Uterga to Puente la Reina to Cirauqui…
I actually had to ask the group here what town we were in. Ha. It is all catching up with me, I think. We have seen so many amazing places and gorgeous landscapes, met so many wonderful and inspiring people, and walked now somewhere in the neighborhood of 72-ish miles. As we continue ever onward, it starts to blur …
We left Uterga this morning after what most believe to be the absolute worst night of snoring. I heard “the main offender” as I got into bed, but thanks to my friend Jonny, I came equipped with super duper earplugs. So, the snorer didn’t get me, but, oddly, there was a bright orange emergency exit light that shone right into my bunk… A nice orange glow all night long. I am going to have to get a good nights sleep here pretty soon or I am afraid I am going to get run down and susceptible to getting sick.
We decided to take an alternate route this morning to visit Eunate church. It didn’t open until 10:30am and we got there at about 9:30am, so we didn’t get to go inside, but the church and grounds were lovely – and seeing it in the morning light was special.
Highlight of the day was probably tapas at lunch – how beautiful they all were, and equally scrumptiously delicious.
This Area of Spain is so rich in produce! It was fun to see pilgrims picking blackberries, elderberries, almonds, walnuts, figs …all along the side of the path to help sustain themselves on their journey ahead! I thought of the pilgrims who walked these same paths over a thousand years ago and wondered if they were blessed with the same abundance to sustain them on their journey to Santiago.
There were pepper plants and artichokes and pomegranate trees… It is a very lush and prosperous growing area. And we spent most of the day walking through the fields and passing by farmlands…
Our day ended with a good climb into the hillside town of Cirauqui. It is very essence of what you would think a Spanish hillside village would look like. It’s ancient and historic and it’s up, up, up the side of the hill! All good efforts result in good reward…
Our evening accommodations in the albergue were interesting as it was JUST outside the town bell tower. Every 15 minutes the bells rang … Loudly … All throughout the night. Again, thanks to my earplugs, it didn’t bother me, but was a pretty restless night for the rest of the group. We found out in the morning that it was actually a RECORDING of the ringing of the bells … The bells in the tower actually never moved! The ringing came out of the loudspeakers attached to the top of the tower. Ha! They totally could have shut that off during the night, but nooo, we got to hear the tolling of the bells all night long.
We had the most beautiful pilgrims menu last night. Almost every village we go into has a 3 course meal, with wine and water, for typically around 10 euro. Last night we had our Pilgrims dinner in what looked like it was once an old wine cellar beneath the albergue. We had a beautiful garlic soup followed by a freshly made salad with the produce all grown in the local area… And our entrée was a gorgeous pasta with homemade meatballs and the most fantastic red sauce. It was so light and full of flavor. We asked for recipes, but, alas, I think they were some secret recipes as she wouldn’t pass them on. It was truly the most delicious pilgrims menu that we have had this far… And the wine – it was from grapes grown locally and the wine made right here in the village!
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