Holiday Inn Exp Vitoria Vitoria-Gasteiz

... outside Haro and an amusing story of a very well known British wine writer he knew and last saw up a tree being targeted at this event ! He was disparaging though of the famous Tomatina event at Buņol which apparently is much more recent.

In Logrono we fought our way through the crowds to try the pinchos (see previous entries) at the bars that each produce only one specialty pincho. There are about 3 streets just lined with such bars. We had some fabulous ...

... owning family, and in Lopez de Heredia although the tour was given by a highly able young employee from the UK we had the pleasure of meeting the 76 year old owner on our way out, the third generation of the owning family.

Each visit was interesting and you learn something new, and what was particularly exciting today was the extraordinary contrast between the small modern winery at Remirez de Ganuza which just produces high end wines, and the large, very ...

... it is them not me. ĻAmericaĻ as some concept that I am somewhat loosely associated with... that is not how it works here. Many people have so many questions, criticism and false perceptions. I am from the United States, and I am thinking more about what that means...

Great fun with the group tonight... much laughter at the very bizarre Italian religious youth group. One boy is lugging a full guitar along their partial camino, and is very nondiscerning about ...

We arrived to Logroņo 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 Logroņo, 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 Logroņo 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)

... arriver a Najera. Il dit 2,5 heures. Je lui demande a quelle heure le soleil se couche. Il dit 18h00. Je lui demande si le reste a parcourir est plat. Il dit oui. Tout ca, bien sur, a l'aide de grands signes. Je decide finalement de les marcher ces 10 derniers km. Je voulais me depecher pour arriver avant la noirceur car j'avais peur de me perdre, car a la noirceur, ce serait difficile de voir les fleches. Aussi, je ...

... my boots back on when...the rumbling of hooves on tarmac reached my ears. There they were again! A big fluffy flock of them, on the move. Again I had to shift to avoid the mass. I think I was a bit late for the next event, arriving behind the flock as they rolled into Puenta la Reina with the sheep-donkey. Now this could easily have been a co-incidence but then it happened again today. I left Estella ...

... to throw away the game against Wales. It's funny how you come away from home and the mutual understanding and common interest lets the same old jokes and humour be shared. I wish everyone was like this. Unfortunately the day is rather spoiled by some rather stupid Irishmen. I have nothing against the Irish, just these eejits. Whenever people go abroad, they become more aware and demonstrative of their nationality, but these guys are the wrong side of the line ...

... the stroll around... - Around the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Finally headed back to the airport, where I was finally reunited with my luggage!!! In retrospect, I do think it may have been a blessing in disguise that I didn't have all that I had planned on taking to Pamplona with me at the time. This way I ended up ruining everyone else's clothes with Sangria and not my own... No, just joking, but sure I'd have had to chuck more away had I ...