Camino de Santiago (2022)
Inhalt/Content
Stage 10: Pontevedra – Caldas de Reis
When we left early in the dark, a very special magic unfolded before us. Not only was the Camino de Santiago marked here with arrows and shells, but there were countless blue LEDs on the ground that showed us the direction. For that alone, it was worth going to Pontevedra yesterday. A few kilometers behind Pontevedra the sun finally rose and we marched towards the day. Around us, the small towns slowly came to life and we could see one or the other bizarre situation. It was common here for the bakeries to deliver the rolls early in the morning. In front of one of the houses, there was a box that was full to bursting with fresh rolls. A cat discovered the box and was happy about the breakfast. When the front door opened and the lady stepping out saw the bread thief, she took it with humor. She shooed the cat away and waved at us, laughing.
The closer we got to Santiago, the more we saw other pilgrims. We met a German couple who left Porto at the same time as us. However, despite the time of year, they still took the coastal route, which is why we hadn’t met beforehand. After a short small talk, Kevin casually mentioned that one of his biggest problems on the road was the shoulder pain from the backpack. Looking at our backpacks, the couple commented that it was because the backpacks weren’t properly adjusted. With a few movements here and a little tugging on the straps there, the backpacks were suddenly adjusted correctly and immediately felt a lot lighter on the back. You have to imagine that: After already 200km under difficult conditions, we were now wearing our backpacks properly! From now on our feet walked to Caldas de Reis, today’s stage destination, as if by itself.
Arrived in the city, we first looked for a café to rest a little, get stamps and plan the rest of the day. We also wanted to eat something right away. We found an older café in a sort of backyard and made ourselves comfortable on the metal chairs. Once again they only had bocadillos for food, meaning sandwiches. Kevin got the ham and cheese and I got the chicken breast. When the food came, my stomach almost turned. Not that it was bad, but it was half a baguette that had been sliced in half lengthwise and apparently put in the oven with the topping. The problem with the whole thing was that we had been getting rolls or really big meals for days on the road and I was slowly losing sight of the pastries. However, the remedy came in the form of the wheezing French bulldog, which seemed to be very interested in our food. This was a very special specimen: Her left eye was missing and her right eye bulged out unhealthily and was red. Upon closer observation, we came to the conclusion that the animal must have been blind. Later we found out that the bulldog’s name was Dari. The owner also had a second dog, a pug named Bella. There was no shortage of cats either, although it was unclear which of these were street cats and which were not. One cat, in particular, caught our eye because it looked like an evil form of Iva. While I scraped the chicken breast from the baguette, I wasn’t that hungry anyway, Dari got my baguette bit by bit and made friends with me straight away. With our backpacks, which are now properly adjusted, and our hiking equipment, it was of course not difficult to identify us as pilgrims. So the owner came back to us after a short time and explained that she had rooms for pilgrims. Of course, I had already googled the place in the meantime, and in fact, the hostel didn’t even look that bad and the woman even offered us a very reasonable price, so we took the private room with a private bathroom straight away.
In the late afternoon, we decided to explore the city a little more. Caldas de Reis is not a town that sticks in your memory. It is neither beautiful nor ugly, but average in every form. At least there was a nice green park and next to the park we found a really nice restaurant where we had some coffee and tea and indeed: this restaurant also had a breakfast menu. And what a thing! No dry rolls, no! Yogurt with fruit, pancakes, muesli, and whatever else you could wish for. After asking the waiter briefly, we made sure that the breakfast offer would really be offered tomorrow from 7 am, as advertised, which the waiter confirmed. After all, tomorrow’s start to the day was saved.
In the evening we used our own provisions, which meant there was instant ramen which I spiced up with fresh vegetables. Besides us, there was a group of Spaniards in the hostel and although everything else was free, of course, they had the room right next to ours. They had only recently started walking and you could tell that because they talked and laughed loudly in their room until late at night. When they finally fell asleep, loud snoring penetrated the much too-thin walls. That was a rather short night for us.
