Boog's Blog

4 October partly cloudy but very windy, from the direction we will be going tomorrow

Rest day in this largish (150K population) city.

Fried Milk, leche fritas, was on the buffet this morning. The NH group of hotels offers a good buffet breakfast, very similar to the German breakfasts we got so used to several years ago. Taste was similar to a only very slightly sweetened custard. See pic.

The cathedral (shout out to Herb: mostly modern Baroque, not medieval) is well dressed in frescos and a large gold colored redondo. Pics were obtainable today.

Visited the tourist office to find a restaurant for tonight. Asked for one that was non-smoking. This flummoxed them for a bit and the two workers discussed the problem with facial gestures indicating that this was not the kind of request they often received. Came up with one. Agreed that it is the only one in this city.

Also asked them about the local food specialities.

Menuestra Venduras – basically a plate of veggies, green ones, that they say is a stew but is more like a very light soup. Have had it three times. Always very bland and we believe it always had canned or frozen veggies. QB ate less than a third the last time she had it. Might be good if veggies were fresh and broth well made.

Meat. Yes, the usual beef and veal are the specialities here.

Potatoes, fried of course and good of course.

Mushrooms filled with garlic and oil and shrimp, pictured

Wine was not mentioned but clearly this is what to have. Red, white and rosado are all available from the shelves in stores.

We have been eating the Pintxos with much delight. Ham slices on a bread, smoked salmon topped with medium sized shrimp, torta of eggs and potatoes, large shrimp topped with onions. all had good oil on them. Hard to go wrong with the above. Building up a storehouse of Tapas dishes in case there is a tapas party in the future a nos casa o nos amigos

3 October overcast, humid and a bit warm

Today we left the Basque region and entered Rioja. The dual language disappeared immediately and welcoming signs from Rioja emerged.

We leave behind the Basque wines and a few nice food dishes. The wines appear similar to the lighter Zinfandels of Napa; naturally much cheaper locally. Most dinners included the wine at no up charge. The purchased wines were good, not expensive for restaurant wine, in nice bottles but not significantly better than the table wine. Most of the Basque wines were around 12.5% alcohol, the way we prefer them.

Managed to climb the equivalent of 1.3 empire state buildings, that is how I think of the climbs now: how many ESB equivalents. Yesterday was only about 2/3 rds ESB.

The road out included a number of stops at hilltop villages, each with nice but closed churches from the 12th or 13th century. The one exception was the fine transitional village of Viana.

In the middle ages Viana was the last refuge in Navarra and, at about 8 km from Castile country it was the place to exchange Navarra money for the new local currency. No Navarra funds were usable in Castile or so the story goes. Naturally we know who the money changers were, one of the later religions that Sridar alluded to.

Going back to Sridar’s comment about being older is difficult. “Sanathan Dharma” means everlasting as I understand it so the religion we call Hindu ( wrong as Hindu is just the name of the people the Raj used to describe their subjects ) could be described as forever. Some references I have read in the past put the beginnings of the local religion around 3000 B.C.E. making it somewhat younger than that of the money changers of Viana, a walled city that still retains much of their wall.

Sridar or Randy or others better versed in the history of the Dharma might appropriately jump in here.

In Viana I got to watch a game of handball or jai-lai played with a very hard ball about the size of a cricket ball, on a Fronton court. Tried to take a video but my technology failed as there was too much sun for me to see the screen and I ended up with all wall or ground. Older men, very much obese, clearly very good, and very very winded after each difficult point. Crowd, including me, cheering them on with each fine shot.

Got to Logroño in time for noon mass. Wanted to hear the organ and the singing in a nice sized cathedral. Quite a beauty, no pics as yet as clearly could not take them during the service. Gold baroque front and well painted side naves. Overall a very good experience. One interesting part was that the Spanish was much clearer as the priest spoke his sermon very slowly and enunciated well. Noticed the same when QB and I went to Vespers in Conques. Might be a good way to learn a language.

Pintxos in Logroño: A joy. QB and I wandered the Tapas quarter, yes, there is part of the old city where the bars and restaurants that specialize in Tapas congregate. Fish ones, ham ones, mushroom one (basically escargot filling in a mushroom; filled with garlic and oil and topped with a small shrimp, one euro please), and on and on. Finished our first excursion there with outstanding shrimps (oil, salt, garlic lightly grilled), and fried calamari where the breading was so light to be almost not there, but the garlic and oil and salt clearly were present.

