Camino Del Norte - Day 14 - Santa Cruz de Bezane to Santillana del Mar - 24.4k

TODAYS PICS:

Last night another wonderful family style dinner in a lovely Albergue with a lovely host - which makes all the difference. The food was good and then some insight into the trail for today. Two main points were that the "original" trail is long - up to 40k and that there is a river that needs to be crossed and the nearest bridge is for trains.

The train bridge is forbidden/ prohibited to cross; but how they explained this was amusing. "Walking on the bridge is forbidden, but you can do it if you like. " LOL This actually to me is a very open and mature philosophy. The idea being, we have warned you not to; and if you choose to do it, know you are responsible. But there is a train station on each side of the bridge so you can get on, ride for 2 minutes and then get off. This description was also amusing. "If you get on, and no man comes the ride is free. If he comes you pay him 1.65. This is the system."


The day began with a nice breakfast - light as usual, but I had coffee, so this makes me happy. It was raining as I left the Albergue and continued non-stop thru the morning.  I chose to take the train and after walking about an hour arrived at the train station at the same exact moment as the train, but was on the wrong side and could not cross, while the train was there, so I had to wait 40 minutes. Not a big deal, and I did meet some pilgrims from prior days as they got off the train.

The first part of the walk after train was countryside, but overlooking a large highway. From there it go worse as it was raining and we went thru large industrial area. At the end of the walk, it became a little more rural, which was nice.

We ended in Santillana del Mer - an old medieval village that is truly lovely, but feels more EPCOT/ Disney than Europe, as it is filled with tourist shops and restaurants.  I went into the Museum of Torture and the Spanish Inquisition - Which of course nobody expected (ba dum bum)! And was disappointed as I was really more interested in the Inquisition and history, and all that was there was descriptions and exhibits of torture devices.

I am hoping for a nice dinner and an early night in the Convent Alburgue - where there are only two beds per room, and right now I have a single. Fingers crossed it stays this way!

Buen Camino!