Arzua – KEVIN CRAIG

Camino de Santiago – Day 12 – Arzua to O Amenal

We are in our tiny little inn in tiny little O Amenal. This place is really special. It’s called Kilometro 15. That’s how far away we are from Santiago de Compostela. I would recommend this tiny little place!

We left our albergue this morning at 6:55am.

It was a slightly shorter day at about 22kms. It felt like a walk in the park, even with the ups and downs. This albergue is pretty small. Not sure how many rooms there are, but I’m certain it’s not a lot. I met a couple lovely dogs here. The older one was roaming free and stayed by my side for a while lapping up the attention I gave them.

We had pizza here at the pension and it was amazing! Just what I needed. The innkeeper was super friendly too!

Some photos from the beginning of our day…

We only had two stops today. One of the places, in A Calzada, was the place I bought a little purse in… back in 2014. I then used it as the place where Troy first talked to his Camino crush in The Camino Club. Instead of buying the purse, Troy and his crush reviewed it as a bad purchase because it was too small and had no compartments. 😉

Sunrise was pure magic!

We walked past the beer bottle place this morning. It’s usually quite busy, but there was nobody there when we walked by today.

Casa Verde, which was the most hopping fun bar on the Camino back in 2014, is gone. There’s now an albergue and cafe in its place. No vibes whatsoever, sadly.

Walking past some gorgeous graffiti.

And then we arrived. Quick day!

It’s over. We are here, full from our pizza and beer and Coke Zero and brownie and cheese cake. This place is so lovely. Book it!

Buen Camino! Tomorrow, we land in Santiago de Compostela!!!!

Click here to jump to DAY 13 – O Amenal to Santiago de Compostela!!!

If you’ve found this post helpful and would like to support this page, you can do so by buying me a coffee! KevinCraig-BuyMeACoffee

While you’re here, I wrote a novel set on the Camino Frances route. You can check it out at Amazon here: THE CAMINO CLUB

Camino de Santiago – Day 11 – Palas de Rei to Arzua

We are in our albergue in Arzua. It was a long day. Feels like the longest yet, but I don’t really have the energy to check! Here’s the damage…

There is loud music coming in the open door and I hope it stops before it gets too late. Uh oh!

The sun is shining down on our clothes on the line and we’re chilling after having had a marvelous supper at Ultreia Restaurante and Albergue… which is located a few blocks away on the main drag. We ate there in 2019 and I was adamant about going there again. They have traditional Galician food, but their Italian is absolutely spectacular.

Here’s my blog post about Ultreia Restaurante from 2019.

Here’s what we ate this afternoon at Ultreia…

We both had the Mushroom Ravioli for our first.

Michael had the steak and chips. I don’t like steak. His honest opinion was that it was too red inside for his liking.

We both had the lemon cream cannoli with lemon ice cream. Heaven!

The day had, as usual, many ups and many downs. As always, it was beautiful. A few raindrops fell, but too few to mention. Wait… I did just mention them.

We left our albergue at 6:59am. Still dark. It was uphill almost right from the start, soon after the statues in the final pic below…

A few pics along the way…

We both posed with St. James…

We were soon–hours later–in Milede. This city is famous for its pulpo (octopus). We did not have any this time round.

After Melide, we just had a few more towns to go through. It was a hard slag today. It would be nice to break this section up into two days. I would suggest either Melide or Ribadiso. I stayed in Ribadiso in 2014…it’s a nice place.

Soon, we were in Arzua! I’ve never been so happy to see a place. We actually stopped and had our supper at Ultreia Restaurante before we checked into our albergue. It was on the way… and we are in for the night! (Reader, it’s 5:12pm!)

The famous mural that everyone in YouTube videos says the guy looks like Kevin Costner. 😉

We stayed in this albergue in 2019. It’s clean and cheap. The shower is a press on/off with a timer, but good hot water and good pressure.

Albergue Pension Cima do Lugar

That is it for today! Tomorrow we head for Amenal. The albergue is Kilometro 15…so that tells you just how close to Santiago de Compostela we’ll be once we arrive! Almost there!

Buen Camino, peregrinos/peregrinas! Until tomorrow!

Click here to jump to DAY 12 – Arzua to O Amenal!

If you’ve found this post helpful and would like to support this page, you can do so by buying me a coffee! KevinCraig-BuyMeACoffee

While you’re here, I wrote a novel set on the Camino Frances route. You can check it out at Amazon here: THE CAMINO CLUB

Camino De Santiago (Astorga to Santiago de Compostela-Sept 2019) Food – Ultreia Café in Arzua is a MUST on the Camino de Santiago!

Ultreia was a surprise delight in Arzua on the Camino de Santiago! Don’t miss it!

We walked today from Palas de Rei to Arzua. A long exhausting uphill hike.

After showers, we walked back to the restaurants we passed on the way into town. The one we chose was absolutely incredible!

As with many Pilgrim Meal combos, Ultreia had the 10€ offering where you get to choose a starter, a main, and a dessert… With a drink. I chose cod/pepper croquettes for my starter, meat lasagna for my main and mousse with blueberry coulis for dessert. Ultreia is fine dining. Every dish was impeccable and incredible! It’s obvious they take pride in their work. The whole combo menu looked appetizing. It was so difficult narrowing down our decisions. But I’m guessing every dish is a winner! And they gave us a bottle of wine to share between the two of us.

Michael had a mushroom ravioli dish for his starter and it was the best ravioli I’ve ever tasted. So good.

If you’re on the Camino de Santiago going through ARZUA… make sure to stop for food at ULTREIA CAFÉ! You won’t be sorry.

We did not stay at the albergue, but there is an albergue attached to the Café… It would be worth checking out! If the accomodations are half as amazing as the 10€ meal, they’ll be excellent. ❤

For those looking for more typical Galician dishes, they can also be found on the menu. (-: