Boog's Blog

5 October still warm 

Rest day in this cute town with a famous cathedral. We are staying in one of the two Posadas – Bernardo.  QB in front of the other one. Considerably hidden in the shadows.

The one above, Santo, is where we had a fine dinner last night.   A three fork restaurant with 3 fork service.

The blog has been light for a few days on food as we have been having mostly peregrinos fare.  Formulaic.  Not here. 

The dessert gives a flavor of the place. 

Sheets of caramelized honey and almonds, thinly sliced pears poached in wine with a yogurt based cream that looks like whipped creme.   The rest of the dinner was of similar quality.

The meal was accompanied by, as QB called it, “a harmless little rosada wine”.

Breakfast at Bernardo.

Sixteenth century building sure looks different than in Newport RI same time period.

The cathedral, a major one, as mentioned has live chickens inside. This is based on the “Miracle of the rooster and the hen”

https://vivecamino.com/en/the-miracle-of-the-rooster-and-the-hen-one-of-the-most-famous-legends-of-the-camino_no_173/

Picnic lunch to make another attack on the fine Gran Reserva. A Still life without electronics.

Still life without electronics

Another fine dinner at Santo.

Wednesday 4 October warm

Almost 1400 ft of climbing today.

Garmin 25.5 km

Android 11.41 km (suspect loss of connectivity on some hill)

iPhone 21 km

Book 23.5

First pic is of the caves (defensive) in the red Rock Hill that backs up the town.

Different models of walking, one is dragging your “stuff”. A belt is attached to his waist and he pulls what a cyclist would call a Bob.

Approaching the first town we notice, once again how clean it is and a man with a broom sweeping his front door area.

A view of Nájera un the background. 

Later on a climb of 1000 feet up to the golf club eatery in Cirueña. It is the only place in town.  The population is less than 150 but has housing for thousands. The guide books describe it as as ghost town or dystopian village.   Have not found the history yet but will inquire at the information tomorrow.  Likely to be a good story as the road up is in excellent shape and the road down not so much.

A very little of the ghost town buildings, almost all new looking and in excellent shape.  Giant double sized Olympic swimming pool, empty of course, in the fine park.

Again, without Bobby we could not identify this plant and it’s fruit or its nut.

Layout of historical Santo Domingo

Another mode of travel to Santiago:

The Parador is one we stayed at 7 years ago.  Looks the same to me.  I liked the place then and still do. Very solid building of massive stonework.

Got some Gran Reserva for the room.  As we are staying two nights here there is a chance we can finish it.

Tuesday 3 October warm afternoon

Garmin 19.8km.

Android 19.5

iPhone 16km

Terrain mostly gentle rolling with a steady climb of 2% or so.

12th century gate in front of the cemetary. Gate moved from the hospital de Acre.

This area is, apparently, well-known for it’s red clay pottery.  Our analysis is that it looks like the stuff we see in any garden shop most anywhere.  They do have a lot of red clay here.

As we wandered through the vineyards and Fields we struggled not having Bobby with us.  So many questions about grapes,vendage, soil, irrigation, grape varieties, wines available….. mostly left unanswered due to the lack of Bobby.

Found a few not harvested. Only such field we saw.

Ventosa, a short detour off the main path but the only place today with coffee and tea for a break.  American tea no less.  QB said drinkable. 

Most but not all the roads were gentle on our feet today.

A famous landmark that we have not been about to identify.  Books say famous and leave it at that. Rather a nice structure with inside chimney.

Nájera, like so many places in this part of Rioja boasts it is the location of the three day fight between Roland and the 7m giant Feregut. The fight that proved the superiority of one religion over another.

The cliffs in the background contain many medieval a caves, dug to protect Najera’s bridge entry.  The hillside looks impressive but with the recent piece of Yosemite falling off caution comes to mind.

Monday 2 October 

Spanish hotel rooms: double beds, booked for two persons and yet can never get a second luggage  rack.  Maybe we succeeded once.

Today’s walk: “one of the nicer walks” QB remarked. 

Garmin 20.5 km

iPhone 16km

Android 18 km

The second large church in Logroño is Santiago which we encounter just before leaving the city. Wonderful polychrome, including Jimmie (St. James to others).

Literally a walk in the park continues for 7.5km.  Nice lake for wildlife, birds, and forested areas, red squirrels.  QB took, possibly, 20+ pics. 

Lovely trails in the park.

Stopping for coffee is always challenge to find seating away from smokers.  Smoking does not seem to have diminished here. Spoke with an Aussie with similar views to ours; also used to a smoke free environment.

