Maybe the most beautiful day of the Camino so far. Just under 14 miles from Najera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada on smooth wide dirt paths through gorgeously undulating farmland, with interlocking patchworks of different colored crops making the whole day seem like a giant living abstract painting; Richard Diebenkorn, the West Coast painter and master of color, and Nicolas de Stael, the School of Paris abstractionist, came to mind. And all under a solid blue sky with strong sun, just cool enough to make it the weather of my dreams.

And unlike the several previous days it was a social hike. I walked most of the day with a lovely 40 year old woman from New Jersey, a social worker taking a year off to try to figure out the next phase of her life. Spending three months at a Zen Buddhist retreat in Vermont, visiting a bunch of friends in various parts of Europe, and doing the Camino are among her adventures for the year. Curiously the first thing she said to me was "Are you Jewish?" and when I said yes she said "Oh good, you're the first Jewish guy I've met here." A strange introduction, but it turns out she's first generation Ecuadoran who grew up in an all Jewish neighborhood and she was a riot. And we walked for a few hours with a man from San Francisco roughly the same age, a clinical psychologist doing the Camino for the second time; two years ago he did it in 28 days! We had a blast, with animated conversation the whole time. She's been unlucky in love and at one point she said, wait a minute, I'm looking for love and I'm walking all day with a gay guy and a guy who's been married for 35 years?

And a touching encounter yesterday. I had arranged a private room in the albergue in Najera and was checking in when a somewhat exasperated looking German couple pushed ahead of me in line. I had a reservation and wasn't in a rush so I let it be, and the woman behind the desk, seeing what had happened, gave me a knowing look. Later I was about to shower and there was no soap. I asked the woman if I could buy some body soap and she said please wait five minutes. When she came with the soap I asked what I owed and she said, no, nothing, and turned to leave. Then she turned back around and said, oh yes, you owe me two kisses. I kissed her on both cheeks and we exchanged warm smiles. A lovely moment.

And now I'm in one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in, the Parador de Santo Domingo Bernardo de Fresnada. I thought I was splurging at 65 euros for the night, but what a bargain. The exquisite building is a former convent and university dating from the medieval era, restored magnificently, now housing the hotel and an art restoration laboratory. Early Spanish paintings and prints adorn the walls in the lobby and halls, the entry floor is inlaid stone in floral patterns, and there are fine examples of 17th and 18th century furniture throughout. What a heavenly surprise!