Hostels and four star hostels

Tuesday morning we started by visiting the market in Oviedo. For Americans used to shopping at large supermarkets, the walking from small stall to small store to see the expertise in a particular type of food is really fascinating - a step back to another time. As we are so near to the coast, there is a lot of fish, different types than what we see at home. Cheeses are even better than what we see at Wegman's - more variety in smaller space and of course the veggies not raised on massive farms, the fruits and veggies are smaller, deeper in color and taste better than what we usually eat.



When we finished, we drove into the country and left the northern trail for the primitivo trail - the first Camino. This was the path Alphonso the Caste took from Oviedo in the 9th century. At that time, much of Spain was governed by the Moors. It is the most challenging trail as it crosses the Cantabrian mountains an it is also incredibly picturesque. We walked through some villages and saw many communal washing pools.

We hiked into our lunch point and met other Americans, from Vermont hiking the camino. Lunch was really simple and absolutely excellent - see the food blog. We hiked out of the restaurant and headed to Tineo where the pilgrims gather at an old monastery that has both a four star hotel and a pilgrims hostel in it. The path was very pretty and we saw a pilgrim statue/sun dial and lots of double sided crosses. On the way we stopped by a small church with a 13th century crucifix. The church is kept locked so we needed to stop and get the keys from the local post office. There we met one brave American woman hiking on her own. The weather was very warm and we had a bit of drizzle so we were glad to settle into the hotel and meet the other pilgrims at the bar. There were a group of Brits who were covering the Camino by motorcycle.