May 4, 2015 Day 9 - Najera --> Santo Domingo 21K
Had a wonderful stay in Najera. Beautiful little hotel and awesome dinner with Steve and Leon at a restaurant that was close by. Pilgrim's menu of salad, steak and ice cream. Our waitress was especially friendly - a bright face and joyful smile.
We left a little later since this was a shorter day. It was fairly overcast to start. Despite two consecutive good nights of rest, I felt a little tired still. My feet felt surprisingly good to start, and my legs are feeling stronger and stronger. It always amazes me how you can barely walk at the end of the day, but revive rather quickly by the time you start again the next day.
Lots of fields, and an especially good view of mountains with snow in the distance. Leon and I walked together the first part of the day and had a good talk. Donna and Steve walked behind and ended up with a young man named Patrick from Australia. Patrick is on a three month tour of Europe. Since we had the opportunity, we asked Patrick to take a picture of the four of us.
On and on we walked. We went through one fairly modern looking town that had the feel of a ghost town. Then, back out into the countryside. Steve and I met a man and his wife from San Francisco that have hiked the Pacific Coast Trail and Appalachian Trail. When I asked how the Camino compared, he told me that the AT was 10 times harder than the Camino - severe ups and downs. He acted like the Camino was a walk through the park. Steve and I just looked at each other.
The descent into Santo Domingo was absolutely stunning, and literally took my breath away. The vastness of the green fields, and the city against the horizon. I cannot describe it in a way that gives it justice, and a picture can't convey the magnitude of the vastness.
We arrived at the monastery / hotel run by nuns, where we were staying for the night. A beautiful clean and comfortable place. The nun that checked us in had such a beautiful smile, that I asked to take her picture.
Since it was around 4:00 pm, of course there were no restaurants open. I went on reconnaissance to find a place to eat, and found a couple of pilgrim's menus that would be available around 7:00 pm. We didn't eat with Steve and Leon at the monetary because dinner didn't even start until 9:00 pm. Donna and I were both absolutely exhausted, and our feet hurt like crazy. Donna developed some more blisters. I began worrying whether I would be able to make the walk all the way to Belorado tomorrow. We were in bed by 9:00 pm.
