Boog's Blog

“Cap’n Dick where be we?”

“Arrh! Bay o Biscay, ye sodden bilge rat.”

“Awwk! Pieces ‘o’ pate.”

Early morning start for the first day of the Death March.Packs loaded with drinkable yogurt, tons of water. No rain so no rain gear.

13 mile trek to Hostel Bar Frances. Last several hours in extreme heat. The heat was really the main problem. Mid 90s in the sun and there was no shade for almost the entire walk.

Leaving Camas terrible road with smelly gasoline and trucks and ugly industrial area. Then we got on a road that ran parallel to the autostrada. Basically 11 miles is nothing but exactly the same road with the exact same surface heading north.

Fortunately in the town of SantiPonce before the long track on the boring Road. Visited a 1301 Cistercian monastery being renovated (slowly). Alphonse Guzmán was the original founder.

Then an absolutely fabulous ball of string. Might be worth two balls of string. The Roman city of Italica. Birthplace of two emperors Scopio and Trajan. The ruins of the amphitheater alone well worth the side trip of almost 5 m. We probably could’ve spent half a day there but had to MoveOn. The ruins are from the city of 206 BC

So far we’ve noticed only five other fellow travelers.

Along the long boring 11 mile path we did see some cotton growing and a machine that was picking the cotton. I’ve never seen that before.

Also saw a farmer seeding his field with dozens of white birds following right behind the tractor. Every time the tractor moved, the birds followed to pick up the new fresh seeds, some even trying to anticipate where he was going next.

Simple two star bar for tonight. Outstanding Wi-Fi. We immediately had a beer and an ice cream each.

On further reflection a marginal one star. Toilet does not work. Old weather heater that heat tub grout shower but not sink. No cold water. Overhead light stopped working.

Decent standard Camino food.

They do early dinner at 8pm

Sevilla 4

Rumors of a beached ship on the Guadalquivir. Wood shards. Sounds of drunken brawls.

Last day before the Death March, I mean pilgrimage, commences. Mostly a rest, planning and repacking day planned today.

Excellent gelato at a confituria.

Just love walking the old sections of Euro cities. Low scale, lots of people-watching. That and the gelato place 😀.

A question for our well-informed readers. Cheese. Cheese is the question. If you walk into any supermarket cheese is in the refrigerated section. With the rare exception of parmigiano. Yet all throughout the middle ages people carried cheese and bread on horseback. What cheese did they carry? What keys could the sacking Boogs carry in their backpacks?

Dinner at Bodega Dos de Mayo. Excellent food excellent restaurant. But there was a misunderstanding. We waited a long time for a dish. They kept trying to clear the table.

Finally was clear. They wanted to serve sequentially so nothing got cold. We were sitting outside. We wanted to eat all the food together.

During breakfast we overheard a conversation about pirate sightings. Could not get the details; language was one we are unfamiliar with.

Question for this sacking adventure likely to be “What do you think of President Biden?”

To date:

-Unclear, Afghanistan very complicated

-Anyone better than Trump

Bullfighting still legal and practiced here. Seems to be a controversial topic as some hemming and hawing before answering. Two responses to date: I like it but realize many don’t, it is traditional. I don’t like it but that is just my opinion

After a leisurely hotel breakfast a leisurely stroll along the river to the very large Maria Luisa park. In the interior La Plaza de España constructed for a world’s fair in the 1920’s. Good wandering in the heavily tiled and Venice line canal area. Even caught flamenco dancing and finished with qb having an aperol spritz (they have not heard here that it is passe)

Evening attraction: Metropole Parasole, sunset and architectural experience. Lots of food in the area.

Started with a película of views of the city. Really helpful that we had walked around a lot so we could recognize The buildings and views. Movie included fabulous flamenco dancing. The main attraction of this is to view the sunset; there were many many people here. The sunset was nice but certainly not in the league of Rhode Island

The large sprawling parasol is also called the mushroom. Reminds one of Gaudi.

Traditional dinner. Enjoyed.

Above is a YouTube link to the flamenco dancing at plaza de Espana

It is possible that we are being followed! The marooned crew of the pirate ship Jolly Parrot; they had some tough times. We have a feeling that we will be hearing a lot more about them. Rumor has it that they have had to abandon the sea and are now planning an overland route.

The first few days for us will be in Sevilla, see the town, get used to the heat and change of time zone. The car driver thought today was perfect. 30 C. Not our view of perfect.

As to the Boogs: Smooth if long sailing/flying. Spanish health form completed we boarded Boston to Madrid, then a flight to Sevilla. Unsurprisingly jamon everywhere.

Fine hotel,Red Room like a cruise ship

Tapas at Lobo Lopez

The local pilgrim authorities have alerted us that there may be Pirates in the area. We are advised to take heed and protect our doubloons and especially our snacks as the suspected group is both drunk and hungry.

The alert is based on satellite imagery so it is not yet clear if those viewed are Pirates or just a horde of jamon loving locals heading to a big sale. The cutlasses, well, ,…..

Hopefully only one…..

Yesterday the first blog of the trip was posted but:

1. some did not get it

2. some could not use comments; password issue

Item 1

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Should be resolved with this posting. If you did not get the earlier one just scroll on down to the bottom of this post and it will be there. It explains this camino.