2 October overcast and windy (especially at 650 meters or higher) clearing to sunny and way too hot for walking

Unclean socks, two taped toes.

QB walked 13.5miles (felt like 20) of what turned out to be as interesting as walking across South Dakota, or maybe Nebraska, but with better colors. The last 12 km of her walk was shrub, scrub, harvested fields and a few close-to-harvest vineyards and no cover. First half of the walk included some reasonably nice small towns to break the scrubbiness. What the guidebook described as a “pleasant southeast wind” felt more like wind before a thunderstorm. Some toes on left foot going numb–like bicycle finger but not on hand.

KB bike ride similar except fewer small towns and lots of wind at the higher points; considered walking down some descents due to cross winds but managed to get down without incident.

Had a nice break in Los Arcos (named for the archers who saved the place during a war when Navarre, Basques and France were all fighting – all led by a king named Sancho). Navarre won, Basques were massacred. Permanent bad feelings. The break included my first octopus of the trip. QB limped in after many hours ready for rehydrating beer, no sea creatures.

Shout out to Bob M and Don for getting it right, Bob in about 10 seconds. Served in olive oil with lots of paprika. A bit expensive, about 2.5 times the other dishes available.

The large church here was open when KB arrived. Excellent example of Roman, Renaissance, and Baroque all in one building with the latter very much dominating. No pictures taken as expected QB to snap some upon arrival. Would have except that the church was locked by 3 pm, despite notice saying it was open until 8pm. Had a good cloister but not in the same league of filigree work as Pamplona.

Tomorrow, QB bussing out of Navarra to Logrono, capital of La Rioja region.

In Irache, one of the smaller villages there is the famous fountain of wine and water. One of the bodega’s offers both wind and water from a spout to all passers by. QB too a good shot of this well known watering hole before the long dry South Dakota section.

Adding pictures that did not appear in the previous blog entry. Still trying to figure out this update.

1 October sunny, cool, nice day for a ride; too hot in afternoon for comfortable walking
Boogs left Puente la Reina by the puente.

QB walked and KB rode but made a poor choice of roads. Decided to try riding the camino. Big mistake. Roman road in poor condition with no exit until a 130 meter climb that could not be cycled and required a very hard and difficult push due to the steepness and rocky road. Could not have been fun for the walkers either. For once, walkers were faster than cyclists. QB trudged the Roman roads and believes the Empire does a far worse job of maintaining roads than CalTrans. Very hard on feet. Watched as a couple of people tried to haul a bike up some dirt after a Roman bridge. Some nasty climbs for walkers and 12 miles mysteriously became 16.5.

KB abandoned Chemin quickly as I could and rode on the deserted road which parallels the autoroute and is basically not used except for local very very small hilltop village entry. Nice to ride on a private bike road. One car in an hour or so.

In Estella a museum was next to the tourist office. A museum of Basque art featuring Gustavo de Maeztu y Whitney. Also a church with some interesting sculptures on the front, possibly saints, one holding what appears to be a stack of pancakes and another seems to have a small pig attached to the column next to him.

http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/90969

Some very interesting work, better than as shown on the above URL.

Off to see two locked 12th century churches – a lot of locked ones in Spain and then met up with QB charging in after a 16 mile (so gps said) walk. More red peppers in olive oil for lunch, with excellent frites. Extra large cervezas. Dinner not until 8:30.

one

30 September slightly overcast and a good temp though a bit of humidity

Day started with an outstanding breakfast at the NH hotel. Fruit and more fruit. For two days in Pamplona I have been eating fruit and veggies, much more prevalent in this part of Spain then they were in France. That and roasted red peppers everywhere and in most dishes. And roasted green peppers. Like the roasted red ones in olive oil almost as much as I like the tomatoes with garlic to put on the toast. My kind of place.

The KB is gorging himself on tapas/pintxos. He sits at lunch and dinner surrounded by tiny plates of ham, sausage, sardines, cheese, etc., all soaked in oil and tomatoes. I watch them each disappear, and the plates stack up. He is very happy.

QB took a taxi from Pamplona to Uterga to avoid the tender mercies of El Perdon, a pointlessly high peak on the Camino. Toes are numb from the Pyrenees and the long schlep to Pamplona. Short but lovely and well waymarked hike to Puente la Reina. Aspect of the land is changing again.

Pimiento market in Puente la Reina today. More shapes and styles of peppers than I’ve ever seen. Guy had industrial drums with hoppers and cranks and were roasting peppers in bulk.

