Little-Neville
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2022 Porto to Santiago
2019 SJP to Puente La Reina
Myself and my daughter recently completed the Porto to Santiago (via spiritual route) leg of the Portuguese Camino. We were interested in fellow pilgrims views on the fact that the Municipal Hostel in Armenteira on the Spiritual path takes advanced bookings unlike the majority of Municipal Hostels on the Camino.
We did not realise that we needed to pre-book this hostel and when we arrived at it (12:45) we were shocked to find a note on the door saying that today the Hostel only had beds for pilgrims that had prebooked – there were no other pilgrims waiting. There were a couple of telephone numbers to call which we tried and managed to get through to a person but then struggled to communicate with them due to language issues, at which point a man came out the hostel, he advised us that the hostel was fully pre-booked but he could offer us 2 places at a house behind the monastery. He said that a lady would pick us up in 5 minutes and the cost would be 25 euros each including breakfast. We asked whether it was possible for us to sleep on the floor outside the hostel entrance that has a roof but he was not receptive to this. We were in a state of shock having got up so early to get to the hostel early. We felt under a lot of pressure, to accept the one offer he had proposed. Once we accepted the offer a lady appeared approximately 5 minutes later to take us and our bags to the accommodation. We were then driven up a hill, past the monastery and beyond – approximately 1.9 km away from the original Albergue. We were dropped off at the house at about 13:00 and shown , our room, bed and facilities. There were odds and sods in the fridge (bread, cakes, butter, Jams) and a coffee machine. The lady said she knew a woman that could offer us dinner for a further 12 euro's each (payable to the lady when the food arrived) - which we accepted as there appeared to be no other choice available (I.e. no shops or restaurants in the immediate vicinity). We asked how we get our pilgrim passport stamped - she said tomorrow you can get it done back at the Albergue. She agreed that she would pick us up at 6:00 am and drop us back at the Albergue in Armenteira.
I must admit at the point the lady left we quite depressed as we were now isolated and away from the Pilgrim community in Armenteira. To be fair that Lady did reappear a little latter with a couple more pilgrims. At this point myself and my daughter decided to walk down the hill to Armenteira which in practice only took about 25 minutes, where we got our Camino passports stamped, had a drink at one of the two restaurants/bars in the village and we also managed to visit the Monastery . When we returned to the house there were 3 more adults, 1 with a young child. At 18:00 our evenings meal arrived and we sat down with 3 other guests to eat our meals.
To be fair the house (https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/casav-rustica-bicano.en-gb.html#tab-main) was very nice and we enjoyed the food . Nevertheless, both my daughter and myself are both of the opinion that if we had known that we would not be staying in Armenteira village itself we would have not have bothered with the Spiritual path or otherwise booked beds at another location.
We did not realise that we needed to pre-book this hostel and when we arrived at it (12:45) we were shocked to find a note on the door saying that today the Hostel only had beds for pilgrims that had prebooked – there were no other pilgrims waiting. There were a couple of telephone numbers to call which we tried and managed to get through to a person but then struggled to communicate with them due to language issues, at which point a man came out the hostel, he advised us that the hostel was fully pre-booked but he could offer us 2 places at a house behind the monastery. He said that a lady would pick us up in 5 minutes and the cost would be 25 euros each including breakfast. We asked whether it was possible for us to sleep on the floor outside the hostel entrance that has a roof but he was not receptive to this. We were in a state of shock having got up so early to get to the hostel early. We felt under a lot of pressure, to accept the one offer he had proposed. Once we accepted the offer a lady appeared approximately 5 minutes later to take us and our bags to the accommodation. We were then driven up a hill, past the monastery and beyond – approximately 1.9 km away from the original Albergue. We were dropped off at the house at about 13:00 and shown , our room, bed and facilities. There were odds and sods in the fridge (bread, cakes, butter, Jams) and a coffee machine. The lady said she knew a woman that could offer us dinner for a further 12 euro's each (payable to the lady when the food arrived) - which we accepted as there appeared to be no other choice available (I.e. no shops or restaurants in the immediate vicinity). We asked how we get our pilgrim passport stamped - she said tomorrow you can get it done back at the Albergue. She agreed that she would pick us up at 6:00 am and drop us back at the Albergue in Armenteira.
I must admit at the point the lady left we quite depressed as we were now isolated and away from the Pilgrim community in Armenteira. To be fair that Lady did reappear a little latter with a couple more pilgrims. At this point myself and my daughter decided to walk down the hill to Armenteira which in practice only took about 25 minutes, where we got our Camino passports stamped, had a drink at one of the two restaurants/bars in the village and we also managed to visit the Monastery . When we returned to the house there were 3 more adults, 1 with a young child. At 18:00 our evenings meal arrived and we sat down with 3 other guests to eat our meals.
To be fair the house (https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/casav-rustica-bicano.en-gb.html#tab-main) was very nice and we enjoyed the food . Nevertheless, both my daughter and myself are both of the opinion that if we had known that we would not be staying in Armenteira village itself we would have not have bothered with the Spiritual path or otherwise booked beds at another location.