Blogs from La Rioja, Spain, Europe - page 5

Fun day walking to Santo Domingo de la. Calzada with Luzia, Andrew, Italia and her 78 year young father, Abel. Italia and her dad are quite the characters and I am so enjoying getting to know them. She is a well-educated young woman from El Paso, Texas with a great sense of humour and her dad is a retired urologist. I think it is absolutely wonderful that they are doing this together! Santo Domingo is a lovely old town and relatively large. We thought it would be neat to bunk up in the old monastery as it is just that - very ancient and run by the nuns. Unfortunately, the rooms are incredibly small and the beds are terribly uncomfortable. The entire floor we were on was slanted from age and it felt like we we're ... read more

We decided to sleep in a little bit today. Left the hostel at 9:00 am to get a pilgrim stamp at the cathedral. The weather was a little overcast but pleasant. Enjoyed a beautiful paved trail leaving Logrono. Biked to Navarette for breakfast and received another stamp at the cathedral. Mostly up hill today and we rode the trail which takes a long time. Had to hike n bike a few times because the terrain is so rocky and steep. The camino route took us through miles and miles of vineyards. It was very tranquil, but hilly. About 5 miles from our destination the skies turned into a large faucet and it started to down pour. I was again thankful I had my poncho. Made it to Hostel la Catedral in Santo Domingo. Biked a total ... read more

Woke up at 6:30 a.m. to a promising sky (no rain?) after a fairly comfy sleep in the municipal Alburgue in our room for 10. Luzia and I quickly met up with Peter and Bronwen from Vancouver and began our long hike to Navarrete. Met up with a very friendly and seemingly affection-starved dog at a roadside stand. Dogs seem to be quite popular pets here in Spain and we have seen quite the variety of breeds (makes me miss my Gryphon : ( . After a few hours of hiking in the beautiful countryside, we found ourselves in Logrono, a relatively large city of 155,000 people. This is Sunday and the last day of a festival - there were many booths set up for vendors, but they weren't yet open - would have lived to ... read more

This is the fourth ‘episode’ of another of 'our' travel experiences. * These collective ‘episodes’ (this being the fourth) describe our journey from our arrival in Paris, France (in the 2nd week of May) for a holiday. The fourth week witnesses our arrival in Logroño (northern Spain) where we enjoy a different aspect of Spanish culture. As noted in previous missives, our journey is largely unplanned - except that we have now decided to focus on the 'Basque' regions of France and Spain. As also noted before - we'll sort of go where the scenery and experiences seem worthwhile. This 'blog' continues the Spanish part of our journey. Eventually, we'll find our way back to Paris to depart back to Oz. If you missed our earlier travelblog 'episodes' for this journey, here is the link ... read more

Viana Our stay in Viana was a bit longer than expected but was much needed. It was healing time. It is truly amazing what the body can endure. In our 'healing' time we were able to enjoy a wonderful dinner out at a quiet little restaurant during the towns 'siesta' the first evening. Most Pilgram meals come with a good bottle of wine and it is much appreciated. Relax, sip some Vino and reflect. The evening was cool and the mattresses soft. Ahh. Our second day we explored the ruins in Viana, the beautiful Cathedral de Santa Maria. We were able to tag onto a school group that was taking a tour and it was most beautiful. We walked, rested and prepared a meal of chicken noodle soup (around 3 pm), bread and fresh tomatoes and ... read more