I were the last to leave the albergue at Padron. We had a leisurely stroll of about 8 miles to the halfway point of the day's walk. It was fun to walk together and was more reminiscent of last year's walk. We walked through narrow paths that snaked through very old villages. We were trailed by the bread delivery van who we encountered througout the morning. We stopped at about the midway point for breakfast. From there Christian took the bus to Santiago and Ina and I continued on our way. The walk was pretty nice. Approaching Santiago from last year's route featured lots of construction, the Santiago Airport and some industrial stuff. The walk in from the Portuguese route was a bit nicer. I started walking with Ina but went on ahead and passed several people walking that I had not encountered earlier on the trip. It was another frustrating sunny/rainy/sunny/rainy day and I arrived in Santiago in the rain at about 2:30, p.m. Ina and I had decided early on that once in Santiago we would prefer to stay in the center of town than out at the albergue a couple of kilometers outside of town. Christian arrived early and procured a pension (Sang Kyoung--I think it was the same place where you stayed last year with Nicole --Pension Fonseca) right next to the cathedral and pilgrim office. Ina arrived awhile after I did and we all checked in. I love Santiago -- it is a town full of beautiful old town squares and outdoor cafes. Last year we spent a lot of time lounging in the sidewalk cafes. This year, the rain put a damper on that option so we had to do our extensive eating and wine consumption indoors. The three of us spoke a lot about the year before and we had very happy memories of Sang Kyoung, Catherine, Toby, Nicole, and the others from last year. We had dinner at Casa Manolo, our favorite restaurant from last year. We even remembered the waiter and he us. On Thursday morning we got up and had a good breakfast. We went to the pilgrims' mass at noon. On the way there we ran into some English ladies who alerted us that Dorron had arrived earlier that day. He had done a lot of walking to try to make it to Santiago before Ina left town. So, we ran into him at the mass and he joined us at the pension as well. Later in the day, I saw Ina off at the airport and then had dinner with Christian and Dorron. It was a really good trip but as expected, it didn't really match last year's month. The tight schedule and lack of other people made it a little different. We were really happy that Christian arrived to join us the last few days. We were delighted to meet Dorron who added a lot of fun to the trip. Will there be a walk next year? Probably not but you never know...

27 Miles--Never Again

On Tuesday, in order for Ina to make it to Santiago for her Thursday flight, we had to walk what amounted to about 26 or 27 miles. It was hard. Last year, I think, we became better accostomed to the long distances. This year, the trip has been great, but the walking portion, although good, seems to be more of a chore than last year. It was another on again/off again rainy/sunny day. Ina headed out very early before sun-up. I left about an hour later at 7:30 a.m. I walked quickly and without any breaks until lunch time. At Caldas de Reis, just past the halfway point, I walked through town and Ina dashed out of a cafe to alert me that she was there along with Dieter and had stopped for lunch. I'd been surprised that I hadn't caught Ina earlier but she was walking her fastest as well. The sun had come out again but by the time we downed our tortilla de patatas sandwiches and our giant, extra milky--cafe con leches, it had started to rain. We walked a bit together and then continued at our own paces. I felt very tired arriving in Padron. Christian had taken the bus and welcomed Ina who arrived some minutes before me and then greeted me as well. Ina had some blisters and I had one also. After the long, hard day, young Ina (age 24) alerted me that she knew what it was like to be old, like me. We showered and headed out with Christian to have some drinks and eats. Ina and I were both limping a bit (due to blisters--there were no other problems). We had caught up with a "pack" of people at the albergue--I'd guess there were about 15-20 people there which was huge for us as we were accostomed to just our little group. The albergue was a beautiful old building--the kitchen featured a huge stone fireplace. Granite is a common stone in N. Portugal and Spain and it is featured in many of the buildings there. The night's sleep wasn't great due to the blaring synthesized music of the nearby carnival. That, which continued to about 4 a.m., combined with Christian's snoring eclipsed the power of the earplugs which resulted in a not so good night's sleep.

