Day 52 through 54, Octopus on the menu

July 8^th through July 10^th, Palas de Rei to Melida, to Arzua, to Arca do Pino

22 km to Santiago, 932km from start

Distances: 15km, 14km, 19km

Sunday, July 8^th was cloudy. We got a late start but with only 15km to our next stop in Melide that was fine. These last days, our walks have been a real pleasure: country lanes, brown stone villages, several old arched bridges. Today was more of the same. Again there were more ups and downs than our guidebook said but we felt fresh and hardly noticed.

We got into Melide around noon. It was market day and clothing stalls were everywhere. The only food we saw on sale was big bags of potatoes. The town also had an interesting old church and a museum. The town’s real claim to fame though is their Pulperias. These are places that serve only Pulpo . . . boiled octopus. Had to try it again and even Marie was game for another go . . . kind of.

We had lunch at one of the more popular spots. They haul the steaming purple mop-head sized beasts from large copper caldrons; drop them on a table; cuts their tentacles into rings with scissors; sprinkle them with paprika, olive oil, and salt; and serve them on wooden plates. You sit at a long wood bench with dozens of other folks, they give you local white wine served in a clay pitcher with shallow clay bowls as glasses, and dig into the lot with toothpicks. Octopus isn’t something you’d want for a steady diet but the whole thing was a real event and digestion wasn’t an issue this time for Marie.

It was also the Festival of St. Fermin. In Pamplona, that means the ‘Running of the Bulls’ in Melide it means the ‘Honking of the Trucks’. I need to check and see if St. Fermin is the patron saint of truck drivers because all afternoon semis with bouquets of flowers wired to their grills drove through town honking. Not as romantic as Pamplona but you can cross the street without being gored. Only three days out!

Monday, July 9^th was rainy in the morning so the trip wasn’t as nice but we’ve been lucky traveling through Galacia so far so we zipped up our jackets and counted our blessings. It was another short day so after 3 hours of easy walking we got to Arzua . . . 40km to Santiago. It was a 7,000 person town but didn’t have much in the way of sights. What it did have was cheese. It’s known throughout Spain as the home of a soft, breast-shaped cheese called “Tetilla” . . . go figure. There was also a type of local white wine tht Marie wanted to try so we spent a good bit of the afternoon at a local cheese and wine bar.

Not much else to the day besides chatting with folks who we had seen on the trail for the last several days. Only two days out!

Tuesday, July 10^th was our last full day on the Camino. The weather turned nice again and we walked the hills and trails in sunny warm weather. There were still several youth groups but more spread out than a few days earlier. We saw a few tired groups just laying on the road sleeping and resting. Still, everyone’s very cheerful this near to Santiago and it was a fine walk into Arco do Pino.

Several of our German fellow travelers have been on our schedule for nearly a week and we took time to chat with them in case we got lost in the crowds in Santiago. The Germans were often the butt of jokes on the Camino but in the end, they had the largest number of committed long-distance pilgrims and deserve credit. We had dinner with Jurgen and Gudrun. They live on the German coast near Kiel. Jurgen had just retired and they decided to do the Camino to mark the occasion. It was a fun evening and we enjoyed their company.