Camino Day 13: Portomarín to Narón

Day 13 Portomarín to Narón (15km over 5 hours)

I believe we are getting our groove now, ya'll! This morning we were up around 6:45 am packed up our bags, got ready, ate breakfast and we’re out of our albergue by 7:30am. We said goodbye to our hosts at Albergue Casa do Marabillas and headed out of Portomarín. We took in new sites of the city as we followed the Camino arrow out of the city and headed out through its green forests.

About 2-3km outside of Portomarín we came across the most stunning mural, Las Estrellas del Camino. After doing some cursory research we learned that this mural is one of a series murals giving thanks to local “stars” that keep the spirit of the Camino alive. Created by artist Mon Devane, there are several more murals spanning 230 km along the route in Galicia. We hope to see more along our Camino to Santiago as they are simply awe-inspiring. This mural is of Xosè Luis Carreira, founder of Arquixal, an organization that produces sustainable home grown products. Stumbling upon this has been one of the highlights of our Camino experience!

Further along this stage, in Castromaior, we made a quick detour to visit the ancient Castro city inhabited from IVth century BCE to the beginning of the Roman occupation. We imagined how the “rooms” of the site could have been used. The site also offered beautiful views of the surrounding forests, hills, and farmland.

The detour was well worth it but we were also ready to to make it to our destination, the small town of Venta de Narón and albuergue Casa Cruceiro. We arrived, took showers, did laundry hoping it will dry in the breezy sunshine and are ready for dinner. We plan on ordering the Pilgrims menu at our albergue’s restaurant as it is the best deal. It includes 3 courses of different options. Two pilgrims plates are usually more than plenty for the 4 us! We'll finish dinner and then get some rest for the night. Tomorrow we head to Palas de Rei.