We
ate breakfast at a bar across the street from Pensión Begoña (total 11.50€): LARGE
coffee (café con leche)/hot
chocolate; 2 orange juice (natural); 2 tostadas with ham and cheese (we ordered
tomato and oil, but she forgot about us and, when she noticed us, she brought
the wrong kind; we took it because we had already been there an
hour—8:30-9:30). We went back to the pensión and departed at 9:40.
The valleys are gentler from
Arzúa onwards, making the final approach to Santiago a lovely walk, passing
through several tiny hamlets that are notable merely for their Gallego popular
architecture. Increasingly, the hillsides are planted with eucalyptus trees,
used for the manufacture of furniture and paper.
We
had sun until just before O Pedrouzo and then only light sprinkle 1:42-1:48 and
from then on only cloudy or light mist.
10:07 AM – After Arzúa: MT on deep-cut wooded
path.
11:05 AM – After Arzúa: large (wide) hórreo, with solid stone walls below.
11:18 AM – After Arzúa: 30 km marker, with
discarded hiking shoes.
MT 11:20 AM – After Arzúa: 30 km marker, with
discarded hiking shoes. (close up).
11:21 AM – After Arzúa: cornfield with old
shirts on posts (scarecrows?).
We
passed through A Calzada (pop 48).
The name of A Calzada [meaning “the road”] refers to its location on the Roman
and pilgrimage roads. It is the last hamlet in the Concello [municipality] de
Arzúa of the Comarca [region] de Arzúa on the Camino Francés.
Around
11:30, we came to A Calle (pop 86).
The hamlet of A Calle [meaning “the street”] (aka A
Calle de Ferreiros [the street of the ironworkers]) is the first stop on the
Camino in the Concello of O Pino, still in the Comarca de Arzúa.
In A Calle, the Camino path used
to take you under a large hórreo that
straddled it. (We saw that in 2013, but not this year, although there was a
passage that looked like where that hórreo
might have been.)
11:32 AM – A Calle: another large (wide) hórreo, with solid stone walls of celeiro [barn] below.
11:33 AM – A Calle: hórreo (normal, narrow) on top of stone wall.
In
A Calle, we passed Casa Tia Dolores
(1903), which had empty bottles of “Peregrina Cerveza Premium” beer lined up on
a wall around the terraza.
11:34 AM – A Calle: Casa Tia Dolores café with
empty beer bottles on wall (yellow arrow on wall).
MT 11:35 AM – A Calle: Casa Tia Dolores café
with “99 bottles of beer on the wall.”
Around
12:23, we reached Salceda (pop ?).
12:23 PM – Salceda: old wooden hórreo at edge of town (MT on path at
left).
12:23 PM – Salceda: old wooden hórreo (telephoto, 54 mm), with tile
roof and props.
12:27 PM – Salceda: MT and other pilgrims on
path entering town by city limit sign.
At the top of a hill just before
Santa Irene is the Roda do Castro, a
pre-Roman Celtic hill fort with circular defensive walls that are 3 m thick in
places.
We
passed through Santa Irene (pop ?).
Santa
Irene
was the seat of the Concello de Pino in earlier times. It is named after the
nearby Chapel of Santa Irene, from the late 17th century. Santa Irene was an
early Christian martyr, a young Portuguese nun who died here in 653 defending
her vow of chastity. The beautiful chapel of Santa Irene is a simple
construction with a rectangular ground plan surrounded by a magnificent carballeira [oak grove]. In 1808,
Napoleon’s troops, on their way to Santiago, vandalized the site.
Santa Irene: Capela de
Santa Irene (patrimoniodeopino.es).
A nearby fountain, Fuente de
Santa Irene, previously contained a granite image of Santa Irene dating from
1692, but it was stolen in the 1980s. This fountain is very popular with
pilgrims, since it is called the Fonte da
Xuventude Eternal [Fountain of Eternal Youth]; according to legend, whoever
washes himself with its water will stay young forever.
