Monday, 26 September, a little warmer.
Chores and maintenance day. Send boots and dirty socks home, beard trim, laundry…..
Shoe shopping and a T-shirt at the correos, aka the Spanish post office. Quite a cute shirt. Naturally they gave us the wrong size and we had to exchange it.
Percepes,a favorite of Bobby; us, not so much.
Something we rarely do, have wine on the bar.
Sunday 25 September
Decent weather
Trip to Finisterre, paid tour bus with lunch etc.
First stop is at a Roman bridge in use since Roman times. Only way until recently to cross the river on the way to Finisterre. Lovely little town with a waterfall and mill. About 20 kms from Santiago. Ponte Maceira.
Sixteenth century horreo, timing due to corn, potatoes and tomatoes from the New World. An especially large one attached to what once was a monastery.
Short stop in muxía for coffee and a visit to the spectacular coastal church.
Finisterre: small double eye leak by QB. Picture is at km 0.000
Another fine tapas dinner with coffee and postre at the hotel lounge.
A blog comment on a social observation about our cohort. There have been almost no comments or discussion on the blog or in the blog.
Comments and discussions and even threads have all occurred in email. SMS via Allo have lead to some of the best sharing even though Google Allo is out only week a week or so.
Fab shower here at the hotel as well as fab beds. A nice hotel to return to after another long schlep.
Pilgrim mass at the cathedral. Two each day for obvious reasons. Wonderful sound in the cathedral, long, one hour, mass. QB took a video of the famous swinging fumeiro.
https://flic.kr/p/M7ksPY
Many other cathedral pics on Flickr.
Tried to get a haircut. Sorry, closing in a while, come back Monday.
After dinner, tapas, we planned to go to an evening bilingual pilgrims mass which read a small sign about at the cathedral. While waiting outside in the rain for the doors to open we meet some Germans waiting with us. They were waiting for the German tour at the same time. Nope.
YUUGE ball of string. Turned out to be a Spanish language vigil and tour with priest, completed with burning of symbolic paper in the cloister, tour and history of the Gloria door (under scaffolding), a speech at a chapel, pilgrim testaments up on the main altar, and a visit to the sepulcher. All with singing, even a bit in Latin which we have never heard.
Friday September 23
Very foggy beginning, warmer later.
Arrival, end of the Camino Portugues pilgrimage. A much shorter and easier one than the French way. Unfortunately QB did not get to enjoy due to constant painful feet.
At breakfast we learned of piel de sapo (or, skin of toad) brand of melon Blanco, inexpensive, regional, excellent. We have been having it every day since Lisboa.
Also the regional cheese, mild, good with morning rolls. BAMA queso de pais, Galicia.
Rolling hills, forests, a few steep climbs, 29 km day due to routing. Maybe 18 on the main road.
Nice room at the parador, will be here five nights. First stop after checking in and obligatory (scaffolded) cathedral pictures, was for tapas. Here they are laid out the way we saw all across northern Spain. Wonderful tapas dinner. Followed by pretty good ice cream.
Thursday 21 September a lot cooler
First stop a stone pillar in the main church. The city apparently gets its name from this stone which, legend tells, Jame's boat was moored in Padron.
Church has a collection of polychrome and 3D carvings depicting his arrival. QB took a number of pics for Flickr.
Peppers de Padron: in the supermarkets, in bags being kept cold, at $3 per pound. No black tea in the supermarkets.
Dinner confusion: we were offered pasta of vegetables as a starter. Sounded good. Asked him to repeat for QB. Also sounded good. However a terrine of veggies appeared. Apparently it was a pastel of legumes. We sent it back for a salad.
A little cooler, still no rain.
Off to the land of peppers de Padron as well as the first sighting of Columbus returning from the New World. A map shows how much silting has occurred as Padron is no longer near the water.
Once again every church was closed tight. No way in and no way to get stamps. Stamps were available only in bars. Very un- pilgrimage-y.
Track was mostly very nice with shade in forests, rolling hills, a number of pointless ups and downs. Much felt like a walk in the park. Typical 22km day.
A woman from Orlando has walked in flip flops! Pictured. Claims they are more comfortable.
Outstanding peppers for lunch.
Hotel is a pousada even though we are in Spain. Nice interesting building, large room, pool of very cold water. Good for soaking aching feet.
Tuesday 20 September
Second day here. A rest and hot water day. Stuck my toes in the local foot bath fountain but decided to eat in town rather than soak.
QB acquired a pair of wedge shoes, beige, apparently a classic Spanish style.
Again no stamp at the church. On this route we have seldom been able to get one at the obvious place; just the reverse of the French way.
Lunch amusement. Three sitting areas in the bar/restaurant. After drinks and asking for the menu we waited for service. Finally I got up and ordered. Became apparent that our area was not for eating; served us anyway.
The Torre do Rio is rustic, modern, very well maintained and non English speaking. The pool is river fed.
Monday 19 September
Another hot day.
Hotel, Torre do Rio, is incredibly rated. 5 on trip advisor, 9.8 on booking. It is a rural hotel with 12 rooms, enormous grounds, thick stone walls, dozens of places to relax, minimal but sufficient amenities.
www.torredorio.es
Caldes is a thermal springs/spa place, hence the two day stay. Hope to try it tomorrow.
To date the morning breakfast has been a delight for us fresh fruit lovers. Melon Blanco, oranges, pineapples, watermelon etc. All fresh and cut up in large bite sized pieces. Perfect.
The landscape yesterday and today, now that we are inland is more agricultural, lots of grapes for wine and lots of feed corn. Not much livestock. Not much forest diversity; QB believes the first is in serious trouble.
Sunday 18 September, another blazing hot day. A day of "Boogs Asado".
QB awoke to a spectacular view of Orion shining through her open window; described it as almost a Van Gogh.
Several 500+ climbs on rocky and bouldered paths, definitely needed a stick today. Many walkers on the path today. Coastal and traditional merged. Numerous Germans, no Americans, a few from Mexico, an assortment of other nationalities.
Possibly due to the extra sleeping yesterday, or a change of socks, or getting stronger or the full moon QB had a good walking day, no exhaustion or severe pain in the feet even though another 20+ km day.
Arrived at a reasonable hour and looked for an ice cream shop in the central city. Not an iced cream culture here. Found some froyo which hit all the right notes.
Hotel is another parador. Sixteenth century building with lovely hallways and rooms.
Excellent regional white wine from northeast Spain, ribeiro. A white tempanilo. QB slightly drunk from a pre dinner drink. Dinner not until 8:30 earliest.
Saturday 17 September same weather only hotter. Very much hotter.
Day starts with a high climb,+550 feet, out of Vigo. Rolling ridge with great views follow until a sharp descent into Redondela, located on a giant bay.
Lots of benches until we needed them for a rest. Uncomfortable picnic spot just 50 meters forward from a picnic area. Oh well.
Passed excellent waterfall. Was to early to eat at that time.
Stopped for another round of peppers de padron. They really are much better here than in Calif.
Hotel, a one star b&b, big one with 30 rooms and with a large kitchen. Nothing like our B&Bs. Not elegant but the setting is stunning and the flies numerous. The food copious and good.
Upon arrival at the hotel QB feel asleep instantly. It was a long hard day, 12+ miles with many hills and little food.
Boog's Blog 