To our chagrin, this particular Albergue has a firm check out time of 8 AM. It’s not the time that bothers us. It’s the fact there is no sunlight until 830 to 8:45 AM; this leaves us starting on the trail with headlamps on while traversing stone laden terrain without our morning coffee.
after stumbling around in the dark and finding ourselves nowhere near a café, or a fruit stand, literally absolutely no services for the first 4 miles, out of nowhere alongside the trail was what seemed to be an abandoned home, but beside and in front of it was a marvelous selection of fruits, nuts, cereals, and most importantly, coffee!
The proprietor was not present, but a couple of very nice young pilgrim ladies who had spent the night outside on cots we’re filling in and had the tables along with fruits, cheese, coffee, and more perfectly arranged for an “honor system“ stop for Pilgrims.
Like something straight out of the 60s it was a friendly, comfortable stop based on community spirit and trust.
Combine that with a couple of friendly cats and a puppy dog who couldn’t stop fetching his ball and bringing it back to anybody willing to play and it was a fun and friendly hour or so spent on the trail.
After an hour or so of playing with the cats and dogs and snacking on the sweets and treats, we headed on towards Cathedral Astorga.
weHave heard and read much about this cathedral and the architecture, artistry and history behind it, but nothing we read began to match the beauty and majesty of seeing it in person.
Although we have seen numerous, almost uncountable numbers of, churches in our travels; walking through these grounds and visiting Astorga was truly a breathtaking experience.
The grounds themselves were developed in Romanesque fashion in the 11th century and the current cathedral and related buildings followed along in the same space in the 13th century. It’s truly a site not to be missed if visiting Spain and rates up there with some of the most beautiful things we’ve seen in all of our travels in Europe.
What else can we say?
Buen Camino
Brenda and Ken