Lots o' Rain

Today we had a wonderfully short walk from Redondela to Pontevedra. Only about 12 miles. Unfortunately it started out a bit rainy, dried out a bit and then resumed. The original plan was to stay here in Pontevedra but that would mean that we would have about a 24 mile day tomorrow so we had thought of walking a bit more. Shortly before I arrived in town, the rain really picked up. Christian surfaced in foul weather gear hovering under a bus stop and we went ahead to the closed albergue. We left a note for Ina that we would walk on to the next town but Dieter arrived and said she was just behind him. We waited for about an hour at the nearby cafe and kept an eye out for her. During that hour we tried to dry out (not from alcohol comsumption--just our clothes) at the warm bar. The rain continued and we decided not to go on to the next village. There are now 8 of us at the albergue which is double what we have had so far at any of the places where we have stayed. We had a nice lunch with Christian and Doran (the Israeli guy) and then I was delighted to share a load of wash with Ina, Doran, and the French couple and I should have clean clothes for the remainder of the trip. So, I am NOT looking forward to the 40 km. tomorrow but the way the albergues are spread out, we have little choice. Christian will walk a bit with us and then take the bus to Padron, the next town. Should be fun. I hope the weather holds. I also hope that these old legs hold up. Pontevedra is a really lovely city --I was here years ago and I´m glad the rain stopped so that I could take a walk around the old center to enjoy it. Catherine--sorry you are not here. The last two days of walking were not as pretty but Friday and Saturday were gorgeous. You´d have loved it. Okay, I hope everyone is having a grand time at work.

Leaving the Land of the Barking Dogs

I love, love, love Portugal so it was a little sad spending our last night there, however, I will not miss the dogs. One bit Catherine, the following day one almost bit Ina. They jump out of nowhere and startle you and even the chained ones bark and bark. We are finding the Spanish dogs much more agreeable. So, Catherine left Friday morning and Ina and I set out for a long walk. It rained off and on in the a.m. but not too hard. It was somewhat annoying though as we constantly had to take off our backpacks, put raincoats on and then put packs and pack covers back on. Moments later it would be sunny and warm--too warm for raincoats--this went on for a few hours before remaining nice. We arrived in Ponte de Lima which is yet another gorgeous town (Kikas: you need to go there as well as Guimaraes--oh, and don´t worry about the above dog comments. I love Tita). Ina often has trouble finding vegetarian fare apart from potatoes, bread, and eggs so she was delighted to find a pizza place. It was great and with a great view of the roman bridge, river, and church. As Ina stood up to take a picture of the view, she inadvertently knocked a 3'x 5' painting off the wall. It was pretty funny. For days we had been noticing in the albergue sign-in sheets a Norwegian couple named Erik and Rita. We had seen very few pilgrims (only Frank, Dieter, and the lovely French couple) and I suggested to Ina that the non-Portuguese couple behind us might have been the elusive Norwegians who we had not met. Ina barrelled on over and said, "Are you Rita and Erik?". They were not. They were a befuddled Hungarian couple trying to work out what we were talking about. Moments later as Ina looked out the window, she saw (I heard it) a small tractor pulling a wagon of workers. It drove up onto the sidewalk and rammed into a beautiful old street lamp which tumbled to the plaza and broke in half. The workers got out of the wagon, moved the lamp to the side of the walk way and they all took off. It was all very bizarre. Yesterday we had a nice walk with a large hill. I walked awhile with Dieter and as we chatted we failed to pay attention to the yellow arrows and found ourselves somewhat lost. As any good German should do, he pulled out the GPS and informed me we were 500 meters past the turnoff. He also was able to use the device to let me know how long it took him to eat lunch and when he should drink water. The walk was lovely and there are beautiful homes, farms, plants, flowers, everywhere. I was disappointed to not see as many cute little lambs as last year. Farm town girl, Ina, thoughtfully informed me that they´d all been killed for Easter dinner.
We arrived in Valenca, the border town with Spain. It was nice (you know, compared to Tijuana) . Instead of Americans buying cheap silver, and salsa containers, there were loads of Spanish people there buying sheets and towels by the busload. There were no small children selling gum but I did see a big ad for Chiclets which I thought was something of a coincidence.
At the albergue we met a young Israeli guy who was starting out there.
We have had many long days of walking (the last three are 20+ mile days). Although I prepared somewhat (thanks M. Kem, I wouldn´t make it without you), I didn´t do as well as last year. THese long days are quite tough for ye olde chubby legs. I´m okay but I arrive kind of dragging myself in.
Today was a long walk from the border to the town of Redondela. I arrived at a couple of hours ago and hope that Ina has since arrived. There are very few people walking but we suspect we´ll meet more as many start at the border.
Christian will reportedly join us for a few days starting tomorrow in Pontevedra. This is the first time I´ve been able to check e-mail so I´m not sure of the plan but it will be great to see him again and Ina will really enjoy seeing him as well.
I´m tired and pretty hungry so I will go eat. Oh, although sad to leave Portugal, I am very happy to be in Spain. I really do feel quite at home here.
Hope all are enjoying the Easter holiday.



