Ages

Thunder storm! We are in a middle of a thunder storm. Luckly we are safe and dry in our hostel. We were enjoying a very cool (almost cold) and quiet church when we had to run back to the hostel and save our damp clothing. Now we are patiently waiting for dinner in a couple of hours. All you can eat pallea, chicken and salad and all you can drink wine.

Today we walked 28 km. We were planning on stopping 4 km earlier in San Juan Ortega, but we were feeling so good (after Jasmine had her Coco Cola) we kept on going to Ages. We are getting closer to the maseta, the desert. We are two days away and are planing on starting our day 4:30ish am. We will leave early and end early to avoid the heat as much as possible.

Tomorrow we will stay in Burgos, which is one of the larger cities we will pass through. We may even stop to get a haircut...We both need one. Hasta luego.

We are in Belorado

Yesterday we walked from Torres Del Oro to Belorado. It was a hot morning and Jaz wasn´t having it.... Well...she was a little more quiet than usual. But we made it through it. About a mile outside of our destination we stopped in a town for a Sandwich con Jamon y Queso. At around 1pm we finally made it to Belorado. The first hostel we were going to stay in was full... this was our first experience of having to be turned away. So we walked two blocks and found this charming hostel ran by a local family. The host was very helpful and began speaking English to us both. She informed us that they made Pilgrim dinner for their guests if we wanted to attend. Right away we both agreed and went to shower.

Brian right away noticed the pool and said let jump in for a dip after we shower. It was so refreshing and it cooled us down right away. There was a little boy named Gabriel who was around 2 years old who´s grandmother was watching him play in the yard. Right away Gabriel was amused that we were wetting our feet, he too wanted to join in on the fun. He began to wet his feet and play hide and go seek with us. Brian even started speaking spanish with the little boy saying ¨Donde esta Gabriel¨ ....

We took naps and got our clothes washed and at around 7:30pm we were headed upstairs for a delicious three course meal... salad, pasta and lemon chicken with potatoes... we also got flan with a bottle of wine oh yes and lets not forget our dessert shots that were offerd to us after our meal. We were also treated to a surprise performance from fellow pilgrims who sang a french song. We have no clue what they were singing about, but they did a fine job.

We had a much needed and enjoyable rest day today in Belorado. It was filled with food, Spanish TV and snacks from the fruiteria. Tomorrow we will be walking again and by Tuesday we should be in Burgos. Hasta luego...

Logrono to Najera

Yesterday in Longrono we had lunch in the plaza. We ate pulpo con patatas bravas (octopus with potatoes) and bbq pork ribs. They were wonderful. We definitely over ate (we have pictures to prove it). We finished off the meal walking around town with postachio gelato on a surgar cone.

Today we walk 30 km from Logrono to Najera. While walking we discussed how we haven´t shared the terrain we have been walking through. The past 3-4 days we have walked through country that has reminded Brian of the central coast: lots of vineyards. The Riojo Valley is famous for its wines. We are facinated with the stone huts and old farm houses we pass on our path. One of todays highlights was passing two donkeys (we took pictures).

One of the great things about the Camino is reconnecting with people we met earlier. We met a lady named Sylvia from Florida who is walking the Camino for her fourth time about 4 days ago. We had not seen her since, but we saw her again during lunch. We walked with her for a few km and we parted ways again. This scene replays itself time and time again with other pilgrims along the Camino.

We are tired, but not nearly as tired as we were last time we walked 30+ km. We have our first blisters. Not bad for walking for 8 days. Small blisters on our toes. We bought new ¨special¨ lotion for our feet and we think that it over softened our toes.

We just finished dinner at a cafe on the river. Jasmine had pasta with a red sauce, albondigas (meat balls) and Brian had green beans with ham and trout and crispy ham. Of course we shared a bottle of wine.

Until next time...

What a great Dinner....

Okay well we had to jump on here to inform you all of the funny dinner we just had. After waiting for a few hours for dinner to start around 7pm we got to our restaurant. The menu looked fantastic. Brian ordered Chicken Paella and we shared a tropical pasta salad. Jasmine had a salmon with potatoes. We sat on this beautiful balcony over looking the valley while sitting next to two gentlemen from Japan. Jasmine began to notice some dark clouds over head and mentioned to Brian that the sun rays around the coulds looked absolutely beautiful. Within minutes we began to hear thunder and a few seconds later we were ambushed by pouring rain. We moved to a table while Brian was munching on his Paella and ended up sharing the table with the Japanese men next to us. We couldn´t help but laugh about the situation and at the same time be thankful for the rain that cooled us down.

