The first mile or two out of Logroño was through the city. The next 4 or 5 miles were along a long green path that ended in a gigantic park beside a reservoir. A huge very nice dog park, a huge very nice children’s playground, lots of forest and picnic tables and such. Impressive. Then we walked alongside some vineyards. And then we walked a mile or two on a path next to a huge noisy freeway (what they call an autopista). Then finally into the cute hill town of Navarrete.
We are staying in a private room in an albergue. It’s nice being back in pilgram-land after a couple of days of isolation from that in our apartment in Logroño.
The day in photos:
Starting our day on the camino, early morning, walking along Calle Portales, under the long portal.Camino shell used in sidewalks in Logroño to mark the way.One in 10 Pilgrims walk in the dirt (based on this small sample). Walking through the miles of parkway on the outskirts of Logroño. As soon as we saw the soft dirt path on the side of the pavement we moved over. The pavement gets tiring on the feet. Rare to find soft non-rocky dirt. Bliss.Park rules. I’m pretty sure this is the exact same sign we saw 13 years ago.Walking along the autopista. Pilgrims have woven stick crosses in the chain link fence.An iconic Osborne bull seen from behind. They were originally billboards dating from the 1950s advertising sherry and brandy. When billboards were banned in Spain in 1994, public outcry saved them (without the advertising). About 90 of 500 remain in Spain now. We passed one of them today on our walk. (Silver lining to walking along a noisy autopista.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_bullAbove seen from the front looking back.Approaching Navarrete.We haven’t seen a lot of this kind of graffiti this time. Not sure why. But more today.Iglesia de Santa María de la Asunción in Navarrete. This little town has a population of 3000 so it’s stunning to see this church here. Built in the 1500s.Check out this alter. It’s gold. We assume gold leaf. We put a euro in a slot and the altar was illuminated for 5 minutes. So many other wonderful sculptures and painting here. Henry and Moira, I think you can teach us more about this amazing church.The large incense burner was hanging in the middle of the nave. Not as big as the one in the Santiago cathedral, but impressive.Our albergue for the night. The best! Albergue de la Iglesia. Next door to the church.Our cute private room with private bath. And, yes, that’s a third bed up on the shelf.
My mom grew up in Portales, a town in southeastern New Mexico. My dad grew up in Dora which is very near Portales. My Aunt Theressa still lives in Portales.
I knew that Portales was the Spanish word for porches, or portals. When we were in Logroño in 2013, we stayed in Hotel Portales. Yesterday we were walking through Logroño on the street that runs beside the cathedral and I noticed several business with Portales in their name. I thought, “what is it about the word portales that makes it such a big deal around here? Maybe I’ll ask in the hotel.”
Then, I realized that the street we were walking down was named Portales Street! Oh, that explains why so many businesses are named Portales. And then, duh, I realized we’d been walking under a huge porch/portal that went on for several blocks. We were quite enjoying the coolness it provided. So, I suppose the street was named for the porch!!
Cafe PortalesPortales Doner KebabView of the porchesAnother view of the porches
Flights of stairs climbed: 2. That might be actual stairs. Logroño is pretty flat.
We had a low key day. Went to the post office which is always fun. The post offices here are great. They are clearly there to help! We needed to mail a package to Burgos. Plus we had received a notice that the suitcase we mailed from Pamplona to Sahagún would be returned to sender if it wasn’t picked up by April 30. Well, we won’t get to Sahagún till May 6. We had told them May 6 (twice) when we mailed the suitcase in Pamplona but I guess that didn’t get communicated. So, we asked at the PO here what to do about this dilemma. It turned out that the Pamplona PO put down the Sahagún PO as our return address. So, I guess the Sahagún PO will send it to the Sahagún PO. The woman in the Logroño PO this morning told me “tranquila”, not to worry. But it still makes me nervous; we will try to contact the Sahagún PO directly.
Then we walked about a mile to the main train station to get a Tarjeta Dorado (Gold Card) which is a year pass for old people to get a big discount on train tickets. But, unfortunately, for some reason, the entire main ticket and information office in the train station was closed this morning, and only this morning. So … No Tarjeta Dorado (yet) for us. (We were too lazy to walk back there this afternoon.)
Then we walked to the cathedral. There is a Michaelangelo (attributed at least) behind the alter and I wanted to see that. But … The cathedral was closed.
We walked down Laurel Street, famous for its tapas. Seemed much more upscale than it was when we were here 13 years ago. We ended up coming home and making good sandwiches in our apartment.
We did go out again and got to go into the cathedral this time. BUT, the light wasn’t working to show the Michaelangelo painting. It was enclosed in glass and there was so much glare you couldn’t see it without the inside light working.