KB’s skills, all of them, at navigating were taxed today. Written instructions wrong from book and provided maps, roads ended in dead ends that required walking across fields to find a paved road and then asking directions from bikers who, like me, were lost. Finally found a “local” who gave us (a fellow cyclist from Venice who spoke less Spanish than I did) directions and rode with us a bit to make sure we got started ok.

GPS maps had to be used and supplemented with regional maps.

Above difficulties due to a new high speed motor way (no bikes allowed) built along the very high ridge that we needed to cross ( at 770 meters while were were at 400 meters) and the roads around it were either incomplete or in some cases, not even started, however, the road signs had been installed. Hence the dead ends!

After an 8% grade climb and a similar descent ( down more than up – I hate these fast descents as I am too cautious to gain any real speed ) arrived at the 12th century octagonal church in Eunate, probably built by the knights Templar before their demise. Small cloister surrounding it as well as a low wall. Very different and clearly Roman in style.

Two observations from discussions between the QB and the KB: the gothic period must have gotten to Spain much later (150 years?) than to Northern Europe; Roman design lasted over a thousand years, maybe 1200. We always read about how Aristotle’s science impeded new development for 1000 years and now we see perhaps it was also true for architecture.

Puenta la Reina is named after a Queen, of unknown name, who financed the bridge in 1140’s to foil the dishonest ferries up and down the river, and to get the city to grow. Nice old street remains with lower original houses with later additions built on top.

29 September Very cool morning warming up to nice afternoon

A day in the suburbs.

Slept in this am and then ate an excellent breakfast at the hotel. I had unlimited fruit, melons of several types, cheeses, local as well as camembert and other hard ones, several types of ham (was able to compare and contrast with the prosciutto), some different sausages, potato torta, toast of course but a container of puree tomatoes with garlic to make pan tomate – one of the locals added sugar to his topping, many pastries sampled. No lunch needed!

Walked the ‘hood for several hours. We are near the University and hospitals, many people out and most shops open even thought today is a general strike, Huelga Generale. The pastry in the shops are very similar to the ones in Italy. One goes in, orders pastry and coffee (we had a cannel, and a choc chip roll), or buys bread, or wine or other goods. Almost all forbid smoking. The tapas and pintxos bars all seem to allow smoking.

My Spanish has become fearless and generally cannot be understood except in concept. Everyone seems to put up with my butchered attempt at the Castilian pronunciation, not that my Latino pronunciation would be understood but I expect I am much closer. My goal is that in six weeks when I say Hola or Buenas Dias they will stream a long amount of Spanish as if I were a native. A goal. Not all are achievable.

Visited a supermarket. Wonderful hams at fab prices. QB at her tourist best as all our clothes are at the laundry. Apparently no self service place in all of Pamplona; had to pack it up and leave it for 24 hours. KB tourist outfit is not pictured out of courtesy to our gentle readers.

Also pictured, a shout out to those in choirs or who enjoy the recitals, is a hymn book, about one meter high, in the cloister at the main cathedral; pic from yesterday’s visit.

28 September

QB did a long walk and somewhat difficult hilly walk today. First into Pamplona, finishing with a walk over the Magdelana bridge and then up to the bastido. After that hours of touristing around the city and finally and exhausted rest required – dinner had to be skipped but …. fear not gentle readers food was obtained earlier.

Pamplona was founded in 74 BC by Pompey. He found it the perfect place to defend with the large plain of Magdelena below and then the mountains. Became his base camp. Long history of others wanting the wonderful views from the high points.

Navarre area: Buffer area between the Franks and Islam – Charlemagne came by and sacked it to keep it from getting too strong. The Basques defied both the Franks and Moors – succession of rulers too long and complicated to research let alone write about.

See also NYT article with the words “Basque Country Wines”

KB’s bike ride was the easiest day of the trip. 22 km downhill with a gentle grade. Had to put on socks for the early am ride, and somewhat confusing bike entrance but arrived around 9:30 am. Lots of time for looking around, figuring out the city layout, and seeing the cathedral.

The cathedral has an excellent cloister with very fine filigree work surrounding the open area. Doors and high craftsman level carvings are highlites. The church, under much scaffolding, has been rebuilt many many many times due to the history of conflicts not summarized above.