We
did not visit the church, since that involved taking a detour through a tunnel
under the main road. We continued on the Camino path through more eucalyptus
forest.
Just past Santa Irene, the view
opens to the south over the Río Ulla basin to the distant Pico Sacro (overlooking
Santiago).
MT 1:55 PM – After Salceda:
Don on path through eucalyptus forest.
1:56 PM – After Salceda: path through
eucalyptus forest.
MT 1:56 PM – After Salceda: MT by eucalyptus
trees along path.
Between Salceda and A Rúa are
some of the largest eucalyptus trees
you will see along the Camino.
The oak forest of Galicia is a national treasure. Its sturdy wood was
used to build Spain’s mighty naval armada, and by the early sixteenth century,
in an attempt to preserve the forest for state use, a royal decree forbade
anyone from felling the huge trees without a license.
Then, in the nineteenth century, eucalyptus was brought to Spain under
the mistaken belief that it would be good for construction. Eucalyptus can grow
by as much as 13 m in three years, much faster than the local oak, making it
popular as a source of both pulp and firewood. In 1941, Franco introduced the
misnamed State Forest Heritage Act, under which oak was widely chopped down and
eucalyptus was planted in its place to feed the fledgling pulp industry. The
non-native species now accounts for almost a third of the forest in Galicia.
Around
2 pm, we came to A Rúa (pop?).
A
Rúa
[meaning “the street”] (aka Dos Casas) is an enclave of stone houses that still
hold the charm of yesteryear. Its name derives from the linear composition of
its main street, a row of houses prettified with flowerpots. This contrast with
the radial arrangement of most Galician rural villages. Dos Casas [two houses], the other name that was also given to the
place, also refers to this street
1:59 PM – A Rúa: old building with signs for
CR Casa do Acivro.
At
this point, we were not sure whether we were supposed to go straight ahead or
turn at this intersection. However, as we ventured straight ahead, we saw the
Camino marker stone.
1:59 PM – A Rúa: 19 km “RUA” marker stone, by
folding chair on porch of same old building, but we hadn’t seen it around the
corner).
We
arrived in O Pedrouzo (Arca-O Pino) (pop 18) at 2:15.
The town is O Pedrouzo, Arca is the parish, and O Pino is the concello (municipality), of which O
Pedrouzo is the capital. It is a modern satellite town of Santiago. In recent
years, it (along with Monte do Gozo) has become a popular last stop on the
Camino before arriving in Santiago.
2:17 PM – O Pedrouzo: city limit sign on
highway by gas station (after we didn’t turn with the Camino); the yellow arrow
at right was just for a pensión, and the green sign under the city limit sign
also pointed to another pensíón.
MT 2:19 PM – O Pedrouzo: MT at city limit sign.
We
found Pensión Maribel at 2:30. We
could have got there quicker by following an unclear sign to stay on the Camino
700 m for Pensión Maribel, but we went through the town for several blocks
before we saw another sign that said it was 300 m. Maribel met us at the door
with chocolates, and we got a double room for 45€, plus 10€ for breakfast, and
she would do our laundry for 10€.
5:06 PM – O Pedrouzo: Pensión Maribel - MT
outside entrance.
5:10 PM – O Pedrouzo: Pensión Maribel – our
room (No. 4).
5:10 PM – O Pedrouzo: Pensión Maribel - our
room (No. 4).
(Originally,
Maribel offered us a larger room, but it had a handicapped-accessible bathroom
with a shower curtain but no bottom, only a drain in the floor.)
MT 5:30 PM – O Pedrouzo:
Pensión Maribel – view from our window.
Before
mass, we got sellos at “Mesón do Peregrino pensión Arzúa” and then went to the
nearby Café-Bar-Restaurante Regueiro
and ate the 10€ menú del día for a late lunch (3:30-4:45): 1st course: MT
lentil soup/Don spaghetti (actually macaroni) soup with chicken; 2nd course: MT
ternera [veal] with patatas fritas (forgot to ask)/Don merluza a la gallego with cooked
potatoes; dessert: MT melon/Don helado
(a chocolate-vanilla cone in a wrapper); bottle of red wine; small bottle of agua gaseosa [sparkling mineral water]; agua del grifo [faucet water] (which we
asked for); bread. We got sellos: “Café-Bar-Restaurante Regueiro parrillada
Arco-O Pino – La Coruña.”
