- Sinin’s bar, La Torre, in a God forsaken village (Reliegos, León). A balm for my heart, cracking jokes while I iced my shin, charged my phone, and ate a delicious bocadillo de bonito while Duke Ellington blared on the speakers.
Some graffiti at La Torre
Sinin’s great bar La Torre - Feeling bunches of grapes, their sensual weight, in the Rioja region.
Miles and miles of luscious (but green) grapes
- Speaking of the Rioja, crossing the Ebro River (the biggest river in Spain) on the old stone bridge.
Puente de Piedra, Logroño
- Swimming and having lunch at the refreshing public swimming pool at Zubiri.
The refreshing public pool in Zubiri
- Lunch at the Universidad de Navarra, when I had just gone in to get my stamp.
Universidad de Navarra, great for lunch and a stamp!!
- Freezing in Burgos.
- The Pilgrim’s Mass in Burgos.
- The smell of fig trees.
Baby figs!
- The chapel of Nuestra Señora de Monasterio in Rabé de la Calzada.
Sta. Maria de Monasterio
- The crystal clear, fresh water at Hontanas.
- Dipping my tendonitis inflamed leg in the cool, clear water in the Esla river at Mansilla de las Mulas – which, by the way, totally healed my leg!
- The barn turned albergue in Boadilla del Camino.
- Catching up to Krisztina in Villamayor de Monjardín, and again in Mansilla de las Mulas.
- The Pre-Romanesque chapel of San Miguel outside of Estella.
Ermita de San Miguel Arcángel
- Meeting Virgina one of my Dissertation Director’s best UVA friends in Leon, by chance!
Virginia is a friend of Irene, my Dissertation Director!!
- Meeting a baby cow in Santibañez de Valdeiglesias.
- Vespers with the nuns of St. Claire at their Convent of Carrión de los Condes.
- Seeing the rainbow outside of Leon.
- Vespers with the nuns in Sahagun.
Vespers in Sahagun
- The chapel at San Nicolas del Real Camino on the side of the Pisuerga River.
Fantastic energy at San Nicolas, by the Pisuerga River
San Nicolas del Real Camino - The bumper cars in Nájera.
- Sitting on a bench the morning of my (forced) rest day reading the Book of Job in Carrión de los Condes and two gorgeous horses being walked down the street.
- A trailer bar set up in the middle of the parched fields a few miles before Los Arcos with the radio blasting and all sorts of refreshing goodies.
And in the middle of nowhere, an oasis!!
- An albergue in the middle of Palencia blasting Tchaikovsky, with geese in the garden, and native American tepees in the back yard.
You can sleep in there if you want!
- A fun, magical evening of love, drinks and tapas in Leon’s Barrio Húmedo and Barrio Romántico with my old colleague, Ana and her sister.
The fun and amazing Martinez sisters!
- Doing laundry every day.
- La Casa de los Dioses. A stop in the middle of a pine forest set up by David from Barcelona on an abandoned farm before Astorga. He had refreshing fruit, cool water from a botijo, and shade.
- The (free) wine fountain at Bodegas Irache.
The (free) wine fountain at Irache BTW there are plastic cups in the vending machine on the other side!
- The aperitivo before Sunday mass at Viana with Marie Helene and Krisztina.
- Drinks at the Drunken Duck pub in Logroño.
- Residencia Universitaria Miguel de Unamuno, León.
- Stopping for orange juice at La Morena, possibly the hippest albergue of the Camino, but definitely the best orange juice!
- Babia, across the street from the Burgos albergue, one of the best breakfasts on the Camino.
- Angel’s shop, Amari, in Larrasoaña, blaring the Blues Brothers on vinyl.
Amari in Larrasoaña is a great, fun, convenience store
- The chapel of San Esteban outside Pamplona where you can ring the bell (if you climb the bell tower).
San Esteban
- The coffee spoon at Mesón El Yugo in Valverde de la Virgen, it was s shaped so it rested vertically on the cup.
- Starting to walk in the pre-dawn darkness a few days.
- The river crabs being fished out of the Canal de Castilla near Frómista.
Delicious river crabs from the Canal de Castilla
- Putzing around Belorado for the better part of a morning: getting coffee, buying assorted supplies, visiting the pharmacy and the post office.
- Buying cherries in Pamplona from a rude sales guy that did not enjoy washing the cherries.
- Walking by Villava, birthplace and home of Miguel Indurain, my cycling hero.
Villava, home of the great Miguel Indurain, winner of 5 consecutive Tour de France!
- Translating the tour of Roncesvalles from Father Vicentín to English and French.
- Watching the San Fermin bull runs on TV in the mornings getting breakfast at bars along the Camino.
- Santa María de Eunate.
Sta. Maria de Eunate
- The massive medieval bridge at Hospital de Órbigo.
- Doing yoga on the lawn at Roncesvalles with James.
- A fire just outside the albergue in Cizur Menor.
Fire by the albergue!
Helicopers loading up from a pool next to the albergue! - Watching the sun rise over the Pyrenees.
Sunrise over the Pyrenees
- The Romanesque cloister at the Cathedral of Estella.
The Romanessque cloister at the Cathedral of Estella
- The chickens at the Cathedral in Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
Legend has it that a chicken on the judge’s plate came to life to prove a pilgrim innocent, since then there are chickens in the Cathedral
Boadilla del Camino
Fifty pilgrims I met on the Camino
Diego, the fearless Italian architect!
Delia, the Camino angel from Salvador de Bahia.
A great dinner in Nájera with Manolo and Krisztina
Farewell dinner for Manolo in Burgos with Jose Antonio and the Texan ladies
Los tres amigos
Jessi, the great Aussie lawyer!
Explolring a village with Rolf early in the morning
James gave me a copy of “The Old Man and the Sea” that he purchased in Pamplona
First dinner on the Camino, with Marie Helen on the right.
- Rolf, an inquisitive young Swiss carpenter.
- Katrina, a German girl who booked it past Roncesvalles on her first day!
- Two Spanish retirees. One climbing the Pyrenees, one that led us into Burgos.
- James, a lovely, funny, tall young Englishman with whom I chatted about beech forests and Hemingway.
- Diego, a young restless Italian architect with a huge heart.
- Alain, an eloquent French meteorologist turned priest.
- Manolo, a physical therapist from Zaragoza. I met him on the descent to Roncesvalles. A veteran pilgrim who became my teacher of the Camino.
- Frank, a retired Warner Bros music executive from New Mexico.
- Tillman, a young nurse from Hamburg who broke his ankle on the first day of the Coastal Route and switched to the French Route. He was very generous with his advice on my tendonitis.
- Jessi, an Australian lawyer walking out of a street and into my needy arms in Villatuerta. She gave me vital girl advice and treated me (probably unknowingly) to breakfast in Estella.
- Lindsey, a gutsy Yale grad whose graduation present to herself was walking the Camino.
- Emily, a University of Virginia MBA student.
- A University of North Carolina Urban Planning MA student with her boyfriend. Go Heels!!
- Bo, a young Korean accountant with whom I co-founded the Camino Chapter of the Eddy Kim Fan Club.
- Bo, a Korean girl who celebrated her 22 birthday in Carrión de los Condes, I was invited to the festivities in the albergue kitchen! Follow her on Instagram at bom.in_703
- Two Mexican girls. I lent my soap to one of them and she forgot it on the laundry sink… good thing I saw it when I was returning from dinner.
- Two Mexican boys, one of whom played club tennis at University of Virginia.
- Marie Helene, a feisty French lady who started her Camino in the Alsace-Lorraine (where the quiche comes from). I met her my first night at St. Jean de Pied-de-Port and bumped into her my whole Camino, she became a nice friend.
- José Antonio, a funny lad from Gran Canaria
- Amy and Jess, two young teachers from Austin Texas.
- A stylish pilgrim from St. Louis Missouri. She wore her scarf and sun hat like a Hollywood star adding much-needed glamour to the Camino.
- A happy Irish boy with two friends: an Australian and a Brazilian, we had fun on the bumper cars in Nájera.
- A French and an Australian girl, I had dinner with them in Roncesvalles and bumped into them the first few days of the Camino.
- Bart from Barcelona, who was either racing down the Camino, drinking beer, or sleeping, (or getting a ride in a car from a friend to a remote village in Burgos).
- Christof from Berlin, some sort of wunderkind with a tech startup and feet destroyed by blisters.
- Katia from the Czech Republic who walked around the albergue in her leopard print knickers.
- Bob a hilarious Cuban-Venezuelan-German fellow.
- Delia from Salvador de Bahia, a bigger heart would be difficult to find.
- A big hunk American fellow who hiked at night and looked like Hulk Hogan.
- Adolfo, a retired 63-year-old bank employee from Zaragoza who ran marathons.
- Kika, an Italian living in Germany who falls off beds, this is a problem when you have the top bunk in the albergue
- Iñigo, a nice Basque environmental science teacher.
- Gert, a pilgrim from Hannover who only speaks German (very brief conversation).
- Claire, a lovely English girl with Birkenstocks, and her boyfriend.
- Stephanie, a super tall Dutch girl who got tendonitis just like me.
- Ramona, a lovely Bavarian girl with all sorts of tattoos and sexy scars.
- Jessica, a lady from LA on her first trip abroad. Talk about culture shock.
- A girl from Valencia walking with her English boyfriend? Husband? At any rate, a bit pushy.
- A friendly American cyclist from California living in France.
- Raúl, a snoring cyclist from Teruel. He did the Camino walking once, but now his holiday time does not allow him to walk.
- Krisztina, a generous, beautiful old soul from Budapest.
- Two librarians from Pamplona, one of whom used to work with my friend Maria Alecha from the University of Navarra.
- An American girl in Boadilla del Camino who pointed out to me that my moisturizer was in fact shaving cream.
- A skinny Belgian fellow that slept like a champ.
- An Austrian guy from Vienna who got bed bugs.
- Two American women, one of whom had a daughter at the Columbine shooting and now has a foundation. The other one is a Lower School Principal in Minnesota.
- Paul, a Brit living in San Francisco. My guess is that he is some sort of Silicon Valley tech guru.
- Two Polish girls camping the Camino!
- Tino, a retired industrial engineer who booked 40 km a day.
- Kevin, the Flying Dutchman. A crazy, funny fellow.
