#10 A blacksmith, a Taiwanese, and an accordionist walk into a bar…

Camino de Santiago

Last night in Estrella we were treated to dance competition and show by the kids on the fountain in one of the town squares.

We left by about 7:30 the next morning, and bought some bananas in the market for the trail.  Super cheap, and sooo necessary.

A few miles out of town we came across a blacksmith right on the trail.  he made some beautiful stuff!  I bought a necklace for 7 euros

Drew brought a figure, Steve got a Camino hiker.  We know it’s authentic because the blacksmith and his son were making the stuff right there.  Fun to watch him at work.

Two hundred yards further up the trail was the Irache Monastery.  Founded in the 7th century, these monks were known for their wine (there’s even a free wine museum they offer). A beautiful complex

But the monks here are known for their wine fountain! There is both a water fountain, and a wine fountain for all to partake in right on the Camino. They do ask that you dont fill your water bottles with wine… because after 100 liters it runs outs.  Which is why we got there at 8:30 in the morning!  We weren’t gonna travel all the way to Spain and miss out on a free glass (or shell, or bottle cap) full of wine!  It’s tradition to drink from your scallop shell but if it’s too hard to untie then a water bottle cap is ok.

We didn’t have breakfast, so we found this wonderful cafe about 5 miles later in Azqueta… just when we needed it!  The owner opened it just a few months ago because he was a pilgrim in search of a cold beer… so he bought a place and made it his cafe!  His buddy was working his upper body squeezing fresh OJ which Drew and I both ordered.

Outside the cafe was a lovely couple from Taiwan playing some beautiful music. A flute and some instrument she blew in with a keyboard.

Drew’s back. Long day. Feet are sore. Arms are heavy. Beautiful weather in the morning,

breezy and overcast but it got a little hot towards the end. We kept saying to ourselves “ok, over that next hill we’ll see the roofs of the town”. And we were wrong again and again. But it was a lovely day and now we’re enjoying a few well-earned glasses of wine in the shade of the plaza while we wait for our pilgrim’s dinner (prepared and served by our Albergue host) at 7pm. After that I EXPECT TO CRASH. Tomorrow we’re heading to Logroño for a wine festival. Hotel prices are nuts because apparently this festival is a huge deal in this region of La Rioja.

Sooo many cool churches, i wont post too many more pics of them. Those and medieval bridges! Wow, so many.

This was one of the main squares in Los Arcos. The church dates from 1400s. It was a real “wow” inducing site when you stepped in. Drew was wowed, and the next person who came in behind me expressed a “wow” as well.

The boys had several bottles of wine out on the square, and Steve bought me a Shandy for doing the newsletters. We had a great time, meeting friends from previous days, and meeting new pilgrims. Add a pitcher of Sangria, and two hours under and umbrella went by quick!

We opted for the pilgrims meal at the hostel (Abuela’s hostel) which consisted of a salad, soup with a sausage in it, a bottle of wine, and some ice cream dessert for 10 Euros. The food was great but the company helped contribute to it being one of our favorite nights. Our new friend, Alain, from France who spoke little English joined us. Again, with 9th grade French we could converse, with only referring to Google translate when needed. We had the owner take a picture of the table:

Finally, Steve tried to add Alain to his What’s App account. 20 minutes later, they finally figured it out, and these two retirees posed for a victory picture!

Vaya con Dios, Amigo! Which my friend Rob sent to me earlier, but spell check sent it through as Vaca with god Amino. Which Schultzie says means to vacation with the god of protein.

So i will do just that!