Day 10: the Pilgrims Take a Holiday (Sort of...)

Yesterday's albergue kept us up later than we're used to. I put on my eye shades around 10:30.  What had been a hot humid day turned into a cool breezy night.

We still got up at 5:30 and hit the road about 6:10, opting to skip the free breakfast at 7:00.

This is what greets you at that hour.  It's quiet until the birds eventually start chirping.  The farm animals are sleeping.  It's very special.

Sleeping Cows (Hey, it's dark out.)

Our objective was to walk to the town of Somo and to catch the first ferry to the city of Santander.  We had two choices of routes: the highway or the scenic coastal route, 5 kilometers longer.  We chose efficiency. 

We even got a special walking path along the road.

We got to Somo shortly after 8 AM and found our way to the ferry dock.  The first boat wasn't until 9:54.  Time for coffee!

We were the first customers at a bar about a block from the beach and had some delicious café con leche.  There was no food ready, but I knew we'd have a good lunch in our destination. 

Somo is a beach town with surfing schools everywhere.   We walked down to the beach to kill time.  It was pretty deserted, and very beautiful. 

(I shot video but my app doesn't seem to allow me to post it.)

By the time the ferry came,  there were only five pilgrims there from last night's albergue. Among them was Juan Carlos,  our schoolteacher friend from Madrid.  He decided to keep walking beyond Santander to make the most of the Camino before he heads home to see his three daughters.   We said goodbye to him on the waterfront in Santander. 

We got our pilgrim credentials stamped at the cathedral and found our way to our hotel.  Of course,  our room wasn't ready.  We changed in the restrooms, checked our backpacks,  and dressed like grown ups... we went walking.

Santander is a beautiful city ending in a peninsula which defines a large bay.  The bay front goes from industrial to historic to yacht  basins to beaches overlooked by amazing homes.  (Tina won't let me even consider living here, but man did we see gorgeous places. )

Playa de los Peligros,  on the bay.

We kept walking up Avenida Reina Victoria (Queen Victoria), past the peninsula,  to get a glimpse of the beaches on the Cantabrian Sea.

They were crowded!  I guess that made sense on a beautiful Saturday in July with the temperature in the low 70's.

My feet were killing me from the blisters on my pinky toes so we walked back into town, slowly,  and found an outdoor table to have a glass of wine.

(Buy a glass of wine,  get a free plate of olives. That's how the concept of tapas started.)

While we were seated,  we saw one of our Camino friends, Marta from Belgium. We invited her to sit with us. She's going all the way to Santiago,  and decided, like us, to relax for the day here in Santander.  For the last two years, she's taught English in Spain, and is returning home to teach in Belgium. 

We learned that we have a reputation.  (Surprised?)  We're "the Americans" who get up before everyone else and who seem to be waiting for everyone at the albergue at the end of the day as if nothing happened in between.  (Clearly, they haven't seen my feet.)

Lunch was a seafood restaurant with no foreign patrons.  The food was awesome.  We had some kind of local fish I'd never heard of.

We had a plate of grilled vegetables as an appetizer.  In general,  Spanish restaurants don't serve vegetables.  You get potatoes with everything.  You can order a salad, but that's not the same thing.  When we see veggies, we order them.

Lunch was followed by a long nap.  My watch says 30,000 steps on a day off! We're realizing how tired we really are. We've walked 274 kilometers--that's more than the Portuguese Camino I walked eight years ago with my daughter Michelle. 

So tonight will be dinner on the room with cheese and fruit from local markets and an early bedtime.  (Jeez! It's already close to 10 PM!)

The view from our window. 

Tomorrow,  we walk.  The forecast is rain, but at least we should be on pavement and on relatively flat terrain.  Tina will let you know how it turns out.