Day 5: Puente La Reina to Estella - sans pictures

Uploading pictures is a bit frustrating and I don't want it to become something to ruin my day. So, although I took really fabulous photos today (well, the scenery is fabulous, not the camera/phone operator), they will have to wait until later...as in perhaps when we get home.

So, without further waiting, Dave's account of our day:

Did I mention that the a/c was fixed? Yeah, on freezing and us under a thin summer blanket. Whiner alert! Up at 5:45 to beat the heat. No aches or pains though the shoulders start to get sore later in the day. Another “easy” day with several long up hills but nothing we haven’t done before. The countryside is nice, and sunny, but, if there’s a hill anywhere nearby, the Camino will take us up it. Makes sense: villages would be built on hills to avoid flooding. If the hill was big enough, a fortress might be built on it. And, of course, a church.

We arrive at Estella, a town of 14,000, before noon, check in and learn we’ve been lucky enough to get a “suite.” Sounds good, though there are only seven rooms in this place: an old, old building across the street from San Miguel's, an old, old church. The suite is a nice, roomy corner room on the fourth (top) floor with views of two streets that might as well be in a museum of “How European Cities Used to Look.” Long narrow streets with four story buildings on both sides, tall enough that the streets are in shade most of the day. No street is in a straight line and name changes are frequent. There are few signs for businesses except on the door and most things close from 1:30 to 5:00 PM (restaurants and bars not included). Pedestrians do not seem to mind cars in the narrow streets and drivers do not seem to mind pedestrians in the narrow streets.

We get lost as usual, but it’s a small town so we eventually find our way to lunch at a café with a sullen, overworked waiter on the town square. Service is slow, but the “ensalada mixta” is again almost a full meal in itself with plenty of veggies and chunks of tuna. We again opt for the chicken entrée (someone’s vegetarian scruples have slipped), which today appears in a light Karo syrup sauce. And fries, which, to those accustomed to American fast food fries, are not so good: bland and not crisp at all. Desert is helado: ice cream. With a bottle of wine, of course, so we’re jolly on the way back to the hotel.

A nice buzz, laundry’s doing well, life is good.

Down on the street, kids are playing soccer – or kick ball as we called it in a less International time – yelling and running like crazy. When was the last time any of us saw American kids playing in the street? Yelling, stopping the game for cars, falling on the hundred-years-old stone street, shaking it off and getting up to get back in the game. FUN! No “adult supervision,” no “Play dates,” no organization of any sort. Whoever shows up gets to play. If you get a bloody knee, your mom puts a bandaid on it and tells you to be more careful – knowing you won’t. FUN.

No a/c here either, but probably not an issue tonight: weather’s coming in and the next few days are expected to be rainy. We’ve dealt with a little wet ground, but not much so, a challenge.

Tomorrow: on to Los Arcos....still in Basque Country.

Posted with Blogsy