(CCW--glad you got home safely. We miss you. C. McQueen sends her regards. She wet her pants the day before yesterday. I´m not making this up. We think we were able to shake Frank but he kept trying to hitch the wagon. In Ponte de Lima he assured the employee at the hostel that he could stay in our room --we weren´t there when all of this transpired as we were in the town trying to avoid running into him--the woman was wise to him though and told him no and was very concerned when we arrived due to the shady guy. The first 5 hours of walking on Friday--until your flight we spoke of your whereabouts: c. is arriving in Porto. c. is eating big fat toast at cafe majestic. C. is taking a picture of Marcos Santos at Praca Batalha, etc.)

Finally Walking

Catherine and I spent two nights in the charming town of Coimbra and returned to Porto Tuesday afternoon to meet Ina at the airport. We had another glorious day and rested up to begin our walk. We started yesterday from Porto but had been told that the first 10 km. were along the main highway and not so pleasant. We took a bus the first 10 km. and then walked about 26 km. to the small town of Sao Pedro de Rates. The day started out a bit chilly and with clouds but turned sunny and beautiful. I wouldn't change a thing about last year's walk but there is certainly something to be said for walking later in the spring. The landscape is incredibly beautiful this time of year. There are green fields, blue skies, and flowers everywhere: wisteria, calla lillies, birds of paradise, camellias, hydrangeas, roses, wildflowers--It is amazing. The floral aroma is lovely but, sadly, interspersed with the aroma of cows--such is life in rural Portugal. There are also tons of lemon and orange trees that are ripe with fruit--we picked some oranges at Carlos's house and have been enjoying them. Yesterday´s walk was great yet we spent a lot of time reminiscing about last year's walk with Sang Kyoung, Christian, Carlos, and the others and we miss them greatly. We arrived in the village last night in the late afternoon at the unmanned albergue to find Dieter (a German man) and Frank ( a young American). They are friendly but we have decided not to hitch our wagon to their star. The village last night was quiet but beautiful and we had dinner and turned in early. It was quite a luxury to have a room for just the three of us. It might have not have been so grand for the aforementioned Dieter and Frank in the next room who undoubtedly heard us laughing well into the night.
This morning we set out on our very short walk for Barcelos. Fortunately we arrived on Thursday--the big market day which people travel far and wide to attend. Unfortunately it started to rain just as we arrived in town. We stopped by the tourist office for information and were told by the apparent Colgate toothpaste model, "Fonseca" that after we procured accomodation we should swing back by the tourist office for wine and pastries. There are no albergues in town so we found an inexpensive pension for the night. Our favorite thing about this sort of arrangement is that towels are provided and we do not have to use our wretched camp towels. We returned to the tourist office and there was a veritable "pastry museum" as Ina called it. Tons of desserts set up for the taking. We loaded up and then headed to a very leisurely lunch. One reason for the short walk today is that this is a larger town and has a train connection for Catherine who, sadly, returns to Porto tomorrow in the a.m. in order to catch her flight to the U.S. I commend her for her strong work ethic. Ina and I will have some long days of walking ahead of us in order to arrive in Santiago on Wednesday. Carlos, SangKyoung and Christian, we miss you so much and wish you were here.
(sidenote to Mom and Dad:--favorite chicken place in coimbra with east european coal pickers is tragically no longer open for business. We have been to some other places that were okay but not quite the same)

Enjoying Lisbon

Catherine arrived on Thursday in Porto and it was great to see her. We milled around on Thursday and went to a cute cafe for lunch. It seemed to be a place that was very popular with the over 80 crowd. We walked around the market and then down to the water. It was another gorgeous day with sun and blue skies. We sat by the river and had a drink and then milled around a bit more. Friday morning we went across the river to the Port wine houses. We took a couple of tours and then did some tastings. It was great fun. Friday afternoon we got on the train to Lisbon where Carlos met as at the station. He has been an excellent host. We have been staying at his parents' lovely home. The first night we had some really great grilled fish for dinner. Yesterday we had a full day of sight seeing. Carlos took us to Sintra, a beautiful fairytale-like village. I have visited this town several times but was delighted to go again as it is one of my favorite places in the world. We visited the Palacio de Pena at the top of the hill and the old ruins of the Moorish (aka "Moopish") castle as well. Then we met Joanna, Carlos's girlfriend and had a delicious lunch. We then went to Belem, a really pretty area of Lisbon to visit the sights there. Then to Lisbon proper where we enjoyed the view of the city from up at the castle walls. We had a really full day and Carlos did a great job of showing us around. We returned to his parents' place for dinner where we had another wonderful meal with the whole family. This morning we will go by train up to Coimbra, another of my favorite towns in Portugal and will spend the day and night there.

