Eating On The Camino

In response to my oldest son - the food here is varied. For breakfast you are lucky to get a coffee from a vending machine at the albergues. This morning we were in the Logrono business area so we were able to find a place that was open and served desayuno - un grande cafe con zuma de naranja con tostada - i.e. American style coffee in place of cafe which is an espresso - with fresh orange juice and toasted bread. The bread is similar to what  we call French toast - nice and thick but airy with some marmalade. The fresh orange juice is the best orange juice we have ever tasted. We don't know what they do to oranges but the flavor is out of this world. A trip to Spain just for the orange juice would be worth it :)

Many pilgrims refer to a first and second breakfast - the first is coffee and toast - if lucky - mainly because there are no places open that early to serve breakfast - so the  vending machine option. A note here about the albergues - they open early afternoon to register pilgrims - check your international passport - just as any normal hotel would - a legal requirement in foreign countries - and check your credencial - the pilgrim passport to verify that you are a legitimate peregrino - then they enter you in their register and assign you to a bed. Today's albergue in Navarrette we are in habitacion #3 in beds 19b and 20 - Alene took the upper bunk - hope she doesn't fall out during the night. They turn off the lights and lock the doors about 10:00pm - then they go home. When you wake in the morning - you let yourself out. For lunch you have the option of eating at a "bar" where they serve sandwiches - bocadillos - drinks - beer/wine etc. or you sit on the stairs of a local church/building/park bench or any nearby rock big enough to accommodate your derrière and you eat the apples, bananas you bought earlier in the day from the super mercado. For dinner we have the choice of the "menu" or miscellaneous selections depending where you stopped for dinner. The menu is a pilgrims dinner which consists of 3 courses - the starter of salad/soup/pasta - the second course of meat/fish/chicken - the third course is dessert of heladas (ice cream)/flan/yogurt - included is bread (no butter) /water and wine. For all the above - the menu costs between 9 Euro to 12 Euro (so far). We have found that the menu is a lot more than either of us wants to eat so we have either ordered solomente una menu and shared or substituted a plate of assorted tapas with drinks - but always the ice cream.

       

The view we had for breakfast - yes believe it or not we are roughing it - sometimes we discover these little pearls hidden by God for us to discover.

       

My camino buddy smiling like she does everyday - that is one of the main reasons I look forward to a new day everyday.

       

                                    The Camino emblem in the sidewalk at Navarrete 

       

                                                  Restaurant next to the albergue

                                

Navarrete albergue on Calle San Juan - you can see our brown socks drying in the upper window by the purple cloth.

         

This is the starting point for tomorrow's walk. Notice the blue camino sign with the yellow arrow pointing upwards - I did mention that this is a hilly place.

         

While killing time before dinner - they do not serve dinner until 7:00 or 7:30pm in Spain. 5:30pm is reserved for wine - tapas and  "happy hour". We wandered around and discovered an old church    Santa Maria de la Asuncion Sigio XVI - inside we found this beautiful altar. When we put in 1 Euro it turned on the lights on the altar - long enough to take some photos and pray a Chaplet of Divine Mercy. We also offered prayers for all those back home and also did a litany of Saints to pray for us - including Saint Mary - Saint Faustina - Saint Gianna Molla - among others. Tomorrow we walk much more than we did today - praying for a complete healing of the foot.

Buen Camino

Dale and Arlene