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Monday, September 29, 2008

What's everyone else doing at 2:30 in the afternoon?:-)

Now, where do I put this extra piece? Nice view huh? There were a herd of sheep and goats surrounding the tent in the middle of the night.

Friday, September 26, 2008

It's nice to see that dogs are allowed everywhere, including this busy bar.

Gotta love Europe for it's great wine even at these amazing prices.

Traveling Tips for the Camino del Norte

In all of Spain siesta is from 2-4pm, sometimes till 5pm in smaller
towns. That means pretty much everything shuts down, like restaurants,
tourist information, shops, etc. Usually you can still find a tapas
bar open or any tourist attractions and shops too. The time is mostly
important to be aware of when you roll into a new town and need a map,
information, place too sleep, and food.

Albergues are cheap places to stay for the pilgrams. Prices can range
from donations to around 16 Euros a night. The accomodations itself
could be a monostary, private place converted with beds, youth hostel,
or pension. Some travelerls have told me that bed bugs are not uncommon,
especially on the main French trail during the high season of August
because of all the pilgrams going through.

The northern or coastal route I'm taking is more scenic, but the most
difficult trail. The albergues tend to be more sparce and pricier than
the other routes. Camping in random places saves lots of money. So far
all the albergues I've stayed at have been super clean and camping has
not been a problem, the weather has been awesome.

I've already met a bunch of fun travelers who have been traveling for
a while. Inga, a retired teacher from Germany, started her journey in
Munich back in July. She's been traveling alone, taking the toughest
route (The Alpine, denoted by red and white marks on the trail), and
speaks several languages, including Chinese. Man, talk about putting
me to shame.

So, for any females wanting to travel alone, the Camino is perfectly
safe and managable. There's one German girl who's traveling for a year
and just taking her time, stopping here and there, reading a nice book
at spots with incredible views. I mean if you've never been to Spain
or the particular towns on the Camino, then you should also factor in
some time to enjoy those special places you come across that take your
fancy.

Steve

Thursday, September 25, 2008

My Feet!

Ya, my feet are pretty roughed up now. I haven't taken care of my
babies like I wanted. I'll send some choice photos later. But be
warned, they are not for the faint of heart.

Toes alert!

First week on the Camino

From the start I was a bit sick, but decided to push on anyway. My
feet started to crack from the dry weather and I got a blister the day before the walk, but I still persisted in
walking with my flip flops. I was picking apples and blackberries
along the way, but eventually I ate once a day. My vegetarian diet
hasn't been too bad, but going through San Sabastien (The best tapas
in Spain) was a bit rough.

I'd get a sudden wiff of some nice meat being cooked or fish being
grilled and think what an idiot I am! Next time I'll do a food trek!
All meat... Just kidding.

I usually don't feel the craving for meat up to two weeks, so we'll
see how it goes. My energy level has been up and down, but I think
it's leveling off.

Steve

Chill'in out in Bilbao in the old town.

Here I am still trying to be a vegetarian having a cafe con leche and Spanish tortilla. Look how happy I am...

Sunday, September 21, 2008

European Cultures

I love how most people in the service industry here act like they are
doing you a favor when you want to purchase something, from ordering
food to buying a train ticket. It´s as if their daily painful
existance of a life is your fault. I forgot how I use to fantisize
about smacking them with a two-by-four.

Of course on the other end of the spectrum you meet some incredible
people. From the tabacco store clerk pulling out boxes of postcards to
help me find the best one of Irun (The start of the Camino del Norte)
because I mentioned I was starting the trek while a huge line was
forming to an elderly couple walking me all the way to my campsite
when they were tourists themselves and spoke only spanish. These are
just a couple of wonderful stories all travellers get too experience
and part of the reason we like to travel.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Irun, the beginning of the Camino del Norte

For those of you who are interested in the Camino for the future, I
thought some detailed info would help.

August is the busiest time because all of Europe is on vacation and
finding places to sleep, albergues, will be impossible. September is
great with the weather and less travelers, however, the tourist
information office in Irun is open only during the summer. The only
other place you can get info on the Camino and a special passport (Get
stamped in each town you pass) is an the only albergue in town which
opens at 4pm.

Getting to town at 8am I decided to walk to the next town's tourist
office, walk back to the albergue, and return to the second town where
my camp site was. Yes, I love difficulty.


Steve

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Look, your own personal tap at the table! How great is that!

My view from Colico, (Lake Como), Italy




Monday, September 15, 2008

Oh yeah...

I'm traveling for a while... How long? Till my money runs out. I was
in Switzerland and Italy, but will be in Spain, Morocco, Nepal, India,
and then further into South East Asia. My goal is to find volunteer
work in the Asian countries and meet as many people as possible.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Traveling Again!

Hi All,

So I finally created my own travel blog. Where should I begin… Since
living in Paris, I have traveled to Costa Rica, Russia, India, Mexico,
Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand. Also, in between traveling I
finished law school.:P Some of you may have the ridiculous notion that
I may have finally settled down, hahaha, you foolish people. The rest
of you know better.

Currently I'm in Zurich visiting some friends and will make my way
down to Lake Como in Italy and chill out for a few days. I must
apologize to everyone in Europe who I can't visit, I really wish I
could, please don't hate me.

The interesting part of my journey will begin in Northern Spain in the
small town of Irun. I will be hiking the Camino de Santiago for about
five weeks camping in various people's lawns if I'm lucky, and I will
try to be a vegetarian.

For those of you who are not familiar, the Camino de Santiago de
Compostela, also known in English as The Way of St James, is a
collection of old pilgrimage routes which cover all Europe. They all
have Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain as their final
destination. For more than 1000 years pilgrims have been walking along
the Camino de Santiago. I'm not doing this for religious reasons, it
just sound like a great hike.

This particular route I'm taking, Camino del Norte, is about 825Km and
the most difficult of them all. It's also the most picturesque, wish
me luck!