Sorry I haven´t posted for a couple of days, I´ve been having a heck of a time trying to find a cooperative computer. So I´ll try to catch up a little now:
Anyway, on Monday, October 14 we spent the night in the city of Ponferrada where for a donation we got a bed in the 200-person municipal mega-albergue. Our dorm was in the basement, long rows of metal bunkbeds lined up against either side of grey tile walls. "Just like the army," Tom chuckled. As in most municipal alberuges (as opposed to the private ones) there were no sheets or blankets, but the hospitaliera must have taken pity on our advanced age and dug up two blankets for us! The albergue really was full of young folks - about all you see on the Camino at this point, (unlike at the beginning) except for now and then when you´ll see some older folks who´ve started at Leon for a more leisurely Camino and are ing their luggage shipped from town to town. Anyway, Tom told the youngsters around our bunks that we were the house mother and father! We had the 10 euro pilgrim meal offered by the restaurant across the street from the albergue - it was so pretty inside, it reminded me of little Italian restaurant in New Albany, Ohio (the next suburb over from our suburb of Gahanna), I can´t remember the name of the restuarant, but (for all you locals) it´s the onein that shopping center off New Albany Road? Across the parking lot from the Giant Eagle? Anybody know which one I mean? Anyway, it looked like that little restaurant. The waiter spoke such perfectly clipped English that I aksed him if he was British, but no, he was a Spaniard who just spoke great English! Anyway, this restaurant also served a great Italian dish, the penne carbonara that I started off with, followed by garlic chicken, french fries and salad then flan for dessert. Tom started with a big plate of vegetable stew then what he´s declared to be the best fish he´s ever had, then ice cream for dessert. I haven´t been mentioning the water, big bread basket and bottle of wine that still accompanies every meal, but those are still givens! If the albergue seemed like an army barracks the might before, the next morning it seemed even more so, when all 200 of us had to line up to use the two stalls and three sinks. "Yep, just like the army," Tom repeated. There was a line of urinals, though, which the guys used while the ladies pretended to have blinders. As I´ve said before, if modesty is really your thing, might be best to avoid the albergues! But while I was waiting my turn amidst this conflagration, I remembered that on the top floor of the albergue where the computers were I´d found a secret bathroom. So I pussy-footed up there and, sure enough, it was a secret and I ended up having a leisurely bathroom experience all to myself! ( I do believe I´m developing bathroom-dar as well).Then we set off in the rain, though every time one of the local people would stop to lament that we had to walk the Camino in the rain, I would say, "the sun is shinig in my heart¨. I didn´t make that line up. Earlier that morning when I stuck my head out of the albergue and moaned over the rain one of my fellow pilgrims used that line on me and continued to use it for the rest of the day. But the sun really did rise in our hearts as we passed through a little town and my pastry-shop-dar must have been spinning a mile a minute as it led us to the most beautiful little pastry shop where we had what Tom declared the best pastry he´s ever had, whereas I was willing to go a step further and declare mine the best thing I´ve ever put in my mouth! Anyway, his was a chocolate eclare and mine was a vanilla eclare! I mean, a vanilla eclare! What a concept, I can´t believe it´s never been expanded beyond a tiny pastry shop in a little village in Spain! Oh well, just another hidden gem of the Camino! WE ended up walking 18.9 kms in the rain until we reached the tiny mountain village of Pieros, where we stayed at the only albergue in town, "El Serbal Y La Luna", which advertised in the guide books as having a washer, dryer, and a computer. Turns out it had only a washer (and a place outside to hang your wet clothes in the rain!) so we bit the bullet and after we had our showers got back into our dirty, wet, smelly clothes, not wanting to risk getting int0o our clean clothes yet in case we didn´t come upon a washer in the nex ttown or two. It also turned out that there was not a computer to use in the whole village. Still, it was a beautiful albergue, in the home of a young man who had his house redesigned into an albergue and had the interior totally redecorated in a rustic