It's always nice to find someone else who has done a blog on the same stretch of Camino we're following. Pam and Jeff walked the whole route and here are links to various postings on the section from Sarria to Santiago. They also went in May like we are but most of the blog is photos rather than commentary.
Samos to Portomarin - Pat and Jeff stop for the night in Sarria where an average of 400 pilgrims a day set off for Santiago. We will be among them... Although pulpo is a famous dish in Melide, evidently Sarria and every other place in Galicia also offer octopus.
Portomarín to Arzúa - Pam and Jeff stopped at night in Palas de Rei and Melide. It was foggy in the morning and there were lots of pilgrims on the trail with them. When they left Palas de Rei they decided to leave a little later, at 8:30 am, and so avoided many of the pilgrims who had left earlier. Since we have reservations for lodging and are not walking far, we can afford a late start as well. They also noted that Sunday is chocolate con churros day, at least in Melide.
Arzúa to Santiago: Pam and Jeff walked 19 kilometers from Arzúa to Pedrouzo (Arco do Pino) before it started drizzling. The next day it rained and they walked the 20 kilometers to Santiago. We are going earlier in May so we should expect rain some time. We just hope it's not all the time. And then after a rainy day in Santiago, they left for the 90K walk to Finisterre! We'll save that for another time. Pam and Jeff have walked multiple
caminos in Spain and we'll make sure we check them out when we go on the Camino Portugues along the coastal route.
It would have been nice if Pam and Jeff had included more commentary but their photos let me discover new things, like Limonada Leonesa, a type of sangria (not lemonade) in Leon for which they even have a festival, with tapas of course. It is made with red wine, lemons, sugar and cinnamon and is a typical beverage of Semana Santa. When they say they are going to "matar judios" they mean that they are going to drink limonada. You'd think that being on the Camino they would have said "matar moros". Things can be very politically incorrect on the Camino but most pilgrims no longer think that way. At least I don't think they do...
What else? Well Botillo is a product of Bierzo, which is between Sarria and Leon so technically we aren't going there but hopefully we'll be able to find it in Sarria or Leon. Fernando would love botillo because it is meat-stuffed pork intestine. What's the difference between that and salami?? It's larger so maybe it is made from the large intestine? or stomach? Here's a
youtube video about the Botillo de Bierzo.
 |
| Gaudi's episcopal palace |
What else? Astorga has cheese and chocolate (a combination dear to Fernando's heart) but again, it is between Leon and Sarria so we will miss it. At the beginning of May they have a cheese festival -- maybe we should be going there instead of to Leon? They also have an
episcopal palace by Gaudi, that was never popular with the locals, him being from Barcelona, using Catalan workers. Too bad we aren't walking to Santiago from Leon. Maybe next time.
A bit more on
grelos, those cruciferous greens that go into the Caldo Gallego and have variously been translated as broccoli raab and turnip tops. The official Spanish food marketing site translates
grelos as "parsnip tops" on their web page on
Galician gastronomy. They are probably something completely independent. If you can read Spanish, here's an article entitled:
Do you know what grelos are? in which the author says "Es una verdura de
sabor muy fuerte y peculiar".
 |
Although dating from the 1960s,
Portomarin is not without charm. |
Here's another
blog account of the last stage from Sarria to Santiago by Raul Pino. As with all blogs, the latest post is first so you have to go to the bottom of the page to get to the first day from Sarria, and then read backwards. His photos and commentary are quite good and give you an idea of the terrain and the variety of paths you will be walking on. And as with all pilgrims, his mind is on food and he stops in Melide on the 4th day to try the
pulpo. He says that even if you are in the middle of nowhere, you are not too far away from an eatery.
To make it easier, here are his postings of the stages:
- Sarria to Barbadelo
- Barbadelo to Portomarin
- Portomarin to Palas de Rei
- Palas de Rei to Boente
- Boente to Salceda
- Salceda to Lavacolla
- Lavacolla to Santiago
This is blast of postings. I'll comment on the last one, or is it the first one? You must have been hungry when writing these. It's a lot of food, quite remarkable in the lack of color. I've never seen potatoes and califlower before, and not even a sprinkling of parsley. Of course the pulpos and the red wine liven things up a bit! From looking at Pat and Jeff's (or was it Pam and Jeff's) photos taken in May, you will get flowers and green, much preferable to that snow. Have you told Fdo he'll have to change his name to Jeff to fit in with all the others?
ReplyDeleteFernando will have to change his name to Jeff? And mine to Mutt? Yes, I was hungry because we are on diets to lose weight before the Camino so we aren't carrying as much baggage. Pam and Jeff have some photos of the hillsides in bloom and I remember there being wild thyme growing all over the last time. Just like sagebrush grows in Fillmore.
Delete