We got up from Ligonde later than most, a lot of the folks staying at our place were early risers. Funny thing is this auberge was built pretty much on top of a hen house and the roosters were up nice and early. We would go across the way to have out typical coffee, orange juice pastry and start our day. Rain would be in the forecast off and on for the next few days.
Today would be my most stressful day, I knew it would be...it involved going thru a town called Melide known for its octopus at restaurants, I imagined some quaint town with restaurants everywhere serving the dish. I've eaten octopus several times before and had just had some a few days before so that was not a huge deal to me until a few weeks back when I was in Los Arcos. I was at a table with Christian from Canada and shared how I thought this town was going to stress me out, he then added how the octopus at many of the restaurants are alive and they kill them right in front of you and I instantly panicked. There is not much that would disturb me more than that, then in my attempt to just want to avoid the town I could see some fiasco in actually making the whole situation uncomfortable for anyone stuck with me there. I have prepped everyone as to how stressed I am over this...at the time I semi joked to Christian that if I see an octopus about to be killed I know me...I'd offer to purchase the whole thing right then and there throw a pink bow around it and show up at the airport with a new pet. Have you ever seen the youtube video of the precious octopus carrying around a coconut to use as a home? They are fascinating creatures...none the less I certainly don't want to witness one get killed.
It seemed EVERYONE we chatted with was going to stop at Melide for the night, it was a lot to ask J and M to press on thru there, I really tried to appear sane as I was trying to express how difficult this could be for me.
We get to the town and it is far from quaint, M quickly tells me not to walk further as a restaurant is showing off pulling an octopus out of a stew pot, not such an issue as long as i don't have to see it alive one second and dead the next. We get ourselves thru town and run into everyone and I thank them for understanding for we were sll tired and had to press on because of me. J spoke up and also said she had no desire to stay in this town, personally it just felt like death to me. We did hit a grocery store and stopped for soup, we feared as we approached the end of a formal stage that we might have trouble getting a bed but it also appeared everyone was staying in Melide. We walked on and as it was turning dark went over a beautiful bridge with a gorgeous bridge, there in what looked like a small village of beautiful stone homes was a municiple auberge...complete with kitchen and an attached bar/restaurant. The doors were painted robin egg blue like our place near the coast and it was the perfect place to call it a night. I'm really glad we had walked on and was so happy for their understanding. I had walked from Melide with the additional weight of a half of melon which we threw some curd ham on and enjoyed with a bottle of red wine. We would all sleep well as there was good spacing in our auberge with the bed placement, a huge difference between last night and tonight.
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