Grapes have been harvested.  Found a few still on the vine.  Sweet with durable skins.

Almond trees, with signs saying do not take any.

View entering another hill city, Navarrete. Ruins of a 12th century pilgrims hospital. 

The guide book says not to miss the retablo in the Church of the Assumption.  Says to pay for the lighting of the room, and not to leave town until it is open.

Also in Assumption, offen where to organist sits,:

When is a shower not a shower? When does a device for getting off the grime of the walk have an interface more complicated than my smart phone?

Answer:. when it is of swedish design.  Have seen this before in Denmark though there it had piped in music, with controls of course, as well as LED mood lighting, with mood controls as well.  This one is a basic model.

Dinner can only be described as a reprise of faulty towers.

Sunday October 1 Slight rain for a short while.  Hopefully not enough to affect the red clay for the walk tomorrow.

First stop, the cathedral.  Timing was perfect as we got to hear the organ playing for Sunday mass.  It was in the enclosed central section mentioned yesterday.

Service, mass,  picture, see green robes.

Leaving the church, in the same square was a flea market and a degustar of mushrooms being set up.

Few Spanish cities have been more fought over than Logroño. Few medieval monuments remain as the fighting started in 755 (defeat of Moors) and continued through the Carlist wars of the 19th century.

Laundry and treat in Oro de Costal 

Mushroom festival was a definite ball of string.  One booth, one type, buttons, sampled, 2 € with a drink.

Stopped and purchased a half bottle of a slightly aged Crianza.  In this case the higher price did reflect a taste we preferred.  According to the wine shop Reserva and Gran Reserva do not exist in half bottles.

Paired this with our remaining cheese and French apples.  Not so perfect still life follows. 

Tapas dinner on San Juan Street, one of the two long tapas streets. Went in search for peppers de padrón and other favorites.

First over to Santiago, two aspects. Closed off course.

The goose game, played by children, using dice or dies.

Excellent tapas night on San Juan Street.

Saturday 30 September. cooler today

Shorter stage today, about 10km plus city walking taking it to 18km.   QB, suffering from a back spasm made the wise choice of taking a taxi and enjoying the larger city.

Day started with light rain which ended by the time I got going.

Viana still has some of its old medieval city wall.

Soon one sees the grapes of Rioja which will officially start in a few kms. The camino route signage has become noticibly worse.  I had to use my GPX files several times today.  

The pleasent scent of fennel in the air helps a bit. 

The dirt above is fortunately very dry. The book description  is “the rich red clay soil of Rioja – beautiful in the sun and a nightmare in the wet as it clings to footware like a leech”.     Therese, Richard and the Boogs well remember this clay from Sienna. 

A bird spotting sanctuary on the top of a small hill.

A lake with shore birds and swans made more visible by scopes.

First view of Logroño a city of about 150K versus Pamplona’s 200K.

Community gardens on the outskirts

Entering the city proper one sees a site rarely if ever, actually never, seen in Palo Alto.  Streets washed and scrubbed after a giant hovering machine sweeps up all litter.   Very clean and delightful streets.

Bridge into the city proper.

To our great surprise the cathedral was open.  In many ways it looks like the one in Léon having a central area (not pictured) with a large gate around it.  

Crowded streets with tapas areas in full use. Many types.  We have choosen to eat a restaurant tonight – found what looks to be a good one- and eat tapas tomorrow night.   We are here for two nights to see this lovely Central City.  Not ideal that we got here on a Sunday. 

Some fine looking peppers. A regional speciality. Part of dinner tonight. Lunch was a picnic of fruit, cheese, gazpacho, cujada: French, French, Spanish, Spanish.  Oh, and some just average bread.

Inspired by Nancy and Jerome’s restaurant adventures and our desire for a better menu than offered to pelegrinos – a late dinner for us and early for Spain:

Cannot get, by the glass, the Reserva or Gran Reserva we settled for Crianza.  

some suckling pig for a first time, possibly.

The bread with tomatoes is Pan de Cristal which apparently is a registered trademark.  Very similar to ciabatta as QB pointed out before I finished researching.

Friday 29 September very warm near end of walk.

Checked carefully, we are staying in Viana only one night.   Today’s walk included one of the highest and steepest climbs of the Camino according to one book.  

Garmin 21.1 kms

Android 20

iPhone 18

Book 19.3

Not so much the highest;.  about 1200 ft of climbing.  Several hill towns along the way,  Sansole being the first.

