Our last day in Madrid and our return to Phoenix

Monday was a low key day.  After breakfast at the hotel cafe, we headed out to the Royal Botanical Garden.  I walked some, then sat while Patty explored other parts.  We followed this pattern for about three hours.  I would walk slowly for 20 - 30 minutes, then sit while Patty continued to explore.  Then we would walk together some more, and I would sit again.

At one point, we came across a crew that was working on removing a portion of a tree.  We were reminded of Jon.  This man was tied into the tree and the pieces he was cutting off were also tied in and lowered to the ground rather than dropping and potentially damaging other plants in the garden.

We then went to lunch at the Vertical Cafe, and after lunch went to the Caixa Forum museum.  They have a vertical garden that grows on an exterior wall - but they are removing it and repairing the wall and garden.

The museum is part of the non-profit arm of a foundation supported by banks.  They have rotating exhibits, and this time I was particularly struck by the exhibit "What would you take?"  This was a collection of photos and interviews from refugees who fled violence in places like Syria and Burundi.  It was very moving.  There were also other exhibits, including one about how the ancient Egyptians integrated animals into their worship.

Then it was back to the hotel to repack, have a light dinner and prepare for the 22 hour journey on Tuesday.

All went as scheduled on Tuesday.  We got to use the Sala Cibeles Club after check in, security, and immigration - a very nice place to stay with free drinks, food and wifi.  The flights were fine, with both getting in early.  The only issue was that it was a very long day, more than Patty wants to endure.  And now it is time to contemplate our trip and think about the next adventure.

Our return to Madrid on Sunday May 24

Check out time was noon.  So we had another leisurely lunch, checked out and left our bags to wander around some more in Santiago.  We saw many restaurants that had either live sea creatures in aquariums or in glass sided refridgerators.

Yummy octopus

We also found many more lovely little parks.

We returned to the hotel around 1:30, retrieved our bags and got a taxi to the train station.  The station in Santiago is much smaller than the station in Madrid, thus there was not Club Sala with free food and wifi.  Instead, we waited in the small cafe and had a beer and light snack.  The train came as scheduled and at 2:50, we left for the five and a half hour train ride back to Madrid.  While much of the ride as at speeds up to 240 kilometers per hour, much of it was slower, plus we made six stops of varying lengths - a much longer ride time wise even though about the same distance as when Harry I went to Sevilla in February.  The train was late, so we got to the hotel later than planned.  Sunday was also election day, so we never did meet up with Carol as we had tentatively planned.  That was probably for the best, as we had a quick dinner at the local VIPS and got to bed by about 11:00.

A second day in Santiago Saturday May 23

While my feet were better, it was still slow walking for limited distances.  It was clear that there was more than just blisters - I clearly had some type of nerve pain, as well as my changed gait caused my hip to ache.  Nonetheless, after a leisurely breakfast we went out and about Santiago on Saturday.

I had planned to treat Adrian to lunch the day before, and thinking I would be paying the bill, ordered a full bottle of wine.  Adrian had arranged with the restaurant to pay the bill.  As a way to pay him back, we visited a local bike shop and bought a gift certificate for Adrian so that he can get what ever he needs or wants for the half Ironman.

The front of the Monastery where our hotel was had some beautiful gardens.

As we wandered around, we found these vines which reminded Patty of the vines she had seen with Helen in Paris.

We went to the Museum that is dedicated to the history of the Pilgrims on the Camino.  It is quite a story and was an excellent museum.  There were also a ton of souvenir shops and jewelry stores, all recognizing the pilgrims regardless of mode of transportation.

We saw the Santiago Cathedral, but the crowds were overwhelming so we did not go in for a tour - instead we saw the outside including the Plaza do Obradoiro on the west side (the front of the Cathedral that faces the royal palace) as well as the north side that our Hospaderio faced.

We also came across some sajuaro and prickly pear cactus at one of the jewelry stores.

We ended the day with a nice dinner and returned to our room at the Hospederia.

Day six on the Camino Mozarabe Friday May 22

We again had a great breakfast, followed by a leisurely morning.  We walked around the grounds of Casa da Botica and enjoyed the sunshine of another nice day.  We spent time reading and relaxing in the sun.  Around 1:00, our "taxi" arrived and drove us the final leg to Santiago.  Our hotel was the Hospederia San Martin Pinario.  This is part of the monastery that has been converted to a hotel.  The view from our room was limited to roof tops of other parts of the building which is still being used as a monastery.

