Azorfa (Sun 15 Sep)

We had read about this great, purpose built municipal albergue where every room only has two beds, so we set our sights on Azorfa and off we went.  The Way was thick with vineyards as we walked today, for this region -- La Rioja -- is Spain's most important wine region.

Beautiful green and purple grapes, thriving in the red, red soil.  Due to a cold, wet spring, harvest is late this year (should have already begun), but we'll get a chance to see it futher down the Camino:

Pile of grape vines no longer productive:

Today, we met a woman from France and her adult son from US who were just starting the Camino and a threesome from Ireland preparing to leave the Camino as it was their last day.  The picture below is one of the Irish women we've known since our first night.   Many Europeans do the Camino in sections, walking 1 or 2 weeks each year, a convenient way to walk the whole Camino when you only have a few weeks vacation per year.  We feel very fortunate to have the time to walk the whole thing.  I think it makes for a much more powerful experience.

Najira, pretty town just before our destination:

Larry feeling nearly back to normal:

Our home for the night -- the famous special built albergue with only two beds per room.

All the rooms look like this.  Only two beds and our own window to choose to leave open at night so we'll have fresh air and our very own light switch to turn on/off as we choose.  Bliss! and for only 14 Euros for two:

Nice courtyard:

Most albergues have racks for your boots at the door.  Partly so people don't track mud and dirt inside,  partly to allow the boots to air and dry outside and -- just as importanly -- to keep the air fresh inside.

For dinner, we went to one of the two restaurants in town and it was filled with locals, mostly elderly, in three noisy clusters.  The group by the door was all women, playing some sort of card game.  Next, pictured here in front of the TV, a group of men were watching the Basque handball game called pelota.  We'd seen a few outdoor courts, so nice to see how it's played.

Then in the back room where all the peregrinos were seated, the last group -- all men  -- the loudest of the bunch and playing some sort of card game.  I assumed it must be some sort of exotic Basque card game,  so asked the waiter what they were playing.  His answer ... poker!

The name of the town, Azorfa, is based on an Arabic word, stemming from the days when Spain was Moorish, part of the Islamic empire.  Hard to read, but there's some Arabic writing, in blue, at the bottom of the mural:

On the way home, the sun was setting and its rays deepened the already red colour of this old building: