Day 8
Logrono. Wine, food and exploring are the name of the day.
And Logrono marks about 160 km (100 miles) into the journey. Or about 1/5 of the distance. I can now hear the James Earle Jones voice saying “go the distance…”. A bunch of longer days ahead, but I’ll be fresh and ready after the off day here today. Next rest break will probably be Leon.
After a nice breakfast at the hotel, I’ve spent a bit of time looking at the schedule and the road ahead. I *think*, at least at the moment, that I will have one spare day which I will probably take in Leon, which by all reports is beautiful. If I manage 2 days, I thought about Burgos, but that’s only 5 days walk (though accommodations may push it down to 4, depending on what’s available – I’ll chew on it a bit as it would make for one very, very long day from here. I’ve already booked my next night in Najera at a nice looking pension, again in the Euro 70 range.
On the docket today is a look at the cathedral, restocking some supplies for the next 14 days, and exploring the town and its food/wine tradition. I’ll probably run across my friends from Nashville, and we can text each other to link up.
A reminder that the raw photo feed is at https://photos.commbiz.com/Camino-de-Santiago-2023/ with no captions, sorting, or removal of duplicates. All that will come later.
I did take care of myself, though, since it was a rest day. Trip to the market to replenish toiletries, then to Vodafone to get a Spanish SIM card (prepaid for €20 with 140 GB of data in 28 days compared to the T-Mobile roaming on the US plan with 5 GB included and significantly more than €20 for significantly less data). I have other reasons for maintaining a European SIM, but that’s a different story.
I did go to the cathedral (which has a painting reputed to be by Michelangelo) as well as a couple of other churches. The Knights Templar have a history all along the route – there is evidence if you look for it. Story is that they protected the early pilgrims from attacks by robbers or other ne’er do wells. I don’t recall hearing anything about Knights who say Ni, killer bunnies, or the like.
Picked up a swim suit, and had a nice lunch – then back to the hotel to pamper myself.
You see, I didn’t realize when I booked the hotel that they had a sauna and Jacuzzi. Tired muscles? No problem – just soak the heat for a while. Ahhhhh. Hence the swimsuit.
After a bit more rest after the busy day, it was out for dinner (“pilgrims menu”) and back to sleep. Long walk tomorrow, more rest needed.
