In Spain - Rest Day (Day 1)

The Way of St. James

Aerial picture from Madrid to Pamplona, Spain

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Day 1 - Our Arrival to Spain (Rest Day)

After 18 hours of traveling, we were exhausted! It was only 9:00 a.m. when we arrived in Pamplona, Spain. A full day ahead! Wow! What were we going to do? Should we have started the pilgrimage that day and cross the Pyrenees Mountains or simply take it as a rest day? Definitely, rest was needed! We carefully took into consideration that the days ahead would be really challenging, especially the first day of the pilgrimage of the Way of St. James. For this reason, we decided to stay in Pamplona, Spain so we can sleep as much as possible, but it was too early in the morning and we did not have any type of lodging reservation. 

You might think, why did they not reserve a hotel ahead of time? The answer is that we travel on standby basis since we are part of the airline crew member family. Traveling standby is great! Right? Well, it is not always so pleasant traveling on standby. There are various disadvantages traveling standby; for instance, we tend to be the last passengers to get onboard the aircraft. This means, it is probable that we are not able to board the airplane and if we do, we may or may not sit together as a family! For this reason, we tend not to make lodging reservations until we know for a fact that we are arriving to our destination. 

As soon as we arrived to Pamplona, we called many lodging places, but we were informed that check-in would be available only in the afternoon and accommodations for early check-in were not accepted. Nevertheless, we found an apartment that we rent for a day. The landlady welcomed us in the morning as soon as we arrived to the city of Pamplona. The Ayla Camino de Santiago apartment was completely furnished and had the basic items (i.e., full kitchen with pots and pans, kitchen utensils and washer and drier). However, it did not have air conditioning. 

During our time in Pamplona, we looked for a supermarket so we can cook something in the apartment. Since I, Damarys, have a special diet, it was hard for me to find a place to eat. I decided to search for a supermarket and luckily it was just a few steps away from the apartment. I was able to find a few items (i.e., non-dairy and non-gluten products) that I knew would not cause any digestive problems. In the supermarket, we bought uncooked gluten-free pasta and chicken, and found some spices to make the meal tasty. 

This was our rest day! Now, we get ready for the Pyrenees!

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