The Sky's Always Blue in Portugal

Years ago when I lived in Spain and made many weekend trips to Portugal, I used to think that the sky was always blue in Portugal. It seems to be true. The last two days have been gorgeous: sunny and about 75º. The sky is extremely blue, there are azaleas and other flowers everywhere. The orange trees have oranges just dropping off of them. This town, Guimaraes, is amazing. I have worked out the winding, cobbled streets and now feel quite at home here. I don't know how they are making a living here. My really good coffee (mostly milk) and big, fat, toast, came in at less than 2 bucks. My lunch today (soup, fresh grilled fish, potatoes, carrots, green beans, bread, 2-3 glasses of wine) was less than 7 dollars. This seems to be no more expensive than it was about 20 years ago.
I had a very full day as a tourist today. I visited the castle, a palace, several churches, two museums, a beautiful monestary, churches, parks and gardens. In the afternoon I walked to the top of the local mountain (hill?). My life of luxury in France (and slacking on the walking preparation at home beforehand) might not have me well prepared for this year´s walk. I was pretty weary today by the time I reached the top but the view of the town below made it worth it.
I´m off to have my p.m. coffee and big fat toast.

(sidenote to Dad): I went to the big church of St. Gualter today. Evidently in August they have big festivities for him--the festivales gualterinas. Perhaps you can attend.

Camino Update

Well, I guess, in theory this is supposed to be about the walking portion of my trip. I have about a week before I start so to try to keep with the theme, I will give some updates from last year. Christian reports that the lovely French man that we met last year who walked with his seeing eye dog and two friends, is, in fact, a count. A count with a capital "C" like...I guess... Count Chocula. I don't know if he manufactures cereal or not but I guess probably not. Oh, and last year, I thought the oddest job that I encountered was the French woman who has a donkey farm and has specially made donkey carts for family holidays. I thought this was a riot. But no, this isn't unusual in France. Evidently it is quite routine for French families to go on donkey cart holidays in the countryside and there are tons of people employed in the donkey cart tourism market. Who knew?

I had a most excellent stay in France. Christian and Joelle were excellent hosts and it could not have been more enjoyable. I was sorry to go but this morning I arrived in my beloved Portugal. I flew into Porto and took a commuter train up to the incredibly beautiful town of Guimares. It is a very old town with winding cobbled streets and I'm glad that I've decided to stay two days here as today has pretty much been spent milling around and getting lost. I love it. I'll try to post some pictures soon. I think I will go now to a cafe and have big fat toast which is my favorite snack in Portugal.

Oh, a sidenote to LAM--during the 10 hours of eating at Christian's fete, we took a one or two hour walk in the countryside--it reminded me of the time after Easter dinner at Isa's when we took that walk with her relatives. I think, somehow I communicated better than Pepe for at no time during said walk did I or any of the French people waddle like ducks or cluck or anything of that nature. I do think that I might have pointed out though that "les vaches blanches dans la champ verde" and possible "un simka sur la place".

A Boggled Mind

The quantity and quality of food that I hqve eaten here over the last three days boggles the mind. I cannot even begin to describe it. Saturday morning Christian took me to the center of Lyon where our first stop was to visit, Monique, a friend of Christian's. She has a really lovely apartment right in the center of the city. She prepared a wonderful lunch for us --all specialties of Lyon and the region. I felt very special. Then Monique and Christian served as my guides to the city. Although it rained, we managed to see lots of great things. We walked to the old part of the city and then took the funicular up the hill for an incredible view of the entire city. We went into the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourvière: The best part, for me, was the huge mosaic of the Camino de Santiago. It is a modern mosaic but it is pretty cool as it shows different stages of the walk and Christian and I could recognize several of the bulidngs represented in the work. We also visited the Roman theatre, the main square, and some other places. It was another great day.
Yesterday, Christian had organized a picinc but the weather was a bit cool so it was actually a big all day eating fest held at Joelle's place. It was a great opportunity to meet a lot of Christian's friends and family(probably about 20 people): I do not exaggerate when I say we arrived at about noon and left at about midnight--except for a one to two hour walk at around 5 p.m. it was pretty much 10 hours of eating extremely good food. Fortunately for me a few friends spoke some English so I didn't have to flounder too much.
Today is sort of a relaxing type day which is good. Tomorrow, I'm off to Portugal.

