The Beginning

JIM: Below is a picture of the albergue we are staying in.

Buen camino.! After an uneventful flight from Seattle to Heathrow, we had some adventure ,running O.J Simpson style through the airport to make our flight to Madrid. We then stayed in Madrid one night on calle de paseo in hotel mediodio. The picture above represents our Hawaii contingency. From left to right Dave,Lei,Rosie and Wendy in the background in the lobby of hotel Mediodia in Madrid.

  Madrid was fun. I had had a not so good temperinillo on the plane ride but made up for it with an outstanding Ribera at an outside cafe there. The area was hopping till after ten outside and we had some interesting food.Calamari ,gulus and jamon served in a small skillet, chicken salad and a meatball dish. These raciones were only 6 euros and the wine was but 1.6 !  We spent hours outside talking .It was a nice evening.Dave and i had tostada and tomatoe for breakfast with coffee.

  Next day we took the train too Pamlona. The landscape was quite dry and somewhat barren with small rolling hills. Once there, we took a taxi to our place in downtown pamplona. I had researched the food there and found highly rated bar gaucho. We went at siesta time and it was slow. We had a chorizo stuffed with mushrooms and a fish with crab meat on a delicious crustini. I do not think the woman were to impressed. That night we hung out at a large plaza which again was packed. Did not eat till 930. We had a bottle of an ill described navarre wine with paella,halibut vegatable stew and flan.

We ate inside and it was pretty loud and hard to talk.

   This morning we took a bus to st Jean de Port over the pyrenees. It was a beautiful drive, but a bit intimidating as quite a steep rise. We will walk that in the morning.! Had a sharcuterie for lunch with a basque ilouguy red wine with it. The place we ate was outside and very charming as is the beautiful little town of St jean de port. Dave and I lit candles at the little church here for his father and my sister Mary. Tonight we will get to sleep early so as to rise for the toughest day of the camino. 15 km and 4000 foot elevation. Below is a picture of the albergue we are staying at.

   Tomorrow the walk starts. With our Hawaiian friends staying at our Seattle house for 4 days and 3 days here in Europe we are bonding as brothers and sisters. It will be a community affair with great memories!