So … It was a bit of an off-kilter day. Charlie and I are eager to get back on the trail tomorrow.
Correos: the post office. They are very modern and efficient and the employees work hard.Calle Laurel, tapas streetThe cathedral from the side. If you squint you might be able to find the stork’s nest. First one we’ve seen.The Michaelangelo painting. What you see in the middle is just a reflection on the glass of what was on the opposite wall.The light “no funciona”Charlie managed to get a view of it through his camera from the side. I never was able to see it.
Miles walked: 10.4. Six of those were on the path and 4.4 of those were around Logroño.
Elevation gained in flights of stairs equivalence: 14. Not a lot of up and down.
Today we walked the short six mile distance between Viana and Logroño. We were out of the hotel in Viana by about 7:20 and in Logroño by 10:30. We are staying here in the big city for two days.
We crossed into La Rioja today. Logroño, population 200,000, is the capital of La Rioja. So, we have left Basque country.
We have an apartment with a kitchen. I was going to say “little apartment” but it’s actually quite roomy.
We enjoyed going to the nearby grocery store and buying good bread and cheese and tomatoes and a salad kit and made lunch “at home”. We also got food for breakfast in the morning. Logroño is famous for its tapas, but I have a feeling we are going to eat most of our meals in the apartment. We have such fun going to the grocery store and finding great things to bring home.
We did errandy things today like a post office pickup, grocery shopping, laundry. We are glad to have another day to spend in Logroño. Tomorrow we can tell you more about the city itself.
The walk was nicer than I expected since I knew we would be walking on the outskirts of Logroño. We went through some industrial stuff but not a lot. We went through a few tunnels to go under highways. I enjoy seeing the picture that gets framed at the end of a tunnel. The above is looking back.And this is looking forward. There is always graffiti in the tunnels.We passed this monument.It says “In this place were assassinated on September 3, 1936, 25 residents of the Riojan towns of Ábalos and San Vicente de la Sonsierra, victims of the Franco repression. The people who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.”This man was busy tending his window plants. He had grape vines growing all over the front of his house. We are in wine country!We crossed the Rio Ebro just before entering Logroño. The Ebro is the longest river entirely in Spain.Our home for two days.
Floors of stairs climbed: 4, but just in our albergue in Uterga. (Seemed like more than that!)
I’m writing this post on April 19, five days later. But it seems like weeks ago!
We needed more time in Pamplona to finish our errands and I was still feeling a little poorly from the bug I had caught so we decided to make it a leisurely day. We spent the morning in Pamplona and then took a taxi to Uterga. (Since we pre-reserved all our nightly accommodations, we didn’t have the easy option of staying in Pamplona an extra day and then walking to Uterga the next day. Downside of pre-reserving: little flexibility.)
Hemingway spent a lot of time in Pamplona and that might be why Pamplona is known in the wider world. Pamplona is also famous for the Running of the Bulls, the Festival of San Fermín, which happens every July. It’s a pretty city with plenty to do and see. But we didn’t do that this time. We have been here twice before so didn’t leave time for sightseeing.
We were ready to get out of the city actually and were glad to get to tiny two-albergue town Uterga around noon. We thought our private room in Albergue Casa Baztán would be nice since it cost 60 euros and got 4.6 Google stars. It was also the only choice we had. The room shocked us. Large but no window, no place to sit. It was clean but very very old and shabby. We spent most of the afternoon having lunch and then hanging out in the bar across the street.
But, I ended up enjoying our stay at Casa Baztán. It had a certain charm. The simple communal pilgrim’s dinner they served us was quite good and it was fun sharing it with other pilgrims.
Fields of mustard seen from taxi on ride from Pamplona to Uterga.Entrance to Casa Baztán. A big heavy door.Reception area in Casa BaztánDining room/bar where we had the communal meal. A delicious fresh salad, choice of roast chicken or fish or pork, fried eggs on rice, ice cream, wine, water, bread.
Flights of stairs climbed equivalent while walking: 52
Flights of stairs avoided by taking taxi: approximately 100 (and that many down as well)
We got up early and left Los Arcos without breakfast or coffee. (I did take a caffeine pill.) We had breakfast/coffee in Torres del Rio after about 4.5 miles of walking. We enjoy starting out on an empty stomach.
Most of those 4.5 miles were fairly flat and then it started to get quite hilly.
It’s been interesting noting the things we remember from being here 12 and 13 years ago. And the things we remembered wrong. Both of us were SURE Torres del Rio was up on a hill and Sansol was down in the valley before Torres del Rio. Turned out to be the opposite. Sansol is on the hill, Torres del Rio is lower. How could we both get it wrong?
