Day 1: Granja de Moruela to Tabara (27KM)

What a great first day of walking! The guy from Rome I met yesterday, Davide, and I left the albergue around 6:30AM and walked with a starry sky until dawn broke upon the trail. A beautiful way to begin my Camino experience. About an hour or so into walking we crossed over a lake by an old Roman bridge - what a fantastic view as the sun rose over the hills. We took a brief rest by the side of the trail and then continued on another hour or so to Faramontanos de Tabara, where we had a cookie and espresso. Besides Davide, I didn’t see any other perrigrinos on the way. A surprise. Davide and I talked a little, listened to music, and walked in silence. Again, a great start to this Camino. We arrived in Tabara, had a coffee and then looked for the albergue. We met Pedro, the hospitalero (person who runs the albergue) for the week. Pedro offered great hospitality by cooking the group dinner, washing dirty socks, and setting out bread and jam for breakfast. In Tabara, we met up with the peregrinos from the night before: George, Rene, and Paul from France, and Edith from Quebec; at a cafe for some refreshment after a nice walk. George, Paul, and Rene speak French. Edith speaks French, English, and a little Spanish. Davide speaks Italian, Spanish, and some English. So between these mixes of languages we learned about families, why people walked, and even told some jokes. A great first day on the Camino! (Little did I know or expect this to become a great little group meeting up in one way or another for the next 10 days.) Until next time, Buen Camino!