Barcelo Hotel Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz

... about the culture of San Mateo you need to understand the concept of the "peñas" and this wasn't easy partly because of my lack of Spanish and partly because as the lady at the tourist office said "you just don't have anything like them". They are neighborhood societies that meet throughout the year socially, but mainly to prepare for the two fiestas each year in Logrono - the floats they will have, the dances they will do, and the food and drink they will prepare ...

... founded in 1873.

We have of course had some great food here as well. Local delicacies such as potatoes with chorizo, bean stew, baked lamb and stuffed peppers. One of the excellent meals was at the Remulleri winery. Last night was a fun tapas and pintxos crawl in Haro, which allowed me to introduce my American companions to the joys of Jamon Bellota.

All in all days spent visiting wineries followed by a great lunches in this beautiful landscape are ...

We arrived to Logroño in June 29th at 15h, as we did the first day of our pilgrimage, we decided to walk a few kms to Navarrete, we missed so much that landscapes!!! like having homesick from the Camino or something like that!
This part of the pilgrimage is algo ...

... cities in the Camino, we visited the whole city in a few hours cuz is a little bit small. We finished our first walking week in this city so we made a farewell party in c/Laurel, the most famous street in Logroño, many people get drunk that day... i don't know how they felt for walking the day after that party...
We will come back in my next free week to continue the camino from Logroño to Burgos...

This stage has no difficulties, the landscapes begin to change, we left the woods behind us and we begin to see beatiful fields til we reach our destination.

In Los Arcos I don't recommend the main refuge... when we were there we saw lots of bugs, an unpleasant smell, a small kitchen... the village is not very impressive but the main church (worth to see)

... similar to an accordion. Well it just happened to be the 7th annual festival and there were performers from Ireland and Italy as well as from the Basque Country. It was a night of culture and I was pleasantly surprised by the last act. The entire male band, including the crew of 8 Basque dancers, finished the concert playing in button-up shirts and their boxer shorts! Good times.   Sunday I took the train to Vitoria-Gastiez and visited ...

... depression. Although it is to be said that there were some highlights today, they just got drowned in the overall feeling of insignificance. First of all, God provided me with a walking stick (remember my second day on the Camino). A real one, one of those they call bastón. It measures almost 2 metres and is perfect for Camino purposes. Ever-eager-to-learn José had shown me how to walk correctly with a stick some days ago, so now I'm fit for ...

... utenpaa sekken. Hildegunn synes i starten lite om min praktiske ordning, men har naa adoptert den. Det er vanskelig aa faa torket ferdig klaerne om natten og men maa snu seg som man kan. Dagen ble etterhvert lang paa harede veier - for paa slutten er det mye asfalt og betong naar man naermer seg byene vi skal gjennom. I kveld har vi vondt i hofter og under beina - men pytt i morgen er vi nok klare igjen. KAnskje vi noyer oss ...

... the distinct lack of coquetish Spanish beauties with whom to sip sweet Sangria and converse in the international language of amor. Indeed, if all of the people we´ve walked with were averaged, they´d be a 45 year old male, slightly dumpy and bearded, parading through the dormitories in banana hammocks that would make a Chippendale dancer blush. Most of these people we´ve come to know slowly and incompletely, although ...

... being over due to our late arrival), and were accosted by naked trolley riders offering to take us for "a naked spin" for a fee of £1... Well, as we weren't half as intoxicated, or not intoxicated at all for that matter... we kindly turned them down... Shjoe... so is this where the madness begins or ends? 6 July 2005 - Wednesday OK, so this is round about where my memory starts getting a bit hazy and blurry... and the following days all pretty ...