Torres del Rio has the most amazing 12th century Knights Templar church, Iglesia do Santo Sepulcro de Torres do Río. It was locked today. (There was a number to call if you wanted someone to let you in.) But we noticed birds building mud nests up along its roof line. This is the third church where we’ve seen this on this Camino, something we’ve never seen before. Perhaps this is something that only happens for a short time of the year? Birds flitting about either bringing mud for the nests or perhaps food for their chicks? I took a video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/XrGVtR16LgSUu2iU8
Maybe you bird people can let us know what kind of birds these are and what they are doing??
The walk we needed to do today to get to Viana was longer than we wanted to do in distance, heat, and extreme ups and downs. So, we decided to take a taxi the last 5 miles into Viana. I felt so sorry and admiring of all the pilgrims we passed trudging through the hot sun. Of course, we had done that walk twice before: in 2013 and then again in 2014.
We are staying in a nice hotel in Viana. Kind of a faded glory hotel. It hasn’t been updated in a while. (Evidenced by the wall phone missing a receiver next to the toilet.) But quite comfortable, and inexpensive (65 euros). We ate lunch in their restaurant and it was amazing (and not cheap by pilgrim standards, but not expensive by USA standards). The trouble with these menus is I always eat too much.
Last night in Los Arcos having fruit for dinner on our balcony. We weren’t hungry after a HUGE weekend menu del dia for lunch.The church in Los Arcos. I remember it is spectacular inside but it was locked up tight this time, even on a Sunday morning. Most churches we pass are not open.Leaving Los ArcosMountains in the distance. It looks like snow but it was just a trick of the light.Path between Los Arcos and SansolYoung pilgrims who passed us. I don’t think we’ve seen (certainly haven’t met) any pilgrims as old as we are. This surprises me since I know a lot of old people do walk the Camino. But guess we are a small percentage. I’d say 30 or 40 is about the average age. Sansol in the distance. (But we thought it was Torres del Rio.)An amazing breakfast in Torres del Rio. That omelette/cheese/tomato sandwich (warmed up) was on amazing bread. Good coffee, too.Walking through Torres del Rio, passing La Pata de Oca (Foot of the Goose) where we stayed in 2013 and 2014.How they did the menu was a new one for us. They served us, to share in the middle of the table, all four first course items (the 4 at the top of the menu above). Then we each chose a second course (we got the fish and lamb) and the desert (one of each for us).Carpaccio de Salmon. I’m not sure how good it looks here but the sauce was amazing kind of lemony with pomegranate seeds. I didn’t mind the raw salmon too much. Charlie loved it.Charlie enjoying the fourth first course. This they did serve in two separate dishes. Old abandoned church outside our balcony in our hotel here in VianaNow blogging in the hotel bar
We had a small breakfast provided by our B&B (Casa Tau). A mile or so past Larrasoaña we passed Hotel Akeretta which was where we stayed on our Camino in 2013 and found out, after we had checked in, that it was the hotel where Martin Sheen stayed in the movie “The Way”. If you’ve seen the movie it was where Martin Sheen met the blond woman from Canada and where he caught the hotel owner pretending to be a bull fighter.
As mentioned in my previous post, I got behind in my daily logs. Shoot, it’s hard to remember all I’d like to remember about the day. I do remember we were concerned about all we had to do when we got to Pamplona: 1) Go to an optical shop so I could replace a broken ear piece on my reading/computer glasses. 2) Reorganize all our stuff and mail a small suitcase to our endpoint (Sahagún which is half way to Santiago). It held things we only needed on the plane. 3) Do laundry. 4) Buy Kleenex and cough drops (my sore throat had turned into a cold).
On the edge of Pamplona we decided to catch a taxi to shorten the day’s walk a bit and get to our errands. We had stopped in a bar for coffee and an amazingly helpful woman in the bar called a taxi for us and then walked us to the place to meet the taxi since we were in a pedestrian area.
We got to our hotel (Hotel Yoldi) and checked in and headed up to our room. On the elevator, uh oh, Charlie realized he didn’t have his phone. We remembered he’d had it out on the taxi so figured he probably left it there. But, we couldn’t call the taxi driver since we hadn’t called him ourselves. We rushed back to the front desk and asked them to call the bar where they’d called the taxi. We were panicking and not thinking clearly. The hotel desk person suggested the obvious thing: Why don’t you call your phone? We did and the taxista answered! He was rather far away by then but he brought it to us when he was nearer to our part of town It cost us an additional 7 euro taxi fare! Worth it!
We had a nice lunch in the hotel restaurant while waiting for the phone to show up. Then headed out for our errands.
