Curfews ...

[nidarosa]

I have heard mention a few times in the forum - and in camino related blogs - about curfews in the albergues along the way. I reckon I will be ready for bed at a sensible hour after a long day's walk, but not ... well, too early. What is the score here? Do most albergues really have 10 o'clock curfews? Even on the shorter, less populated ones like the Ingles and Portugues or Finisterre? I know I will want to sit in a restaurant and enjoy a glass of wine in my own time, so if the curfews are very strict, I will have to start looking for alternative accommodation for at least some of the etapas ... Spain is after all there to be enjoyed ... :roll: I would love to hear what your experiences are with this.

All the best,
LM

 

[Deirdre]

The 20h curfew is quite correct. Sometimes 20:30.

I am, by nature, an early riser. I am usually up every day between 4:30 - 5:30h. And, since I walked on the Camino in the hot summer months, I particularly enjoyed the quiet, cool mornings. Since I usually stopped between 14:30 - 17h (after all, siesta in Spain is to be observed!) I found plenty of time to relax, share wine, conversation and quiet time daily and still was well ready to retire at 20h.

It is a trade off. I wished to experience the richness of the religious albergues: monasteries, convents, etc. In some of them not only is it "lights out", but "electricity off" at 20h. I was plenty tired and honestly quite happy to have a curfew... it alleviated the tendency to stay up too late and be tired for walking the next day. To me, maintaining a kind of regimen added to the Camino. But make no mistake - I never missed an opportunity to share a vinotinto with my companions!

The curfew is for the benefit of peregrinos who wish to rest. I think many here can recount stories of nights where they were rudely awakened by people arriving in late after much partying. The "rules of the house" in the albergue are clearly posted before you check in. I would strongly suggest taking a look at them before deciding to stay in an albergue - most of the pilgrims there will want to sleep.
Buen Camino,

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Deirdre - do you really mean 20h - 8pm or 22h or 10pm? which seems to me to be the more usual time. An example would be the albergue at Roncesvalles which closes at 10pm.

 

[nidarosa]

Thank you both for your replies! If you get up that early, I can see how it is a good thing that the albergue goes quiet at a sensible hour - and I hope you mean 10 o'clock, not 8! What I'll do is look for alternative accommodation so we have a choice and see how it goes. Usually I'm a late night person, but after a long walk, who knows?

Cheers,
LM

 

[alipilgrim]

Yes, 10pm might be too early for many new pilgrims but I think you'll find that regardless of what time you wish to wake up, you will be woken up very very early by the rustling noise of the packing up of the early-bird walkers. After a few mornings of waking up at 5/6am and you might be quite eager to go to bed at 10/11pm to get a decent night's sleep!

 

[spursfan]

I think you'll find that 10pm is the typical time for the curfew - at 8pm nearly everyone will still be eating their evening meal

 

[Rebekah Scott]

The early curfew isn´t just for the tired pilgrims´benefit, but also for the hospitalero´s sanity. Try dealing with all the cooking, cleaning, and crises generated by pilgs whose early-bird tendencies mean you too must rise at 5 a.m. to open the doors for them. Then you must get everyone out the door by 8 a.m., clean up the place, do the books, do the shopping, meet your own needs for quiet and solitude, open up at a specified hour, check everyone in, re-light the water heater, maybe oversee the meal and worship, offer a listening ear or first aid, clean up the kitchen, diplomatically throw out the drunk or the fake pilgrim, turn away those who arrive too late or find them someplace else to stay.

Lights out can´t come early enough some nights. And once you´re tucked into your little bunk, here comes the leisurely late-nighter, bashing at the door at 11 or midnight to be let in, bellowing about how unreasonable the hours are!

Be kind to hospitaleros. Go to bed, pilgrims.
Reb.

 

[sillydoll]

In Ventosa my hippie friends from Belgium almost had a stand up fight with a lovely Austrian hospitalera because she wanted them to go to bed at 11pm so that she could lock up and switch the lights out.
"These are our holidays," one said, indignantly, "we just wanted to make a party and she broke up our party and made us go to bed. And then this morning she came into the room and put the lights on at 7:30!!"
Walking the camino and staying in hotels is a holiday. Walking the camino and staying in the refuges staffed by volunteers is a pilgrimage. There is a difrerence.

 

[Deirdre]

Oh John,
I beg your indulgence! (and everyone else's) Is it only MY day that seems to have a mere 22 hours in it? Or let's see - excuse du jour: I've been sick for a week and my brain is addled from the fever! And then there is always the old stand by... stupid (fill in the blank) can't tell time anyway! Perhaps I can't type numbers?

OF course I meant 22h or 22:30 - I am very sorry to mislead!

 

[oursonpolaire]

No need to apologize, Deirdre, we just assumed that you had your own timezone.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hey Deirdre

We all hope you are feeling better...the 24hr clock has confused me before now. But the fact is that some piglrims do needs LOTS of sleep and rest and therefore no matter when the curfew is we all need to be considerate in albergues.

John

 

[Javier Martin]

"Walking the camino and staying in hotels is a holiday. Walking the camino and staying in the refuges staffed by volunteers is a pilgrimage. There is a difrerence" (Sillydoll)

I agree 100%.

