Day 23 - 19.5 Kilometres

Los Arcos to Viana

Same landscape as yesterday, but got up really early to avoid the worst of the heat. It made the walking much more pleasant, and we arrived in Viana early enough to do some sightseeing.

The town has a lovely old cathedral, and one of the Albergues is actually in its upper floors. It operates on the old system of Albergues, in that it only asked for a voluntary donation rather than the 5-8 Euros required per person at the Municipal ones. We pitched in 10, and considered it small change for our belltower room, hot dinner, and breakfast.

I offered to help out in the kitchen and was told to come back at seven to help lay the table and serve the bread and wine. But, before even being put to work, the Hostellier offered me hot crepe with sugar just for offering! In between laying the table, he taught me how to turn crepes by flipping them in the air over the pan, and showed me where a stork was nesting on a neighboring building.

Much of this was transmitted by hand gestures, as he spoke only Spanish and French. If you speak either of these languages, you will be fine on the trail, as most of the hostelliers (the people who work at the Albergues) and shopowners speak both. If however, you speak Spanish and German, even the tiniest bit, you will meet far more people.

Many of the Pilgrims are German. Many of them speak only German and a little English. This makes communicating with the Hostelliers a challenge. And turns my tiny bit of Spanish and tiny bit of German into an instant translating service. I know enough of both languages to ask for a bed, ask where things are, and find out what time is breakfast. That´s about it, but it is enough. From German to English (to have Cz help out with my Spanish - juggling three languages is HARD) to Spanish and back again. It was like a regular UN meeting. But we´ve met some really nice people...

The date we were in the church was 7/7/7. An auspicious day, apparently, as there were two weddings and a funeral all in the same evening. The first wedding was huge, with confetti and firecrackers being shot from the cathedral´s clerestory windows (the top ones above the gallery - thanks Bob). The second wedding was smaller, but no less interesting for the townsfolk. They all turned out to line the streets and watch the proceedings. My favourites were the old ladies who sat in chairs lining the churchyard fence fanning themselves with brightly coloured fans and gossiping. The funeral was later, as storm rolled in. Appropriate, and also disproving my theory that it never rains in Spain.