Good night everyone,
Brian & Jasmine

Puenta La Reina to Villamayor de Monjardin to Torres del Rio

Yesterday was the longest day we have had yet. After leaving early in the morning from Puenta La Reina and enjoying our Sunday rest day we ended up walking 32km. The weather is getting much warmer and we are learning that we should start waking up much earlier to walk. 32km was probably a bit too much and we wont be doing that again. We ended our day in Villamayor De Monjardin. This place was a hidden gem that we happen to decided to stay in. This Albergue (hostel) Hogar Monjardin is currenly ran by a Dutch group who take care of the Pilgrims who walk the Camino. They are an absolutely loving group who volunteer their time making delightful meals and making pilgrims feel very comfortable. We broke bread and drank wine with 25 other pilgrims and the Dutch volunteers. Our meal included a fresh veggie salad, steamed rice with meat and vegetables. We were particularly thankful for the vegetables because they are hard to come by here in Spain. There were at least a have dozen languages being spoken at the table with lots of translators. It was our favorite albergue, we felt quite at home.

Today we walked 20km to Torres Del Rio where we are right now. Before we arrived we stopped in Los Arcos where we shared a Sanwich con Jamon y Queso, Brians favorite meal to order. =) Los Arcos had a beautiful cathedral where we spent some time admiring.

The weather is extremly hot and we are waiting for dinner to start soon. Tomorrow we will walk to Logroño.

Pamplona and Puenta la Reina

Two days ago we spent the night in Pamplona. We got into town around 11am in the morning. We planned on having a short day of hiking (approximately 15km) so we could spend the day in the city. The alburgue, pilgrim hostel, had a ancient door and looked very rustic from the outside. Inside was a completely different story. The alburgue has been completely remodeled and we felt like we were living the life of luxery.

We spent the day walking around the city visiting famous places like the Plaza de Torros and the main plaza where we ate tapas and drank sangria for three hours. People watching is amazing hear. We watched a five year old kid play bumper cars with his little sisters stroller. He was running in and out of resturantes and running into complete strangers.

The past two days we have been in Puenta la Reina. Today has been a rest day. We stayed the first night in the alburgue, but tonight we are in a hotel resting our muscles and joints. We went to church this morning in a beautiful stone cathedral. Time is running out. We will post more pictures when we can.

Happy Fathers Day!

We would like to wish our fathers a very happy Father´s Day.

Thank you for always being there and supporting my crazy ideas and letting Jasmine and I borrow your backpacking gear.

Also, I would like to wish the new father, my brother, a happy first Father´s Day. You are and are going to be an amazing dad, just like ours.

Brian


Dad,
I thank you for always being there for me. I always cherish our talks about everything and anything. This trip has allowed me to reflect on a lot of the little things you have taught me growing up. I love you Pappa. I thank God every day for blessing me with a father like you.

Jasmine

Day Three of Walking

We are in Pamplona, España!! Yesterday we hiked from Roncesvalles to Larrasoaña about 27km. The walk was quite a hike with absolutely beautiful views and charming towns. Our hostel in Larrasoaña was okay but the pilgrim meals are fantastic. The first night we were fed soup with fish and chips and all you can drink wine. Last night Jaz had pasta with beef stew & arroz con leche, Brian had pasta with fish & an apple. We have met some amazing people from all over the world. A great group of lads named Martin, Rob & Mags are from Ireland and make us laugh all the time. We also met a few people from France, Germany, Austria and a couple guys from the East Coast (U.S.). Yup believe it or not the Austrians asked us if we knew Arnold when they found out we were from Sacramento, CA. So funny... Jaz had to tell them that he isn´t as tall of a man as he looks on T.V. They were laughing and couldn´t wait to tell their family.



Today´s walk to Pamplona was nice and steady. We walked about 15km and had time to stop in a little town for Cafe con Leche and Brian had his 2nd Espresso. Yup Brian is drinking espresso´s over here and loving it. Now that we are in España the language barrier isn´t as difficult as it was before. Jaz is doing some great translating while Brian is really picking up on the language and ordering for us both in Español. (Sorry we are talking in 3rd person it just works better that way to explain) It did start to sprinkle a little today but not enough to pull out our ponchos. We arrived in Pamplona by 11am this morning and had to wait an hour until the hostel (arburgues) opened. We are staying about a block away from the Cathedral and just finished cleaning up. We can´t wait to hit the town and see what Pamplona has to offer.

