Larrasoana
Larrasoana-Pamplona Day 3
Image Posted on Updated on
Between hearing the drunk pilgrims coming in at 1:00 a.m., and listening to 6 people snore in sync (Dom being one, sorry Dom), I wasn’t able to acquire much sleep; maybe a few solid hours. Either way, the 4 of us woke up and began getting ready to begin our days hike by headlamp as it was still pitch black outside. This became a challenge because you had to make sure that you packed up everything into your bag as quietly as possible, with only a small headlamp, and while trying not to wake anyone up. It was a skill we would have mastered by the end of the first week. I grabbed a quick cafe con leche from a vending machine and lit a cigarette while I waited for the others outside. We all clicked on our headlamps and began our walk to the edge of town, wherever the yellow arrows lead us, and turned right onto the trail. Todays destination, Pamplona.
About an hour or so into the hike, the sky began to light up and we turned our headlamps off as our eyes adjusted. Eventually we came to a small town and according to our trusty John Brierley Camino guide, there was a small place to grab some breakfast. It was like something out of a movie, like most sights we saw throughout the journey. Next to a small river was a little outdoor cafe with seating next to the river. Coffee was being brewed, and breakfast sandwiches were being toasted in a outdoor brick oven. We stopped and rested for a bit, eating, drinking coffee, sharing oranges, and hanging out with fellow pilgrims that showed up later. Reluctantly, we gathered our things and started hitting the trail again.
Pamplona was the first large city that I came upon on my Camino. In most of the larger cities I encountered (Pamplona, Burgos, Leon, Astorga…) there was always a newer part of town that has a more modern feel to it. As you move closer to the center of town, you slowly start moving towards the old part of town, which is usually paved with cobblestone streets, large stone churches, and more historical landmarks. I never really like hiking through the new part of town because of all the blacktop and concrete I had to walk over. Walking on those hard flat surfaces always hurt my feet and knees more than the trail did.
Once we walked through the newer part of town, we crossed over a drawbridge and through a large stone archway into Old Pamplona. The town is beautiful! There is a network of cobblestone streets leading every which way. As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I have a terrible sense of direction, making it easy to get lost. I didn’t care because I loved getting lost and turned around in the old cities, it’s how I found the coolest and most interesting places. All over old town are tapas restaurants, cathedrals, cafes, restaurants, and little tourist shops.
We settled in at the Jesus y Maria alberuge, just down the street from the bull fighting arena. It used to be a Jesuit church and has since been turned into an amazing facility for pilgrims to stay in. It is a pretty modern facility with wifi, washing machines (which were a little tricky to use), computers to Skype on, and decent showers. If you walk outside the back where the washing machines are, there is a large courtyard with a beautiful weeping willow tree. I’d definitely stay here again.
After settling in at the albergue, Mel went off to the physical therapist (which Mel and Caroline called the “physio”) to have a look at her foot and Dom accompanied her to act as translator. While they ran their errand, Caroline and I went off to the post office to mail our postcards back home. Originally, I thought it would be a good idea to send back postcards of the days events instead of carrying around a journal. That idea died in Pamplona and I bought a journal at a nearby outdoor store.
After running our errands, we met back at the albergue and decided to have a siesta/time to ourselves. I walked over to a nearby cathedral and sat down for some peace and quiet, and I got it. I had the entire sanctuary to myself! It was the most amazing timing because I just so happened to have my journal with me. That was my first journal entry, sitting in a cathedral in Pamplona by myself with only a journal, a plethora of stained glass windows, and beautiful biblical sculptures throughout the sanctuary.
The rest of the day was filled with the usual errands: grabbing a quick lunch, exploring the city a bit, purchasing more supplies, and buying a few gifts to take back home. For dinner, the 4 of us met up at the albergue and went to a couple of tapas bars to try the local cuisine. Pamplona did not disappoint. The entire evening was a delight, hanging out with my fellow pilgrims, eating fresh tapas, drinking beers; it was a great ending to the day.