Hotel AkerettaSomewhere along the wayCharlie got his phone back! Whew!Running of the bulls statue in Pamplona
As you can see, there was only 1/5 as much elevation gain as yesterday so a fairly flat walk today. There was a lot of downhill at the beginning and then it was gently rolling hills. Gentler than usual. Nice!
There are no towns between V de M and LA so that made the walk seem long. But there was a food truck with chairs and benches so we were able to get a cold drink, an orange, and rest our feet a bit. The food truck didn’t have a bathroom and it was wide open country so … I had to be creative to find a place on the trail.
Our wonderful hosts from our B&B last night were Bert and Betty. Betty was an amazing cook. And possibly the nicest person I’ve ever met. Bert and Betty are from the Netherlands but moved to Villamayor de Monjardin about 13 years ago and worked in the albergue there. Then 3 years ago they bought this B&B, Casa Rural Montedeio.Betty’s vegetable tart. I’ve never eaten anything like it. Bert making breakfast for us this morning. I asked him about the bread machine (right). He said they make fresh sour dough bread every day for the guests. We had it for breakfast, it was still warm. OK, if you ever get a chance to go to Spain, go to this B&B!!!Our room in the B&B. Heading out this morning.Looking back at Villamayor de Monjardin. There is a castle at the top of the hill. Built in 5th century. Bert said there is a little church inside it and twice a year all the people in the village (population approx. 100) walk to the top and have a church service there.Steady stream of pilgrims.In Los Arcos we ate at the restaurant across from our hotel. A delicious menu. Unfortunately it’s Saturday and the menus almost double in price on the weekend. But, it was worth it. First course, beans and mixed salad. Both were outstanding. The Spanish make such good beans and fresh salads. For second course we had chicken and trout.We have windows in our hotel room. And a huge balcony. We are in a regular hotel. Very comfortable. Now sitting in the hotel bar blogging.
Only about 1/10 of a mile walk to and from lunch place so most of that 9.66 was on the trail.
We really enjoyed our stay in Villatuerta last night in a beautiful private room with two good beds and a window! Slept well, got up early for a simple but nutritious breakfast (coffee, boiled egg, yoghurt, toast) that had been left for us in the albergue. Chatted at breakfast with a man from Phoenix who complained quite a bit about Trump while we ate. (He was a republican.)
Got on the trail by 7:15. We’ve been trying to leave early in the cool mornings so we don’t have to walk as much in the afternoon sun. It’s been in the mid 70s and very sunny the past few days. The sun is quite hot when you are in it with no shade, especially going uphill. We are glad for the partly cloudy forecast tomorrow.
It was a pretty walk through green rolling hills. Tonight we are staying in Casa Rural Montedeio. We stayed here in 2013 and 2014. Worth repeating! It is now run by a family from the Netherlands. We will have dinner tonight with the family and any other guests who opt to dine with them. 17 euros each.
Getting an early start. Mornings are cool enough to require ear covers.Standing by itself in a field near the Camino path. Abandoned monastery built in the X or XI century. Now hermitage of San Miguel. The Irache wine fountain for pilgrims. The handle on the left dispenses wine, the one on the right dispenses water. We met this delightful young Spanish man from Andalucia there. He was friendly and asked us where we were from. We said United States. He asked “where in United States”. We said Albuquerque, New Mexico. His eyes lit up and he said “Breaking Bad!”Yes, I got some wine. Just a sip. Too early in the day. And not their best wine, I’m sure.Nice views on the walk. A great bar to take a break, get out of the sun, listen to classic rock music. They had a juke box booming. CCR, Beatles, Lennon (Imagine), Elvis, whoever it was who did Johnny B Good. This was the third or fourth bar we’ve been in in the last two or three days that has been playing classic American rock music.We’ve spotted a number of Palestine flags hanging from people’s balconies along the way.Now we are blogging on the patio of this casa rural.
There are big fields of mustard plants. I assume these are farmed and not just weeds. Solid yellow color. At first I thought they were rape plants (canola) but close up we were able to identify them as mustard.
We are definitely in farm country. Starting to see huge fields of wheat (I think) and also starting to see vineyards and even some olive trees.
Just leaving Uterga. Fields of mustard. Plus wheat.I had the bottom bunk in the corner. Charlie the bottom bunk next to me. They were good solid beds. Didn’t shake when someone turned over or climbed up and down the ladder.In Puente la Reina on the street as we walked through. I thought it was a pretty still life.Group dinner in the albergue. That’s Hyen (Korea/New York) on the left and Cathleen (Germany) in the middle. The man on the right was from Denmark. There were 8 of us at the table. 5 of us were from the USA, counting Hyen.Terrace with large table at the albergue.
