160519 and 20 to Ourense

We are off to Spain!  The total journey was almost a full day.  The flight to London was 11 hours.  Then we had a 2 hour layover before the 3 more hours to Madrid, and finally 7 more hours before arriving in Ourense, our starting point on the Camino.

We made the train from Madrid to Ourense with just 4 minutes to spare due to our plane arriving in Madrid an hour late.  Many thanks to our taxi driver for the wild ride through Madrid.

We had rented a flat in Ourense and our hosts met us at the station.  The flat was better than expected with a gracious and attentive family hosting us.  Much nicer than hotel rooms with a kitchen, sitting area and balcony

In all, the total trip was 23 hours.  There wasn’t any real alternative.

We had grabbed a few hours of fitful sleep on the flights and train ride.  So were rested enough to head into old-town to a tapas bar recommended by our hostess.  We had a light meal, a glass of wine (or two), then returned to the flat where we promptly went to sleep for 10 hours.

Renting a flat instead of hotel rooms worked out really well.  The cost was less than hotel rooms, and we each had our own bedroom and bath.  We were on the sixth floor (with a great view, and a lift = no stairs).  Our  hostess had stocked the flat with bottles of water, some fruit, ground coffee and a coffee maker.

 

 

The next morning neither of us were in a hurry to get moving, and since this was a rest day from the long flight we just slept in and ran errands –

• to the tourist office (for maps and list of places to stay along the way),
• to the Cathedral for a Cello starting our trip,
• to ‘Old Town’ for a late lunch,
• to the Post Office to send off a bag of unneeded items (travel clothes) to Santiago

After an evening walk to see the old Roman bridge (across the river Minho) we turned in.  Tomorrow we would walk across the bridge to start our journey.

We turned in with the expectation of an early start the next day.