Tuesday, July 30, 2019 The Monastery At Zenarruza To Guernica

Sunrise at the monastery.

We got up at 6:30 AM and had a less than filling breakfast of crackers with butter and jam. I’ll give the monks a break for the skimpy breakfast. They were in the chapel praying vespers. Obviously the monks aren’t big breakfast eaters.

I packed up, visited the chapel where I said a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list, and was on the trail by 7:30 AM. It was a beautiful cool morning. What magnificent countryside.

After walking about an hour I came across this very long descending staircase. It must have been the equivalent of ten flights of stairs. I have no idea how Pilgrims got down or up this slope before they installed the stairs. All I can say is THANK YOU!!

This is Munitibar, the first town we walked through this morning. The flowers are right out of Fantasia.

There is a very strong Basque separatist movement in this part of Spain. The guidebook warns that today’s walk takes us through the heart of Basque Country. Don’t call anyone around here Spanish or say you are walking through Spain. They are Basque and you are in Basque Country. Get it? Got it? Good!

A nice view of the countryside outside Munitibar.

This farmer is growing tomatoes and peppers in his greenhouse.

And he has the whole operation protected by the meanest looking scarecrow this side of the Wizard of Oz.

So far, open cafes for second breakfast have been almost nonexistent on the CDN. Thank goodness I found an open cafe at about 9:00 AM as I was running out of steam. You can’t march far on a skimpy monk blessed crackers with butter and jam breakfast.

A chocolate donut, an egg and cheese and peppers breakfast sandwich and a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. As you can see this breakfast made me one happy Pilgrim.

This bridge must be five or six hundred years old. As I was walking on a section of the Way about a kilometer before this bridge I ran across Paolo, an Italian guy who works for a graphic design company. We chatted for a few minutes about his job and our Camino experiences. He then wished me Buen Camino and played hare to my tortoise. As I was walking across this ancient stone bridge Paolo, unbeknownst to me, was on the riverbank, downstream of the bridge, and he took these photos of me crossing the bridge. Paolo has a real artistic flair with his IPhone camera. Thank you so much Paolo for taking these beautiful pictures. Another example of Camino Magic and Camino Angels.

Bucolic would be a good word to describe the countryside I am walking through this morning.

I walked through a no horse town that had at least twenty of these crosses lining the one lane country road that passed for their Main Street. I stopped at this roadside cross and said a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list.

I call this photo “One Jackass Looking At Another.”

I had to climb a steep ridge before I could then descend into Guernica. What great views from the top of the ridge.

As I was descending down the trail to Guernica I came across this sign.

They have been doing a lot of logging in this area and they have been using the Way to haul out the logs. The road was a muddy mess.

This is Guernica.

What a nice treehouse

On the outskirts of Guernica these three young girls were operating a refreshment stand for thirsty Pilgrims.

For a buck you could get a warm Coke, a warm beer, or an ice cold glass of lemonade. As I was trying to figure our what to order and asking questions in my fractured Spanish, the cutie in the middle asked me if I spoke English. She then chatted with me for five minutes in impeccable English. She convinced me to buy two glasses of ice cold lemonade. I gave her two bucks for the lemonade and I tipped her a buck for good measure.

This is home sweet home for tonight.

I had to beg for a lower bunk and they have us stacked like cordwood in our bunk room. Six bunk beds for a total of twelve beds in a 9 by 30 foot room.

A little too cozy for my taste but there are not a lot of choices in Guernica. At least it includes breakfast tomorrow morning. I hope we get more than crackers with butter and jam.

I had dinner off the Pilgrim Menu at the Norte Bar.

First course mixed salad.

Second course steak and spuds.

Dessert was donut holes with ice cream in the middle topped with a drizzle of chocolate sauce.

All for 9 euros. What a great deal. Nutritious and delicious.

I walked 35,000 steps today, 22 kilometers.

That’s it for today. I hope everyone had a great Tuesday.

Good evening from Guernica, Spain.