Day 17

Day 17, originally uploaded by raoul_dewinne.

For days the weather forecast predicted rain, finally, today we got some - a little - and it was gooood. We even didn't bother to put on our rain jackets since the rain was actually refreshing.

Today was a rather short ride of 51 km to Castrojeriz - almost a ghost town (nearly every other house is in ruins and rubble). Maggie almost had tears in her eyes when we entered the village, realizing that she had to spend the night here. The town is built along just one very long street - really long street; in medieval times pilgrims already named it the long city. If this is a city than our little home town is Chicago. The old houses are still built from rough nature stones and loam. The old castle on the top of the mountain (with origins from even before the Roman era) was turned into ruins by the big Lisbon earthquake of 1755 - and Lisbon is more than a thousand kilometers away from here...

But after all, our overnight stay turned into a little and nice surprise. Our two-star five-room hotel, in the middle of the nearly dead main street, wasn't exactly appealing from the outside, but inside it was a little marvel. Run by an extremely friendly couple who are happy and proud to keep alive the millenium old heritage of hospitality along the Camino. It felt as if you entered a little museum, but you immediately felt home and welcome as well. Although they don't speak or understand any other language than Spanish, just asking our hosts a very short question keeps them going and babbling for minutes and minutes as if we understood every word of it. Their little cozy library was filled with over a hundred books about the Camino and all the places to see along. These people are passionate Camino aficionados. Our stay here turned out to be a wonderful and touching experience.

Imagine how much we changed... On previous holidays we'd always ask the reception desk TILL what time we can have breakfast, for a couple of days already we ask FROM what time, and even if we cannot get breakfast earlier... Never say that people cannot change :-)