StepheninDC
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- June 2017
I returned about a month ago from my first-ever Camino. Wow, what an incredible experience! I am so grateful to the many people on this forum who helped with advice, tips, encouragement, and practical information before my journey. What follows is a list of memories, in no particular order:
1. The coffee that a nice older gentleman bought me in a café in Leon. He asked that I pray to Santiago for him and I did.
2. The fantastic companionship I had along the Way. Despite being in Spain, I spent the entire Camino with Italians and spoke Italian 100% of the time with them.
3. The weather!! OMG, the weather. Sunny and dry every single day for 30 days. Simply unbelievable! No wonder our clothes dried in about 7 minutes every night. Oh yeah, and the sun was out most days until close to 10 pm.
4. Treating myself to wine every day, sometimes in the late morning. Always good, always cheap, and always accompanied by a tapa, often tortilla espanola.
5. Cheap albergues, and we never got turned away from one, although we did decide to go elsewhere in Palas de Rei because the Xunta one only had 1 bed left and I was with 2 Italians and didn't want to break up our group.
6. Phenomenal food! I already liked Spanish food, but it was so good. Alubias in Navarra and Castilla y Leon, Cocido margato in Astorga, fancy and delicious tapas in Pamplona, all-you-can-drink cider in the same town, unbelievably delicious paella, the list goes on and on.
7. NO BLISTERS! I wore Injinji toe socks and another layer of Darn Tough wool socks every day and got NO BLISTERS. However, my heels were starting to hurt by the end and I put ointment on almost every day.
8. I lost 4 kilos and 2" off my waist. What can I say, even eating a hearty menu peregrino every night couldn't stop my body from burning 1,000s of calories every day.
9. Wonderful Camino moments of bars or food trucks seemingly appearing out of nowhere just when I needed one.
10. Zumo de naranja. Nuff said.
11. Yummy chocolate croissants and café con leche (with whole milk!) every morning.
12. The Cathedrals of Burgos and Leon, simply stunning. I think I got a sore neck from craning it to look at the ceiling.
13. Bed bugs. Yes, but only once, in Sahagun.
14. Pilgrims' mass with benediction of peregrinos in just about every town. One highlight was having a priest get us to sing a song from our respective countries (Croatia, South Korea, France, Germany, US, South Africa, and of course, Espana).
15. Telling my life story to pilgrims I'd just met and would probably never see again.
16. Meeting up again with pilgrim friends again and again and acting as if I'd just met an old friend I hadn't seen in decades.
Well, that's sort of it for now, but I know I'll think of more stuff. What an incredible, life-changing trip it was. Next time I want to bring my wife and walk the Caminho Portugues.
1. The coffee that a nice older gentleman bought me in a café in Leon. He asked that I pray to Santiago for him and I did.
2. The fantastic companionship I had along the Way. Despite being in Spain, I spent the entire Camino with Italians and spoke Italian 100% of the time with them.
3. The weather!! OMG, the weather. Sunny and dry every single day for 30 days. Simply unbelievable! No wonder our clothes dried in about 7 minutes every night. Oh yeah, and the sun was out most days until close to 10 pm.
4. Treating myself to wine every day, sometimes in the late morning. Always good, always cheap, and always accompanied by a tapa, often tortilla espanola.
5. Cheap albergues, and we never got turned away from one, although we did decide to go elsewhere in Palas de Rei because the Xunta one only had 1 bed left and I was with 2 Italians and didn't want to break up our group.
6. Phenomenal food! I already liked Spanish food, but it was so good. Alubias in Navarra and Castilla y Leon, Cocido margato in Astorga, fancy and delicious tapas in Pamplona, all-you-can-drink cider in the same town, unbelievably delicious paella, the list goes on and on.
7. NO BLISTERS! I wore Injinji toe socks and another layer of Darn Tough wool socks every day and got NO BLISTERS. However, my heels were starting to hurt by the end and I put ointment on almost every day.
8. I lost 4 kilos and 2" off my waist. What can I say, even eating a hearty menu peregrino every night couldn't stop my body from burning 1,000s of calories every day.
9. Wonderful Camino moments of bars or food trucks seemingly appearing out of nowhere just when I needed one.
10. Zumo de naranja. Nuff said.
11. Yummy chocolate croissants and café con leche (with whole milk!) every morning.
12. The Cathedrals of Burgos and Leon, simply stunning. I think I got a sore neck from craning it to look at the ceiling.
13. Bed bugs. Yes, but only once, in Sahagun.
14. Pilgrims' mass with benediction of peregrinos in just about every town. One highlight was having a priest get us to sing a song from our respective countries (Croatia, South Korea, France, Germany, US, South Africa, and of course, Espana).
15. Telling my life story to pilgrims I'd just met and would probably never see again.
16. Meeting up again with pilgrim friends again and again and acting as if I'd just met an old friend I hadn't seen in decades.
Well, that's sort of it for now, but I know I'll think of more stuff. What an incredible, life-changing trip it was. Next time I want to bring my wife and walk the Caminho Portugues.