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As far as meals go, O Rueiro may be the better choice for some. The albergue dinner at Casa Vella was a vegetable purée, salad and chunk of tortilla española and applesauce for dessert. Water to drink and wine from a box was 1.5 per glass extra. Some of the young men found the dinner to be skimpy and unfilling. Fine for me, but O Rueiro may be better value (though some of the ingredients were from their garden).Two lovely albergues almost door to door in such a tiny place! I stayed at O Rueiro this past March and thought it was wonderful. Had a very good meal in their bar. Now I want to go back and stay at Casa Vella!
How lucky pilgrims are to have two fine new private albergues open during "the season"; Vilaserio has not always been so comfortably equiped.
Mid December 2011 when walking towards Finisterre I met a Korean woman who was close to exhaustion. Together we crossed the cold, bleak forest landscape to Vilaserio halting at the old school which was then the only open albergue and very minimal. (The impossible alternative was to walk in the frigid dusk 20km further to the next accommodation at Olveiroa.)
The school had a toilet, shower, floor mattresses, and electricity but NO heat! Outside it was sleeting; inside on the tile floor the persistent cold was hardly bearable! Multiple cups of strong hot tea and soup heated with my trusty electric coil were our only relief throughout that endless night.
Next morning a thin layer of treacherous ice stretched to the horizon. After calling a taxi for her I SLOWLY waddled across the crackling ice with personal tenacity and an electric coil confirmed as musts haves for every future camino.
And from what I saw it looks like the municipal has undergone a serious reformation. New windows, freshly painted, so I'm assuming there were some upgrades inside as well.
Buen camino (written while finishing up my coil-made cup of coffee)
Nope!!! Still just an empty house with matresses on cold tiles- also seems not to get cleaned that often. Mold on the walls, no kitchen, no dishes... Just barely better than sleeping on the street. The worst of all the municipal albergues on whole of camino! I am close to thinking that the other two private albergues are lobbying for this one to be abandoned, because if it wasn't that bad- nobody would stay in a private albergue for 12€ where you don't get sheets, that has no kitchen or any dishes... in a middle of nowhere. Basically the private ones are forcing you to eat in their restaurants! I don't find this so great!
I don't have experience of sleeping in muni or Casa Vella in Vilaserio but as a person who used to spend a lot of time with drug addicts and as a Camino addict I would be happy with the muni as you described it if there wouldn't be any other option...
That said- the O Rueiro is clean- I'll give them that. We sadly have a great number of flies in the room- maybe 20-25 that wouldn't leave us be- but i don't think it's a result of bad hygiene. Maybe because people were snacking in their beds, cause there's no other place to sit. We got paper sheets- but thats it.
The municipal one in this village looks like a squat where drugs addicts hang out. Really not an option. I don't think it should be even listed in the albergue list.
Exactly!I really enjoyed my stay at O Rueiro. I remember a small sitting area downstairs at the entry, as well as a lovely patio beside the cafe. For me, 22 euro was incredible value for a clean, comfortable quiet albergue and a wonderful meal provided by the kind friendly people who worked there. It all balances out with the lower priced albergues along the way. Supporting the people and businesses that support us with the services that sustain our walk is so important. I tend to expect higher prices in the smaller places sometimes, keeping in mind that there are months when they have no business.
You don't have to do 32km stages. First Negreira municipal, then maybe Sta.Marina (10€ in very nice and clean albergue), and Olveiroa municipal, Cee (11€) or Corcubion (donativo muni) and then to Fisterra. Plenty of cheap options.Well, lets just put it this way- if you are travelling on a tight budget, you should plan to do those two 32 km sections in a row without any extra stopsAt the next stop in Negreira, some other kind, hard working people will be happy to support your camino for just 5€
Well no...12 for the bed and 10 for the meal. I am always on a budget as well but also prepared, through research ahead of time, for all the variables along the camino.I am afraid that the camiñeros who are happy to pay 22€ for a bunk bed could gentrify the rest of out of this activity within a couple of years
I am walking back from Finisterre to Santiago now, after I did the Portugese Camino. I stayed in many municipal albergues and every one of them had at least some basic kitchen so you can make yourself a cup of tea. For instance last night in Olveiroa there is basic but lovely kitchen with fridge and stove and some dieshes, with nice sitting area- you get a bed there for 6€ with paper sheets. In Santiago even you get a bed in municipal (Seminario Menor) for 15€ and they have a full fledged kitchen and space to relax, read etc. - and this is Santiago, the most expencive destination on the camino.
And?We asked about a shop and the hospitalero said there are none. But I will check that out now.
We stayed at Casa Vella in June 18 and can highly recommend it. The dorms are light ,airy and spotlessly clean .However we were in need of a little luxury that night so we opted for the beautiful double room (en suite) which if you want to treat yourself is worth every cent ...45 euros per night. We arrived early afternoon and were the first to arrive . The owner offered us coffee and afterwards made us sandwiches as we had not eaten a proper meal since breakfast. During the afternoon we were joined by other pilgrims and we enjoyed being able to sit on the terrace with a beer ( euro per bottle) exchanging camino stories. The menu was basic , veg soup,tortilla ,salad apple puree and bread. Everything was home made and and sourced from their garden. We were able to avail ourselves of the benefits of the huge open fire as many of us had wet shoes and outer clothes due to the previous ...and subsequent days being very wet. ! The owner even provided clothes maidens for us to hang our clothes overnight. This a unique Albergue with a wonderful atmosphere and we will return when we make our return visit to this Camino. Finally as a point of information for other pilgrims. Approximately three killometers before Vilaserio there is a sign offering an alternative route of equal distance and without asphalt. Be warned it is not of equal distance...seeming to be much longer and also far hillier than indicated. This is not only our opinion but that of our fellow pilgrims who took that route.
That's really very nice for that lady she got something in her life to hang onI will add a little note, because this kind of story warms my heart. I too got there early enough for a long rest out in the garden and struck up a conversation with the owner’s daughter and her husband, who come out from Santiago to help frequently. The daughter told me that her dad had died several years ago and that her mom was in a downward depressive spiral, just giving up interest in life. Then came the idea of the albergue. Two years’ work to gete it ready and now the running of it, and she told me her mom is a new person with a purpose and love of life.
I took the alternative and think it is not much longer but it isn’t much prettier. The one advantage was off road instead of along the pavement.
The one newer alternative that I would definitely recommend is the one from Negreira. It turns right, either right before or right after the river, so you don’t go up the road to the albergue. That was kms along a river and through green as opposed to the official route on the side of the road. It was a newly signed alternative the last time I went through a couple of years ago, and I wonder if the signage is still good or if it was a burst of municipal energy followed by municipal inattention.
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