Pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in Spain
Last year, we took a short day trip to the city of A Coruña following the Camino del Norte. It was fun, but we regretted not staying longer. So, Mikey cashed in some Hotels.com points and we got a pretty simple room for two nights. It was a very standard (but free) room. Basically, we …
Yep, you guessed it - this is a whole post dedicated to food and drink found at the end of the Way. Regardless of which path a pilgrim takes, he ends up here and gets to try some amazing dishes. Part reward and part exploration of Spanish and Galician gastronomy, Santiago is a food and …
Continue reading "Santiago de Compostela: The Food & Beverage Edition"
Having made it to Santiago, we settled in for a few days of rest and relaxation. Naturally, this included time at the cathedral. Let's face it, if we're going to trek 1172km to Santiago, its kind of a given that we'd spend a little time with Saint James and his huge church. Again, the weather …
Continue reading "Santiago de Compostela: A Tourist Once Again"
Since we scored a private room for our last night on the Camino, there was no rustling of backpacks to wake us up early. Ergo, we slept until a little after 7 am and finally made our way down for coffee a shortly after 8. Today's walk to Santiago was a mere 21km, so we …
Continue reading "Camino Day 39: Ponte Ulla to Santiago de Compostela"
It's interesting how pilgrims begin to scramble the closer they get to Santiago. We had, yet again, a beautiful night's rest and were surprised to see a mere three pairs of shoes in place of the 40-some odd that were on the rack last night. Yes, it was 7:30 am when we left the cafe …
Talk about crashing out and being dead to the world! Mikey slept like a log all bundled up against the cold inside the monastery. Let's face it, when you wake up and can see your breath that warm blanket is a godsend. We finally got a good shot of the monastery as we walked away …
As you might suspect, we were late getting started following our rest day. But, by 10:30 am, we began the long walk through suburbia and the unattractive industrial sections of Ourense. An interesting part was a tunnel through which we had to transit. This one was a bit different as it was only one lane …
It's funny how even our most simplistic plans of sleeping in were spoiled by the internal clock. In fact, we had to purposefully go back to sleep twice and finally resorted to putting on the television to pass time before a nearby laundromat opened at 9 am. So as not to air the proverbial dirty …
Maybe it was the clean laundry or, perhaps, the early bedtime, but we slept soundly last night and were eager to get on the road. After all, there's a private room with cotton towels waiting just 25km away. (Look, just try wearing all synthetic clothing and sleeping in a different bed every night for two …
Continue reading "Camino Day 35: Xunqueira de Ambía to Ourense"
We woke up rather early today but tried our best to snooze until at least 6:30 am. The same could not be said about our three roommates whom Mikey has dubbed the French Von Trapps. Nope, they were awake and alert by 5:30 am. Thanks, guys, you really made our morning. Well, we also had …
Continue reading "Camino Day 34: Laza to Xunqueira de Ambía"
We left A Gudiña around 7:30 am and set out for a 35km day. Although not that ambitious of a goal, the Galician terrain is certainly much more taxing than what we've seen thus far. We walked along Main Street in the dim light of a belated dawn. (Remember that the further west we go …
The town of Lubián was nice, but Mikey swears that the albergue's Ikea bunk beds were assembled by the blind as even the slightest movement caused a violent swaying of the frame during which he feared being catapulted from the top bunk. Oh, and don't even think about a trip to the bathroom after "lights …
Mikey on The Way 