Puente La Reina to Estella

We were out of the albergue by 07:30am, getting earlier every day! I think our early start was attributable to the great acoustics in our albergue. The bunks were set up in a big room with a tall ceiling and the bunks were arranged in clusters of four. Each cluster was separated by partitions with no ceilings on the individual clusters. As such, EVERY sound ascended to the acoustically optimized ceiling above and was evenly distributed to each cluster. Creaking beds, farts, belches, sleep-talkers, early-risers…every sound. Patience, tolerance, and learning to sleep in a crowd of people are continual “growing” opportunities on the Camino.

Today’s walk was nice, leaving earlier put is in a larger pilgrim crowd, so we met more this morning than the previous days combined. Also, the terrain is changing into rolling hills covered with vineyards and olive groves. I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll say it again, I love the walking through the farm country in Navarra. Their agriculture practice seems right.

And then there’s the view coming into Cirauqui…the most stunning view of the trip thus far! I wish I would have taken more time at this spot or had a better camera than the one on my phone to capture this amazing scene.

We arrived in Estella in the mid-afternoon, settled into the Agora Hostel, and then went out to explore the town. Looking back, it was one of my favorites. It reminded me of a small Pamplona.

We stopped at a sidewalk cafe in the Plaza Los Fueros for pintxos and wine.  It seemed like everyone in this town of 14,000 people was in this plaza, it was a very natural, communal feeling. All the sidewalk cafes were full, people milling about in the plaza, and kids were playing soccer in the middle of the crowd. And this was on a Wednesday, non-festival night! It sure beats sitting in the living room watching “Reality” TV…