3:33 PM – O Pedrouzo: Café-Bar-Restaurante
Regueiro – Don’s bowl of spaghetti with chicken, with seconds in serving plate
(mucho!).
3:53 PM – O Pedrouzo: Café-Bar-Restaurante
Regueiro – Don’s merluza and cooked
potatoes with peas on serving plate.
MT 3:54 PM – O Pedrouzo: Café-Bar-Restaurante
Regueiro – Don with merluza, water,
and wine.
MT 3:55 PM – O Pedrouzo: Café-Bar-Restaurante
Regueiro – our waiter; MT’s veal and fries with water and wine.
MT 3:56 PM – O Pedrouzo: Café-Bar-Restaurante
Regueiro – MT’s veal with fries.
Then
we went to pharmacies looking for Metamucil for Don; the 2nd, like the 1st, had
no Metamucil, but had the substitute “Plantago Ovata Normon 3,5g (Cutícules de
semillas de Plantago ovata (Ispágula Husk)” for 4.80€.
Then
we went to a supermercado and bought
4 yogurts (50% off), gazpacho (1 L
carton), cherry tomatoes; picos
integrales (tiny bread sticks) for a total of 4.40€, for a later snack.
Then we went back to the pensión for showers.
We
went to 7 pm mass at the Igrexa Santa
Eulalia de Arca (aka La Iglesia de la Concha). The Italian Guanellian
priest called pilgrims forward after mass for a special prayer and blessing
with holy water sprinkling. He said the positives far outweigh the negatives in
the Camino experience. Then we got sellos: “Parroquia de Arca y Pino La Coruña.”
The Igrexa de Santa Eulalia de Arca (aka La Iglesia de la Concha) was
built in the Romanesque-Gothic style in the 17th century, but a fire destroyed
the church in the late 19th century. The modern church is in the neo-Classical
style.
6:48 PM – O Pedrouzo: Igrexa de Santa Eulalia:
side and bell tower.
6:49 PM – O Pedrouzo: Igrexa de Santa Eulalia:
façade and bell tower; sign over door: “Parroquia de Santa Eulalia de Arca.”
6:50 PM – O Pedrouzo: Igrexa de Santa Eulalia:
view from rear of nave to main altar with huge conch shell (before mass).
7:23 PM – O Pedrouzo: Igrexa de Santa Eulalia:
main altar with huge conch shell (still illuminated after mass).
7:23 PM – O Pedrouzo: Igrexa de Santa Eulalia:
painting of Santiago on front of left pulpit; plaque below: “Santiago Mayor” [St. James the Greater].
MT 7:26 PM – O Pedrouzo: Igrexa de Santa
Eulalia: statue of St. Anthony.
7:26 PM – O Pedrouzo: Igrexa de Santa Eulalia:
Sign at entry, about mass and pilgrimage, from the Guanellian Fathers.
7:26 PM – O Pedrouzo: Igrexa de Santa Eulalia:
Sign at entry “Benvenidos a Arca – Parroquia de Santa Eulalia – La Iglesia de
la Concha."
This
last sign may clarify why we had seen signs on the Camino route pointing this
was for mass at “La Iglesia de la Concha.” Official websites, including www.turgalicia.es show the church as
“Igrexa Parroquial de Santa Eulalia de Arca”; so La Iglesia de la Concha [The
church of the Conch Shell] may just be a nickname.
We
went back to the pensión for gazpacho,
cherry tomatoes, part of the picos
ingtegrales, and yogurts.
MT 8:37 PM – O Pedrouzo: Pensión Maribel: sunset
from our window.
MT 8:38 PM – O Pedrouzo: Pensión Maribel: sunset
from our window.
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