Our room is quite nice, with all of the modern conveniences - but it was only half the size of the rooms we had at the three guesthouses.  The walls were about four feet think and made of stone and I am guessing that our room probably housed four or more monks when it was still completely a monastery.

After getting settled in, we met up with my friend Adrian at 3:00 - he had been at Vaughan Town with me in August of 2013 at El Rancho in Torrecaballeros (just outside of Segovia, home of the large Roman aqueduct still intact from the first century A.D.).   We had a nice lunch and visit together even though he was still dealing with grief and remorse for not taking more time off from work.  His 58 year old mother had been diagnosed with colon cancer and died more quickly than expected in February.  He had plenty of vacation time that he could have used, but did not - thus causing remorse over not spending more time with his mom before her sudden death.  His sister had been pregnant at the time through in vitro fertilization; unfortunately, one child died in utero but fortunately one child survived making him Tio Adrian.  The birth was only six days after Adrian's mother's death and was seen as a real blessing for Adrian's dad - his first grandchild helps to keep him busy and occupied, rather than dwelling on the death of his wife of 40 years.  The good news is that Adrian has been getting back into running, swimming and biking, and signed up for a half iron man triathalon this summer.  We wished him well as he left around 5:00 to catch a train back to A Coruña.

We wondered around some and ran into Mary who we had met on the train the prior Friday, and confirmed our arrangements for dinner.  Around 8:45 we met up with Paul and Mary, and the four of us wandered through one of the restaurant districts and finally found a place to eat: O Celme do Caracol.  This was a nice little cafe.  One of the interesting aspects was that even though they had some tourists, it seemed like there were more locals - while we were early by Spanish standards (starting at 9:00), by the time we left, the place was completely full.  They did not have menus in English, nor in Spanish - only in Gallegos.  Amazingly, I was able to translate most of the items and did the selections for all of us.  Rather than having individual dinners, we ordered different appetizers and other small dishes, and then shared them.  We went through eight or nine dishes over two hours with some fun conversation.  A fine evening was had by all.

Day five on the Camino Mozarabe Thursday May 21

Our day began with a delightful breakfast, again in our private dining room - fresh juice, fresh cherries, toasted pan de Cea with jams and butter, pastries, coffee and more.

Since they knew we were not hiking, arrangements were made the day before with the company that transported our suitcases - we would go in the same "taxi" as the luggage.  This gave us the morning to spend in Reboredo.  Following a hand drawn map and instructions from our non-English speaking hosts, we tried a short hike in town.  We actually headed away from town towards the river.  This took us past several dairy farms, and was very scenic.

When we got to the river, I decided to turn around and go back because I had reached my limit - about a half mile.  Patty continued on across the river only to discover that there was a very steep uphill trail to get to the main road that would loop through the town and back to our guesthouse.  She easily caught up with me.

Around 1:00, the taxi arrived and we and our luggage embarked on the drive to Casa de Botica in Os Casares.  It was even better than Casa Casarellos and Casa Goris, both of which were excellent.  The big difference was those two were old, existing buildings that had been brought up to modern day standards while Case de Botica appears to have been built new but in the style of the older buildings.  We checked out the beautiful landscaping and the horreos (pronounced as orraos with rolling the two letters r and a long A) which were only replicas. 

When then had a couple of beers and tapas while sitting in the sun in the main courtyard.  Actually it was three beers each.  And then we took a nap.

We then went to the swimming pool.  It was an outdoor pool, but it was covered by a green house like building that could be slid out of the way once the summer heat arrived.  The air inside the building was quite warm, but the water was still a little cold - of course, that did not stop me.

The grounds were quite extensive, several acres, and much of it was prepared for guests to enjoy the replica of a small genteel farm.

At dinner that night, there was another group of eight hikers that had their own table in a separate dining room from our table.  Another excellent repast with plenty of wine and more after dinner liquor.

Day four on Camino Mozarabe Wednesday May 20

We decided that my feet meant I was not going to hike.  My backpack with clam shell would now ride for the rest of the week.

