Camino Day 8: Los Arcos to Logrono
“There was nowhere to go but everywhere.”
Day 8: 30 kilometres - 46,000 Steps
Our lovely hosts drop us back to Los Arcos, where they had collected us the evening prior. This is our last day in Navarre. Today we are walking into Rioja. Before we leave Basque country, we walk through Viana and are lucky to see traditional red peppers drying in clusters on the balconies of houses. I wish I could take a little cluster home with me.
It’s a long day walking 30 kms and tricky with steep uphill and steep downhill too. Donna is exhausted, nevertheless I am impressed by how well she is going for someone with no experience and no training.
The pollen today is insane, huge chunks of white fluff, swirling around in crazy gusts then landing everywhere. But no sneezing – thankfully!
We enter Logrono, our hotel foyer is covered with pollen and staff are futilely trying to pin it down and sweep it up. The hotel is gorgeous, very modern with fluffy doonas and pillows, dark quiet rooms, very elegant and stylish. We hit the shower and head into town. Logrono, I am happy to discover, is another tapas town.
The tapas here is a whole new level. Dozens of bars line the narrow backstreets, all full of customers, and at first it seems unlikely we will get a seat – or standing table anywhere. But persistence is key and the crowd is constantly moving on to a new bar with a new menu. Many of these bars specialize in just a few tapas selections: mini chicken and pedron peppers kebab, white asparagus with local cheese, scrambled egg and eel, grilled mushroom with shrimp, grilled goats cheese with nuts and honey. It’s overwhelming. The only sensible choice is to try as much as we can, and photograph what we can’t eat! At several bars we try the house speciality and match to a glass of red, but we are no match for the boundless energy levels of the Logrono locals, and reluctantly we call it a night.
POSTCARDS FROM LOS ARCOS TO LOGRONO
Map of Los Arcos to Logrono
STAGE ONE: ST JEAN PIED DE PORT TO LOGRONO
