Anna leaves tomorrow :(

Anna flies out tomorrow morning and leaves for London early in the morning. So its farewell in pjs tomorrow. Will be very sad to see her go, and sad to be on my own. I will have just one day on my own and I plan look around close to the hostal as we have been walking around inner Madrid a lot in the last few days.
Anna and I found the hipsterville of Madrid. So exciting, lots of cool cafés and restaurants (just a few stops for coffee and cake I swear!) and really awesome independent stores (mostly vintage). We both bought some really cute stuff these past few days... Including this cute ring I got today (which someone in a another shop already commented on!)... See pic.
Ok that's all for now, Anna and I are hanging out at the hostal for Spanish dinner time (8:30... Seriously the kitchen doesn't open till then!).
A x
Ps. We even spent time people watching in a park today! Its been great, thanks Anna :) x

$60 a night get you this...

And that's exactly how big the room is folks... I can almost hit Anna in her sleep, and the bathroom is even smaller!
A x

Best meal of my life!... Warning: Completely food related post..

So Anna and I tried a small fusion bar/restaurant tonight recommended by our hotel owner. He said for 35€ ($52) we could try a degustation menu... 7 tapas and 1 dessert by a chef who may or may not have trained/cooked in NYC... Anna and I showed up at 7:30 (close to 2hrs too early for Spanish dinner) hungry and right on opening time.
Our meal was totally amazing, served on a table with no tablecloth, with a floor that had at least weeks worth of bread crumbs, and enough seats, for about 15-20 people tops, otherwise its standing room at the bar!


Here is what we ate in order:

1) Mushroom and foie gras mouse, rolled in a jelly. On a goats of bread, pumpkin seeds and melted cheese.. Topped with a melted cheese and bacon, painted metallic rose gold... Yum!

2) Black pudding and foie gras rolled in pistachios and served with strawberry sauce.. Also great!

3) Baccalà smoked (by us at the table) with a bread and mouse creamy number. Followed by the liquid shot of something green and slightly acidic (our waiter's translations weren't always translations unfortunately)

4) Smelling like rose water this was amazing and my second favorite. Its a rose (you don't drink the liquid as it has dry ice in it to create the smoke when serving) made of a pastry leaf with something green on it and a rose made of a bread soaked in something delicious and filled with a creamy lobster.

5) Squid burger, made of bread, burger pattie of chopped squid, and squid ink sponge on top. Plate has squid in, wasabi and sesame seeds.

6) Slow cooked pork, reformed and fried, served with a roasted pepper/thousand island sauce and roasted mini capsicums.

7) Lol, steak and chips! Cooked/seared foie gras (which is amazing and tastes creamy and sweet and similar to bone marrow). Steak was blue by the way and we used butter knives to eat it!

8) The OMG amazing dessert... Even Anna loved this! Its called the 'Bob Limon'... And is positively amazing! Its a numbing tingling flower, a creamy lemon cream, a yolk of passion fruit that literally burst with liquid in your mouth, a lemon sponge and a raspberry concentrate log. When the flower made your mouth tingle it made the lemon cream turn a bit sherbet like/made it zing...

And what's completely amazing about this entire meal which would have 2 chefs hats in Australia is that Anna ate it in thongs and I was in hiking shoes...lol, best meal ever!
A x

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

This morning was wet and rainy in San Sebastian, so we decided to make the mist of the indoors (I don't have an umbrella, Anna and I are reduced to thong wear for a few days, and I'm sorry, but I refuse to wear that hilariously hideous rain poncho around, when we already look part hobo in thongs)... So off to the Guggenheim Museum today. 1 hr bus trip each way, and we were lucky enough (or some might say unlucky) to see the exhibitions on at the moment. Yoko Ono's wind-something or other exhibit took up floor 3. All I could say to Anna was 'that woman is psycho and took way too many drugs in the 60's. I didn't get a lot of it... Maybe that's the point? Anna was particularly amused by the reaction of an 11yr old boy who stumbled onto a film artwork showing a fly on bare skin, when it pans out its actually a woman's nipple... Poor little thing looked a bit stunned, and really that sums up my third floor experience too lol!
Floor two was great, interactive and covered the five senses with lots of smelly cloves hanging from the roof... The artist also created this awesome interactive climbing exhibit, unfortunately the cue was huge so we didn't climb it, but took great amusement in talking about the children who climbed it... See the picture, but it demonstrates the creation of life between man and woman... The rest you can imagine!
That's all for today, its currently sunny so we are hoping to be able to see the beach tomorrow as so far its been way too cold!
A x

Christian and Rhys this is no. 1...

Christian has set me the task of taking/placing their band sticker at a major monument or tourist attraction in every country I visit. So guys, this one is for you! Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain!
Enjoy,
A x

Food

Our poor piedi...

Day 9... Anna's are the heavily strapped ones...Enjoy! Lol

What goes up...

