Done

Sorry we haven't posted recently. We were exhausted, injured, and overwhelmed with "tourists" who started in Sarria. (And also the wifi has been awful).

But we are in Santiago now, having walked 775km minus a few in the middle. These are our Compostelas and our distance certificates.

So we are done! Now we are going to rest here until Sunday then off to Barcelona for Sunday and Monday.

We will be home Tuesday!

Much love.

Mike and Meg

Burgos and León

We made it to Burgos (and beyond) with only slight trauma to my feet--with Meg's feet healing nicely albeit looking like she stepped in a deep fryer.

We spent a long day walking to Burgos but rewarded ourselves with a stay at a hotel behind the Evolución Humana Museo.

After a brief rest we marched into Burgos to see the sights. We were surprised to find the city essentially empty until we noticed the time--3pm, in the middle of siesta.

No worries!

We walked along the river seeing statues dedicated to Spanish kings and conquerors (like Alonso the 11th, aka Alonso the Salty).

Did you know El Cid was born in Burgos? And he's buried in the cathedral? Or is that only interesting to me because I'm a nerd?

We weaved our way through the streets until we found the cathedral. Before we entered we found some friends we made at Grañon, from South Korea, who thoroughly enjoyed the latkes we made them. We shared a beer on a stairway near the cathedral before we parted ways.

Our Korean friends took this picture. 

Burgos cathedral is exceptional and overwhelming. I made the comment that I liked it better than Notre Dame.

After spending almost two hours in the cathedral--and barely seeing everything--we had to go just for variety. When we left we were welcomed into a new city filled with thousands of people. 

We spent the night walking Burgos until we found a hamburger place on the Camino. We ate and then went back to sleep in--since we were taking the train in the morning. 

We had a lazy morning with a great breakfast the hotel. We were soon packed and on the way to Plaza Espana to catch the bus. After some tense doubts (guess who was freaking out) we finally got the bus and eventually on the train. 

The train was only about 2 hours and put us about 20 minutes from our second hotel, this one in Plaza Mayor, steps from León's cathedral. 

León's cathedral is not as large but it is impressive. Unlike most churches and cathedrals of its day it was made to let in maximum light (to sort of devastating effect to the structural integrity of the building). 

There was stained glass in every inch of the wall. 

The coolest effect might have been the stained glass that didn't get light from the sun were of prophets from Old Testament. On the opposite side where the light was constant was stained glass with saints after Jesus had lived and died. 

León was the center of Christianity even during the Arab rule of Spain and León and Burgos were the shining stars (according the British guide we had hired. Also he wasn't hired he was a voice on a listening device that was like an older phone. You know the ones that used to go into walls).

We continued to walk around León until it was time for bed. We spent a final night in a hotel before a return to alburgues for at least most of the remainderof the trip. 

Today we made our way to Villar de Mazarife. We are less than 300km (289 to be exact) from Santiago . 

Mike and Megan 

Second Week on Camino

Hola from Belorado, Castilla y León, España!

We have been on the Camino for two full weeks as of today! Here are some stats:

13 days of walking

1 rest day

4 new pairs of shoes

15 blisters (and counting)

14,738,927 fields of wheat and/or grapevines (approximate)

237 kilometers (147 miles for the Americans among us)

 We are currently relaxing in a hostel in Belorado, a town over the border of our third Spanish province. As I looked for pictures to post if the past few days, I realized that I had a few pictures for Puente la Reina, our rest day town, that you all hadn't seen!

I think that Puente la Reina was one of my favorite towns, especially because of the beautiful ornate doors throughout the city - of course I may just be fond of it because it involved relaxing and not walking for a day!

 

Mike mentioned in his last post the bridge for which the city is named. Here it is- with us of course... We take a lot of selfies on this trip. 

On to more current times! Last time we checked in, we were in Torres del Río, and we walked there from a town called Villamayor de Monjardin.

I'm not sure if this panoramic picture will do it justice, but this was the view from our hostel window. We were talking to some folks yesterday about how used to the breathtaking landscapes we've gotten. It hardly seems possible, but walking every day through such beautiful scenery makes it easy to forget to look around. Luckily we can look back at the pictures and remind ourselves to appreciate these views!
 

One of the lovely things about the Camino is the enthusiasm with which the Spanish serve wine- we ordered the €10 "pilgrim menu" and the server plopped this entire bottle of rosé on the table for us to enjoy- no extra charge. Wine is often little cheapest beverage available... And to think this whole Camino thing is designed as a religious pilgrimage. 

From Torres del Río we walked on to Logroño, which is one of the larger cities we had stayed in. We had a delicious meal with our Irish friends (also teachers) and a chef from Nebraska, and that meal turned into drinks in the plaza outside of a huge cathedral. I know, I know, our lives are so hard ;)

We stopped for a quick pic by a lovely lake outside of Logroño. Our next town was Navarrete, which was an adorable little village made more adorable by the special pottery festival that was happening the day we arrived. Pottery is apparently a specialty of the region, and Michael Bublé albums are apparently very popular in Spanish fiestas. On repeat. We stayed in a tiny albergue with only six beds- just enough for us and our friends. 

We left Navarrete and headed to Najera, and on the way made another perro friend. This one was tiny and I wanted him. 

