Camino de Santiago, Day 3: Palas de Rei to Arzúa - 18.2 miles (Good Friday)

We left Palas de Rei under overcast skies to make our way through countryside.  Our injured member decided to rest on the bus and see if he could join us along they way if he felt better.

The morning began with tales of those who had stayed up to drink wine and greet Henry with a pilita sometime in the middle of the night.

As the day progressed, we were rewarded by sunny skies by mid morning.  The morning was marked by walks through little hamlets filled with symbols of the Camino: statues of Santiago as a pilgrim, shell imagery, and other crosses along the way.






Mid morning we stopped at a church that was so tiny that Fr. Willie pointed out that the Holy Thursday repository was a spot on the floor in front of the altar. 



Many stops were made along the way for coffee, beer, wine, and other treats, including a stop at the Bell family stand, the Café Campanilla. 

We crossed a Romanesque bridge and visited yet another 12th Century church marked by a Franciscan style cross with Christ having one arm off the cross. 





Up the hill through town to Good Friday lunch at a pulpería, which made Emilio suffer (though I credit him for trying the octopus).  Great food. We must have busted through our food budget.






Lunch ended spectacularly with someone applying “Vaselina” to his business in the street outside the “pulpería” while people waited in line to eat. 

As we continued on through Melide, we stopped at a church with a Roman era gate and frescos from the 1100s. 




At 3pm, Willie reminded us that it was the time that Church marks the death of Jesus and asked us to hike in silence and prayer. 




This was our longest day of walking and several stops made it bearable, including having drinks made of chilled coffee liqueur and espresso. 



The late afternoon had pretty steep hills and valleys.  We were impressed with  cow with the biggest under we have ever seen. 



And we were able to dip our feet (someone went in MUCH deeper) in the very cold río Iso. Henry met a distant relative from Scotland. 





Night spent at the Pazo Santa María, which had great view of the Galician countryside.  And a swan.









After dinner, we had Good Friday service in the hotel with Fr. Willie, punctuated by Joey delivering a snore right as Jesus was about to deliver his spirit.




And Eddy got ambushed at 1:30am and Henry’s luggage “got away.”




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