194.5 kms to go, my goal is in sight and each day the anticipation of making it all the way gets stronger and stronger.
The weather is much nicer than yesterday, just a little bit of rain and not so much as to soak my shoes. The road today is much easier walking as well.
Templars Castle:
This is a really cool building on the outside, but the guidebook says that it is not worth the money to go inside. The Templars are very famous across Spain. They were soldiers in time of war and they also protected the pilgrims in good times.
Those of us who read Dan Brown & Ken Follett get a little history of the Tempars in their books. Was it interesting?
My guide book told me not to bother going inside as it was too expensive and doesn't really show much.
Dad and Fred, the wine grapes here are cut off very low and they grow very close to the ground. Is that a special thing from here? Why do they do that? ( Dad doesn't know except that every region has a special way of doing their own crops)
Most of the ones that we have seen have been pruned and staked like they are in Washington. But we are back in the wine region and they were all pruned very close to the ground.
Food - You told us about Fish/chicken. What about beef?
Beef is very available. Spaniards are a very into their meat (although pork seems to be the most prevalent). It would be very hard to be a vegetarian on camino although eggs are wildly popular. Eggs with everything!
Do you worry about food and refrigeration? Spain has very good refrigeration but they don't use it for what we would. Milk is not refrigerated in the grocery store, neither are the eggs. Sandwiches sit out until they are purchased. But red wine is most often chilled.
How about Electricity and Computer Internet?
Electricity is everywhere. Spain is a first world country and there is now wifi in almost every bar/cafe along the route. We can sit on the street outside the cafe and enjoy a coffee while doing our texting. With the exception of deep in the mountains or desert.
We understand that each pilgrim walking the Camino carries a special passport. Could you tell us about this?
The passport is actually twice as long as this and double sided. I picked up the passport on my first day at St. Jean Pied de Port. At least once a day I have to have it stamped at an albergue, bar or a church as proof of where I have been and that I have walked at least 100 kilometers of the camino. When I arrive in Santiago de Compostela, I will show my completed passport at the pilgrims office and receive my Compostela or certificate of completion. I should also get a certificate of distance proving that I have walked 780 kilometers.
Leischen has been saying that the roads are getting more crowded now because she is getting closer to the 100 km line she spoke of above. Many people who live in Europe take several years to do the trip and begin and stop along the way. I spoke to a Seattle woman who only went for the last 100 km of the trip.
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