Buen Camino,

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Yes but Sil also said this - which I agree with 100%

This discussion takes us back to the old chestnut – “What is a real pilgrim?” that comes up regularly on this forum.
Some see camino pilgrims only as those who carry a heavy backpack, walk every inch of their chosen route, only stay in refuges, eat frugally and receive the Compostela in Santiago.

Of course this wasn’t what it was like in the middle ages. There was a mix of foot pilgrims, horse riding pilgrims, donkey pilgrims, Knights, Kings and Queens with their entourage of servants.
Some slept in the best monasteries, in taverns and inns whilst others slept in the open or in hospices. Viewing of relics was restricted – some were reserved for the upper classes only.

After the reformation, pilgrimage died down and from the 1600’s many of the hospices fell into disrepair. By the 20th C most pilgrims visiting Santiago arrived by ship, bus and train. Georgiana King used mules and donkeys – Walter Starkie, who did four pilgrimages in 30 years, walked, rode in buses, took taxis and hitched hiked. (Can't say he wasn't a 'real' pilgrim!)

The man responsible for the reanimation of the camino as we know it today (he also painted the first yellow arrows) was Don Elias Valina Sampedro of O’Cebreiro parish.
He said, “In the 1970’s there survived only a remote memory of the Jacobean pilgrimage.”

Today, some pilgrims choose to walk, others choose to cycle or go on horseback. Some pilgrims choose to carry their packs whilst others choose to have them transported. Some pilgrims choose to sleep in refuges; others choose to sleep in hotels. Some pilgrims walk/ride for religious reasons; others walk/ride for spiritual, cultural, historical reasons.

We should learn to be tolerant of all pilgrims - as is the case on the Shikoku 88 Temple pilgrimage, where all 'henros' are accepted as 'henro' whether they ride, walk or use a combination of both.
There are no ‘real’ pilgrims – only pilgrims.

 

[sillydoll]

You got me there John!
I think I should have added, " if it is your intention to walk the camino just to have a good time and stay in hotels so that you can party late every night this is a holiday. Walking the camino and staying in the refuges obeying the rules of the hospitaleros staffed by volunteers is a pilgrimage. There is a difference".

On the Archicompostela website they say:

It is the motivation what makes you a pilgrim. Some make the pilgrimage in a profound religious way and as a piety to see the apostolic roots of faith, others searching for faith, perhaps for their very first time, or trying to recover it after a time… Thus, different attitudes can have the same root by means of their motivation. And it is the intention what makes you a pilgrim.

 

[Javier Martin]

Sure, the "party late every night" is important to separate the tourists from pilgrims.

A pilgrim never takes a bus. Only in a very exception, but of course not daily in order to arrive to the albergue earlier than others.

It's true, "motivation" is important, and not always is a religious motivation.

Buen Camino,

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

oh good - we're all agreed then! Alleluia

John

 

[NaKwendaSafari]

to Sil, John and Javier - all agreed 100%, alleluia. I am confused, what was agreed on? I have been following this forum for two years and have yet to see any consensus on what one sees on the other person to consider him or her worthy to be termed a "pilgrim" in the eyes of the beholder. Let us be gracious to each other, this is what is holding up this exceptional forum.

In communal living we should theoretically be considerate but with no-one policing the rules for the general well-being of the albergue there will always be some odd behaviour. Do not be afraid to walk out of the unacceptable conditions and seek one which suits you, suffering the indignity just to remain a true "pilgrim" is not for all.

Kwaheri

 

[nidarosa]

Oh, dear - can I just hasten to add that I have no intention of falling into albergues at silly hours while singing Norwegian drinking songs :lol: I simply wanted to know what the score was so I could look into alternatives for some nights expressly to avoid upsetting others. I used to live in Portugal, and as far as I know the Spanish - like the Portuguese - tend to go out for their evening meal very late, and I would like to have the opportunity to experience the Spanish late nights as well while I was there. I have nothing but respect for the hospitaleros and my fellow pilgrims and will of course follow the rules in the albergues - I just wanted to know what they were ...

All the best, LM

 

[JohnnieWalker]

I'm sure we are all agreed ( aren't we? ) on the excellent quote that Sil gave us:

On the Archicompostela website they say:

It is the motivation what makes you a pilgrim. Some make the pilgrimage in a profound religious way and as a piety to see the apostolic roots of faith, others searching for faith, perhaps for their very first time, or trying to recover it after a time… Thus, different attitudes can have the same root by means of their motivation. And it is the intention what makes you a pilgrim.

But the debate has raged for centuries and no doubt will go on and on...

 

[vinotinto]

and I would like to have the opportunity to experience the Spanish late nights as well while I was there.

Yeah, that was the main bummer about the early curfew - not getting to experience the Spanish night life. Just as things got going out in town, we were required to be in bed. But, what can you do, except stay in a hotel or something similar.

singing Norwegian drinking songs

Skoal! My family was kicked out of Norway back in the early 20th century, and I wished they had kept some of the old traditions alive...it would've been fun to know some Norske when I visited Oslo in 2005...especially drinking songs, despite the expensive booze... :wink: :arrow: