Camino Day 11, Tuesday 5/8/07: Logroño

This is our second day in Logroño. I forgot to mention that Fernando's big toenail on the left foot is turning blue and going to fall off so we have stopped the Camino and he has bought a pair of Spanish sandals so that it doesn't rub against the shoe. I never thought I'd see the day he wore sandals.
We had breakfast down the street at El Pato: cafe con leche with croissants grilled with butter and served with mermelada. I said "sounds horridly fattening" but it sure tasted good.

Then we walked around the mercado and the old city some more, stopping at a cultural center where senior citizens had made their own alpargatas, the sandals made from fique fiber, like zapatillas.


In Logrono there is a relief sculpture of Santiago Matamoros or Moor killer and lots of balconies and windows with flower boxes.

We then ventured out to the newer part, stopped at a grocery store and picked up cheese, canned piquillo peppers, fruit and bread for lunch. I felt funny eating lunch in the park. From 12 to 2 we wandered over to the Biblioteca Publica where Fernando read his "Cien Años" and I looked at magazines, trying to glean information about the food and agriculture of the area. At 2 there is nothing really to do but go back to the hotel and take a siesta - which we did until 4, since it actually felt good.


After the siesta we walked down the central walkway lined with European plane trees to the universidad de la Rioja, but there really wasn't anything to see.
Fernando had an espresso and I had a Belgian ale (Gulden Draak - golden dragon) in a wonderful goblet that I wish I could have taken back for Will. Here you can see Fernando's Spanish sandals.

And here you can see that wonderful goblet. This was the only place in Spain where we ran across interesting beers. It must have been the student populations.
We took the bus back to the Casco Viejo where we ran into the German couple from Puente la Reina. They have decided only to walk 10 kilometers a day because she is having problems with her arthritis. But they are retired and have the time to do it.
We stopped by an Italian ice (or helado veneziano) store and Fernando asked for avellano (hazelnut) which was awfully good. Now we are taking a break until the tapas bars open at 8:30 or 9 pm.
We went to Calle San Juan for tapas but they didn't have many bars. We had a very good tortilla espanola with hot pepper sauce at Tortilla Ma Mere and grilled champignones at another place where 3 Muslim young women with head scarves were having tapas with wine. I think they knew the bartender. We decided to go back to Calle Laurel where Fernando had fried calamares and I just had a chorizo in a roll. Then we had patatas bravas but I still think the mayonnaise and tomato sauce are too much. We had eaten so many tapas the night before that this was enough.