After doing the laundry yesterday, I was given one more task; scout out a place for dinner with something other than a pilgrims menu. Luckily there was a tourist information booth around the corner. This gave me a great opportunity to practice my Spanish and the clerk the same with her limited English. She could not recommend a specific restaurant, but gave me a map and marked the ones that would be open on Mondays; a day that many close since they are open the other six days. This gave me an opportunity to see more of the town than I would have otherwise. Arzua had more charm than Melide and some cool statues on the square.

During my search, I stumbled into a neighborhood restaurant a few blocks away. As you enter you are in a room off the kitchen watching them preparing the food for the night. Dining room of ten tables was in back and looked authentic so once given the opportunity I made reservations for 7:30; early by Spanish standards. I took a picture of the menu back to the room and did our best to translate it so we would have some idea what we were ordering.

So after a vino tinto on the way, we arrived 5 minutes early and were the only ones in the place. It appeared they were still getting ready, and eventually got around to us. As we finished our appetizer of mussels and entrees of Cod and beef, (all excellent by the way) all ten tables were occupied, with several having just arrived. A much later scene than we are use to.

Well rested, we headed out at first light around 8:30, no headlamps needed. There was a fog, but clear skies as soon as it burned off.

I tried to photograph the symbol of the pilgrim, the clam shell, but it didn’t turn out as good as I had hoped.

One of our first encounters of the day was a nun with a stamp and prayer cards. We got our first stamp of the day, making a small donation. It set a good tone for the rest of the day. The fog burned off and we had a moon in the sky until we’ll after noon.

We had planned to take a lunch break at a bar but were having trouble finding one open. Unfortunately we came upon this one too early in the day. I would have loved to help add to the collection.

3 miles out of O Pedrouzo we found a lunch stop and took a break. While eating a group of 50 school kids and a few teachers doing the camino walked by and received a round of applause from the bar patrons. Not sure if the applause was for the kids or the administrators. So when we finished our 13 miles (it is always longer than advertised) guess who was having lunch behind our Pension:

So tonight we will eat earlier, try to sleep well, and get on the way around 7:30 to make the most out of Santiago once we arrive, especially since we have a special treat planned for our stay in Santiago. We are very excited and can only hope tomorrow’s walk is as good as today’s.