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Albergue with cooking facilities

Gogs

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Portuguese 2017, Ingles 2018, Frances May 2019
My wife and I start from SJPDP on 8th May and were wondering about the percentage of Albergue that have cooking facilities. We have previously walked the Camino Ingles and Portuguese and regularly tried to cook our own meals. We loved the Pilgrims Menus but every few days it was just nice to cook our own meal and eat a few extra vegetables.
Thanks in advance.
 
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Most often there is a kitchen w/equipment in the albergues. If not, they most likely hold a communal dinner. But poor kitchens in Galicia.
 
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Galician municipals either have the best kitchen but no cookware, or a terrible kitchen with all the pots and pans you cannot use. The only one I found with both facilities and equipment was miles and miles from the nearest grocery store. 😂. And yes, I fully blame previous pilgrims for either destroying or “borrowing” what had been originally provided.
 
My 2016 Leon to SdC led me to believe that self catering is no longer possible except for cold/refrigerated or microwave. The days of a group of pilgrims getting together for a collective meal are gone along with the pots, pans, place settings. But the Albergues with communal meals are alive and well (ate Tito Pepe, Monte Irago, Pieros, Ruitelan, Fonfria, Casa Banderas, and Barbadelo). Self catered in Monte Gozo (very depressing).
 
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Most often there is a kitchen w/equipment in the albergues. If not, they most likely hold a communal dinner. But poor kitchens in Galicia.
Yes, none of the albergues in Galicia have cooking utensils. I think this is to encourage pilgrims to spend money in the local cafes.
 
Quite a few, but hard to say how many now. Quite often in a guide will be listed as having a kitchen, but will end up being just a microwave and a sink, perhaps a refrigerator. No utensils. No pots, pans and dishes.
Sadly it is indeed to blame to some degree because of lazy, inconsiderate pilgrims not cleaning up after themselves, overflowing trash bins in the morning from the previous night's cooking activities, piles of dirty dishes and pans in the sink and tables not wiped down and cleaned.
I do not remember which albergue it was, but in the morning I went to the kitchen and it was just a total mess from the night before. Wine bottles lying everywhere, full trash bins and a sink full of dirty dishes and pans. About 4-5 of us spent the next 30 minutes or so cleaning the place up so the hospitalera wouldn't have to. I imagine the lazy pilgrims that made the mess were still snoring off their vino consumption from the night before.
As the expression goes, "can't have nothing nice".....
 
Self catered in Monte Gozo (very depressing).
@alhartman
The last time that I stayed at Monte de Gozo (November of 2016) the food store nearby that I was counting on to purchase some food for supper was closed, as was a nearby restaurant. A fairly long walk in the dark to a different restaurant. seemed like my only option. Then the hospitalera on duty at the desk offered to go out and buy some food for the few pilgrims staying there. She came back half an hour later with all the food that we hungry pilgrims had ordered, and refused to let anyone pay for her/his share of the food. It was a kindness which warmed the hearts of all present and entirely unexpected.
 
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albertagirl: my June 2016 stop was just to consume the packet of Ramen I had carried since Leon. And for the post dawn walk into Santiago. Hospitalero very nice but Monte de Gozo was like a scene from some dystopian scifi movie. But they did have pots and pans!!
 
albertagirl: my June 2016 stop was just to consume the packet of Ramen I had carried since Leon. And for the post dawn walk into Santiago. Hospitalero very nice but Monte de Gozo was like a scene from some dystopian scifi movie. But they did have pots and pans!!
:D
I have stayed there twice, and yes it is a bit of an odd scene there. All those empty albergue buildings, like a ghost town in a sci-fi movie.
The hospitalera was very nice and gracious and the facilities were clean, comfortable and adequate. Both times I had meals at the nearby store and bought snacks there as well.
I too rather enjoyed walking in to Santiago as the roosters crowed and the day was beginning. Just a handful of us in the plaza. Coffee, breakfast and compostela issuance soon followed.
 
I carry my own cooking pot and cutlery. Many kitchens have nothing to cook with otherwise. I too like to cook whenever I can, particularly as I prefer veggies over meat!
 
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Refugio Gaucelmo at Rabanal, which is run by the British Confraternity of St James, has a well-supplied kitchen with lots of pots and pans etc. They also keep a supply of basic foodstuffs such as oil, pasta, salt and pepper on hand so if anyone wants to cook they don't have to buy these items. The hospitaleros, who are volunteers from all over the world, keep an eye on the use of the kitchen so everybody usually(!) does the right thing! The two small shops in Rabanal - Susannah's just around the corner and Sarah's on the main path through the town - both stock a pretty good supply of groceries so you'll be able to make something tasty. Their herb garden has a wide range of herbs for your use. Enjoy this lovely kitchen!
Cheers from Oz -
Jenny
 
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Gogs, as alhartman says - don't rule out the communal meals. Last Oct/November - leafy green veg at Hogar Villamayor de Monjardin, Albergue Verde in Hospital d'Orbigo (the best!), general wholesomeness at Ave Fenix and The Green Tree Café Hornillos - and many more. Not forgetting the vitamins for the soul that you get from communal meals..
I/we cooked in kitchens in Punta La Reina municipal, Ventosa, Fromista Luz, Sahagun municipal, Reliegos municipal, Molinaseca municipal. There are plenty of other municipals with useable kitchens (before Galicia). Also we encountered a few young'uns on a tight budget carrying lightweight mess tins. IMO it's the newer or refurbished albergues that are installing a microwave instead of kitchen. Even then you can eat decently with a couple of tupperware boxes and a good village mini-mercado with fresh veg.
 

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