Day 33 Miraz to Sobrado dos Monxes 26K

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I am very happy to have been staying in the same location for 3 days. The location is great, the Hotel is exceptional and the husband wife team is terrific. He cooks every night and she is hostess. In addition mama is the taxi driver and delivers you to and from the Camino, it has been a real pleasure to stay here and get to know these people, would love to return.

Yesterday I walked further than Miraz to cross the mountain in cool dry weather, good thing. Today starts with dense fog, and cool temps, not much to see, but I can tell the fog will lift soon. The trail is very comfortable, good walking surface transitioning from forest paths to single land roadways. Being in a forest of eucalyptus trees is quite surreal. The trees are tall and skinny with no lower branches, red bark and green leaves at the top. It makes for an interesting color contrast. I am once again, completely alone on the Camino, no one in sight, no sound what so ever. The farms have become much larger, with the homes and out buildings away from the Camino, just quiet peaceful walking. It's not long until the fog lifts and the temperature rises, I am in a hurry to get to Sobrado before noon, as I am told it closes until 4pm after 12pm. Starting 6K closer to Sobrado allows me to get to town by 11:30, which gives me access to the Monastery. The Monastery is the only reason for this town to exist. The structure is quite impressive from the outside, very tall and ornate, in the front, with a huge court yard inside the walls. First stop is to get my stamp, 2 stamps minimum per day to Santiago is a must. The stamp is obtained in the gift shop, and the gift shop guy is not wanting to stamp my passport until I buy something. He is grumpy and tells me something in Spanish, which I could not understand, but I get from his body language buying something would speed up my getting a stamp. I purchase a few key chains, get the stamp and begin touring the Monastery. The building is immense, but unkept, the grass and gardens are over grown and shabby. I was surprised to find an Albergue in one corner of the Monastery. I guess you can spend the night in this place for $42 euro per night, no food. Yikes! I think it would be kinda creepy to be here after dark, really have no interest spending the night in here. Takes about 1 hour to tour the place, then they announce they are closing for the afternoon nap. I can't get used to closing hours, everything I mean everything closes for 2 hours every day sometime between 12pm to 2 pm and reopens at anywhere between 2pm to 4pm. Its never the same anywhere, restaurants are the only exception to this. Supermarkets close and open at different times in different cities. There seems to be no rules except they do close for 2 hours. I find a place to lunch at and see the other person staying at my hotel. We agree to meet back at the monastery at 3 for a ride back to the hotel. I spend 2 hours hiking around Lake Sobrado, it's the only body of water I have seen in Spain besides the Ocean. It has a ton of water birds to observe as well as other aquatic life, frogs, fish, dragon flies, butterflies, etc. It's a nice way to end the day. At three mama picks us up and delivers up back to the Hotel. Time to repack, I leave in the morning. A good day

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