October 15 2019

Grace left this AM. The hostal we were at had an Italian coffee maker so we made a cup before Grace left for Burgos. Even for Grace’s standards it was strongggg (and Grace likes her coffee with a kick!)

But it was a nice cup of jo to kick start the cold overcast morning.

We said our good byes and she headed back to Burgos to eat breakfast at our fave cafe and try to get her converter back from our hostal before boarding a bus to Bilbao (ps she got the converter back!)

I had some bread and jelly (bread again you say? Yes… Spain LOVES their dry hard bread. And I’ve had more the past two weeks than I probably have had in the past year in Amurica)

And then I set out. Coldest day yet. 40°F. Double jacket day 

Today was pretty leisurely so around mile 6, stopped to warm up and grab a bit to eat.

Every bar has a fresh orange juice machine where they plop oranges in to make you fresh juice

Thus, I ordered fresh zumo de naranja (OJ) and Spanish tortilla

Half in honor of Grace who had it the three mornings with me before she left 

Then I head out

Being alone again and COLD I listened to a fictional audio book today through Graces library membership in SF

Pro tip: If you have a library membership, download the app “Axis 360” and you can sign in with your library credentials and then download and check out all sorts of things via your phone, including audio books!

I walked into town feeling like I could walk more but the next town was 6 miles away so decided to park it for the day since I know the next couple days have some doozey mileage in them

The town I stopped in is called Castrojeriz, and it’s named this for the castle on top of the hill.

So after I checked into my lodging, I used that extra leg energy to hike up the hill and see the castle.

Built 1500 years ago starting in the 9th century, it was pretty cool and had a sick view of the city. The town Castrojeriz, where I am lodging tonight, was basically named that because of this castle. The Castle has three distinct parts and was mainly to hold rations and water etc for the armada.

After I trudged back down and decided it was time for lunch (3pm). There’s only like one main restaurant open right now.

I may have mentioned it before but all these towns and restaurants along the camino offer a meal for pelegrinos (pilgrims walking the trail) that range from €9-13

It offers: first plate, second plate, dessert, and a beverage

The beverage, if you choose wine, they give you a whole bottle. Just for me! A good bottle of wine here is like €3. I paid €14 for one and thought it was a steal (compared to NY) and only realized like many days later- that it definitely was not… don’t tell my dad okay?

He’d be so embarrassed a Hsu got so ripped off

So today was no different

I chose garlic soup for the first which was a nice bone garlic broth and pork fat
Which, I just read is very typical of this region

Beef for the second, came with potatoes… sigh

And yogurt for dessert; all this will my own bottle of white wine

Because my lunch was so late and big, I think I’ll just go to the grocery store for some fruit and nuts for tonight rather than go back to the same restaurant for the same sort of deal for dinner … demasiada comida