{"id":688,"date":"2026-04-19T17:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T17:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/?p=688"},"modified":"2026-04-20T10:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:36:21","slug":"april-19-walking-and-travel-day-los-arcos-to-viana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/2026\/04\/19\/april-19-walking-and-travel-day-los-arcos-to-viana\/","title":{"rendered":"April 19: Walking and Travel Day, Los Arcos to Viana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Miles walked 7.73<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miles in taxi: approximately 5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flights of stairs climbed equivalent while walking: 52<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flights of stairs avoided by taking taxi: approximately 100 (and that many down as well)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of those 4.5 miles were fairly flat and then it started to get quite hilly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Torres del Rio has the most amazing 12th century Knights Templar church, Iglesia do Santo Sepulcro de Torres do R\u00edo<\/em><\/strong>. 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<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you bird people can let us know what kind of birds these are and what they are doing??<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Leaving Los Arcos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mountains in the distance. It looks like snow but it was just a trick of the light.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Path between Los Arcos and Sansol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Young 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. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sansol in the distance. (But we thought it was Torres del Rio.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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An amazing breakfast in Torres del Rio. That omelette\/cheese\/tomato sandwich (warmed up) was on amazing bread. Good coffee, too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Walking through Torres del Rio, passing La Pata de Oca (Foot of the Goose) where we stayed in 2013 and 2014.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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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).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Charlie enjoying the fourth first course. This they did serve in two separate dishes. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Old abandoned church outside our balcony in our hotel here in Viana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Now blogging in the hotel bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miles walked 7.73 Miles in taxi: approximately 5 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 … Continue reading “April 19: Walking and Travel Day, Los Arcos to Viana”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":720,"href":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions\/720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wynchar.com\/c26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}