Stellere
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- March 2014 - con mi padre
I walked the Camino Frances with my dad from mid-March to late April of this year. I thought I might share some of my favourite albergues along the way!
A Raboleira in Fonfria (10 euros)
Fonfria itself isn't much to look at it. It's not a particularly beautiful town, although the walk in and out is lovely. But the albergue was one of the nicest that we stayed at on the entire camino! The dorm is very big (a minus), but the beds are made of a very solid wood - no squeaking and shaking from your upstairs neighbour. The mattresses are comfortable, the bathrooms and showers are clean, and there's a nice laundry room. No kitchen (another minus), but by far the best common room of the entire camino: beanbag chairs, comfortable couches, a well-stocked library, free wi-fi, coin-operated computers. After a month of hard benches, it felt like heaven to sink into a beanbag chair! We had the best meal of our entire camino at the restaurant behind the albergue. And breakfast in the bar: fresh crumbly cheese, local honey, still-warm bread…amazing!
Albergue de Boni in Salceda (10 euros)
We weren't planning on stopping in Salceda, but my dad's calf muscle was acting up. It ended up being a happy accident! The albergue is very new, clean and comfortable, with 4-bed rooms. The showers are in a building out back, which isn't ideal, but they're super-fancy full-body massaging showers! Heaven. Boni - the owner - was very proud of them. He made sure that we knew that the hot water would NEVER run out, no matter how long we decided to stay in the shower. Ha! Boni is a great host. He's walked or cycled the camino 7 times in all, and he told us that he based his albergue on what he would want as a peregrino. No kitchen, but there are tables/chairs, a fridge and a sink, comfortable couches (ah, I never knew how much the camino would teach me to appreciate a good couch!) and a big beautiful fireplace that he kept going all evening. Even better than the albergue was the bar next door. An amazing place with the BEST bocadillos in Spain - giant overstuffed egg-chicken-lettuce-tomato-cheese-jamon sandwiches that have nothing in common with the dry jamon on bread that's so common on the camino. Tamara and Sonia, the bar owners, love to have fun, and they ply peregrinos with chupitos, yellow shots that they arrange in an arrow shape.
The municipal albergue in Mansilla de las Mulas (5 euros)
Just a lovely, well-organized albergue. I liked that there were multiple common areas: a big well-stocked kitchen with 2 cooking areas and 2 tables, an indoor seating area with books and games, and a nice courtyard where everyone gathered to share stories. The beds were a bit squeaky and the bathrooms/showers were outside, but the relaxed and happy atmosphere more than made up for that. There are lots of grocery stores and shops in Mansilla de las Mulas - it was easy to buy what we needed to cook a beautiful communal meal in the albergue.
The parochial albergue in Granon (donativo)
Our evening in Granon definitely stands out as *the* highlight of the camino for us. The host, Jesus, greeted each of us in the yard with a hug and then led us up dark stone steps into the albergue within a church. The sleeping arrangements are very basic - mats on the floor of the loft - but the common area is absolutely beautiful, with long tables, a guitar, and wooden chairs arranged in a half-circle around a wood stove. We shared a communal meal: salad, lentils and - of course - wine and bread. Then we went into a chapel for a non-denominational candlelit service. It was a particularly special experience for me, because - by beautiful coincidence - my French, English and Spanish meant that I was able to communicate with all of the 11 other pilgrims sharing the albergue with us. The hospitalero asked me to translate the service between all three languages, which I gladly did. In the morning, we all shared a simple breakfast. I think that the feeling of Granon is best captured by the sign on the donativo box: Leave what you can, take what you need. A truly magical place.
honorable mention: the parochial albergue in Bercianos del Real Camino (donativo). While the albergue itself couldn't compare to Granon, the experience was very similar. We all shared in a communal meal, went up to the hill to watch the sunset together, and then came back for a pilgrim service/sharing circle. Beautiful experience!
A Raboleira in Fonfria (10 euros)
Fonfria itself isn't much to look at it. It's not a particularly beautiful town, although the walk in and out is lovely. But the albergue was one of the nicest that we stayed at on the entire camino! The dorm is very big (a minus), but the beds are made of a very solid wood - no squeaking and shaking from your upstairs neighbour. The mattresses are comfortable, the bathrooms and showers are clean, and there's a nice laundry room. No kitchen (another minus), but by far the best common room of the entire camino: beanbag chairs, comfortable couches, a well-stocked library, free wi-fi, coin-operated computers. After a month of hard benches, it felt like heaven to sink into a beanbag chair! We had the best meal of our entire camino at the restaurant behind the albergue. And breakfast in the bar: fresh crumbly cheese, local honey, still-warm bread…amazing!
Albergue de Boni in Salceda (10 euros)
We weren't planning on stopping in Salceda, but my dad's calf muscle was acting up. It ended up being a happy accident! The albergue is very new, clean and comfortable, with 4-bed rooms. The showers are in a building out back, which isn't ideal, but they're super-fancy full-body massaging showers! Heaven. Boni - the owner - was very proud of them. He made sure that we knew that the hot water would NEVER run out, no matter how long we decided to stay in the shower. Ha! Boni is a great host. He's walked or cycled the camino 7 times in all, and he told us that he based his albergue on what he would want as a peregrino. No kitchen, but there are tables/chairs, a fridge and a sink, comfortable couches (ah, I never knew how much the camino would teach me to appreciate a good couch!) and a big beautiful fireplace that he kept going all evening. Even better than the albergue was the bar next door. An amazing place with the BEST bocadillos in Spain - giant overstuffed egg-chicken-lettuce-tomato-cheese-jamon sandwiches that have nothing in common with the dry jamon on bread that's so common on the camino. Tamara and Sonia, the bar owners, love to have fun, and they ply peregrinos with chupitos, yellow shots that they arrange in an arrow shape.
The municipal albergue in Mansilla de las Mulas (5 euros)
Just a lovely, well-organized albergue. I liked that there were multiple common areas: a big well-stocked kitchen with 2 cooking areas and 2 tables, an indoor seating area with books and games, and a nice courtyard where everyone gathered to share stories. The beds were a bit squeaky and the bathrooms/showers were outside, but the relaxed and happy atmosphere more than made up for that. There are lots of grocery stores and shops in Mansilla de las Mulas - it was easy to buy what we needed to cook a beautiful communal meal in the albergue.
The parochial albergue in Granon (donativo)
Our evening in Granon definitely stands out as *the* highlight of the camino for us. The host, Jesus, greeted each of us in the yard with a hug and then led us up dark stone steps into the albergue within a church. The sleeping arrangements are very basic - mats on the floor of the loft - but the common area is absolutely beautiful, with long tables, a guitar, and wooden chairs arranged in a half-circle around a wood stove. We shared a communal meal: salad, lentils and - of course - wine and bread. Then we went into a chapel for a non-denominational candlelit service. It was a particularly special experience for me, because - by beautiful coincidence - my French, English and Spanish meant that I was able to communicate with all of the 11 other pilgrims sharing the albergue with us. The hospitalero asked me to translate the service between all three languages, which I gladly did. In the morning, we all shared a simple breakfast. I think that the feeling of Granon is best captured by the sign on the donativo box: Leave what you can, take what you need. A truly magical place.
honorable mention: the parochial albergue in Bercianos del Real Camino (donativo). While the albergue itself couldn't compare to Granon, the experience was very similar. We all shared in a communal meal, went up to the hill to watch the sunset together, and then came back for a pilgrim service/sharing circle. Beautiful experience!
