Day 1

Greetings o Visitors!

The day starts afresh with a treck downhill, following the path of Santa Isabel, through the throng of the assembled at Atocha and then down to that famous Pilgrimage Starting Point known as Estación Sur, in Mendez Álvaro. Verily, we are still in Madrid and our journey begins.

With me this early but sunny morning is Christine; we are the first to set off, to lay the groundwork and to reserve the bunks that will receive our weary bodies tonight. Mónica Pellegrin (our fearless leader and inspiration-wwwhat a name!) will join us a bit later with other compatriots. I´ll leave their names for later since not all who said Aye! are coming. The villains are waiting to see what the weather holds in store for them.

Oh the Pain, the Suffering! Only and hour into this voyage and my bum is sore. Yes, I know this is but the start of the Odyssey and other parts of our anatomy are going to suffer. Four hours later we arrive at our first stopping place, Astorga. This is a lovely town with the usual cathedral, church etc. If you want more info just look it up.

A short walk takes us to our Hostal, Siervas de Maria, run by nuns and very clean and friendly. We are given a dormitory and it looks like Gonzalo and I will be the only guys surrounded by 8 other (I use the term loosely here) maidens.

Now for the search for a siutable endroit for for the Pilgrimn´s first meal After scrutinizing Menus del Dia Christine has the brilliant idea of asking some locals who´ve just come out of a bar for recommendations. No, they don´t recommend the place they just exited, they direct us further up the road and around the corner where there is a selection of hostelries of various prices and apparent qualities. We settle for one called El Salvador (calle Postas, 7) and, indeed it is our salvation. The house wine is quite delicious, the fish fillet gigantic (Christine leaves nothing), my Revuelto de Ajetes very tasty as is my Esttofado de Ternera. The Puding we have, alas, is similar to all Spanish "Pudins" even though this one is a shade better than the others. Of course, it does not reach the heights of Mari Luz´s desserts at El Casón.

Ok, gentle readers, time for a little siesta and then off we go again to explore the sights of this town. More to follow, with pictures.