Najera

Made it to Najera today - about 16km or so. Tomorrow is 20km or thereabouts to Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

Last night I had dinner with two German couples and an older Italian man. The dinner was divine - most pilgrim menus are fairly basic and no frills, just hearty food, but this meal was fancy. First course was spaghetti tossed with garlic, oil and apparently some flavour of ground pepper (it was a bit spicy, but I couldn´t see what was making it so). Second course was peppers stuffed with fish and cheese, and in a sauce of... I´m not sure what. It was black. The Germans said it was squid ink, but they could´ve been pulling my leg. The English menu said something to do with leeks, but it was a shoddy translation and I didn´t see the Spanish one, so I really have no clue, and I don´t know if leeks would make such a deep black sauce. It was delicious whatever it was. And dessert was chocolate cake.

I seem to have been temporarily adopted by the older Italian gentleman, as we walked together today and he made sure I was doing all right. Told me various stories about his life in northern Italy, his dogs, his wife, politics, and a variety of other things. And sometimes we walked quietly. He speaks many languages - Italian, English, French, Spanish, German, and those are just the ones I´ve heard him speak, there could be more.

Today was a varied landscape - the beginning was nice through vineyards and rolling hills, but the approach into Najera was dreadful with highways and industrial plants of various sorts. But we made it in, and now I´m starving.

And oh - when we stopped for breakfast in Ventosa (6km from Navarette), I finally tried the Spanish ¨tortilla¨- a round baked thing with potatoes (and maybe eggs?), that is then cooled, and slices of it are served on bread. It was quite good.

Prices are fairly reasonable for things here, moreso than I expected in the eurozone. My most expensive expense tends to be the pilgrim´s menu for dinner, but 8-10 euros for a filling three-course meal is decent, considering some nights when I´ve self-catered I´ve paid 5 euros for dinner supplies for a dinner that is less satisfying.

Now it is time to rest some more, and then find dinner. I´m not sure if anything can top last night´s meal, but I´ll settle for anything filling and satisfying. Hasta luego!