NEWS
Under New Ownership
An American couple from Northern California, Dominique and Ray Powell took over ownership from Gordon Bell. Gordon had spent almost a decade restoring this farmhouse to an operational Albergue for weary Pilgrims. Gordon fell ill and could no longer operate the Albergue full time.
The Powell's fell in love with The Camino and Galicia and will be ready to operate it in April of 2021. They took over ownership in June of 2019. The Albergue had sat unused for 2 years and needed some deep cleaning, painting, and upgrading. The work had begun and the plan was to open in April of 2020 and then.......THE PANDEMIC HIT. Ray was working on the Albergue between February and March and was forced to leave on 15 March 2020 and head back to California before the borders were closed. So there has been a delay in opening until April 2021.
Opening April 2021
Casa Banderas will be opening in the first week of April 2021 and again provide drinks, meals, and lodging for pilgrims. There has been a three year break since the owner, Gordon Bell, fell ill and could not run the Alburgue anymore.
Latest News December 2020
So the saga continues!! Ray had to leave Spain on 15 March 2020 because of the Pandemic. It took 6 months before Ray and Dominique were able to travel back to Galicia. The only reason they were able to travel to Spain is because they got approval for their Residency Visas and had to go finish all the appointments to get their Residency cards. That will hopefully be all complete in mid-December.
Ray and Dominique arrived back at Casa Banderas on 15 September 2020 and got right to work on all the things that needed to be done to get the Albergue ready to be opened. Ray will be writing about all the projects in our Blog section. Dominique was able to stay for a month and Ray stayed for 2 months and got an amazing amount of things accomplished. Casa Banderas is 99% ready for opening in April 2021 (depending on the Pandemic). We will keep you posted.
Buen Camino!!
Dominique with our newly refurbished wine barrel donated by our local farmer/wine maker Fernando.
UPDATE: 1 June 2021: Dominique and I struggled to travel from the United States!! We made it on 18 March to get ready to open and to do some more, "EXTRAS" to the place. But Spain is just not ready to open yet. We stayed working 7 days a week to put in extra amenities for our Pilgrims but the restrictions are still too much!! 30% occupancy and very few Pilgrims and family commitments at home (California) we traveled back to the States and our goal is mid to late August to OPEN! We are hoping by then that all the restrictions will have been lifted and we can open for business.
WE WILL KEEP YOU POSTED. Keep following us on Facebook @CasabanderasCamino and I will be posting blogs about all the renovations we have done in the last year.