We slept in a bit and got a late start for what we expect to be an "easy" day of 16km or so. The day was clear and crisp with traces of frost in spots - really a great day for walking and the Pyrenees were beautiful. The trail downward from the col was very good and not as steep as yesterday. In most of the steep places there were steps. We passed thru a nearby ski resort that was pretty much deserted. For the next few days we will be following the Aragon river valley. We passed through Canfranc Estacion which opened in 1928 at the entrance to the tunnel through the Pyrenees and was at that time the second largest train station in Europe. The tunnel is now used for vehicular traffic and the town has rejuvenated itself as a vacation town but this is definitely the off season. Next came Canfranc city which was smaller. Finally we stopped in Villanua and got a room at Hotel Alto Aragon (receipt says "Estancia Hostal") with a pilgrims discount. As all of the towns, this is pretty sleepy and seems like a winter/summer vacation area. We had a great dinner back at our hotel. The 12 euro menu included a nice bottle of local wine (2007 Granache from Aragon) and three course. We each had a different salad and they were among the best we have had in Spain. Second course was rabbit for me and sardines for Cindy and for desert I had apple torte and she had pear.
60km down and 858km to go -- we probably won't have time to finish this year since this route is quite a bit longer. We will see how things work and might skip a bit or stop before Santiago.
Typical views for the day.
At lower elevations we were in the Aragon river valley.
Three courses each and a bottle of wine included for $15 each.
I had rabbit and Cindy had sardines.
We stayed at Hostal Alto Aragon in Villanua.
Location:Villanua, Spain
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