stone and wood timber motif with many pretty touches. For 5 euros we got a bed in one of the lovely, spotless, very comfortable bedrooms, though we decided to go with the package deal, 15.50 euros each for a bed, dinner, and breakfast. Dinner was a communal vegetarian meal prepared by the owner and a volunteer - manySapaniards, even foreigners, volunteer at the albergues, most of them veterans of the Camino themselve. I had no probelm with a vegetarian meal, since I´ve had many wonderful vegetarian dishes in Spain, and I myslef can whip tasty vegetarian fare. So at dinner time we pilgrims were seated together around a beautifully set long wodoen table wher ewe were served the first gross dinner I´ve had in Spain! ewere presented with a platter of boiled (extremely well-boiled) eggplant over a bed of couscous. No salt, no seasonings of any kind, jsut boiled eggplant and couscous. No, I stand corrected, the platter was garnished with a carrot, but I didn´t get it. I didn´t want it. I was content to shovel into my mouth just enough bland blobs of nourishment to carry me through to the morning. Dessert was yogurt werved with honey on the side which I passed on, but the other pilgrims had, drowning the yogurt in the honey! The next morning we sat down again to a beautifully set table where we were offered all the toast we wanted with the option of spreading with some margarine-esque substance in a bowl and some home-made apple sauce generously mixed with cinnamon but no sugar, presumably no one ever having educated the hospitaliero that cinnamon is an esstially bitter substance that picks up its charm from being mixed in a small amount with sugar. I spread my toast with the apple sauce, took a bite, then scraped it off and tried to do first-aid on my toast by schmearing it with more of the margariney stuff. Still, the young hospitaliero had a wonderful heart so we left him an extra 10 euros for the upkeep of his albergue. I was hoping he´s use the money to buy a cookbook. From Pieros we walked 16.3 kms on and off in the rain to the town of Trabadelo. On the way we passed through the beautiful mountain town of Villafranca Del Bierzo, where I wished we could stay the night, but it was too close to where we´d started. We´re back to pretty much hopscotching the big pigrimguidebook watering holes (one of which Villa franca Del Bierzo is)and staying at the little in-between towns. (MIguel- that also might be a reason you´re having a bit of a hard time finding some of our towns - some are really , really small!) From Villafranca there we two possible routes to continue on, one along the highway and one over the mountain, and, not liking traffic and had asphalt under out feet, we opted for the mountain. The mountain was very steep - we had to ascend then descend 930 meters - but not treacherous as the previous ones. Just steep. We met only one other pilgrim along theway, a young French kid who came upon us while were by the side of the road wresting with our rain gear as the rain had started again. As all we do when we come upon fellow pilgrims by the side of the road, he stopped to ask us if we were okay, then stayed to chat for just a minute, then he was on his way. The walk over the mountain, though it put me out of breath, was beautiful, thogu at one point passed through a vast chestnut grove where the path became elusinve and we sould have lost our way if an old Spanish man collecting chestnuts hadn´t set us in the right direction. When we finally made it into Trabadelo three young Germans stopped us in the street and asked us if we were the two Americans upon the mountain. The French boy we´d met was in their albergue and was telling everyone that he´d met two Americans up on the mountain and was worried that they might be lost. It really is the pilgrim spirit of concern for each other that makes the Camino. We spent the night at the 6 euro albergue "Crispeta" - we were singing the halleluja chorus over the washer and dryer! We had dinner at a restaurant in town where we had the 10 euro pilgrim meal. The menu was a alittle more original than at most places (though I´m not compmlaining about what we´ve had at most places!): we started with a chick-pea and spinach salad - delicious! Next I had the cream-cheese and spinach lasagne (going to try to make tha twhen I get back!) and Tom had fish and rice with a purple cabbage and carrot slaw on the side. For dessert Tom had yogurt with honey and walnuts and I had a baked apple with an orange sauce - wonderful! Now we are on our way, we´ve left Trabadelo to make it to the town of O´Cebreiro (not sure how many kms!)