I've got to hand it to the French

These people have the life... Christian picked me up at the airport and we went to his friend, Joelle's place as it is close to the airport. She prepared an amazing dinner--lots of appetizers, a gratin of vegetables, some type of small bird cooked with mushrooms and figs. Then my very favorite thing about france-- thet cheese tray. Years ago while visiting my friend, Isabelle? at her parents houseu in France, people started noticing that I wasn't eating so much at dinner. It was merely a strategic ploy to save room for the forthcoming cheese tray. I had forgotten about it until Joelle produced the wonderful array of cheeses. Then I still manage to put away some flan. I had a lovely room with beautiful antique furniture belonging to joelle's mother. After chatting 'til nearly & a.m. I had a good night's sleep. Yesterday was amazing. Apart from cheese there is little that I love more than beautiful, charming villages--C. and I went to an incredibly beautiful medieval villlage--Perouges . Amazing! Then driving around the country side to a charming non-medieval village--vonnas-- "le village gourmand". We went to an old and famous restaurant for a really great meal. More countryside and then hiking in the nearby mountains for about an hour and a half. For dinner, C; prepqred duck in so,e sort of reqlly good cream sauce. It is quite possible that I will have to pay extra fare on the airplane tuesday morning for an extra seat as at this rate, I won't fit in mine. On top o fall of this, the weather was gorgeous. Althoug France is great, the French keyboard is not and writing this has been very tedious in a hunting and pecking sort of way. I'm not sure why anyone would ever leave this place. Hope all is well.

jamon y sol

Well, I´ve nothing exciting to report but my flight was great. I snagged a center row of 4 seats so was able to stretch out for the entirety of the flight and probably got more sleep than I¨ve ever gotten on an airplane (probably still less than normal people). I have a few hours before my flight to Lyon, France so I´m spending a few hours in Madrid. It´s a gorgeous, sunny day--probably about 75 degrees. Catherine, as you predicted, I made a beeline for the Museo de Jamon and have had one sandwich and bought one to take back to the airport. I had dreaded this day of transit figuring I¨d feel exhausted but actually I feel pretty great. Well, I don´t want to squander my day at the dank, basement internet center so I will say Hasta Luego.

Camino Portugues 2009

Last year while walking the long route to Santiago, some of us started talking about walking another route the following year. We figured that due to various circumstances we would not all have the luxury of a month this year...nor would we all be able to work out the same vacation days. We toyed with the the idea of walking in Portugal. And so it has come to pass (or sort of ) I have managed to coordinate with the above four individuals (pictured left to right: Christian, Catherine, Carlos, Ina) to meet up this spring. As the centuries old pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela had people walking from all parts of Europe, there are several routes. Last year's, the so called, French Way, is the most popular and, I think, features the strongest infrastructure of accomodations,etc. Due to a shorter amount of time, we will walk the latter part of the Portuguese route--starting in Oporto and ending, once again in Santiago. It is only about 150 mile walk and should take just over a week. I leave tonight to fly to Madrid and will arrive tomorrow morning and will spend the day there. That evening I will get another flight to Lyon, France where I will visit Christian for a few days. Sadly, won't be able to join us so I will visit him for a few days first. He and his friend, Joelle, have planned a number of activities for me while I am there. Then I fly to Porto, Portugal where I will spend a couple of days on my own. When I lived in Spain, I lived very close to the Portuguese border and made frequent visits there. I love Portugal and am so happy to be returning as I haven't been for years. I think the first couple of days I will travel a bit outside of Porto to the reportedly charming town of Guimaraes. Then back to Porto where Catherine will meet up with me. Inspite of having to put up with me on last year's trip, put up with me at work, and be in the midst of planning her wedding, she has decided to join us for about 10 days. I couldn't be happier. Our plan as of now is to go to Lisbon for a couple of days to visit Carlos and his family who live there. Carlos is an engineer and works a lot. He won't be able to get the days off to walk with us but might try to meet us to walk one weekend. We really look forward to seeing him. Then, Catherine and I will go back to Porto and meet up with young Ina who will be arriving from Germany. The following day we will set out on the walk to Santiago. Catherine will stay with us and walk a couple of days and then fly home and Ina and I will continue onwards to Santiago. It should be fun to meet up with the old crowd and I suspect we'll meet others as well. I'm all packed...if I could just shake the stuffy head, allergies, headache, etc. I'd be set.