Wednesday. Ponferrada, Spain. 2016.
Ponferrada means “Iron Bridge”. Or “Large iron post that juts out from the street and collides with your shin”. Indeed, after a great breakfast I suffered the first Camino-related injury. (I still sport a scar on my shin) and we began a walking/limping tour of Ponferrada.
We soldiered on and toured the area around our hotel including the scenic grounds of Ponferrada Castle. To prepare for the adventure that started the next day, we decided to pick up some water for the walk.
*CURIOUS PRICE ALERT*
1L bottled water – €1.50. 1L pinot grigio – €1.25.
12 Donuts – €1.99. 6-pack of wine – €1.00
OK, wine it is, then! WE LOVE SPAIN!
And water.
After our briefer than planned tour of Ponferrada, it was time for a nice, cold refreshing cerveza. We selected a small restaurant in the plaza outside our hotel. We are still exhilarated and adjusting to being in Spain. The sun is glorious – we’re bathing in the sun’s heat. We had a great breakfast, so we weren’t really hungry and decided to sit, sip and peoplewatch. And they didn’t disappoint – they rarely do.
Our server took our order. “Dos Cervezas, por favor.” This was be good practice for when we were in more remote regions of Spain in the days ahead.
Then our server began to list food choices. We looked at each other hesitantly because we didn’t want to spend too much on food just yet.
“Oh, we’re just going to have a beer for now”, I said.
Then…our server said..”It’s free with beer.”
These magical words were repeated in subsequent visits to different patios within the plaza and we learned…it was also free with vino tinto and vino blanco.
The next day we started our hike.
And Raine fell off the side of the highway – our second injury.
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