Anyway, on Monday, October 14 we spent the night in the city of Ponferrada where for a donation we got a bed in the 200-person municipal mega-albergue. Our dorm was in the basement, long rows of metal bunkbeds lined up against either side of grey tile walls. "Just like the army," Tom chuckled. As in most municipal alberuges (as opposed to the private ones) there were no sheets or blankets, but the hospitaliera must have taken pity on our advanced age and dug up two blankets for us! The albergue really was full of young folks - about all you see on the Camino at this point, (unlike at the beginning) except for now and then when you´ll see some older folks who´ve started at Leon for a more leisurely Camino and are ing their luggage shipped from town to town. Anyway, Tom told the youngsters around our bunks that we were the house mother and father! We had the 10 euro pilgrim meal offered by the restaurant across the street from the albergue - it was so pretty inside, it reminded me of little Italian restaurant in New Albany, Ohio (the next suburb over from our suburb of Gahanna), I can´t remember the name of the restuarant, but (for all you locals) it´s the onein that shopping center off New Albany Road? Across the parking lot from the Giant Eagle? Anybody know which one I mean? Anyway, it looked like that little restaurant. The waiter spoke such perfectly clipped English that I aksed him if he was British, but no, he was a Spaniard who just spoke great English! Anyway, this restaurant also served a great Italian dish, the penne carbonara that I started off with, followed by garlic chicken, french fries and salad then flan for dessert. Tom started with a big plate of vegetable stew then what he´s declared to be the best fish he´s ever had, then ice cream for dessert. I haven´t been mentioning the water, big bread basket and bottle of wine that still accompanies every meal, but those are still givens! If the albergue seemed like an army barracks the might before, the next morning it seemed even more so, when all 200 of us had to line up to use the two stalls and three sinks. "Yep, just like the army," Tom repeated. There was a line of urinals, though, which the guys used while the ladies pretended to have blinders. As I´ve said before, if modesty is really your thing, might be best to avoid the albergues! But while I was waiting my turn amidst this conflagration, I remembered that on the top floor of the albergue where the computers were I´d found a secret bathroom. So I pussy-footed up there and, sure enough, it was a secret and I ended up having a leisurely bathroom experience all to myself! ( I do believe I´m developing bathroom-dar as well).Then we set off in the rain, though every time one of the local people would stop to lament that we had to walk the Camino in the rain, I would say, "the sun is shinig in my heart¨. I didn´t make that line up. Earlier that morning when I stuck my head out of the albergue and moaned over the rain one of my fellow pilgrims used that line on me and continued to use it for the rest of the day. But the sun really did rise in our hearts as we passed through a little town and my pastry-shop-dar must have been spinning a mile a minute as it led us to the most beautiful little pastry shop where we had what Tom declared the best pastry he´s ever had, whereas I was willing to go a step further and declare mine the best thing I´ve ever put in my mouth! Anyway, his was a chocolate eclare and mine was a vanilla eclare! I mean, a vanilla eclare! What a concept, I can´t believe it´s never been expanded beyond a tiny pastry shop in a little village in Spain! Oh well, just another hidden gem of the Camino! WE ended up walking 18.9 kms in the rain until we reached the tiny mountain village of Pieros, where we stayed at the only albergue in town, "El Serbal Y La Luna", which advertised in the guide books as having a washer, dryer, and a computer. Turns out it had only a washer (and a place outside to hang your wet clothes in the rain!) so we bit the bullet and after we had our showers got back into our dirty, wet, smelly clothes, not wanting to risk getting int0o our clean clothes yet in case we didn´t come upon a washer in the nex ttown or two. It also turned out that there was not a computer to use in the whole village. Still, it was a beautiful albergue, in the home of a young man who had his house redesigned into an albergue and had the interior totally redecorated in a rustic stone and wood timber motif with many pretty touches. For 5 euros we got a bed in one of the