Its over! Sharon, Lara and kylie this one is for you!
Sharon, you know how you mentioned hills? Well today, our last day was hill day. As you can see from the pictures we went up (see the villages in the background) and the at the top there was an awesome statue (people had been telling us about for days) and finally if you check out the panorama picture you can see that once up we had to head all the way down to the massive city in the distant right of the picture.
People have been asking what I thought of the walk. Considering I nearly pulled out yesterday I can't say I've enjoyed it. Would I do it again? Heck no! What did I learn... That walking 20-30km per day is ridiculous and that showers after that walk feel amazing!
So much for spirituality.
Thanks to Anna who pulled me through it these last few days when I was ready to throw myself off bridges, take a bus, cry or just couldn't understand how the heck she could still be walking. Our whole group (Anna, Lara, Chris and Kareena) were troopers!
And now, the night in aloha hostel (awesome, clean and just what we needed) and the a bus to San Sebastian tomorrow morning! Bring on the beach!
A x

An Italian man and his dog...

So walking is getting harder by the km. Early starts are good, but by mid afternoon I seriously hobble like an old lady. I'm pretty close to catching a bus tomorrow, but am positive Anna won't let me as its our last walking day.
Today we met a young-ish insane Italian guy. At first we thought he was an anarchist out to spray paint along the camino. He was dragging this dog beside him on a rope and a big backpack, and when we asked if he was walking backwards he was really strange. Further along the track we saw him stopped and it turns out he's Italian and has walked the camino forwards and is now going it backwards.. And is almost done! Has like 4-5 days to go. What a nutter! And what happens to the dog after?
Because he over took us and climbed up hills like he was walking backwards while texting and juggling (seemed like that anyway) and because he's done it before, Anna and I trailed well behind him for a while...
Todays lesson: never follow a nutter Italian leading a dog, because he won't take you along the right path..
Ok, it was only a slight detour, but still!
Other things to note...
We bused for 3min today (3.2km), but only because we seriously lost the path! Like seriously! (this backwards thing is a bit crud whoever decided to do it that way).
Also, tonight showers, seriously hilarious. State of the art, multi-showerhead (like, 6 side jets, two different overhead options, and a hand-held shower.. With a music panel!) only catch... three in a room, with clear glass panel doors. Lol, Anna and I decided to reduce our risk by showering in opposite corners at the same time... Only to be joined by a little Chinese women mid getting dressed after... Lucky her! Lara you would have died... I nearly did!
Ok, for the pictures... Nothing interesting really... Our closet room last night (my bed behind Anna's washing drying on the ledge), a cool high school student project of a world map on a farm block and the bridge leading to this city (Puente la Reina).
Happy reading,
A x
Ps. Loving the msgs on the blog! :)

Bung knee and phone game addictions..

Ouch.. 31kms today! Meant to be mostly down hill this afternoon.. So not!
Last night we met some 'interesting' people in our albergue (which I swear had not very clean sheets, squeaky bunk beds and a few wackos thrown in for good measure). Lets call the nice girl from Australia Sarah, and the 62 year old hippy American Dan, because we actually didn't get their names. Sarah works in a Scottish hostel, Dan is a self funded retired engineer and ex-military. Needless to say we all had an interesting 2hr dinner conversation!
Other kooks include: the retired school principal and part owner of a behavioral and learning disability school in Sweden... (ask me anything you like about that school system); and the crazy, hilarious hostel owners and staff who run the hostel, the shop beside it and apparently the restaurant down the road that we ate at... It was seriously like where's Wally... They showed up everywhere.
Anna took me on a tour of the tiny town, called Torres del Rio, which included walking around the block, taking money out of the atm and then the special highlight was three men trying to push start a car down a narrow Spanish street that hairpin curved. Wish you all could have been there.
Today... Lots of walking, not as much down hill as the topography map showed, a sunrise and then  good 1km trek around tonight city (Estella) to try to find a bed. 1st place closed, 2nd had a cue up to the street, our 3rd option saw us arrive at our 96 bed albergue. We got here with 14 places left. Anna and I got a great room, just 2 beds (instead of the usually 20+) but.. Were on the 3.5 floor, in a supply area behind a locked cage door. Its hilarious, and means we can lay all our stuff out etc. It also meant I had to climb a ladder to close the window! See the pic! Lol
Tomorrow... 22km, short-ish day, which is good for the knee trouble I managed to score today (lucky me!), followed by 24 to finish!
Must go. Parade in street for Easter.
A x

It was bound to happen... But today?!?!

Lara and Chris left us today for the trip back to England. Anna thinks they may have spoken to the 'heavens' because today it rained on and off all day. See my awful photo lol.
Anna and I considered doing 29kms today when we started, instead of the 20, but at around 15km the rain set in enough to pull out our wet weather gear. At least now we have almost used everything in our packs!
Tomorrow we have two kms of just up. Its in the middle of our 29km day which will be tough. However everything after that is down...yay! We were also inspired today by a rather large hippy American man who did the opposite of us which was approx 2km down for him and 8kms up. I figure if he could, do it, Anna and I, the fit bunnies we are could do it with our eyes closed.. Lol well nearly!
Only three walking days to go,
A x

Ps. I couldn't not include an ice cream picture, so here is last nights... Stracciatella de trufa? Your guess as good as mine, and mandarin and honey... A real stand out! We could bring ourselves to try the goats cheese and almonds. Also thanks to our hostel lady who recommended luckys... A mini burger bar for dinner last night... Amazing, but I look half asleep in those pictures so I won't scare you! x 

100+ kms!

