Notre Dame Du Chocolat

The Camino is full of ordinary people doing an extraordinary thing. As in regular life, when you meet so many people at once it is hard to remember names. Hence we have developed shorthand for when the name escapes:

Notre Dame Du Chocolat : The ebullient Quebecoise celebrating her birthday by giving us chocolate.

The Belcher: The I-am-sure-perfectly-nice pilgrim who went to say Buen Camino to us at the top of a hill and let out a huge belch instead.

The Gamers: The Korean Father/Son duo who take rests so the son can play games on his phone.

Facebook Dokdo Guy: A young man from the tiny Korean island of Dokdo who wears a huge flag advertising his facebook page

The Irish: all of Ireland are walking the Camino right now, apparently. It’s a joyful thing.

The Women of Duncan: A foursome from Duncan, Vancouver Island. One named Bea and another named Steph, so Jenny feels right at home

Shorty Shorts Guy: There is this youngish guy who rolls up his shorts inward quite high on his leg. Eek.

Portlandia: a friendly trio from Oregon and Alaska who we keep bumping into. One of them retired on a Tuesday and all three of them got on a plane for the Camino on Wednesday

Krispy Kreme Mark: we’ve had lots of chats and tapas with Mark who used to work for Krispy Kreme

The Malaysian Australians: thanks for the paella recommendation near Santiago!

Amazing George who happens to be deaf, is walking the Camino on his own.

James, the Devonian Sculptor: we hope you find your camera.

Guadeloupe James: Buen Camino James

Father James: A young Catholic priest who everyone talks about but who we have not met. He seems to surprise everyone with the fact that he is a priest. Hope we do meet him. He may be the only we person we meet doing this for a religious purpose.

I suppose it should be no surprise there are so many men named James waling the Camino, but it kind of is.

next Province!

Goodbye Navarra

Hello Rioja!

Eight Sided Lantern of Dark

Torres Del Rio has a lovely Church of the Holy Sepulchre that is is quite unusual. Christians paid for it but hired Mudejars to build it, so it has Islamic influence. It is also assumed to be Templar, as the inside is a single space without knaves.

It probably at least 13th century, 8 sided right up to the dome, which is round, something unique. There are curved arches that criss-cross the ceiling to form a star, and these end in columns or corbels (supports) that are decorated with a ring of chequerboard carving (called jaca, presumably from the town further east). There are little buildings that look Muslim above, and carvings of flowers and trees and birds to cap the columns.

It is dark inside, with only a few tiny window spaces way up high that are covered with decorative stone lattices. Only one added piece of decoration, a 13th century painted wood crucifix with a carved Jesus, dating to the beginning of the 13th century.

It is the combination of elements that makes it so completely unique and interesting, and its proportions are really pleasing. A stone bench follows the octagonal line at sitting height, and I enjoyed just resting there and taking it all in.

There is thought that this church, which looks more like a lantern than a traditional church, might have been used only for funerals (and there would have been many along the Camino de Santiago), or as a beacon to help pilgrims. Thankfully, I only needed it for aesthetic inspiration.

Madonna of Poyo

At the top of a steep hill, we struggle past a small church, closed, but with a quaint painting to remind us this is El Poyo. the painting is of a statue that resides in the church, a statue known as Our Lady of Poyo, with Jesus sitting on her knee holding the Book of Life, carved in the 14th century. What makes it well known is the fact that three times this statue was stolen was citizens of Viana who claimed it belonged there, but three times it mysteriously turned up in El Poyo. At that point, the citizens of Viana conceded defeat and the church was built for the statue. As we cannot go inside we cannot prove the statue is inside, but we have the painting to contemplate while we catch our breath.

Today's Lesson - Lighten Up!

Every day is a lesson. Pass up on refilling your water bottle and you may not find another fountain for the rest of the day.

Get complacent about airing your feet and you end up with blisters.

Fail to help someone and end up being the one asking for help.

But sometimes, St. James (Iago in Spanish, Jacques in French, Jacob in Flemish, Seamus in Irish, etc.) sends a bit of levity. On our way to Logrono and our rest day, we followed a long track in the open sun for ages and then started to hear music. As we got closer, we saw an elderly couple, he with a fiddle and she with an accordian, sitting under a tree and playing for the pilgrims passing this out of the way spot. The selection was international in scope: O Sole Mio, Theme from Dr. Zhivago, and the Mexican tune with the chorus "Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay".

Nothing for it but to down pack and poles and dance!

Not many pilgrims passed (thankfully) but we got smiles from our 'orchestra' and, despite trying to spin on gravel in hiking shoes (not easy) our tired legs felt a bit rejuvenated with the expended effort. Worth a couple of euros!

Best Bar in Town

Everywhere along the way we find there is one key place where every pilgrim ends up stopping, for a drink, or a meal, or a stretch, or to shed shoes and socks for a while. Sometimes there may be more than one, but usually it is only one, and it is easy to spot as there are chairs outside, a menu of sorts posted, and a clutch of walkers all crowded around. It's a good way to swap information, meet and greet old and new faces, and chill amongst brethren.

Best Place so Far

In Los Arcos, there was no room at the inn, but we had found a room 5.5 km away, in the village of Mues, in a small, family run hotel. The owner himself came down to collect us (in his Mercedes!) and drove us there, grateful that he had someone in Martin who could speak Spanish as he had no English. It was a lovely old place right on the road, under the village church. Our room was wonderful, all stone walls with wide wooden beans and curved white plaster between them on the ceiling.

After washing and changing and stretching we had a glass of wine in front, watching the birds dive after bugs in the cooler early evening air. We were led to the basement where 3 tables we laid in the wine cellar. A small but excellent menu, and collegial company with four other pilgrims (from Malaysia, now living in Australia).  Ensalada mixta, which always includes tuna and hard boiled egg (vegetarians have it rough in Spain), then a local specialty of scrambled eggs with home-made chorizo, white asparagus, pork and tomato meatballs, then apple cake for desert. Bread, water and wine are included, although you have to pay extra for coffee.

We have become used to having a pitcher of local wine placed at the table. If one of us wants white and the other red, then there are two pitchers, and the idea is to drink what you want. For us it's usually just a glass, maybe two. Here, a bottle of good Navarra wine was set down, and despite our earlier beer, and glass of wine before dinner, we ended up finishing the entire bottle. Maybe it's because we have walked 3 long days in a row, with two shorter ones to come. Or maybe it's the good company, or the exceptional surroundings. Whatever it was, I have now become a fan of Navarra wine, with its Tempranillo grape alone or in combination. This was a particularly good combination. As we had consumed an entire bottle we fully prepared to pay extra the next day when we checked out, but the only charge added was 2 euros for our pre-dinner wine.