lovely, spotless, very comfortable bedrooms, though we decided to go with the package deal, 15.50 euros each for a bed, dinner, and breakfast. Dinner was a communal vegetarian meal prepared by the owner and a volunteer - manySapaniards, even foreigners, volunteer at the albergues, most of them veterans of the Camino themselve. I had no probelm with a vegetarian meal, since I´ve had many wonderful vegetarian dishes in Spain, and I myslef can whip tasty vegetarian fare. So at dinner time we pilgrims were seated together around a beautifully set long wodoen table wher ewe were served the first gross dinner I´ve had in Spain! ewere presented with a platter of boiled (extremely well-boiled) eggplant over a bed of couscous. No salt, no seasonings of any kind, jsut boiled eggplant and couscous. No, I stand corrected, the platter was garnished with a carrot, but I didn´t get it. I didn´t want it. I was content to shovel into my mouth just enough bland blobs of nourishment to carry me through to the morning. Dessert was yogurt werved with honey on the side which I passed on, but the other pilgrims had, drowning the yogurt in the honey! The next morning we sat down again to a beautifully set table where we were offered all the toast we wanted with the option of spreading with some margarine-esque substance in a bowl and some home-made apple sauce generously mixed with cinnamon but no sugar, presumably no one ever having educated the hospitaliero that cinnamon is an esstially bitter substance that picks up its charm from being mixed in a small amount with sugar. I spread my toast with the apple sauce, took a bite, then scraped it off and tried to do first-aid on my toast by schmearing it with more of the margariney stuff. Still, the young hospitaliero had a wonderful heart so we left him an extra 10 euros for the upkeep of his albergue. I was hoping he´s use the money to buy a cookbook. From Pieros we walked 16.3 kms on and off in the rain to the town of Trabadelo. On the way we passed through the beautiful mountain town of Villafranca Del Bierzo, where I wished we could stay the night, but it was too close to where we´d started. We´re back to pretty much hopscotching the big pigrimguidebook watering holes (one of which Villa franca Del Bierzo is)and staying at the little in-between towns. (MIguel- that also might be a reason you´re having a bit of a hard time finding some of our towns - some are really , really small!) From Villafranca there we two possible routes to continue on, one along the highway and one over the mountain, and, not liking traffic and had asphalt under out feet, we opted for the mountain. The mountain was very steep - we had to ascend then descend 930 meters - but not treacherous as the previous ones. Just steep. We met only one other pilgrim along theway, a young French kid who came upon us while were by the side of the road wresting with our rain gear as the rain had started again. As all we do when we come upon fellow pilgrims by the side of the road, he stopped to ask us if we were okay, then stayed to chat for just a minute, then he was on his way. The walk over the mountain, though it put me out of breath, was beautiful, thogu at one point passed through a vast chestnut grove where the path became elusinve and we sould have lost our way if an old Spanish man collecting chestnuts hadn´t set us in the right direction. When we finally made it into Trabadelo three young Germans stopped us in the street and asked us if we were the two Americans upon the mountain. The French boy we´d met was in their albergue and was telling everyone that he´d met two Americans up on the mountain and was worried that they might be lost. It really is the pilgrim spirit of concern for each other that makes the Camino. We spent the night at the 6 euro albergue "Crispeta" - we were singing the halleluja chorus over the washer and dryer! We had dinner at a restaurant in town where we had the 10 euro pilgrim meal. The menu was a alittle more original than at most places (though I´m not compmlaining about what we´ve had at most places!): we started with a chick-pea and spinach salad - delicious! Next I had the cream-cheese and spinach lasagne (going to try to make tha twhen I get back!) and Tom had fish and rice with a purple cabbage and carrot slaw on the side. For dessert Tom had yogurt with honey and walnuts and I had a baked apple with an orange sauce - wonderful! Now we are on our way, we´ve left Trabadelo to make it to the town of O´Cebreiro (not sure how many kms!)
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