I snapped the above photo this morning as we were walking from our hotel to the train station. Note that it’s called a “cafe” and not a “bar”. But it is pretty much identical, I think. There is still plenty of liquor behind the counter.
Above is the cafe/bar where we hung out yesterday afternoon in Santander. Again, it’s called a “cafe” on the outside but note the inside. Pretty much a typical bar.
Of course we go to Spanish bars for the coffee and sometimes for a snack or even a meal. And they are open family places. You often see families with children. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a Spanish person drunk. I think it’s really frowned on to be drunk in public here. Of course, wine is served with every meal and included at no extra charge in the menus del dia.
It seemed like we saw a lot more bars in Santander that were called “cafes”. I wonder if that is a trend all over Spain?
On the trail. A bit surreal.A rather crooked bench.Decaf in the afternoon. Lately our cafés con leche have been served most often in glasses.Our hotel in Viveda. Hallway.
We are fond of the cafe con leche in Spain. In Italy having coffee with milk after breakfast marks you as a child or a tourist. In Spain there is some of that but it is not as strong.
In Basque Country you just order a cafe con leche and that’s that. As soon as we got into Cantabria they started asking if we wanted a regular or a grande. We noticed that on other Caminos as well, part-way through they started asking.
We have started a ritual where we go out around four of five and settle into a bar, grab a table and do our daily blogging. That is too late for coffee for us so we get decafs. Every time the decafs have been very good, as good as any of the regular coffees we have gotten. Of course, we are coffee heretics anyway what with the milk we use, so don’t listen to us.
Also, once we got into Cantabria, we started getting cafes in glasses instead of cups. In one place only the grandes were in glasses. This works unless the coffee is very hot. We like these regional differences.
Another thing we like is that every bar is unique, there do not seem to be any chains. No doubt private capital will swoop in soon and ruin that.
Train stops missed: 1 Kind Spanish women who tried to help the rookies but was a few seconds too late: 1 Miles: 7.1 Rain: a little but we were already inside Early morning walks through Santander: 1 Hot and cold pipelines wondered about: 1
As careful readers of this blog know, we are “short-haul” pilgrims who like to walk 7-9 miles a day rather than the 15-20 miles a day that the young whippersnappers like to do. This means we have to plan more to make sure we have enough stops. One solution is to plan a longer leg but take a taxi the first few miles to cut the daily walk down the WynChar size. We did this for today’s walk.
Since we like trains better than taxis we found the perfect train leaving at 7:50. We walked the half mile to the train station around 7:15, right at sunrise. The streets were mostly empty. First we went into the wrong train station, the one for longer distance trains. The local trains were next door. These are really more like metros and we got tickets from a machine and tapped our tickets to get through the turnstiles.
The train left at exactly 7:50 and arrived at the stop exactly at the scheduled 8:15. The train stopped and we were at the door ready to alight. But the door didn’t open. Turns out they only open when you push the button, which we didn’t find in time. A kindly Spanish woman saw these naive innocents stand at the door and rushed over to push the green button but was a few seconds late. The yellow blinking light indicated the train was leaving WITH us.
The button we didn’t know we had to push to get the train door to open. Well, not until it was too late.
So, on to the next station, 2-3 miles down the line, where we got off. What to do? We were only 5 miles from our hotel, short even for us. We caught the Camino and decided to walk a mile in reverse and then back. Kind of a weird complete-ism for short-haul pilgrims but we were rattled and didn’t think everything through.
We felt kind of funny walking the “wrong” way. The Spanish people are always being helpful if we miss a turn or are off the Camino. Sometimes they are right and sometimes we have to explain that we are going to a bar or a hotel. Today was no exception. We were walking along and two guys in hi-viz jackets told us we were going the wrong way. Wynette told them we were doing it on purpose and they asked why. She just said it was a long story. (Wynette added: they had the nicest smiles and were laughing with us about us going backwards.) Afterwards we thought we might have explained that we missed a train stop but that really doesn’t explain it without more details.
This is kind of like when a Spanish person stops to chat, which happens often, and asks if we are going to Santiago. We’re not, but we always say yes, it’s easier than a long explanation about our half-caminos.
We were yellow arrow contrarians.
So, up a mile and back, we still got to the hotel at 11:45 but the room was ready even though check-in time was hours later. Rest, then lunch at the hotel which is also a slightly upscale restaurant. Now we’re down in the bar, a happening place.
On our extra back and forth walk, the path had a pipeline, actually two, beside it. We felt it, not sure why we decided to feel it, and it was hot. The other one was cold. A mystery. We have no idea what was in the pipes. Would like to know.
The pipe was hot to the touch. Felt good to sit on on a cold windy day.
It’s cold and windy and rainy-ish outside, so we were glad our hotel was so all-purpose today. Nice restaurant, nice bar, nice room. Hotel Cueli in Viveda. Nothing much to explore in Viveda anyway. So, once we stepped through the hotel door, we had no plans to step out until tomorrow morning.
We haven’t posted a menu lately so thought I’d post about that. Our hotel had a nice menu del dia. (We decided not to try the €66 tasting menu.)
The paella was tasty. The broccoli was cooked more than we liked but didn’t taste too bad and we felt virtuous getting some vegetables. We liked the grilled fish (ojito). We were disappointed with the chicken with Roquefort sauce. Carrot cake was yummy. Charlie liked his dessert: cheese with quince jelly.
Lots of card playing going on. No one is paying attention to the TV. But lots of talking and occasional shouting and laughing.
We are in the large bar of our hotel (Hotel Cueli) in Viveda. I just counted. There are 33 men in here. I’m the only woman. Most of the men are at tables of 4 or 5 playing some kind of card game. This is clearly a local hang out for the jubilantes (retired guys). It’s neat.
After my dad retired, he liked to go down to the McDonalds in Hobbs and meet up with his friends. And my granddad used to go down to the service station in Dora, NM, and play dominoes with his friends.
In the afternoons, Charlie and I’ve enjoyed lately finding a local bar in whatever town we are in and ordering a decaf and blogging, answering email, planning next stage, etc. It’s a nice way to be a part of things.