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Item 2

At the bottom of every post there is a comments section. You need to sign in to be registered to use it. Your username is in the email you are now likely reading. Bellow the comments you will find “lost password”. Naturally this is the route .

As a friend recently said: “it is the journey not the destination”

For the followers we have neglected to keep up with during Covid Times a late apology. To the newly following this is a short intro and test draft. Need to shake out the little bits and make sure they still work as hoped.

We planned to walk this route in April 2020, then October 2020, then April 2021 …..

Each post should generate an email and link to the post. On this blog your comments are welcomed. You may need to sign up, straightforward, to post and receive the comments of others. I have to approve the comments. Without this method the blog overflows with spam. .

The plan, if legs and other bits permit: Start in Sevilla and end up two months later in Santiago de Compostela.

The Via de la Plata – a confused name.

“The term Vía de la Plata is commonly thought to derive from the modern Spanish word for silver, plata. The name actually derives from the Arabic word al-balat, which means cobbled paving and described the road as engineered by the Romans.[1]

Another take on the Via

The Silver Route, despite its name, was never a road for the circulation of silver trade. Such denomination is due, as in other occasions, to a popular evolution due to a phonetic confusion. In the Andalusian period, this route was called al-Balat (the paved road), a word very frequent in other areas of Spain and the origin of place names such as Albalat and Albalate.[2] It is possible that this pronunciation led people to transfer the sound to that of the precious metal, and that is why it began to be called the Via de la Plata on an indeterminate date, but before 1504 and 1507, when it was first documented with Christopher Columbus and Antonio de Nebrija, respectively. In the first it appears simply as the Plata[3] and in the second in this form:”

Wednesday mid day arrival. First stop Jurong bird park. QB looking forward to this attraction.

Have been discussing this park with QB for many years, since my visits to Singapore. First stop after getting off the boat. Taxi ride to the park and several hours there. Could easily spend a couple of full days there if you are a bird lover.

In short: did not disappoint. The variety, the layout, the jungle like landscaping all fit together.

Several months ago started collecting latest and best places for chilli and pepper crabs – favorites of mine and many others in Singapore. Don suggest Jumbo Seafood and it was a fine choice; did not disappoint.

After gorging on the above we ordered and devoured Dungness crab with black pepper. Did not disappoint. Afterwards I sent a note to Don who asked “did you have the donuts?” Yikes, we were in waddling state after so much crab and some veggies.

Thursday, off the boat early to avoid mass customs clearance with luggage. Stationary stores with moderate success. Then a visit to Chinatown.

Hawker markets are an outdoor, meaning no a/c, institution here. Some stalls even have Michelin stars and require reservations. Too hot for us to sit outside but great for food browsing. Chinatown very relaxed feeling, no dirty side alleys, wide aisles, easy browsing.

Clearly fresh fruit is available and at far lower prices than the markets.

Buddha tooth relic temple. We saw it while wandering about Got to see a chanting ceremony, in Mandarin, with an variant style of Buddhism. Have video in phots but will not play in blog. Shoes on, oddly for us.

Singapore, as in all of South East Asia, has grown dramatically since I have last been here. Maybe Singapore the most. The general feeling of the group is that this is a first world country and the US is a far far back second rate one. Everything is functional, smooth running, easy to use (trains), available etc. It is what the USA could have been if we invested.

Asked a taxi driver about the government. No complaints, everything works well, nary a bad word or thought. Passed a giant condo. Oh, the government built it, made apartments, 2000 sq. ft, subsidized it, and then offered spots by lottery. Has doubled in value in a few years. Naturally, no non locals can buy.

Final dinner at TimHoWan, a dumpling place of some renown. Not disappointed. Return tomorrow. So ends another adventure.

Monday, late morning tendering at the tropical beach/jungle Ko Samui. Our last port excursion.

Dinner last evening was a Thai buffet. Highlight, for me, was the fruit. Star fruit, jack fruit, dragon fruit, papaya, pomelo, passion fruit, juju, guava…… Most of these were on my plate.

Twelve meter Buddah, a highlight of Ko Samui

Ko Samui has about 70K people and about 2 million tourists a year. Pukhet, in the South, has 400K people and 16 million, yes I asked again, tourists a year. Ko Samui was crowded enough.

Coconut farming is the second industry here, second to tourism. They use the trained monkeys mentioned earlier for harvesting. Work normal hours, fed rice and bananas, and are part of the family.

Water buffalo at the area near the above Buddah

Formerly a fishing village, now much of it, except the coconut growing area, looks like a beach town. There are many beaches here, some, like the Four Seasons ($2K a night and V. Putin’s place), high end. The beach we visited was nice but not as nice as Da Nang

At the beach KB got to dip toes into yet another water – quite warm it was.

Thai iced coffee on the beach. Quite a process to make, sweet, and good for an occasional treat. Expresso, condensed milk, foamed milk and ice. Lots of stirring during the processing.

Elephants at the waterfall.

Monument to the Southern Chinese who peopled some of this island.

Tuesday, a day at sea. Bridge tour, quite extensive. Got to understand a bit about how navigation systems work and rules of the road and communication.