Leaving Logrono Behind

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Sunday, Kathy and I attended Sunday mass the Cocathedral de Santa Maria de La Redonda (now thats a title...how would you like to be the priest and answer the question, "Oh! And where do you work?). The church was built about the 13th century and boasted of an original Michelangelo.

Later, we had dinner at a streetside restaurant named Bar_Tolmay. After pointng to several items on the menu that they didnt have, we finally settled on fish and veal. We took a picture of the menu so we could translate it later. Believe me, you don't really want to do that after you have consumed it and paid for it.

After some discussion, Kathy and I thought we would try to learn a couple of spanish phrases each day and hopefully would be able to better communicate with the locals. I suggested something like, " Today is Monday" and "Tomorrow is Tuesday." (or whatever the days of the week it happened to be). Kathy said " We already know the day of the week today and tomorrow." I said..."this is just practice". She said..."but we already know what day it is today AND tomorrow." After some discussion we finally settled on "Excuse me!" which is "con permiso." I have used our phrase of the day a number of times so far and all I get are these looks like "You're an idiot!" Hummm ! I wonder if Kathy has been talking to these people behind my back

After a siesta, we hiked about 5 miles round trip on the Camino de Santiago to reach a vantage point above the city so I could take a picture. Since we are are leaving early in the morning for Unquera, we packed/cleaned up and went to bed early.

On Monday, we bade fairwell to Logrono and hopped the bus to Santander and then another to Unquero. A 45 min cab ride later we were in Las Arenas de Cabrales where we will spend the 1st couple of days hiking. On the hiking trail maps it shows that our elevation changes over the next few days would be 600 m to 1200 m. Now that's meters and not feet. After seeing the mountains here, I think they were off about 1000 meters. Not only are they high, they are steep...yikes!

After checking into our hotel, we decided to look for a place to eat. We found an out of the way place in town. It was the only place open. After paying for the bill, I asked the hostess if I could borrow her pen so I could do my bookkeeping. The hostess looked at me like I was an idiot and then she looked at Kathy....who was knoddin' her head! I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is another day.

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Photos

Cocathedral de Santa Maria de La Redonda
This is a master piece of architecture and also boasts an original Michelangrlo which was not open to the public. What a shame.

I will not write the name again
This is inside the church...

A View of Pyrennes
This was taken from the Camino de Santiago. These are not the mountains that we will be hiking in.

Picos de Europa
These are the mountains that we wil be hiking in. I will provide more pics later but take my word for it....they are steep.

Comments

[Kevin Harbert]

Con permiso
My Spanish is rusty but without using Google translate, my translation is "with permission" ?

[WalkerIAM]

Muchus Gratias (sp)
Con permiso is one of the first phrases we learned. It means excuse me. With my pleasure is "Ha sido un placer."

[Susan & Paul]

Exceptional Blogger!
Hola! We are enjoying the exceptional blogging! Didnt know your were such a talented ( and funny) writer! Keep them coming...great photos too! S&P

[Kevin Harbert]

Are you using Google translate?
Use Google translate English to Spanish and enter "with permission" you will get "con permiso". Try using "Perdóname" for "pardon me" a more formal Spanish term. ;-} keep the blogs coming.