Caldas de Reis to Padron
Walking Day 26: 18 km, 4 hrs
Today there was rain. Lots of rain. It was quite comfortable compared to recent very warm days.
It was pleasant walking along for much of the morning with Clarissa (recent US college grad who was headed to her first job right after the Camino). We arrived in Padron shortly after noon.
We stayed at the Rivera Hotel, which is adjacent to Chef Rivera Restaurant and right across the street from the Rivera Auto-Lavandaria (laundromat). A pretty good situation for soaking-wet pilgrims on a rainy day.
Padron is famous for pemientos de Padrón. While they may be on the menu in many places in Portugal and Spain, locals claim that the others are only Padron-style peppers, not the real thing. Interestingly, the peppers originally came from Mexico during the colonial period. They are delicious, and we have grown them in our Connecticut garden every year since this Camino.
In 2016, I stayed across the river in Dodro at Pazo de Lestrove, a 16th century palace.