We did it and more! The first picture is Lara at what we guess to be between two buckets (very  official) and where we guess we hit the 100km mark.
Today was/is the longest, hardest day by far. Not a lot of talking when you hit 25+ kms lol. Today we did 30kms and our bodies are much worse for wear :( check out laras new blister (one of many) and the back of my heels which have been felted (thanks mum!) and luckily saving you from looking at them.
We also managed to see a few churches, some wide open fields, walk around a lake (awful because we just wanted to be lying on a bed by that point) and meet a great hostel owner.
Tonight is pinxos (I think that's how you spell it, and basically is tapas) and the home of artisan ice cream... Can't wait!
Lara and Chris leave early tomorrow :( Anna and I have an easy 20km day.. finally! :) and then it all starts again till Wednesday when finally its no more walking.
Happy Easter everyone, send me some egg pictures if you can be bothered :) chocolate variety that is.
A x

Grape vines and a whole lot of nothing else...

An easy 21kms today. Nothing but pictures for you folks..
29kms tomorrow, figured out the camino is all mental, and tough at that.
A x

Hola...blisters

Today is the day we crossed to the Rioja region of Spain (see pic) and the day blisters finally hit. Won't share that picture with you. Its also the day Kareena sadly left us (too much pain) which goes to show its not for the faint hearted and maybe not for the silly, like us. No point struggling through for no reason. Enjoy Bilbao and San Sebastian Kareena, we'll miss you!

Today was a short day Anna tells us. Just 22km to Santo Domingo and boy did we feel every step after yesterdays 30kms. Funny, or gross, Chris shared with us the moment a blister on the bottom of his foot popped. Like I said, bit gross but kinda cool, go Chris!
We mostly spent the day hugging the highway so it was a day filled with car and truck noises. We also got our official camino passbooks. These get stamped at most hostels from now on as most of the ones we choose from now on will require us to have the passbook to prove we are true pilgrims. As if our smell, packs, and old woman hobbles (the dance you do when racked with blister, joint and muscle pain) isn't enough to prove it, I think the church just wants to make a little extra $ by selling them (oops, am I meant to write that?).

We arrived at around 1:30 today and have spent the afternoon eating and wondering around the Easter markets (hello cake and chocolates) before eating some ice cream and seeing if our hand washing is dry. Yes folks, as if old woman hobble wasn't glamorous enough throw in hand washing your clothes and leaving them to dry amongst everyone's else towels, undies and socks lol, who wants to join us now?!?! Haha.

Tomorrow is a short or long day, it could be 21kms or we could walk an extra 10(? I think Anna said) and shorten our longer 29km day. See how we feel. At this rate in not sure any of us will last 30km. In fact heads up folks, Anna and I are thinking of halting at Pamplona and heading to the beach on day 10, cutting our walk short. Sad, but I seriously think any more than that and we are going to go mental from the long walks, and seriously make more constant old lady noises (you know that sound when Nonnas get up out of chairs?!?).

Thanks for the blog comments, I really love them.
A x

Ps. Apologies to anyone with birthdays between now and June 17, seems my phone only likes to keep them in memory while in Australia :(

In case you needed proof...

Here is the amazing jamon and chorizo we had for lunch! Delicious.
Lara.

Kylie... Challenge is on!

Hey,
I'm challenging you to a better sun tan this week. I think I'm on my way to winning. Just wait till next week when this goes brown!
So going to win!

Hello Jamon....

Day 2 saw us getting off to an interesting start... A 3km detour kind of interesting start. Oh well what's another 3kms when your doing high 20s anyway.
We started with the sun this morning, at 7:15 (see the darker pic) which was really great and meant we had the roads to ourselves, but that could have been the wrong road thing as well.
We saw the amazing San Juan de Ortega church, from the outside as well as lots of fields and paddocks. Chris and I were occupied for quite a while today trying to figure what what they are growing.. In the end I decided on grass. Lol, it really looks like it couldn't possibly be anything else!
We managed some steep hills, see the pick with the dirt path in the background... Yep we climbed it, and all before lunch. Which brings me to Lara's blog post suggestion. We had the best jamon sandwiches today (like prosciutto mum and dad) and it made us question if its possible to get a bad sandwich in Spain. Lara says its best not to challenge ourselves on that one! Personally I don't think its possible.
So far I'm the only group member to not have blisters... Touch wood. Poor Kareena's are so bad her little toe is a whole blister, and Chris is going to loose a toe nail soon.. Eeek. 
That's all for now.
A x

Ps. Happy birthday Rose :) x

Pictures