Final Itinerary

Friday, March 27th we got the email part of the CaminoWays Holiday Pack with the hotel information in it.  The accommodations are pretty much the same as they were in the first itinerary except for the casa rural in Ventas de Naron and the hotel in Santiago.  So now we can put together the itinerary for the whole trip except for the train back to Madrid.

Thurs April 30 (Day 1): Flight to Madrid from Pittsburgh via Philadelphia

• Leave Pittsburgh on US Airways Flight 4571 at 10:15 am, arriving Philadelphia at 11:25 am.
• Leave Philadelphia on US Airways Flight 740 to Madrid at 6:45 pm. (Yes, it's a 7 hour layover!!  What are we going to do for that amount of time?  You can only walk for so long.  Maybe we can take a nap somewhere on the floor.  At least we shouldn't miss the connection.)

Fri May 1 (Day 2):

• Arrive Madrid 8:20 am if we are on time and don't have to return to Philadelphia again an hour into the flight.  
• Take the Pink Metro Line 8 to Nuevos Ministerios; switch to the Blue Metro Line 10 towards the Charmartin Train Station (37 minutes total).  
• Take the 2:40 train to Leon or switch to an earlier train (10:30, 11:05) depending on when we land. 
• Check into Hotel El Rincón del Conde (118.80€ for 2 nights) on a pedestrianized street in the Barrio Humedo in the city center with wifi and private bath.

Sat May 2 (Day 3): Explore Leon

Sun May 3 (Day 4): Leave Leon and take the 10:15am ALSA bus to Lugo, arriving at 1:30pm (17.54€ apiece) and then the 1:45pm Monbus to Sarria, arriving at 2:15pm (3.70€ apiece).  The trip from Leon to Lugo goes through some of the towns on the Camino that we will be missing: Astorga, Ponferrada, Villafranca del Bierzo, Piedrafita do Cebreiro.  Lugo looks like an interesting town but I don't think we'll have time to linger, although we could take the 4:35pm bus instead and walk around.
In Sarria we stay in the Alfonso IX Hotel.  It has a sauna and swimming pool, and Wi-Fi Gratis as well as free parking.  Too bad we don't have a car...

Begin walking.  The hours are based on 30 min and 20 min miles.

Mon May 4 (Day 5):  Walk to Morgade (11 km/6.6 miles) (2.2-3.3 hours)
CaminoWays: Casa O Foilebar, a casa rural in Paradela which is 8 km south of Portomarin.   We give them a call from Morgade (I hope our phones work) and they come pick us up and then deliver us back to Morgade the next morning.  They don't mention wifi.

Tues May 5 (Day 6): Walk to PortoMarin (9 km/5.4 miles) (1.8-2.7 hours)
Stay in Pousada de Portomarin, again a run-of-the-mill hotel.  I wonder if they have any redeeming qualities like a good pilgrim's menu and a good breakfast buffet.  It appears to have wired Internet access (how do we connect an iPhone/iPad?).

Wed May 6 (Day 7): Walk to Ventas de Naron (11 km/6.6 miles) (2.2-3.3 hours)
In Ventas de Naron there are no accommodations so we'll need to call the casa rural where we have reservations, Casa do Campo in Monterroso, and they will come pick us up, as it is 8.5 kilometers off the Camino.  The casa rural in the sample itinerary was the Pazo de Ludeiro which had been featured on the Paltrow/Batalli/Bitman TV series so I'm sure the prices and demand for it went up.  Casa do Campo is also family-run and small.  It doesn't have a website so we can't check that out but there are reviews on TripAdvisor which are very positive.  No mention of wifi however.

Thu May 7 (Day 8): Walk to Palas de Rei (11 km/6.6 miles) (2.2-3.3 hours)
Stay at Complejo la Cabana  (69€)  Looks interesting and it has wifi in the common areas.

Fri May 8 (Day 9): Walk to Melide (14 km/8.4 miles) (1.8-4.2 hours)
Stay at Hotel Carlos 96, again not a very interesting hotel that's across from a Peugeot dealership but at least it is supposed to have wifi.  We anticipate having plenty of time to explore the city and eat pulpo.

Sat May 9 (Day 10): Walk to Arzua (14 km/8.4 miles) (1.8-4.2 hours)
Stay at  Casa Teodora Pension  This is on the Camino and looks nice and even has wifi in the rooms.

Sun May 10 (Day 11): Walk to Rua (16 km/9.6 miles) (3.2-4.8 hours)
Stay at O Acivro, a casa rural right on the Camino that offers wifi.

Mon May 11 (Day 12): Walk to Santiago (19 km/11.4 miles) (3.8-5.7 hours)

In Santiago we are lodged at a contemporary hotel in the business district south of the historic city center: Hotel Gelmirez, not at the Hospedería San Martín Pinario near the Cathedral, as in the sample itinerary.  Hotel Gelmirez has a public parking lot in front of it in case we are driving and it is near the Galician regional parliament.  That's somewhat disappointing but we are only there one night and then we transfer to a small 3-room hostal up by the cathedral.  The Gelmirez is a 3 star hotel and I like to stick to 2 stars because they are less sterile.  But I'm sure there won't be any bedbugs...AND it has free wifi.

Tues May 12 (Day 13): Santiago. Check out of the Hotel Gelmirez and check into Pension Acibeche, a 3-room establishment over a store.  It has wifi.  Explore the city and the Cathedral.  Get our compostela and make sure we make it to Mercado de Abastos, although we won't be buying anything to cook -- unless they cook it right there in front of us, which I understand is a possibility.

Wed May 13 (Day 14):  Take the 9:05 Renfe train to Madrid, arriving at 2:56 pm.  Check into Hotel Clement Barajas (62€) near the airport.  With free wifi and airport transportation.

Thurs. May 14 (Day 15): Flight to Charlotte 12:35 pm.  Arrive 3:51 pm.  Flight to Pittsburgh 10:09 pm.  Arrive 11:26 pm.  Yes.  Another 7 hour layover.  That's what happens when you use AAdvantage miles.  Maybe we could go into Charlotte for dinner.

Trains to and from the Camino

I wrote this post at the beginning of March.  I'm still waiting to make reservations for the last leg of the trip from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid.  Renfe still doesn't have the schedules for that route and date.

Our flight to Madrid gets in at 8:20 am on Friday, May 1st.  But with our experience with flying US Airways to Rome in November, when both flights were 3 hours late, I want to allow plenty of time to catch the train.  The high speed trains to Leon are at 11:05 and 14:40.  When we flew to Madrid in 2007 with a 7:35 arrival time, we had made reservations for the 14:05 train to Pamplona and were able to change them to the 9:50 train.  That time we went first class and there was hardly anyone else in the car so I'm hoping that maybe we can do the same thing this year although it is May 1st so the train could be crowded.  At least if we go first class where there are fewer passengers, it should be easier to get an earlier train.  So we are on the first class car (117 euros for two) of the ALVIA 04141 train that leaves from Madrid's Charmartin station at 2:40pm and arrives in Leon at 5:40.
Here are the stations along the way:
Segovia (3:11pm); Valladolid (3:50pm); Palencia (4:30pm); Sahagun (5:04)

I'll have to wait until March 13th to make the reservation from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid since they don't take reservations more than 2 months in advance.  They have a 9:05 train that arrives at 14.56 (2:56 pm).

Here's a map of the train routes.