Then came Torres del Río which is down a steep incline and then up another incline. In the center is a 12th century Romanesque of octagonal design based on the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The literature describes it as enigmatic.

Iglesia del Santo Sepulchre.

Another of the self made rest stops offering drinks and food and asking for donations. This one contained a nice collection of hitos, the stacked bricks that mark the road (also called miles – Román miles).

Viana is a hilltop walled City (bastide) of a certain age. Only parts are left, as is only part of a large church, now a ruin, adjacent to the wall.

View of the ruin from our hotel window, and a nice way to see how it was constructed.

The main historic attraction here is the very large Santa Maria.  Naturally closed but open for pilgrims Mass during dinner hour.  

To see the church I went to a pilgrims mass. Usually they are friendly affairs. Not here. Serious mass, long, not welcoming,  100% in Spanish, an extra long sermon for the pelegrinos.

Thursday 28 September

Distance:. basically zero except for wandering about the village.

Second night here after the mix up in Estella. Decided to stay here rather than try and fix the luggage transport going forward.  

Nice rest day. The hotel, rural type, is 300 plus years old, lovingly refurbished about four years ago.

The breakfast room gives a sense of the place.

 Naturally the church was closed. Have not seen anyone using the Frontón (jai also) this trip.  Asked about it and was told that it is used in the summer by the children.  Our previous trip we say only rather aged and portly men playing, and playing very well and vigerously with a crowd watching.

Now there is a car parked there.

Short stroll about this small town and we found the sculpture (museo) exhibit.  No explanations.

Dinner oddity.  Never happen in France.  Not too surprising for Spain where food service is far far less money oriented. 

When we gave our dinner order, menú de pelegrinos, we were told we could order two entrees.  Didn’t but could have.  I ordered an extra salad.

Wednesday 27 September

A messy and expensive mix up, a road not taken, a good if shorter walk.

First the mess up.   I thought we booked  one night at Tximista. Nope, two.  Did not discover the error until we tried to check into Mues (Los Arcos berb) a day early.  

Error was mine; hotel did not mention that we were leaving early (pre-paid), luggage company called Follow the Camino booking company about luggage transport but no one followed up with us.

Distance: 16.5 kms

So, we will stay here two nights and pay for the extra night and pay to have a taxi pickup our luggage from  Tximista and deliver here.

Walk begins on a good path ever climbing.

The first attraction is the Irache winery. Famous for having an outdoor spigot which dispenses unlimited wine.   Also it’s ajoining 10th century monestery.   Ran out of wine and monestery closed.  

Wine is quite inexpensive there. That is less than 2 Euros.

When we stopped for coffee and a roll in a small town learned another bit of Spanish.  I asked how to say the name of the pastry (pan ou chocolate) in Spanish.   Neopolitan.  I asked another if this is correct and a third, Italian woman who said also called this in Italy.  Tasted fine.

Small lovely open (few have been) church in Monjardin.  12th century with lovely polychrome. 

We took a taxi from Monjardin.  The guide book describes the walk to Los Arcos  as  of interminable boredom.  Checked our  blog from 2010 which described it as South Dakota with wind. Search on blog for Los Arcos and earlier post will appear.  

Taxi took us to Los Arcos with its magnificent church.

Los Arcos, Now small with 1200 inhabitants, must have been quite rich to build this Santa Maria church.

Tuesday 26 September warm 

A little shorter day as we took a taxis about 6km to a nearby hilltown.  Several more hilltowns, cute and medieval were on the path.

Android 22.3

IPhone 21

Garmin 23.9 km

We walked through Puente, shot of the famous six arched bridge, sister to the one in Pamplona.

My previous Camino (this route) was by bike.  So very different as then I saw mostly roads and the towns.  This time the Román roads, paths of rocks, and some lovely graded roads.  The scenery is, of course, much nicer when it can be observed slowly.

Many excellent views from the hilltown.  This is the entrance to Ciriquia. 

and a road in.

and a road out.

Road eventually becomes agricultural with olives and grapes and almonds.  The soil, a red clay, looked exactly like the stuff that we walked with Therese and Richard in Siena, only dry this time. Was some of the worst “mud” we have ever encountered.

Along the way a young man from Pamplona was putting in a rest spot, camping spot, library, scenic stop in an olive Grove. Rented the space from the owner in exchange for picking labor.

Hay stacks on the way.

Not one hotel has had decent WiFi.  Not the 5 star or this 4 star.  Have had to use Tmobile bandwidth for all posts.  T-Mobile is 2G, at its best, in this part of Spain.

River Ega runs behind  our hotel for the night.