A short walk today (14km) as we haven’t booked a room and nothings available in the next couple of towns. Booking.com and the Camino Ninja apps have been our go-to apps to book beds or rooms everyday. The Camino Ninja app has a lot more pilgrim stops than Booking.com, with phone numbers and email addresses and most importantly, we’ve learned, very reliable ratings of albergues.
Since no booking was possible, we decide to head to the municipal albergue at Viana, that doesn’t take reservations. This meant that we’d need to reach before 12 noon, their opening time.
John had read posts and seen photos of people waiting in line to get into no-reservation municipal albergues. So…we raced to Viana! We reached the outskirts of the town around 10 a.m! Being a Saturday, there were a lot of local walkers and cyclists we crossed. We could hear the cheers of a crowd cheering on kids playing a football match. The town was a buzz with activity, people in the plaza eating and drinking. We headed straight to the Albergue and were told to come back at 12.
We found a nice cafe, drank some coffee and ate some tortilla. We hung around the ruins of an old church and finally at 12 walked into a really well maintained albergue. We shared a room with a couple of young men from Barcelona, a lady from Holland and a lady from Korea. The Spaniards were headed back home the next day, after walking for a week.
After a quick bath and a nap, we headed out for a walk and something to eat.
Stomachs full, we decided to hangout at the ruins near our albergue and found that it had become the site of a music concert by local talent. We sat down to listen to some lovely singing and instrumental music. The towns residents were present, looking good in their smart clothes!
It was a nice day in beautiful Viana!
A Couple of Indians Walking in Spain 