Having arrived at Ponferrada, we chose to take the weekend off from the Camino for Easter. We stayed at a very nice hostal for peregrinos called La Virgen de la Encina for $48. It was located next to the city’s famous Knight’s Templar castle. What a sight to behold! What a location as well as we were also not far from the city’s biggest church and a major thoroughfare for shopping.

We explored the area and also took many pictures of the castle. We enjoyed an exquisite lunch at Meson Berciano where we had Garbanzos con Callo (chickpeas with tripe), Churrasca Asado (grilled steak) with homemade fries and a tipico salad accompanied by beer, bread and water. We even had a coffee flan for dessert. Total Cost $20 (including tip though tipping is not required but the server was extremely courteous and ensured that we obtained a prime table where we enjoyed our meal with a wonderful view of the Templar castle in front of us).

We walked the streets after to sight see. This day was relaxing and included a visit to a Spanish Mcdonald’s for a cone just for fun. Later, we also walked to the first Spanish shopping Mall we encountered on our trip so far called El Rosal. If you recall, Spanish people do not come out until sundown so the shopping mall is opened until one o’clock in the morning to accomodate these semi-vampires..(lol)

We ended up in our room around nine in the night which is early for the lifestyle here but I felt quite tired and wanted to catch up on sleep. Watched the news and see that there is trouble for the people of Cypress with the government considering confiscating 60% of depositor’s savings if they have over $100k in their bank accounts and this might be imposed on the Italy and Spain. Can be an interesting conversation to overhear tommorrow when we head out for our morning coffees in the tavernas.

For tommorrow, our rest stop is the Albergue Nicholas De Flue and we will continue on the Camino first thing in the morning on Monday. Mass and the Easter procession is on our agenda as well.