Camino de Santiago (2022)
Inhalt/Content
Stage 11: Caldas de Reis – Iria Flavia
We got up as if exhausted, packed our things, and stood punctually at 7 am in front of the restaurant whose breakfast offer actually took place. So I got unsweetened(!) natural yogurt with oatmeal and fruits and Kevin was happy about a mountain of pancakes, also with fruits. As great as the breakfast was, the mood turned sour when the waiter ran to the TV and turned on the news. Russia had invaded Ukraine and now there was war. Getting something like that from home, which was much closer to Ukraine, felt like a real punch in the stomach, especially since I also have family in Poland, a direct neighbor of Ukraine, albeit fortunately a NATO member.
So we marched off rather quietly that day. Luckily, there was soon some distraction. So for the first time, we actually saw two pilgrims, a man, and a woman, on horses. On horseback, this path must certainly be a very special experience, although I imagine it to be difficult because of course, you have to take care of the horse on the way, and certainly not every pilgrim hostel accepts horses. They ran ahead of us for a bit until they were suddenly stopped by the police. When we passed them, we said hello and walked on. I couldn’t immediately understand what it was about, but the man on the horse was laughing, so it couldn’t have been anything serious. Shortly thereafter, however, the police caught up with us and asked us to stop as well. Our hearts started beating faster. Did we do something wrong? Or was that related to the war in Ukraine? Tomorrow we should arrive in Santiago. Did the gentlemen stop us to tell us that unfortunately, we had to turn around so close to our destination? None of that was the case.
“Guardia Civil Atencion al Peregrino” was written on the police bus behind the two police officers. It was a special pilgrim police force. They drove the Camino and ensured the safety of the pilgrims. They just routinely stopped us to ask if everything was ok and if anything had happened to us in the past few days. In fact, the two policemen were actually quite funny. They found it interesting that we came here from Germany, especially for the journey. The policeman also praised my Spanish. When he found out that Kevin didn’t speak Spanish, he started laughing and said that he absolutely had to learn Spanish. He added with a wink that this was a police order. The two even stamped our pilgrim ID with their cool police stamps and we took photos together before they gave us a few food tips for the rest of the stage and set off again. What an encounter! And by the way, dear Spanish police: Kevin still doesn’t speak Spanish, arrest him! 😉
Many pilgrims on the Portuguese Camino have their last stop before Santiago in Padrón. However, the next town, Iria Flavia, was only a kilometer away from Padron and since the last stage to Santiago was supposed to be well over 20km again and there was a fairly cheap 3-star hotel in Iria Flavia, we wanted to treat ourselves after the night next to the loud and snoring Spaniards. The hotel looked old but very chic. Although they seemed to cater to pilgrims (we found this hotel through a Camino app), we felt a bit out of place with our dirty hiking gear. After freshening up in our room and getting changed, we explored the hotel a bit and ended up hanging out in the hotel café where I had a coffee and Kevin had ice cream. Here, too, the events of the day caught up with us again. The news was on all televisions and while we were here in Spain on the Camino just before Santiago de Compostela, we watched War in Europe on television. That was a strange feeling. In the evening we called friends in Germany and it actually helped to talk a little about everything.
The hotel also had a lounge with various games such as virtual darts or table football. We were particularly impressed by the air hockey, which was just being repaired and which we played several times immediately after the repair. Although it was expensive, we went to the hotel restaurant in the evening due to a lack of alternatives. There was already a lot of activity there, as in contrast to the other accommodations, there were a lot of guests on-site. That was because there was some big cycling convention here. The head waiter kept his poise while he skilfully brought guests to their tables and instructed the rest of the staff, who were completely overwhelmed by the situation. Again and again, one was forgotten, guests received wrong orders, or none at all, and in the middle of it the head waiter, still maintaining his composure, coordinated one problem after the other. Anyone who knows the game Overcooked knows what it looked like here. In addition to cutlery and plates, there was also a roll for each guest on the tables. So while we waited what felt like an eternity for our order, we ate our rolls along with the other guests, which was a mistake as they actually charged extra. And that in Spain, where this and even much better things in the form of tapas are thrown at you everywhere for free. In addition to the approx. 20€ per dish (and we still had the cheaper things) that was cheeky. Still, the food was quite tasty. I had fish on mashed cauliflowers and Kevin had grilled meat medallions with fries and vegetables. At least we should have a restful night before our last stage to Santiago… As if! Compared to the walls in this 3-star hotel, the walls were concrete yesterday. This time it sounded like the snoring neighbors were right inside the room. We could actually have gone straight to a cheap hostel in Padrón.
