Back to School

At some albergues one feels as if one is a student in a private boarding school. The Albergue Van Gogh is one such. Permission is required to use the kitchen and it was not possible to have a second coffee or cracker (the included breakfast advertised toast but it was really small crackers) and one had to be in by 10pm when the door was locked ...

I suppose these rules are required for the smooth running of such a busy place. 

As per usual there were 30 beds and only 3 bathrooms, huge bathrooms mind you, which was lovely if you happened to be one of the lucky three. It makes more sense to have separate cubicles for a few showers and a few toilets. Just sayin' one thing I will love about getting home is to be able to do my business without someone knocking on the door as soon as I sit down.

So this morning I decided not to take up valuable WC time by getting dressed in the valuable WC real estate. Under the covers, in a still fairly dark room would do. That is always fun, n'est ce pas? To make it even more fun I was on a top bunk which wiggled the entire unit with the slightest movement. I wonder if the man in the bunk below appreciated being woken up in such a manner.

 We again set off just before 8am winding our way through the streets of Zafra, (always passing the cathedral in each town)
The guidebook explains this tower (see above, named La Torre de San Francisco) is all that remains of an extensive complex of religious buildings dating from the 15th Century.

 Today the terrain is similar to yesterday, grape vines and olive trees. There seemed to be much uphill but it was always an easy grade.

 The yellow marker refers to The Via de la Plata, the turquoise marker designates that this was an ancient roman road. Imagine the centuries of travel along this route I am on. I find it fills the heart and is very humbling.

 Some particularly lovely specimens of wildflowers. Oh and not so many slugs today... Hundreds rather than thousands. It did not rain but the wind was cold. I wore my gortex and fleece all day. It was perfect walking conditions!

 By noon we were approaching the town of Villafranca de los Barros. Fun fact Barros means sludge or clay... perfect apparently for growing grapes. Not so perfect for walkers on wet days as the clay gloms on to one's boots making them heavier and heavier. Luckily that was not the case today.

 Richard from Florida and Karin from Austria and I resting our feet for a few minutes. So far there have been very few places to stop along the way.
It was another short distance today of 20 kms. Even so my feet are feeling tired and so I will pamper them this evening. By the distances showing in the guide book we have already walked 169 kms.

 OMG! Karin decided that it was time (it is day 8 after all) for a nicer accommodation. For only 24 € (38$ each) at Casa Perin, we each have our own room and surprisingly our own bathroom. A nice gift after my earlier whining. The landlady Isabel is a crafter and has many of her beautiful handmade and hand dyed items for sale. Unfortunately no room in the backpack.

Oh and Isabel does our laundry too for an additional 3 € each. I am writing this during siesta time wearing the only clothes that were still clean. The rest of my clothes are now drying up on the terrace. So I am in bed with a cup of green tea and finishing off the dark chocolate bar that I brought from home. We will go out on the town again later.

We were starved on arrival so after giving all of our dirty laundry to Isabel and showering we went in search of food. It is surprisingly difficult to find a place to eat at what we call lunch time but eventually we had success and it was delicious. In a nearby tapas bar we enjoyed a cauliflower dish, tuna, octopus and peppers and a liver dish. So scrumptious!!! But noisy, par for the course, no matter.

At most albergues the internet is very slow, after all there are so many pilgrims using it at the same time, so I use my Orange (Spanish cell company) data plan to upload pictures. But that takes a lot of data. Today I am able to use the wifi so can post more than usual.

At one end of town I found a large municipal park. It was not especially nice, the photo does not show how dirty the water is.

This church is adjacent to our accommodation. There were many families out enjoying the improvement in the weather.

The outside of Casa Perin

So it is after 10pm, there appears to be a disco nearby. My bed is shaking with the bass beat. I wonder what time it closes down.

Did I mention that I have a cold? Usually one says that they have a bad cold; well I call this a good cold. I feel pretty good, just sniffly and I cough at night.  But you can imagine that does not make me popular in the dormitory. So that is another reason for this nice private room.