We hired a taxi to drive us to the next rural guest house, Casa Goris in the small town of Reboredo.  The hotel took our suitcases and around noon our taxi showed up.  First stop was an ATM and then Casa Goris - I told the non-English speaking driver primero telebanco, segundo Casa Goris.

It is fortunate that my phone was with me and that Casa Goris was readily found by Google Maps.  The driver started off and drove to Silleda which is where we would have hiked that day, but Casa Goris is ten kilometers away.  The taxi driver tried to take us to an unknown other guest house - I had to insist that was wrong and to follow my directions from Google Maps.  Sure enough, following those directions we came across signs for numerous guest houses including Casa Goris.  I had to argue with the driver several times, but finally we got to Casa Goris and the drive was surprised.  We paid him and went into Casa Goris - it was an amazing and beautiful place to stay.  The main building is more than 200 years old and has been restored.  There are seven rooms, but we were the only guests.

There is a second building which includes a bar and a pool room on the ground floor.  So we sat in the courtyard and enjoyed a couple of beers and tapas.

After two beers, I needed to use the restroom.  I followed the signs through the bar and the pool hall that sent me upstairs - and it was a most unusual staircase that I managed to negotiate safely in both directions.

Our room was on the top floor - huge hand hewn exposed beams supported the roof.  When it came time for dinner, we went through the large dining room into what had been the kitchen 200 years ago.  There was a fire going in the hearth and our private dinner was served there.

Our first course was mixed salad of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, white asparagus and tuna fish, plus pan de Cea and much to my surprise, a plate of some excellent dried, smoked anchovies.

We also had a pitcher of wine that we consumed with that first course and about half way through the second course of pork for me and octopus for Patty.  So our host gave us a second pitcher of wine.  We drank that and then had desert of fresh strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

 And as if that was not enough, our host then brought us chupitos - iced shot glasses and two bottles of liquor, one that was like Baileys Irish Creme and one that was a coffee flavored liquor. We were free to have as much as we wanted.

Day three on the Camino Mozarabe - Tuesday May 19

I apparently did not do a good enough job with my blisters, as my feet did not feel well when we started out.  We were driven back to Cafe Fraga in Castro de Dozon and started out.  The day before, I had seen signs for taxi services along the Camino, as well as signs for other services.  As a precaution, I took a picture of one of those signs.

It was a good thing that I had the taxi phone number, as I needed it later.

After we hiked out of town, we eventually went along a dirt road.  We came across these birds that appeared to be quails.  They never flew, they just kept running before us and did so for several hundred yards before they went done a side road.

After about two hours, I had to stop.  I removed my left shoe, tried treating that blister, put on a new dressing and did the same for the right foot.  It was to no avail, as even with popping and draining the blisters, I could not walk comfortably.  I stumbled along until we came to what our directions called the village of Pontenoufe.  I hoped that there was a store or cafe from which I could call the taxi.  it was not to be - the so called village was just a collection of a half dozen homes.

I sat down at the foot of the hill after going through the village and called the taxi.  The only problem was that he spoke no English and did not understand where we were.  I hung up and used the online translation to text him a message.  No response.  So I called back and tried again.  After about five minutes of phone frustration, a women drove by and I flagged her down.  I handed the phone to her and she gave the taxi driver directions.  It turns out that even though we had just crossed over a major highway, we were really out in the boondocks.  But thanks to this charming lady's directions, about 15 minutes later, the taxi appeared.  We rode with him into the small city of Lalin and to Hotel Pontinas that was our scheduled stay for that night.

While the hotel was an okay place to stay, it was not a very good hotel - in fact, it was at best just a step above the hostals I have stayed in before in Madrid.  They did have a bar and dining room.  I got two beers and some chips and brought them to our room - that and our granola bars were our lunch.  It turns out that the hotel was not in an area where there were other things in easy walking (or in my case stumbling) distance.  So we hung out and napped, and had dinner there that night in Lalin.

One of the interesting things about our instructions was that the hotel was located on Calle del Puente (Bridge Street) but that is in Castillian Spanish - here in Galicia, including here in Lalin, all the street signs were in Gallegos, so it was really located at Rua de Ponte 82.  This was all part of the learning experience.