Pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in Spain
Stepping off the bus, we found that we were on the outskirts of Portó. So, a quick subway ride into the center of town brought us to our hotel and into the heart of the beautiful city. This is a view of the colorful skyline taken from across the river in the town of Vila …
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"
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 we had additional ground to cover today (Mikey figures that we'll be caught up in two days), we were the first out of the albergue this morning and began once again before daylight. Not that there was any chance of getting lost in the dark on the only way out of town, but seeing …
As often happens when we stay in a hotel room with a noon check out time, Mikey rationalized the morning away with hitting snooze and taking a really long shower. Then, it was a leisurely breakfast followed by a trip to the market and post office. Wow - you'd think he didn't have 36km to …
Thanks, Fitbit, for letting us know how absurdly long our dear pilgrim slept last night. 10 hours...Mikey, that should be a sin! As such, we decided to go to the basilica, but - guess what - it wasn't open. Ha! Well, let's give you a brief primer on the Basilica of Mérida just in case …
Thankful for a good night's sleep, we got up at 5:15 am and took a long, hot shower. Now, if you've never done the Camino de Santiago before, this probably doesn't seem like a big deal. However, since pilgrims carry all their gear in a backpack, absolutely no one showers in the morning - otherwise, …
Continue reading "Camino Day 12: Villafranca de los Barros to Mérida"
Zafra turned out to be quite a nice town. Our "discovery" of a castle and the eccentric owner of that restaurant made for a fun time. The nuns (even though Mikey has a morbid, albeit totally unsubstantiated, fear of such orders) had offered a very relaxing experience and the hospitalero even shook Mikey's hand and …
Continue reading "Camino Day 11: Zafra to Villafranca de los Barros"
It rained the entire evening yesterday and all last night, so we cautiously left the convent and decided to go back to the church for a better picture of the tower before heading off into the open countryside. After snapping this image of the bell tower, we walked to a nearby cafe and sat outside …
This will hopefully be a shorter post since we spent most of the day traveling to Cadiz, a peninsula on the southern Atlantic coast of Spain. Mikey has been here before (albeit almost 20 years ago) and vowed to one day return. Let’s just say that it was a most surreal afternoon spent wandering through …
Today was supposed to be a good bit longer of a walk, but it was as Mikey's first day back in shoes. Let's just say, it didn't go quite as expected. We left a little before 8am this morning. Above are the picnic tables where Mikey enjoyed local wine and …
We began our second day of walking in sandals along mostly paved roads. The recent morning fog has been nice since the cool ocean breezes are now behind us. Oh, and there was this wooded area that was still damp from an overnight rain. Yes, Mikey's sandals got wet and his feet …
Today we said goodbye to the province of Cantabria and began our trek through Asturias. Although the walk was an easy-going 20 miles, Mikey wanted to have the included breakfast at his hotel. As it didn't start until 9am, we left a little later than expected. Aside from being "carb-o-licious," it was just cute! …
Today began a bit later as the first ferry to Santoña departed at 9am. Ergo, Mikey had a leisurely breakfast of coffee and stale bread courtesy of out nuns of perpetual prohibition of pleasure. I mean, for 10€, couldn't they have sprung for juice or doughnuts?! Just sayin... Anyways, we had a 5km walk …
Mikey on The Way 