AlmostAdventurous: Portuguese - Day 11 (14-Oct-2018): Caldas de Reis to Padron (19km)

It rained hard in the night and we were worried about today. However, it was calm and cool in the morning. We had coffee and yoghurt in the albergue and got on the route a bit later than usual. Weather was good for walking and the route was quite pleasant. It did start sprinkling fairly soon but not too bad. We did have the rain ponchos on and off fairly often. Walking route was nice with a combination of narrow lanes and routes of gravel in the woods. The vineyards are changing into the fall colors. We had a nice 2nd breakfast (tortilla and chocolate croissant) after 8km and continued on. With the cool weather and knowing it would be a short day we had a pleasant walk. We entered Padron on a route along the small river that led us through a busy Sunday market. Our Albergue Rossol is above a bar of the same name and in the center of the town. It is a small albergue and the facility seems quite nice. There are 4 bunk beds on our “aisle” and so far we’re the only two persons. We dropped our gear and went looking for food. On Sunday afternoon and with an active market things were fairly busy. We found a really nice tapas bar / restaurant (O Alpendre) and had two nice red wines (Rioja and Ribera del Duero) plus our favorites - pimientos de padron (named after this city!) and chipirones fritos with garlic mayo. Padron played an important role in the story of Saint James. According to the story, James preached in this region of Spain, returned to the holy land, was martyred and then his body placed into a stone boat that somehow ended up here in Pedron. The body was buried in Santiago and re-discovered 800 years later. At least that’s how I understand this version of the tradition. After lunch we showered, etc. and then wandered the town. Now we’re enjoying a local white wine and waiting for dinnertime. Dinner will be more wine and a snack.