Days 7-8 – Camino de Santiago – Logroño – Najera

September 30, 2011

A few days ago we received the most endearing email from our friend Shawn.  He’s one of the coolest guys we met while on the Camino, you’ll meet him here on the blog later.  I just wanted to give him a little shoutout here on the blog because his email really warmed my heart and made me feel special.  Its really one of the best things about living over here.  You get to meet so many people and even though you may only spend a small amount of time with them, you create special bonds and I feel 100% positive that we will keep in touch with these people and see them in other parts of the world.  Just this past week, our Australian friend Molly was visiting with her boyfriend.  We met her 7 years ago in Paris and have remained friends ever since.  I really hope we can continue to develop relationships like this when we move back to the states….So Ive got two more days from the Camino for you.  On day 7 we headed towards Logroño, a biggish city – something we looked forward too because a city offers real grocery stores and internet cafes!

This part of the walk was especially nice.  It was flat which was so much easier on the legs but you still had views of the beautiful mountains.

We passed by this little scene, Im not sure what the tires are for but it makes for an interesting picture!

This mural in Logroño is funny.  The Camino is broken down into stages or “etapas” but this mural says you do the camino through tapas (delicious food) instead of stages….yum!

Here’s our adopted Spanish group.  Shortly after this, many of them went home.  Many Spaniards do the Camino in parts so a lot of these guys only did the first week.  A few continued and we got to see them through to the end!

Our goal for the next day was a little town called Najera.  Shortly after the sun came up we started walking along this fence.  For the whole length of it, people had created crosses using sticks, flowers, tubes of foot cream, etc.  I loved coming across things like this that people leave.  Its also a reminder that for many people, this is a deeply spiritual pilgrimage.

Gorgeous morning light!

All along the camino, you come across ruins of old hospitals that were built just to care for pilgrims.  Later on, we passed by one that is still working.  I can’t imagine what is was like back in the old days to make a pilgrimage like this.  I bet many people fell ill with disease.  Thankfully nowadays all we have to fear are blisters or twisted ankles!

We passed through Navarrete which had a beautiful church.

We had to really take in all this green….we were getting close to the part of Spain known as the Meseta – which is basically super flat and super dry.

This was one of my favorite things.  This little hut thing was apparently the site of an important battle but recently people use it as a resting spot.  Inside people had left mementos of their journey or their time there with friends.  It was really cool, so we decided to stay for awhile and have our lunch.

Finally we made it to Najera.  This riverfront was right outside of our albergue so we spent the afternoon lying around and relaxing.

 

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