In Santo Domingo, one of the stops along the way, there's a huge cathedral that is very famous for a miracle that happened there in the Middle Ages... Something involving a chicken coming back to life, I don't remember, it's not important. What IS important is that the townsfolk to this day keep a live hen and rooster in the church in a special place. They were clucking their little chicken heads off when we came in the church.  

Also inexplicable was the intricate display of models that was housed within the church - carefully, even dare I say lovingly displayed, depicting scenes not from the life of Christ or the miracles of St Dominc, the church and town's namesake, but instead scenes from The Lord of the Rings, Marvel Comics, and other random pieces of fiction. In a church. Yes, this is real. 
 

We were excited to reconnect with some of our friends from the beginning of the Camino in the past few days, and to make new friends along the way too. One of my favorite nights so far was last night in Grañon, where we stayed in our first parochial albergue. We slept in the annex of the old cathedral on thin mats on the floor, and we paid whatever we could in donation. But my favorite part was the communal dinner- Mike and I offered to help make food, and we scrabbled together a kind of zucchini and potato latke with a very non traditional tomato sauce out of the items in the church pantry. We were the only Americans present, and some of the only English speakers, but everyone worked together on the dinner and enjoyed a really special night. The hopitaleros led us in a prayer after dinner in the upper balcony of the church, and it was altogether a beautiful evening. 

Although we miss all of you and although our feet ache, we are having such an amazing adventure. We go onward towards Burgos tomorrow, and we will take a train from there to León to make up for some lost time. Only three more weeks to make it to Santiago!

Much love and Buen Camino!

Meg and Mike

 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attempting to post

We are having trouble finding a reliable blog app so I have a post publishing under Meg's name but it is taking forever to upload.

Sorry!

First Week (Orisson to Torres Del Rio)

Our first challenging day brought us to Orisson. The second day promised a hard task of climbing to highest (or second highest if you ask any Spaniard) point on the Camino on the way to Roncesvalles. Here we are literally above the clouds. The up was tiring but we had no idea the pounding Meg's feet were taking...

 We made it to Roncesvalles, after a heart attack inducing descent off the mountain. It took us longer to get down then to go up. Our plan was to pause in Roncesvalles but try and stay further up the Camino in Espinal (and stop at a cajero autómatico). 

We walked (painfully) from Roncesvalles to Espinal and met some tremendously lazy vaca (cows) who decided the road was the best place to relax. We decided against joining them and pushed forward.

 From Espinal (and Meg's feet at a breaking point) we headed out for Larrasoaña. But by the time we had arrived in Zubiri (5km short of Larrasoaña) it was time to face facts about our feet. 

Luckily we found divinity in the form of a shoe store. The woman who helped Meg (and me, I upgraded footwear) was a tremendous gift. She sold us on walking sandals and sneakers for breath-a-bility and support (Keene's and Solomon's) and the shoes are great!

We ended up forwarding our boots from hostel to hostel until we reached Estella where we shipped the boots (and the duffel bags and Meg's sleeping bag) to Santiago.

We met this girl in Illaratz. 

 After taking the bus through Pamplona (San Fermin was insane and there was puke, garbage, and people in every square inch of a city not too much bigger than Boston). We then had a hike from Zizur Mayor to Puente la Reina where we had decided to take a rest day. 

On the way we climbed Alto de Perdon and saw the famous sculptures where the wind meets the stars (donde el viento se reúne a las estrellas). 

The shoes made such a difference! Our feet were good despite the steep drop and loose rock filled path down from Perdon.

We entered Puente La Reina with three beautiful churches. 

Puente La Reina is small but amazingly beautiful city and we were happy we chose our off day here. Three churches dominate the skyline (Crucifijo, Pedro, and Santiago).

Crucifijo is the oldest with a connection the Knights Templar. Ryan already asked and no the Holy Grail wasn't there. 

Pedro looks plain from outside but has ornate gold altars all over the interior. We also have the famous bridge that gives the city its name that was constructed in the 12th century. 

Puente was a life line and we felt rested and ready to go after our day off.

We can't describe how insanely delicious this shit is. 

Or the fact that America doesn't have access to peach juice. We call bullshit.

We walked from Puente to a lovely town called Villatuerta (about 4km short of Estella). This hostel had a pool and most importantly hammocks. (Also important was a good breakfast). We met up with an Irish couple we had met in Puente (and have since met here and there) for a lot of necessary wine and Camino complaining (mostly about heat and hills). 

Shout out to La Casa Mágica for access to massages (unfortunately the dude had the day off for San Fermin) and a yoga studio in in the basement.

We walked from Villatuerta to Villamayor de Monjardín. A good walk but short but worth the view from the hostel. We stopped briefly in Estella to use the post and snap a photo of Igelsia San Pedro (a different one). 

Leaving Estella we encountered El Fuente de Vino in Irache. Yes, a wine fountain. A fountain that pours wine! It was early and we were tired so we took one sip each. 

We moved on for a good walk to Monjardín. The hostel was lovely and mostly empty with most people choosing to take the next 13km to Los Arcos.

And now we have arrived in Torres Del Rio with a huge 12th century church modeled after the Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Tonight we will take it easy before we move on to Logroño, Navarette, and Najera tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday respectively. 

Buen Camino y muchas gracias por leer!

Mike and Meg