[Gocamino] Re: [saintjames] Albergue fees?

[Blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,
Verena (who, like e.e. cummings,  eschews the use of capital letters) wrote, 
in the Saint James list, a message regarding her experiences with true, and 
non-true, pilgrims over her four caimans.
The last paragraph  of her message reads: 
 "which is the most beautiful albergue in the opinion of you guys? Has 
anybody been to boadilla del camino, just before fromista? enjoyed the nice food in 
the own restaurant, very friendly owners and the lively garden with the tidy 
lawn and the pool:-) and all this for only 5 euros!"

I don't know about being the most beautiful, but, to me, at least, the most 
memorable albergue is the one in Viana. The hauntingly beautiful hilltop 
medieval town  lies a few kilometers before Longrono.; it was founded in 1219 by 
Sancho VII, "the Strong" and walled as a bastion in such a manner that it 
successfully resisted assaults and sieges over centuries.  The building wherein the 
albergue is housed dates back to the foundation of the city; its walls are 
about one meter thick and its coil stairways are a marvel. One can still see the 
niches which, covered by straw,  served as resting places for ancient pilgrims, 
and the brazier holes in the floor that were used to warm them.  Next to the 
albergue lie the ruins of what must have been a magnificent church; the ruins 
are more beautifully phantasmagoric and imposing than those of San Anton.  
Behind the Viana albergue lies a large terraced area from which one can see the 
vale below and transcend the centuries.  The images of columns of galloping 
horsemen soldiers, with the plumes in their hats and their crimson capes flying 
in the wind, can be seen in the distance.... without their really being there.  
And the echoes of their horses'  hoofs  clap softly through the night  in the 
dreamy ascending and descending cobbled streets inside the walls.
I get the impression that, comparatively,  not too many pilgrims pass through 
Viana; at least that is what the hospitaleros told me.  And, indeed, most of 
the town enraptured visitors appear to be tourists,  particularly Italian 
tourists.
Viana is reminiscent of lovely Assisi,  as is, in a smaller scale,  
Castrogeriz.  When the Borgia Pope, Alexander VI, who was originally from Spain,  died, 
 his soldier son Cesare retired to Viana and, eventually, was killed in a 
battle defending the town.  He is buried in the town.  
The Viana albergue in a massive, silent, solemn, almost unconscious manner 
seems to reveal the town's history. Last winter,  around the Santiago Cathedral 
after midnight, on a rainy  night tinged with white and pink hues, walking 
alone and listening to the enveloping cloud of muted voices left behind by the 
pilgrims of centuries past,  I recognized   that Viana has the same magic. 
I would urge Camino Frances  pilgrims  to make a stop in Viana;. the few 
kilometers to the busy city of Longrono form a  lovely downhill walk that doesn't  
take long at all. 
Big hug!
Rosina