Had breakfast at the hotel and had a wonderful chat with Australians Lee and David. They too have been taking their time and started just 5 days after us. However, they take a rest day every 3 or 4 days and I think we should have done that. We opted for shorter walking days and then rested sporadically after long stretches of walking days. The breakfast buffet at this hotel was good.
When I checked out, the lady owner asked where I was going. I told them Rectoral De Goian and she told me there was nothing there and was in the mountain and not to go. I said that was the whole point because even though Sarria had a whole town to see, I could not walk out the door. I took a cab to get tto the hotel from the train station and it was only 200 meters away. She called her daughter to translate for her to make sure I understood I was going to the country!
Javier, the owner of Rectoral de Goian picked me up from the hotel and drove about 7 km to his country home. He runs the guest house with his wife Rachel and live here with their two young kids. This place was recommended to me by the tour group company I had met earlier and I checked Trip Avdvisor for reviews and also photos. This place is beautiful. Just what I need to just put my feet up. Two New York Ladies are staying here who are walking a few km. and getting picked up by Javier. Then there are 5 Canadians travelling together, John hurt his back before the trip so he became the support driver picking up the other 4 at the end of the walk. They had offered for me to join them but I am not able to walk without hurting yet.
The dinner last night was gourmet cooking. Both Javier and Raquel are professional chefs. We had a wonderful salad with 3 cheeses and the hake was absolutely moist and the flavors perfect. It was served over potatoes that were flavored with onions and garlic and oil. Our dessert was chocolate mousse with mint ice cream, all home made. We had coffee and tea after dinner and Javier went out to the garden to show us some herbs he could put together for our tea. We had a wonderful combination of several mint tea, rosemary which I learned is Romero in Spanish and stevia leaves. It was good.
One thing I have to remember when I get home is to quit buying Paul Newmans Italian dressing and instead just have oil and vinegar on the table for my salad dressing. I also need to be more creative with my salads, throw in asparagus or tuna etc. I have been eating good salads here.
Dick walked almost 31 km and he is only 14 km. away so hopefully, if he doesn't dilly dally, he can get here way before dinner as our chef is also the pick up driver. When I told him how nice this place is he immediately asked if there was a bath tub. When I checked in, Raquel had me look at a room downstairs with only a shower and I opted to go upstairs because of the bath tub in the upstairs room!
There is a beautiful sitting room upstairs just outside my room to put my feet up and have Raquel bring me some tea and pastries. It has beautiful antique furniture and I love the stone walls.
I had a massage in the room, what a treat. I also made another appointment for Tuesday. The masseu was good.
View from bedroom window
Chestnut trees viewed from bedroom window
No comments:
Post a Comment