On day 1 of our pilgrimage I learned this phrase ( two red wines please). Today we walked through the second wine region in Spain. Lining the road were several bodegas that offered wine tasting. Generous as we are we decided it was our duty to support the local economies and Allison and I stopped by two. Different from the U.S. you typically only taste one wine in Spain, but you also get a tapa to go along with it. But two small tastes were quite enough in the summer heat.
File this next tidbit in the category of (should be in the guidebooks, but isn’t). Compeed is a British made bandaid product that is ideal for walking with blisters. It is ultra sticky but really expensive. I don’t know how they can justify the cost but along the Camino anyway, the stuff is golden. I estimate we’ve spent nearly $200 on these band-aides alone and we are not alone I scarfing them up at the local pharmacias. I wish I’d bought some stock in this company because the markup must be enormous.
We reached Villafranca del Bierzo, the last good-sized village before we leave Castille y Leon and journey into Galicia. Villafranca was (as the name suggests) settled by the French returning from Santiago. In the Middle Ages, if you were deemed too ill to continue on your pilgrimage across the mountains you could receive your indulgence here and it would “count”.
Most of today was a walk through busy suburbs so not too much else to report except we had a wonderful dinner again last night and an early start today.
Pictures to follow.
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