Walked out over the path to meet QB and enter the now explored city together. First off to eat – eat Pintxos (the high end Tapas) at a Bar. Had found this bar earlier and the wait was worth it. We entered hungry and just ordered one of almost everything, two of somethings. Ten plates of food as well as a potato and egg and cheese sandwich (QB sent a pic calling it a chip buttie ). That, two beers, tea and coffee. Might have picked a special place (lots of commendations on the wall but these are possibly easy to obtain) as food was excellent. Walked around and found at least a million similar places each with different choices. When we finally headed to the hotel around six we looked into the bars and saw the even Pintxos and Tapas – more and more.

QB’s leg hurt too much to go out to eat and turned down room service. I went to restaurant and had a full vegetarian dinner with veggie soup and wok prepared veggies. Nice for a change.

We will stay two nights in Pamplona.

27 September Cool and sunny. Morning quite cool, almost cold

Hilly ride to this small town which appears to be a commuting village for Pamplona. Now descending (with a number of challenging ascents) the Spanish foothills. Pamplona is close at about 22 km away. The only distinguishing feature of this town is the Roman bridge. Supposedly walking over the bridge three times (method used until the early 20th century) prevented rabies in animals. Many cows have crossed.

Still working on traveling Spanish. Able to get the food asked for, mostly as well as the common usage word for password: clave. Several other words have been suggested to me but the person who gave me this word seemed to be an IT guy.

Met a Juan Viñas from Santiago. He was biking the trail, the actual trail. Very difficult. Took the train to Roncesvalles and is now biking home. Nice conversation ended with him suggesting we call him when we arrive in Santiago. He will show us the non-tourist part of the city. He works very close to the hotel we are at, the Parador. His business is building hotels so he knows the manager.

Pamplona (also called Iruña ) will be, at 200K population, by far the largest city so far on the adventure; none have even reached 10K and many not even 1K.

26 September Perfect day for walking and riding, both being done.

A month of hills through France, we hoped, would put us in shape for the climb over the Pyrenees. It did.

QB stuffed herself with Aleve, then walked up and up. Arrived before her so I went into the town and then walked back to meet her at the top of the pass.

Upon arriving at the top of the pass, I (QB) staggered into the bird migration station. Freezing, both building and me, so bought the t-shirt and pulled it on to add a fourth layer. Then went for cheese and stale bread hoarded in my pack.

Spent five minutes emailing a rebuttal to Bob’s latest abuse; looked up and there was the KB looming. More photo ops.

Roland had his special named sword: Durandarte

KB now has a special named gear: Pyrenees Fixe.

I put the bike into this now appropriately named gear and, without stopping, climbed the 700 meters to Ibañeta. Not the highest point of this trip (Col de Aubrac was at 1306 m ) but certainly the longest single climb. One gear, no stops. Maybe in the strongest biking shape in my biking history.

When I met QB at the top she was flopped on the chapel porch eating a pre-lunch. Some pics taken and then we strolled into town. While I was waiting for her, apart from a coffee, I went to the tourist office. Collected good info on eating in Spain – had been confusing watching others eat at various times while sitting in bars.

Times indicated are for Northern Spain, this region (Navarra). All the way to the coast.

Desayuno 06:00 – 10:00 breakfast

Almuerzo 10:00 – 12:00 usually eaten in the bar

Tapeo or Pintxos (high end gourmet tapas) 12:30 – 14:00 usually eaten in the bar

Comida 14:00 – 16:00 lunch but in a restaurant

Merienda 17:00 -19:00 generally eaten at home

Cena ( also with Pintxos) 20:30 -23:00 in a restaurant

After meeting QB we decided to eat a bit – appropriate after the walk. Went to a restaurant and were politely told that we could eat either in the sit down restaurant, off the prix fixe menu, or in the bar where many were congregated and smoking. In the bar we could have al la carte plates. As we were hungry opted for the full “comida”.

Comida took a bit of menu research and explanations of dishes. Ended up with a good lunch of pork stew, a red bean and sausage soup and a flan as well as coffee. No veggies on the menu or offered. I asked a few times about a desert that the table next to us was having. She called it yogurt but I knew it was not. I asked again for the name, which is cuajada. By way of explanation, she gave us a free one. Cuajada is from sheep’s milk, looks like yogurt but tastes like it has not been cultured. Served in attractive earthenware jar with honey to mix in. Excellent. We will order it repeatedly for research purposes.

Shout out to Bob: To make this cheese, 1) have Hugo bring in a sheep, 2) feed sheep well, 3) milk the sheep, 4) add other stuff until complete, 5)serve to friends and family.

The hotel we are at is outstanding. Real three star hotel – converted old building retaining its architectural charm but with modern facilities. Shower only leaked a little.