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Photograph your cake and eat it too

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Barcelona Day 2

Another lovely breakfast thanks to Hofmann Pastelería to start my day. In the morning/early afternoon I visited museum of modern art and Picasso museum. Both were relatively small but good. Sagrada familia visit was in the late afternoon. It is definitely number one attraction in Barcelona. I finished the day with a flight of beers at the bar next to hotel. Packing tonight and 10 hour flight to Calgary awaits tomorrow

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Barcelona Food

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Barcelona

A busy day in Barcelona. Walked about 15 kms today. Went to Hofmann Pastelería in the morning for a fresh croissant and work-of-art deserts. Afterwards, I visited a couple of Gaudi Houses: Casa Batlló and Casa Milá. Both were good but I really liked the Casa Batlló. I also visited St Josep market (right off La Ramba street, all kinds of food) and the waterfront (no swimming this time). Had an overpriced watery drink on La Ramba (1 L glass of sangria and not even a buzz). Now some rest time.

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Güemes to Santander

My last walk of this Camino, only 15 km. Today was one of my favourite walks, perfect to finish the Camino. It started on the road but switched to a trail with corn field and grasses on one side and cliffs and beaches on the other side. The last few kms were right on the beach and the hike finished with a ferry ride to Santander. I visited Santander’s art museum, had lunch and hoped on a bus to the airport. In an hour I will be flying to Barcelona.

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Camino ends

I have made a decision to stop my Camino and come back home. Pretty much from the beginning I have been struggling with not having enough mental energy to handle being in a different country and dealing with daily changes that Camino brings. I am doing fine physically (a couple of blisters is the main issue so far). However, mentally I am exhausted all the time and not being able to enjoy anything that Camino has to offer. My last walk will be tomorrow to Santander. From there I will fly to Barcelona and then home on Friday.

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Santoña to Güemes

The heat is here. It did not cool off at night but at least is a bit cloudy. A nice walk in the morning, a bit of a climb with some nice beaches. Afterwards Camino was inland and mostly walking on the roads. The scenery was nice with hills and pastures all around. Tonight I am staying in a beautiful albergue in Güemes with padre Ernesto. It is one of the best albergue experiences on Camino Norte and more importantly, I got a bed without a footboard!

They provide lunch, supper and breakfast (no gelato unfortunately) and it’s all donativo.

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Islares to Santoña

Today’s hike did not start well. I did not pay enough attention to the arrows and missed an important turn. As a result, I ended up walking extra 4 or 5 kms for the total of 31 kms. The rest of the day was good. I managed to stay on track and got to Laredo to catch a ferry to Santoña. Staying in municipal albergue that is also a youth sports centre with a gym and wall climbing.

It looks like Santoña is having its big celebrations this weekend or the whole week. There are a lot of people and there is a big stage for the concert in the main plaza. Albergue has 9:30 pm curfew, so no late night for me.

Unfortunately I got my first blister today. It has been poked and bandaged. Hopefully it’s ok tomorrow. It is a 28 km hike but in 30 C heat.

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Bilbao to Islares

I got up early to take subway and a bus to Pobeña bypassing the walk out of Bilbao all together. From Pobeña I started to walk towards Islares. About 1 km after I arrived to La Arena, a town before Pobeña. Somehow I was walking backwards. 180 turn and Camino walk started again. The morning trail was scenic, along the coast. About 3-4 kms in I ran into a fence that blocked the entire trail. They must have closed the trail after it got damaged. I turned around preparing to walk back several kms back to find a bypass. However, I checked wise pilgrim app comments first. They all said to continue forward since it was easy and safe to pass the spot where landslide had fallen on the trail. They were right, 3 steps and landslide was behind me. The rest of the day went smoothly. Some highway walking and some trails/small roads.

25 km later and I am in a very small town of Islares. Have to wait for supper until 8 pm since I missed the lunch hour.

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Inside Guggenheim Museum

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Gernika to Bilbao

A wonderful journey today. After a 5 minute walk and 45 minute train ride I was in Bilbao. I lucked out with my pension, not only it was 5 minute walk from the train station, they also let me check in early. Once checked in, I applied water proofing liquid on my shoes (lots of rain tomorrow) and headed to Guggenheim museum with a quick gelato stop. The museum was great, definitely helped my head. Afterwards, I strolled through the city for a bit enjoying the parks and the architecture. It was difficult to find a place to eat at 6 pm but I managed to have a nice meal at a vegan restaurant (apparently vegans are hungry all the time so the place stays open while others are closed). Tonight is early bedtime since tomorrow I am taking a subway and a bus to Pobeña to start my hike.

