It might almost have been too warm today, but I didn’t mind. I’m in Galicia in Spain, where it rains a lot, so to have a sunny day even if a little warm, is perfect.
Dinner last night was unusual. I was hoping that they served at 5:00 o’clock, but at that hour the bar/cafe had 5 tables full of local men drinking beer and playing cards. I really didn’t want to go hunting for another place to eat, since they had a good menu and it was half a block from the albergue.
I returned at 7:00. The card players were gone, replaced by a few tables of men still drinking and watching the big screen TV. I was the only woman and the only person eating. I had the traditional Tortilla or potato pie and a tomato salad. Both were delicious, with two glasses of white wine.
I returned to the albergue and went to sleep about 9:00pm. I woke up at 6:am. I wrote my post, while waiting for the sun to come up.
The walk today was very challenging at the beginning. It was a stone path by the sea, at the base of a mountain. I could have used a pole. The path then alternated between forest track and roadway. At 5km, I found a cafe and had an open faced sandwich of tomato and jambon on a baguette. I met up with the two women from Brittany that I had met in Matosinhos. Although almost my age, they passed me on the trail very quickly.
Further along I walked with Soon Sang, the Korean woman, from yesterday’s walk. She’s lovely company. When we reached Oia, I found a wonderful, very small hostel. It was owned by an American woman, who had renovated it completely. There were 10 of us in several bedrooms – two people to a room. I shared with Claudia, from Holland. She is a grandmother in her fifties. Also staying was an older man, Canadian from Winnipeg, two Dutchmen, another Dutch women, an Australian and a woman from France. Fortunately, English was the common language.
It was a lively group. We chatted on the outdoor patio for several hours waiting for the restaurant to open at 8:00pm. I then had dinner with Claudia and Alex, the Australian woman. The restaurant had a beautiful setting overlooking the sea and an old monastery. However, the food, although good, was expensive. Alex and I shared a kind of ceviche of shrimp, clams, peppers etc. because they didn’t have the Pedron peppers on the menu. I would have preferred fish, but the pork ribs were easier to share. Claudia had Hake.
My share was 35 euros, the most expensive meal so far. The room in the hostel was 25 euros, which included breakfast and use of laundry facilities. Oia is a picturesque town on the sea banked by a mountain. I certainly didn’t mind paying a little extra. I even bought a hiking pole.
Buen Camino