Day 9 - Najera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada - 13.1 miles

Today was amazing from start to finish!! My hotel had packed a picnic breakfast for me and left it in my room last night. It was a hard-boiled egg, a piece of bread (which I discovered later was a delicious jamón and cheese sandwich), a peach, a banana, and a bottle of water! I got an early start again meeting up with lots of other pilgrims in the dark streets of Najera. The signage wasn't so well marked this time, so we were keeping an eye out together. I got to see the full moon setting and the sun rising at the same time! I met a German man (G) who lived in Switzerland, and we talked for about the first hour. He nicknamed me "Fast Walking Jenny."

The moon setting

The entire walk today was through beautiful rolling hills of farmland interspersed with little towns. I met a wonderful couple from Australia (D and J) who are traveling with her sister. The sister has walked the Camino 3x already! We spent the next few hours laughing and talking about all sorts of topics from the Camino to children to dogs. Then they stopped and I quickly met a woman from Switzerland (D). We spent the entire last half of the day together and enjoyed coffee once arriving in Santo Domingo. My friend from the Netherlands arrived and joined us for coffee, and we made plans to get together for dinner. D was heading on to the next town but hoped to meet up again another day.

This town has a rich Camino history. In the 11th Century, Dominic dedicated his life to improving the Camino for pilgrims by building roads, establishing a Pilgrim hospital (which is now a beautiful hotel), and establishing a church (which is now a Cathedral). The town has a bell tower and many other historic buildings, which I toured. All were included in the price of one pilgrim admission. The Cathedral is one of the most amazing I have ever seen! The amount of absolutely stunning religious art and other objects on display are tremendous, but the Cathedral itself is a work of art. There is even a live cock and hen housed in the church (read that story on your own). I just kept saying "Unbelievable" or "Amazing" through the entire visit. Supposedly Saint Dominic came from very humble beginnings and was illiterate. He tried to become a monk and was turned down by the monastery at San Millan, so he dedicated all his efforts to help those traveling on the Camino. I took over 50 photos in the Cathedral alone.

At dinner, it felt like the entire group of pilgrims had gathered in the square. We talked to friends old and new - we all thoroughly enjoyed today's walk as well as the town of Santa Domingo, and I finally had seafood paella and grilled sardines for dinner!!! There is a famous dish in this region that many people have warned me not to try - a stew with all the less desirable parts of the pig including offal, snouts, etc. Even people who love offal said they didn't enjoy this dish. Do I dare????

Paella

Grilled Sardines and Pimenton

Wake up, walk, eat, sleep, repeat.