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Markina-Xemein to Gernika

Another nice communal supper last night (with tomatoes from the garden). Some of the same people as before and some new ones. Everyone seems to be heading to different places today since there is no longer a public albergue in Gernika. Some are finishing before and some after Gernika. I am living like a king by staying in pension’s private with a queen bed. I have not slept well the last couple of nights because all beds were too short and had a footboard. Hopefully great rest tonight.

The walk was 27 kms today (an extra km because I went to the wrong direction). Some ups and downs and mud but not like previous days. Mostly walking on small roads and forested trails. I even walked several kms along a creek. Not too many views but lots of greenery.

It was very confusing the last couple of kms, I got sent to a busier highway via app map but it seems like there was a better route without the highway.

Gernika has an interesting and tragic history; it was completely destroyed during civil war and rebuilt again. I visited the Peace museum and walked around the town a bit.

Tomorrow is a rest day: a train to Bilbao and a visit to Guggenheim museum perhaps.

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Ibiri Auzoa to Markina-Xemein

Communal supper last night was lovely. Mixed salad with chicken and potatoes (and bread and wine). Chatted with some people from Germany, Italy, Australia and Denmark.

Unfortunately, I did not have the greatest sleep due to footboard on my single bed (and the bed being a bit short for me.

The walk today was taking me further away from the sea. There was a long but relatively gentle climb at the beginning and a long sharp descent on a muddy trail at the end. I had an option of 3 locations to stop for the night and I chose the earliest one. Another lovely albergue with a communal meal in the evening.

This means tomorrow is a 26 km walk instead of 19 km one.

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Bonus pictures:)

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Getaria to Ibiri Auzoa

I thought I was only walking 19 km today but it turned out to be 25 km and at least half of it was a muddy hiking trail. I decided to take a scenic route today, that looked shorter than the official Camino. The views were definitely great but the walking was not. Lots of ups and downs on a narrow clay trail after a recent rain. I even felt and slid down on my ass for a bit. It took a long time to get to Deba where a pistachio gelato was waiting for me. I started to relax since my albergue was only 1 km from Deba. This 1 km quickly turned into 5 or 6 uphill kms. At least I am ahead

Tonight is a communal meal for about 20 pilgrims in a lovely albergue in the middle of nowhere (but on top of a hill).

Tomorrow is a chance of morning rain (hopefully the last on for a few days) and a lot of uphill walking. I have not decided where to stay yet, I might stay in Bolibar or the monastery.

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San Sebastián to Getaria

Today was supposed to be 27.5 km walk but my watch said I only walked 25 km. A rainy day that started ok but got pretty wet in the second half. According to TV, it’s unusually cold here with the rain. Rain is supposed to last another couple of days. My water proof shoes turned out not to be waterproof at all and were very wet by the end of the hike. The hike was medium difficulty with gradual ups and steeper downs. Besides the downpour in the second half, it was enjoyable. The long beach of Zarautz was a pleasure to see. Gelato on the beach was nice as well. So far I am averaging 2 gelatos a day as a lunch replacement:). I did not stay in Zarautz but walk further to Getaria. It’s a smaller town but very nice. Albergue is a bit pricy but nice. Pilgrim menu at the nearby bar was nice, I did not realize that it came with 1/2 litre of wine for €14.

Tomorrow is a much shorter walk, 17 km I think. I already have albergue booked. Hopefully I can stay dry.

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San Sebastián

A rest day in San Sebastián. The rain was in the forecast but it turned out better than expected (and my head has a sunburn to prove it). I needed to obtain a stamp in my Camino passport to show that I stayed in San Sebastián. I tried a couple of cafes but they didn’t have any stamps. I tried the main churches next. Since it was Sunday, they were all open. Unfortunately, I had bad luck with timing, the Sunday mass was just starting. After trying 3 churches I decided to wait by the church until the mass ends. A gelato shop was a perfect place. It turns out that in this shop only gave 1 scoop of gelato (up to 2 flavours). However, the scoop was huge :). I managed to get a stamp from a priest once the mass was over (had to break the zipper on my jacket to get the passport out of the pocket). Afterwards, I wondered around the city for a while and sampled La Viña cheesecake. Late I found a modern bakery that also had similar cheesecake (had to sample that one as well). Unlike other European cities, San Sebastián has lots of public bathrooms. This made walking around all day much easier. It rained on and off all day but never for very long. Sun managed to come out a few times. I finished the walk with a climb to the top of the local mount with remains of the fortress. There I learned about the history of the city. It used to be a walled city that got burned down during Napoleon wars and was rebuilt afterwards as a resort city for the affluent.

More rain in the forecast for tomorrow and 27.5 km hike awaits.