September 30
Today we finally leave the state of Navarra and enter La Rioja. We are still surrounded by vineyards.
Walking along, we pass an older couple as they stroll munching grapes. The man gestures toward the vineyard and talks to me in way more Spanish than I understand. I do understand, by context and the grape the señora offers me to taste, that he is allowing us to pick grapes for free. Jerri explains the rest--the picking season is over and these are left over. With Jerri's help, I get him to understand that, since I do not know how to tell which ones are ripe, I would like him to choose for me. With the señora calling out what I assume to be helpful suggestions, he bustles about plucking bunches of green and red grapes for us. Although they are not like anything you'd find in our grocery stores--they are quite small, clustered tightly together, and have seeds--they are an absolutely perfect snack, sweet and juicy. I could have feasted on them all day.
In Logroño, there is so much to see, there is the possibility of failing to reach our goal for the day. The highlight, though, is finding the peregrino (pilgrim) office open, to be able to get new credencials--the ones we started with are almost full and are never going to last three more weeks. We go through the whole official registration process, then, unfortunately, the volunteer puts his sello (stamp) in the new credencials. We can either have future sellos out of order or just put away our original credencials, space available. We choose to continue in our new credencials.
Other things that caught our eye: the college of architecture...
...funky fountain...
...and the pilgrim monument.
We do hit a detour around a closed bridge, but reconnect to the path at a lovely park with a broad avenue. This sidewalk continues out of Logroño, past another small town, and through a nature preserve.
Then we climb through the countryside. We walk and climb and hope to see Navarette appear at any moment. I have noticed that my body suddenly feels the cumulative effects of the entire day in the last few kilometers.
At last we arrive in Navarette, but the lack of signage for the albergue municipal has us wandering around asking directions several times. We pass this beautiful stairway--which we are thankful we do not have to climb--two or three times, until we finally find the albergue.
We eat a dinner of tapas at the bar next door, whose owner gives a business card to each peregrino from the United States, asking for a postcard. He has a collection pinned to a crowded bulletin board and wants to collect at least one from each of the 50 states.
Afterward, without WiFi available, we journal awhile, then fall asleep to the band playing in the bar's courtyard.
Walking along, we pass an older couple as they stroll munching grapes. The man gestures toward the vineyard and talks to me in way more Spanish than I understand. I do understand, by context and the grape the señora offers me to taste, that he is allowing us to pick grapes for free. Jerri explains the rest--the picking season is over and these are left over. With Jerri's help, I get him to understand that, since I do not know how to tell which ones are ripe, I would like him to choose for me. With the señora calling out what I assume to be helpful suggestions, he bustles about plucking bunches of green and red grapes for us. Although they are not like anything you'd find in our grocery stores--they are quite small, clustered tightly together, and have seeds--they are an absolutely perfect snack, sweet and juicy. I could have feasted on them all day.
In Logroño, there is so much to see, there is the possibility of failing to reach our goal for the day. The highlight, though, is finding the peregrino (pilgrim) office open, to be able to get new credencials--the ones we started with are almost full and are never going to last three more weeks. We go through the whole official registration process, then, unfortunately, the volunteer puts his sello (stamp) in the new credencials. We can either have future sellos out of order or just put away our original credencials, space available. We choose to continue in our new credencials.
Other things that caught our eye: the college of architecture...
...funky fountain...
...and the pilgrim monument.
We do hit a detour around a closed bridge, but reconnect to the path at a lovely park with a broad avenue. This sidewalk continues out of Logroño, past another small town, and through a nature preserve.
Then we climb through the countryside. We walk and climb and hope to see Navarette appear at any moment. I have noticed that my body suddenly feels the cumulative effects of the entire day in the last few kilometers.
At last we arrive in Navarette, but the lack of signage for the albergue municipal has us wandering around asking directions several times. We pass this beautiful stairway--which we are thankful we do not have to climb--two or three times, until we finally find the albergue.
We eat a dinner of tapas at the bar next door, whose owner gives a business card to each peregrino from the United States, asking for a postcard. He has a collection pinned to a crowded bulletin board and wants to collect at least one from each of the 50 states.
Afterward, without WiFi available, we journal awhile, then fall asleep to the band playing in the bar's courtyard.
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