Camino de Santiago Day 9
Day 9: We woke up at Hostal Numatina at 7:30 AM. I departed
at 8:30 AM to the make the 7.7 mile trek to Navarrete, a small municipality in
Rioja. Tatiana would later take a bus and meet me in Navarrete. During this
first part of the trek leaving Logrono, it was a pleasant walk through several
parks and then out to Embalse de la Grajera, a nice lake with surrounding
wildlife. The entire way to Navarrete from Logrono was a very gentle climb that
rose about 800 ft over the 7.7 miles. Coming into Navarrete, I tried to stop at
Don Jacobs Winery but the pilgrims’ gate was closed so Tatiana and I altered plans
and decided to have lunch at El Marino, close to her bus stop. After meeting
Tatiana in Navarrete, we had lunch at El Marino where I ate two jamon y queso (ham and cheese sandwiches, a
staple in Spain) and drank an entire two liter bottle of electrolyte drink
(almost in one gulp). I’m thirsty! We then left Navarrete for a 10.3 mile hike
into Najera, the former capital of the kingdom of Navarra (another great town).
Once in Navarra we dropped off our packs at our hotel, Pension San Lorenzo; we delayed
getting cleaned up and instead walked down to the outskirts of the town to a site called the Cave Castle.
The Cave Castle is an entire system of hundreds of ancient cave dwellings carved
into the neighboring rock background of the city. While trying to figure out
how to explore the cave dwellings, we met a local man walking his dog who
instructed us on how to get into some of the caves. I made the rock climb into
one of the systems while Tatiana remained below. I loved every moment I spent in the caves and felt completely at home in them. The caves
were very similar to the cave dwellings I explored in Matera, Italy. (Matera, Najera, name coincidence?) After exploring the caves, we came back to the
room, did laundry at the sister hotel, explored the city a little, and then went out to dinner at
Meson Jamonero. We ordered an entire plate of meat AND two main dishes each. We
were HUNGRY! Following dinner it was getting late (about 11 PM) so we went back
and went to sleep. Walking back through the ancient town with all the sites lit
up with lamps was cool.
Distance hiked: 18 miles
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