Camino Day 10, Monday 5/7/07: Viana to Logroño

The bus trip from Viana to Logroño is very short - about 15 minutes and when we missed the bus at 9 am we were tempted to walk. But I didn't have my boots on and I don't think Fernando would have been good for much else after the walk (about 6 miles). We had a good tortilla espanola for breakfast and it was a good thing because the wait for the next bus at 11:30 was very long, windy and cold. It is hard to believe it was that cold because I am writing this on Tuesday and today is a very sunny, hot day.

Before we went to wait for it, however, we went photoshooting around town again. The architecture is very historic and the balconies serve as backyards: for hanging laundry and airing the dog.


And one can never have enough photos of young artichokes and other spring vegetables like green onions and borage.

In Logroño, the bus left us off at the bus station in and we started walking towards the Casco Viejo (old town) only to discover we were going in the wrong direction and so had to reverse our steps. Logroño is quite big with some broad sycamore planted avenues. They have these very typical wooden and glass balconies that look over the sidewalk.

Fernando always has to stop at the panaderia and we picked up a fardelejo, which wasn't too good, and a teja, which was. We eat way too much bread.
Our hostal, Hostal Niza, is well situated and our room is on the second floor and overlooks the street.
It is expensive (65 euros) but Spain IS expensive, except for the albergues.


The windows are double and the interior one has double panes so it must get cold in the winter.
The hostal is located behind the mercado and between the two tapas streets: Calle Laurel and Calle San Juan. The worst thing about the hostal is that the rugs are thin, stained, and look dirty: I don't think they have vacuum cleaners. (Mother noted this in Burgos on their Triumph rally to Europe in 1958 - that they used brooms but that everything was immaculate.)
We ate a salad and piquillo peppers for lunch because Fernando doesn't want any more menus del dia. Everything shuts down from 2-4:30 for lunch and siesta. So we took a nap ourselves and then went out walking again. Fernando picked up a commemorative edition of Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (he finished it on the flight back to Pittsburgh while I was watching 4 movies).
We decided to do tapas for dinner, which doesn't start until 8:30 or 9 pm, on the Calle Laurel just up the street from our hostal. The first place wasn't very good: berenjena and cheese fried in a batter. The eggplant wasn't cooked enough and it wasn't very tasty.
The next place had grilled champignones which were very good. Then we had pinchos moruños, also good. By now we have had 3 glasses of wine. There was a Spaniard leading a tourist group and so he made a point of telling us also which were the good pinchos. The next one had salchicha and quail egg (good). We also had chorizo and green fried peppers (good). Then the Spaniard pointed out a place with pinchos ibericos - or pork shish kebab with meat from the pata negra pig. It was very good but probably mainly because it was roasted over a wood fire.
Lastly we had pulpo (octopus) a la gallego which I thought was good but Fernando didn't care for. It was after 10 when we got home. When we do this again it won't be after drinking a bottle of cidra! (which we picked up at a grocery store just to test whether it was really as bad as the stuff we had in Barcelona.)