May 20
We step out onto the streets after enjoying breakfast and saying goodbye to our castle. We chose a bridge over the river as the location for our group shot today.
They’re doing some construction on the trail as it goes through some smaller streets and alleyways so there is a detour for the trail down the main street. It then winds through some smaller neighborhoods back to the real trail
As we walk, occasionally, there are long straight stretches of road in front of us where we can see many people making this trek. We pass the occasional hacker taking a short break.
Passports and stamps. Hikers on the Camino are known as “pilgrims” in honor of St. John’s travels in this area. Each pilgrim receives a “passport” booklet to carry on the trail. Many of the businesses, hotels, cathedrals, and other points of interest have ink stamps If the pilgrim acquires a minimum of two stamps per day and walks a minimum of 100 km they will receive a certificate of completion. Along this section of trail, we come across a woman who is offering stamps at her table as she plays the bagpipe for the passing hikers.
Another beautiful stone cathedral, and cemetery sits off the side of the road. Just a little past it we come to another street performer.
As we enter town, we stop at another small, beautiful cathedral. They have the pilgrims the attitudes for hikers on the wall.
As we all extend energy walking down the trail some hikers stop to smell the roses. We pass a cat lying on top of the wall amongst some flowers, looking at us like we’re crazy
We remain in a beautiful green area with lots of water features around the trail.
Along the side of a trail is a stone Feature with water coming out of a center pipe I took a moment to cool off, it was refreshing
Another small town with a couple of cafés, a beautiful old cathedral and a crucifixion cross. The café’s were very busy, so we opted to continue forward.
I love this stop sign, the way it has been altered
We arrived at another café and stopped for lunch this time. We see Chris, who is a solo hiker that we have adopted into our group for occasional periods of walking.
We are getting closer! The trail drops off the main road and through some vineyards we walk under some vine trellises.
We passed by some neat artwork and a beautiful fountain on our way into town, passing another cathedral and cemetery.
We cross over a river and enter the town we stay in tonight. We visited the main cathedral. I took a picture of Jesus, and in the photograph there is a circle of light on him. To the naked eye it is not visible. To me it’s one of the ways that God shows himself to me.
We get back out on the main street walking into a couple of blocks and then leave the trail Two blocks to our hotel for the night
We hiked 13.96 miles today great conversation, beautiful scenery, and friendly hikers
