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I have always been grateful to the Spanish who provide services along the Camino. Pilgrims are notorious penny-pinchers, and many of them are very demanding. The revenue stream is seasonal, so merchants must weather the slow winter times to be there in the busy times. I am sure that they are reluctant to profit from their friends, but they may have discovered that their enemies do not patronize them.nothing is free anymore and the novelty has clearly worn off. We are just another euro for them and the Camino is just business as usual.
="wayfarer, post:We walked through O'Cebriero in 2012, just stopping to visit the church on a cold misty morning.
never said i did, if the question was meant for me; there are, however, pilgrims who still may associate walking the Camino with free soup in the evening and locals offering you whatever fruit is in season... and yes, this did happen (on an occasion) on my first Camino in 1994.I never expect, nor ask for, freebies. Why should you?
Falcon, when I click on your video, it tells me "this video is private."It cannot be the worst place when the Banda de Galicia shows up with the family and performs for an hour:
This place has the great cheese and honey, and the sometimes indifferent service...
Fixed, I think.Falcon, when I click on your video, it tells me "this video is private."
Fixed, I think.
Stayed in O O'Cebreiro Oct 2013 – bed at the municipal Alberque it was ok , a large room at bit crowded, beds close together ,however it was clean and functionalO Cebriero must surely be the worst possible place to stay on the Frances. Having simply walked through last year, weather and mileage made stopping here this year necessary. I have never anywhere experienced such indifferent and downright abominably rude behaviour. Not just in one bar but in several. Waitresses deliberately pretending not to hear, coffee prices changing from 11am to 12am, clearly being made up on the spur of the moment. We walked out of one restaurant because we refused to give them our service after the way they treated us. Pilgrims are clearly considered nothing but a nuisance and treated appallingly. The Albergue is pretty basic ( Yes I know it's a typical Xunta but that's not the point ). Worst of all everything for miles around is booked out. I didn't experience this last year when at the same time of year I had no bed problems at all. It's only my personal opinion - but give this place a wide berth.
Interesting post. I walked through O'Cebreiro this June. As I said in my post home about the bar where I had breakfast, "tavern was charming, the innkeeper was not." Nor were the shop keepers next door or across the street. I chalked the rudeness up to having had too many tourists. Dealing with the tourist trade requires a certain patience and I suspected the bar and shop keepers I interacted with had had enough. I really hope it had nothing to do with my limited spanish.
The crepe lady used to be in Fonfria. Has she moved to a better location?I even bought a crepe from the old lady on the way out of town.
The crepe lady used to be in Fonfria. Has she moved to a better location?
Maybe it was Fonfria, you kind of lose track of the towns you pass through.
The crepe lady used to be in Fonfria. Has she moved to a better location?
The crepe lady used to be in Fonfria. Has she moved to a better location?
Thanks for this. I too, could not remember the name of that little town. As I recall, there are two Camino routes through this little pueblo; one in front of the establishments (parallel to the road) and the other at the back of the establishments. We went along the back route and that is where we ran into the crepe lady - she asked for a donativo; we were going to give something anyway. Later in Triacastela, we ran into a Spanish woman who had heard about the crepe lady and had been looking out for her. She was very disappointed to have missed her - it turned out this woman had used the 'front' route when she passed through Fonfria.Maybe it was Fonfria, you kind of lose track of the towns you pass through.
We saw her in May '13.I remember her as being in Fonfría, too, but last month when I walked through I didn´t see her. I asked a few people later on if they had seen her, but no sightings. I think the last time I saw her was in 2006, has she been seen recently? Buen camino, Laurie
Curious--any one see any wildlife in the area? Prior to walking up the hill to "O", I stopped in a café for coffee. Café walls were filled with pictures of local hunters with wild boars. Some pictures had 10 or more boars in the picture. Assume they were hunted on the local hillsides.
I really enjoyed the irish host at the Najera muni...but there are just too many beds in that room and not ceiling fans! Oh the snoring, tossing and turning, early morning risers, and how many toilets? 3 shower stalls for the women?Agree, Najera muni was AWFULL!!!!, but Najera was nice though
I would opine that the problem was hers, not yours. Don't take it personally.Bad experience from the lady checking me in to municipla albergue ... she barked some orders to me in Spanish then got annoyed when I didn't understand.
Well said!I have had some of the best food and service on the Camino in O Cebreiro. Each pilgrim has a different experience.
Usually I don’t have much sympathy for people who write about their hardships on the Camino, but you have my sympathy here. Points for trying to forgive the hospitalero.O´Cebreiro is the first of only two miserable stays that I´ve ever had on any camino.
I came grateful to the top after ending an agonizing rainy day where the ascent was like going up an extended stairwell, where ten lorries had dumped their rubble down the shaft and started the water coming as well.
The hospitalero at the municipal declared the place full. I said I was willing to sleep anywhere, on the floor, under a table, but no....
When a passer by stated the top floor was still unopened, I inquired if this could be opened, I would do chores if it needed attention , but no....
It was when he started shouting as if if I was an idiot school boy, I started to fluster; I was tired, cold, I needed a shower and to rid of my wet clothes.
Turned out the only place I could stay was at a 44 euro place that his wife apparently owned (!!)
Being still furious, I had to borrow around to collect the cash needed, too late and too dark to go further, or to down to the German hostel that I had passed...
At last I collected what money and loose change I had and booked the room, she, the wife, was visibly uncomfortable when I told the story.
At the restaurant/café, very late, all I could afford was a scalding hot Caldo Gallego and spring water, as the now infamous Hospitalero stepped in and tried to chat up the young waitress, but she wasn´t having any of the smirking. My only satisfaction at the moment was burning my evil gaze into his back and hoping he was tossing and turning in the night himself!!
The expensive room had a minimum of hot water, only electric heating for one hour and the coldest stone building that I have ever slept in, I felt colder than a well diggers a****.
Needless to say, I would have loved a warm and cosy dormitory and would have suffered any number of three part harmony chorus of Roncadores !
- I agree with t2andreo, that only tourist will complain, but here I could not communicate and whether it was due to the roof actually having been caving in, or that he was just happily indifferent, I shall never know, but I have really, really tried to forgive him, but I still cannot....
On the evening however, I was warmed at the Caldo Gallego and then met Jimmy for a chin wag into the small hours, and whose tale of exile from the States touched me and I still remember.
Concluding: - here the Camino did not provide, but it persisted.....I was thouroughly being tested...
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