St. Jean to Roncesvalles

WE MADE IT!! Well we made it past the first day of walking. We covered 25 km over the Pyernees. The views were absolutely everything we could hope for and more. We hiked up hill for about 7 hours. Let us tell you about our first night at the pligram hostle. Because of a huge language barrier between our landlady and ourselves it was quite difficult to communicate. She only spoke French and lets just say that Spanish doesn´t sound a whole lot like French. Thankfully we met some amazing friends who roomed next to us. They are all from Ireland and one man named Martin knows how to speak French so he was doing quite a bit of the translating for us. The landlady was a bit pushy as we would call it in the states. We are actually glad we couldn´t really understand what she was saying. The house was 15 minutes late to breakfast this morning and she was quite offended. She rushed us out of there as soon as we finished our bread, butter and jam. Oh yes and that oh so awesome Cafe con Leche and Tea.

After hiking for about 4 hours we stopped to eat lunch. We bought a cured ham sandwich (we don´t know how to spell pruchutto) and some fruit. The views were amazing. We can´t stop talking about them: vinyards, sheep and their sheperards, green mountains, rivers and so much more. We can´t post pictures on this computer, but we will when we can.



The trail is really well marked. We didn´t even need to use our map today. The people are very friendly and helpful. I couldn´t imagine a more enjoyable safe environment to walk across a country.

St. Jean de Port

We made it to St. Jean de Port. Tomorrow we will walk over the Pyrenees. After a few days of traveling through France via EuRail we are ready mentally, spirtually, and hopefully physically. We decided to visit Marselle, France from Sunday night to early Tuesday morning. Where we visited the church of Notre Dame and swam in the Mediterranean. Hope to connect with everyone soon.

Brian and Jasmine

Short History of the Camino

The Way of St James, or St James’ Way, often known by its Spanish name the Camino de Santiago, is the pilgrimage to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in north-westernmost Spain where the apostle Saint James the Great is said to be laid to rest.

The Way of St James has been one of the most important Christian pilgrimages since medieval times and it has existed for over 1000 years. It was considered one of three pilgrimages on which all sins could be forgiven – the others being the Via Francigena to Rome and the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

The earliest records of visits paid to the shrine dedicated to St James at Santiago de Compostela date from the 8th century, in the times of the Kingdom of Asturias. This was the most renowned medieval pilgrimage; and the custom of those who carried back with them from Galicia scallop shells as proof of their journey gradually extended to other forms of pilgrimage.

Today thousands of Christian pilgrims and non-Christian pilgrims each year set out from their homes, or from popular starting points across Europe. The most popular route is the French Way or Camino Francés on which most pilgrims start from either Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees or from Roncesvalles on the Spanish side.

These modern-day pilgrims walk for weeks or months to visit the city of Santiago de Compostela. Some pilgrims travel on horseback or by donkey (The British author and humorist Tim Moore made his journey with a donkey); many also come by bicycle. In addition to people on a religious pilgrimage there are many travellers and hikers who walk the route for non-religious reasons such as for enjoyment, travel, sport or simply the challenge of weeks of walking in a foreign land.

We Arrived!

We are here in Stuttgart, Germany staying with Mariana and Geoff (Brian's friends from Cal Poly). After a long plane ride, and a fun EuRail train ride we have settled in the past day and a half. Mariana and Geoff have been fantastic hosts. After they picked us up yesterday at the train station we went to their favorite hot spot to have Doner Food (aka Turkish dishes that are sort of like gyro). Yummm..... Today, Thursday we woke up and walked down to the local bakery, picked up a delicious loaf of bread and shared it at the breakfast table in Mariana and Geoffs apartment three stories up in this fabulous village called Schonaich, Germany. We joined them on a day trip to a town called Landstuhl where they found some furniture for their future home back in the states. We got to explore the town for a few hours walking around and appreciating the buildings and doorways. On our ride home we were both so jet-lagged we fell asleep for the rest of the two hour ride "home" back to Schonaich. This village is beautiful and surrounded by fabulous farm land. Mariana informed us there are about four churches within this town and we hear the church bells going off throughout the day.


Traveling makes you realize the beauty of spontaneous adventures. When we were in Frankfurt our plan was to make train reservations from Stuttgart, Germany to St Jean de Porto, France on Sunday, but the trains were full. We looked at a map of Europe and thought Nice, France would be a great place to visit. We booked tickets there. Spontaneous adventures are some of the best things about traveling with a "loose" itinerary. We are excited to see a city we weren't planning on seeing, but we still need to figure out how to get to St. Jean de Porto. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to figure that one out...




Brian & Jasmine