WALK, EAT, SLEEP, THE RHYTHM OF THE CAMINO

Walk, eat and sleep, it’s the rhythm of the Camino.  Walking is pretty much self explanatory.  Quality boots or shoes, a comfortable backpack, a layering of clothes for the rise and fall of the temperature.  The terrain changes as does the surface you walk on.  From pavement, to dirt roads, rocky trails, throw an ancient Roman road or two, flat, uphill and down hill, you get the picture.

Sleep is important on the Camino.  You’re tired after a long day of walking.  There are lots of choices for a place to sleep, the most common being an albergue.  Inexpensive and plentiful, sleep on an bunk bed in a room with 6 to 50 of your fellow pilgrims.  Some better than others, with the beds not too close together, others in cramped stuffy rooms with bunk beds pushed up against each other.  You could end up sleeping with a stranger.  There’s plenty to disturb your sleep too.  First comes to mind, the snoring.  There will be snoring and not just by men.  People coughing, tossing and turning, creaky beds,  Then people moving about at all hours, lighting the way with a flashlight or their iPhone.  Don’t forget the farting.  In the morning, the early risers start, stuffing things into their plastic bags and then their pack. Albergue’s run from a from donation up to about 12€.  Some are private and others owned by the town.  You can reserve a bed in the private ones.

Albergues require you to remove your boots and leave them and walking sticks outside the Bunkroom

A place to wash your clothes

Sometimes they fill up

If all else fails, there’s alway outside

I prefer a private a room and some albergues have private rooms for an additional cost.  Pensions, small family run affairs for the most part, with private rooms and bathrooms or a shared bath for a less expensive option.  Running anywhere from 20€ to 40€, they are common in most towns, even the small burgs.  Then there are the Casa Rurals, much like a bed and breakfast, again family owned and in the small towns and in the countryside.  Some are great bargains but others can get quite expensive.  Of course there are hotels, running from inexpensive, 35€ to way up there at over 100€ a night.  There are several Paradores along the Camino, a high end hotel chain owned by the Spanish Government.  Some, but not all, are ensconced in historic buildings which make them a real treat for a break on the Camino.  Running between 100€ to 150€, expensive by Spanish standards, but a real bargain when you consider the price of a 4 or 5 star hotel in the states.

Pension bar

Hotel lobby

The food, ahh the food!  Pilgrims gotta eat and you do build up quite an appetite walking 10 to 15 miles a day.  Most breakfasts, are a simple affair of toast, juice and coffee.  The traditional Spanish toast is spread with puréed tomatoes and olive oil, but most pilgrims opt for butter and jam.  You can order pastries, my favorite being a Chocolate Napoleon or a slice of tortilla, like a quiche, made with eggs, potatoes and onions or even ham and eggs.  The ham being the very thinly sliced Iberian type.  Coffee con leche is the favorite among pilgrims, strong coffee deluded with steamed milk.  Most Albergues serve some kind of limited breakfast.  Bars are the go to place for food on the camino.  Many start walking first thing in the morning, stopping after several hours for something to eat.

Edwardo pours coffee and hot milk (cafe con leche)

Lunch is normally more substantial, with a bocidillo or sandwich. Made with crusty Spanish bread of varying degrees of freshness. You can get just about anything you want in your bocidillo, but don’t expect mayo and mustard.  Usually cheese with some kind of meat or one made with tortilla.  Some of my fellow pilgrims and I have discovered our favorite which is not on any menu.  Cheese, chorizo (Spanish sausage) and a couple of fried eggs.  It is not common, so we have to explain to the cook what we want.  I have received high fives from bar staff when ordering this custom sandwich.  One bar owner said he would put in on the menu, calling it the Bocidillo Espicial Americano.  Costs between 3 and 4€.  There are other choices like salads, soups, pizza and paella.  Beer and wine is the most common beverage for both lunch and dinner.

The Bocidillo Especial Americano


Vicky tries her first

The budget way to go for dinner and some lunches is the Pilgrim’s Menu.  Offered at bars, restaurants and albergues, it normally consists of 3 courses.  A starter, soup, salad, pasta and many other choices. The main course, pork, chicken, fish, paella or what ever the establishment has on hand.  Dinner usually comes with fried potatoes. Then desert.  Commonly offered is a choice of flan, rice pudding, yogurt, sometimes cake is on the menu and almost always ice cream.  The ice cream is of the store bought individually wrapped ice cream bar.  Included in wine or water which tells me that wine is a bargain costing the same as bottled water.  Normally it is a bottle of wine, not a glass. Dinner runs anywhere from 9€ to 13€, unless you go off the pilgrims menu where it can get higher, but you generally have more choices.

Dinner Albergue Style

Ox Tail


There’s always room for ice cream to make a pilgrim smile

There are regional specialties too.  Garlic soup is one choice on the first half of the Camino and later Galician soup consists of vegetables, potatoes and greens.  One specialty I have grown to taste for is Morcilla.  Famous in the Burgos region, it is blood sausage.  Mixed with rice and spices it is sliced and then fried to give it a slight crispness.  I asked for it the other day in Sahagún and was told they were out.  But it appeared with dinner that evening as the owner of the restaurant went out and bought some for me.  Different than the Burgos verity, it is spicer and comes mixed up for spreading on bread.

Morcilla