Destination: Pamplona
Distance: 20.9 km
Accommodations: Jesus y Maria Albergue- I would definitely stay here again! Nice bathrooms, internet access (can’t remember if there was wifi or not), recently updated, good location in the old part of Pamplona. The only down side was the sleeping arrangements, bunk beds in a row, meaning there were about 50+ people per room. I would definitely stay here again, 5 stars.
Roncesvalles-Larrasoana Day 2
Image Posted on
The following morning, all the pilgrims got a pleasant surprise. At 6 a.m., the hospitaleros began walking around from room to room playing guitar and singing “Wake Up Little Susie,” complete with tambourine accompaniment. It was one of the more tactful wake up calls I had experienced, that is without pissing everyone off. Walking around and waking everyone up like that taught us 2 things: 1) Pilgrims start hiking early in the morning, most of the time I was on the trail before sunrise, 2) This was a nice way of telling the pilgrims “You need to wake up because you have to be out of here by 8:00 a.m.” or maybe 9:00 a.m., depending on the hospitalero. By the way, hospitaleros are known as the hosts of the albergues. They are the ones who stamp your pilgrim passport when you arrive, tell you where the good pilgrim menus are around town, and sometimes even help heal your blistered feet. Staying here and waking up that early was a great way to ease into Camino life.
After the musical wake up call, Dom, Caroline, Mel, and I walked out the front door while it was still dark and the moon was still visible to start on day 2 of the Camino. We all took quick pictures next to a sign that read ‘Santiago-790 km’ as we hiked on by. There wasn’t really a breakfast option at the albergue other than a few vending machines, so we opted to just hike on an empty stomach for the 5 km hike to the next village. We stopped and grabbed cafe con leeches (coffee with mild) and small hot bocadillos (sandwiches) with several other pilgrims who had all stayed at the same albergue the night before. This was going to be the usual routine for the next month.
We finished eating and headed back on the trail and hiked through villages, green countrysides, and steep hills. No paved walkways except for hiking along the road occasionally. I cannot do justice in describing how beautiful and refreshing the hike was only to say look at the pictures below. We eventually started getting hungry again around lunch time and stopped by a little store to grab supplies for a picnic, splitting the cost between each other and promising to get the next round of beers later that evening. About an hour or so outside town, we stopped on top of a hill and settled down for a picnic and siesta. It was literally the only time I ever used my sleeping pad the entire trip.
By the end of the day, we were all tired and Mel was nursing a nasty little blister on her foot. She finished the hike in her flip flops because that was most comfortable for her. We arrived in Larrasoana late, and stayed in the overflow section of the albergue, which turned out to be a converted barn. We settled in and walked over to the only bar in town for the pilgrim menu. Oh…my…God. The food was amazing! It wasn’t “I’m so tired I’ll eat anything hot” amazing, it was really good. A nice bottle of wine, fresh crisp salad with tuna, beef stew that fell apart and slowly melted in your mouth, and ice cream bars for desert. The ice cream wasn’t anything special, but it was still really good.
On our walk back, we could hear several people singing and having a good time eating and drinking at other albergues. We passed them by and went on to our renovated barn to call it a night. At about 1:00 a.m., some of our fellow pilgrims stumbled in from the bar after having 1 too many spirits with dinner (to put it very nicely). I could hear that they were American just by the way they spoke, and I was embarrassed. Fed up, I walked downstairs and told them we were all trying to sleep and to politely shut up. Eventually they quieted down and everyone got some sleep, but I learned a lesson on day 2 of the Camino: Eat drink and be merry whilst on the Camino, but don’t be an ass, be considerate of others (sounds more like 3 lessons, but they’re very linked).
Destination: Larrsoana
Distance: 27.4 km
Accommodation: Municipal Albergue-Hot showers, large sleeping quarters (bring earplugs), really good pilgrim menu at Pension Cafe & Bar.
Buen Camino, Peregrino! 