Free breakfast at the Parador in Santiago?

[RENSHAW]

20 years ago on my first Camino a fellow pilgrim told me that the first six pilgrims queing at the staff entrance in the morning armed with their compostela certificates would be treated to a full breakfast. Anyone know or is it just folklore?

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

No breakfast just lunch

 

[markie6]

The first dozen who queued in the morning. Breakfast. saw it in 2019 not sure now

 

[Mobilemejen]

20 years ago on my first Camino a fellow pilgrim told me that the first six pilgrims queing at the staff entrance in the morning armed with their compostela certificates would be treated to a full breakfast. Anyone know or is it just folklore?

I would check this---I remember it being the first 10 Pilgrims that get a Compostela that day. They then take their certificates and some proof of being one of the first 10 that day and they are treated to a lunch at the Parador---they have a special table for the 10 set up.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Both the Pilgrim breakfast and the Pilgrim dinner were stopped some years ago, sadly.

 

[scott the farmer]

We had drinks at their bar last year it was quite affordable compared to their rooms !

 

[Bradypus]

33 years ago the deal was three meals per day for three days for the first 10 pilgrims to apply who had a Compostela. I turned up for lunch but it was such a gloomy business that I didn't bother coming back for any other meals.

 

[Flog]

First 10 pilgrims in queue are given a parador lunch voucher stapled to their queue ticket.

 

[Linda P]

First 10 pilgrims in queue are given a parador lunch voucher stapled to their queue ticket.

This is true … last year (2022), we were in the first 10 and got lunch that day at the Parador.

 

[Dawsie]

I can also confirm that the Parador provides breakfast for the first six pilgrims WITH Compostela.
After having looked enviously at it, I took my wife to stay in the Parador as a special treat for a couple of nights in early April 2023 to give her the chance to experience what waits for us at the end of a Camino. I took time to ask at Reception to get their inside view on the procedure.
We thought that our breakfast was excellent and would be well worth the effort.

 

[dgassa]

2015 first 6 to wait in line, no Compostela needed, served in a back room away from regular guest, food was lousy. It was not a special meal or experience. Myself and two of my pilgrim family who waited in line for several hours thought is was a waste of time

 

[JabbaPapa]

I can also confirm that the Parador provides breakfast for the first six pilgrims WITH Compostela.

Wow !!

That's changed then since late last year, and is most welcome !!!

I did make a point of lodging a particular complaint to the Conciergerie against the loss of that specific tradition when I was there in October, the loss of the Pilgrim dinner is however less onerous, so it's brilliantly fantastic if they've reinstated it !!

The current system for the Pilgrim lunches is a sad but necessary consequence of some ghastly abuses of the previous system by some professional beggars.

 

[Steven Dwyer]

Back in 2001 it was breakfast, lunch or dinner for tge first 10 pilgrims that showed up at tge entrance to the parking garage. You have to hand tge porter a photocopy of your compostela. They had a small dining room off the kitchen for pilgrims and you had to pick up your food from the kitchen. Not a luxury experience you might expect from a parador, but a nice tradition of hospitality.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

I am curious about why people are disappointed that they are not receiving a Parador meal on the level of the full price menus in the formal dining rooms. The pilgrim meal is a generous gift, given out roughy 3600 times a year. It comes with soup, a main plate, wine, a dessert…
And it is given as part of a tradition of care, not given so that some can have a bargain experience of luxury.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Back in 2001 it was breakfast, lunch or dinner for tge first 10 pilgrims that showed up at tge entrance to the parking garage. You have to hand tge porter a photocopy of your compostela. They had a small dining room off the kitchen for pilgrims and you had to pick up your food from the kitchen. Not a luxury experience you might expect from a parador, but a nice tradition of hospitality.

It was brilliant.

I loved the one particular occasion, arriving late after IIRC a 65K into Santiago on my 2005 from home, penniless, no Compostela yet just my typical extra-large Credencial, getting approved by the gatekeeper and given my ticket for the Pilgrim dinner, receiving weird looks from one and all along the way up (thought it was just my scruffiness), to get into the dining room to find myself the 11th Pilgrim.

That was extraordinary and special.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

we were in the first 10 and got lunch that day at the Parador.

I'm curious to know why there would be more than 10 people in the queue.

 

[Bradypus]

I'm curious to know why there would be more than 10 people in the queue.

I think @Linda P is referring to the first 10 people in the Compostela queue at the pilgrim office in the morning. When the meal tickets were handed out.

 

[Enzed]

20 years ago on my first Camino a fellow pilgrim told me that the first six pilgrims queing at the staff entrance in the morning armed with their compostela certificates would be treated to a full breakfast. Anyone know or is it just folklore?

I was number 5 in queue on the 11th May this week. The lunch meal ticket still exists.
The meal was wine/water, savory bread as entree, soup and bread rolls, a risotto with calamari, and a trio of desserts.

 

[Gumbolover]

20 years ago on my first Camino a fellow pilgrim told me that the first six pilgrims queing at the staff entrance in the morning armed with their compostela certificates would be treated to a full breakfast. Anyone know or is it just folklore?

We actually received a free breakfast coupon this March when we finished the Camino Portuguese and got in line early in the morning the next day to get our compestella. I almost didn't go cuz I thought it was too good to be true. But it was a wonderful lunch and we met some very interesting people

 

[jjjani]

20 years ago on my first Camino a fellow pilgrim told me that the first six pilgrims queing at the staff entrance in the morning armed with their compostela certificates would be treated to a full breakfast. Anyone know or is it just folklore?

Hi I was a lucky one who DID get a coupon for a free lunch at a very nice restaurant near the parador in Santiago. It was at a seperate restaurant and NOT inside the parador. The “written certificates” were
given to the first 10 people in line. It was a great experience. I am not sure if it is still going on or not. PS. we grabbed a coffee then got in line at about 6:30 in the morning.

 

[jjjani]

Hi I was a lucky one who DID get a coupon for a free lunch at a very nice restaurant near the parador in Santiago. It was at a seperate restaurant and NOT inside the parador. The “written certificates” were
given to the first 10 people in line. It was a great experience. I am not sure if it is still going on or not. PS. we grabbed a coffee then got in line at about 6:30 in the morning.

It was in 2018

 

[Linda P]

I think @Linda P is referring to the first 10 people in the Compostela queue at the pilgrim office in the morning. When the meal tickets were handed out.

Yes that is correct.

 

[Willdtrout]

I was lucky and got the Golden Ticket in early March this year. I didn’t know what it was and didn’t plan on going until at coffee with Camiño friends they told me how lucky I was to get it. And it is a lunch (1300 I think?)…. Not breakfast or dinner

I went to the lunch and very much enjoyed it. I’m a vegetarian and they met my needs.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

Had the lunch today and it was all so very generous in portions and hospitality…. And saw a man unable to go who gave his ticket to the 11th person in line… it was a reminder that humans can be generous, and can find it easy to be generous… I still have my dessert because it was all too much and so the server did not mind at all to wrap my almost tarta for me to take away.