The second day is often the hardest. Your body goes into shock upon realizing that it’s being asked to perform an encore of yesterday’s physical feat. That’s why I was thankful that (1) the hostel mandates that everyone leave by 8am — it kicked my butt into gear and forced me to move even though I felt incredibly lethargic — and (2) we had a short day ahead of us.
We left the albergue (hostel) right before 8, before sunrise, and got to the monastery in Oseira by 10:45. The walk took us up the hill with gorgeous vista of the gentle valleys below. The hills were scattered with large granite boulders of all sizes and shapes. We figured all the granite rocks that made up the stone houses and stone walls that criss-crossed the meadow must have come from these hills.
From the picture I’d seen of the monastery, I knew it was pretty large. But I hadn’t expected a palace. The massive stone walls rose up to the sky and appeared suddenly to our left. Three storied castle-like buildings with massive bell towers and intricately carved stone facades and tall walls surrounding the whole complex.
We took the opportunity to tour the site and learned about the history of the order (Cisterciens), how they started the monastery in the 12th century, and how the different parts of the monastery were built, rebuilt, added, and renovated throughout the ages. At some point the site was abandoned for almost 100 years and revived by the French who then returned it to the Cisterciens monks in 1929. It had been a horse stable, a jail, an orphanage, a corn farm, a champagnerie. And now only 11 monks live there, in that big giant complex by themselves!! They made herbal liqueur and cookies (for sale at the gift shop) and supplemented their income with the entrance fee for the tour and the albergue.
Not many people choose to stop at this monastery, because it lengthens the route. Or if they do choose to visit, many prefer to walk another 10km the same day & stay in Dozón. I really wanted to experience staying at the monastery and luckily Gabriel and Pilar didn’t mind my idea. So we got to stay at this dormitory at the edge of the monastery where we were the only guests. The place was not heated so it was somewhat cold in the evening. There was a bathroom with two shower stalls and two toilets and I just couldn’t imagine how it’d work if the whole dormitory was filled with 48 people. Imagine the lines for the bathroom!!
I kept expecting people to welcome us effusively at the hostel, like we’re the poor tired pilgrims in need of tender, loving care. Not because what we’re doing is so hard but because I had thought people would assume we have been walking for hundreds of miles already (since we’re in the last “stage” of the full Camino). But so far people are pretty non-chalant and aloof, some downright gruff, like the man at the albergue in Cea. He barely said a word to us, grunting when he asked for our credentials (pilgrim passport). Same with the monastery. I had expected a monk in full robe to greet us. Nope. Just a guy – who does live at the monastery – who took care of payment, registration and stamping of our pilgrim passports. So bureaucratic. Maybe with thousands of people coming through each year eventually everyone just got tired of the pilgrims passing through. We’re just like those swarms of grasshoppers that took over Las Vegas this summer – a temporary annoyance.
Especially in a town this tiny. We joked that the town’s population was probably around twenty, that is if you also count the cats and dogs. There’s only one restaurant/bar in town owned by an elderly couple and their daughter, who was the de facto server+bartender, the one who had to deal with customers. There wasn’t much at the restaurant. Bread, chorizo, cheese, eggs, salad and snacks. We kept coming back for various things and asked inane questions, made her sell us some eggs even though she said she didn’t like doing it because she’s not a grocery store; at some point I was a little scared she’d ban us from the place. And what would we do then? There was no other place in town for us to get food and drinks and snacks!
