Alan Alexander
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino del Norte (2016)
Personally I would recommend not to stay in the official albergue de peregrinos in Santander (it's near the plaza de ayuntamiento).
The lady seemed perfectly pleasant upon arrival but I felt like I was being treated like a child. I understand that some albergues have a 10pm curfew, but she meant it. I went out for dinner and arrived back 10 minutes late. She had locked the door and left to go home. This meant that I could not get in and had to find accommodation elsewhere (which I fortunately did but unfortunately had to pay quite a bit for). But even had anyone heard me knocking they wouldn't have been able to open the door because it was LOCKED SHUT. I don't know what she thought would happen if a fire had broken out. I'm guessing there may be a fire door but we certainly were not told about it. We didn't even think to ask because we didn't think we were being trapped inside! Smokers were told they couldn't smoke after 10pm either. To make matters worse as soon as she left she turned off the electricity and the wifi! She also asked my friend to mop the bathroom floor before she had used it.
The was by far the worst experience I have had so far. In the morning there was no apology, no remorse and she refused to return the €10 I paid in order for my bag to have a bed to sleep in. In fact I later found out that when my friends told her that I had not returned yet from dinner she said it wasn't her problem.
I think she needs to walk the Camino herself in order to learn some compassion.
The lady seemed perfectly pleasant upon arrival but I felt like I was being treated like a child. I understand that some albergues have a 10pm curfew, but she meant it. I went out for dinner and arrived back 10 minutes late. She had locked the door and left to go home. This meant that I could not get in and had to find accommodation elsewhere (which I fortunately did but unfortunately had to pay quite a bit for). But even had anyone heard me knocking they wouldn't have been able to open the door because it was LOCKED SHUT. I don't know what she thought would happen if a fire had broken out. I'm guessing there may be a fire door but we certainly were not told about it. We didn't even think to ask because we didn't think we were being trapped inside! Smokers were told they couldn't smoke after 10pm either. To make matters worse as soon as she left she turned off the electricity and the wifi! She also asked my friend to mop the bathroom floor before she had used it.
The was by far the worst experience I have had so far. In the morning there was no apology, no remorse and she refused to return the €10 I paid in order for my bag to have a bed to sleep in. In fact I later found out that when my friends told her that I had not returned yet from dinner she said it wasn't her problem.
I think she needs to walk the Camino herself in order to learn some compassion.