At the time, I didn't appreciate it. Sorry this is a long story!
I have been to Viana three times, but only once, during my 2019 walk, to stay.
In 2014 during a car/camping holiday in north-eastern Spain, my partner Carol and I were locked into the churchyard as Viana had its bull-running, a much tamer affair than Pamplona, but nevertheless a privilege to witness.
In 2017, on our pilgrimage from home (UK) to Santiago on tandem bicycle, we stopped in the square for an ice cream and checked out the parish albergue, but carried on to Logrono instead.
In 2019, the nucleus of my pilgrim family had begun to form: on the edge of Los Arcos I had bumped into Louis, a NZ chap 30 years my junior, for the third time, and we walked and talked as we strode in stifling heat towards Viana. He was about to book into one of the private albergues, but I told him I fancied trying the parish albergue, which is attached to the the side of the church, at the first floor level. He liked the sound of it.
We had a fulsome warm welcome from the two hospitaleras, both called Maria. We were shown to the 'dorm', a room of maybe 100 sq ft, and invited to pull out a sleeping mat from the pile and place it on a chosen part of the floor. There were already 8 mats in place, with barely room to walk between them!
Two notable characters arrived after us: Jose, an ever-smiling pilgrim from Brazil, who had walked from Rome, and Wojciech, a large and somewhat unkempt Polish pilgrim, who had walked some 3000km from his home country!
After a plain but filling pilgrim meal, we were invited by the Parish Priest for a tour of the organ gallery and archive of the church and a brief but moving mass of thanksgiving. Wojciech translated for the Priest, into Portugese, English, Italian and German!
I had the worst night's sleep of any of my caminos. There was late night partying in the square below but to manage the heat, amplified by that generated by 12 pilgrims in a small room, the windows remained wide open. I was roughly 18 inches from the multi-lingual, sonorous voiced Wojciech who was definitely the soloist for the snoring concerto! My earplugs were overwhelmed and the sleeping mat was certainly a mat but offered insufficent padding for actual sleeping!
I arose at 5am, well before first light, and went outside to a stone bench beside the church, where Carol and I had devoured our ice creams two years earlier, and actually managed 40 minutes of sleep!
When I returned to the comedor for breakfast, Louis and Jose were trying to cheer up Lucy, an English pilgrim who the previous evening had seemed a calm and gentle young person but was now angrily declaring the end to her camino -"I have got to get some $%^^**:! sleep!"
One of the Marias set next to Lucy while bread, jam and coffee were shared. Lucy asked her how long she had volunteered for.
"Two weeks", said Maria.
Lucy: "How do you manage to sleep when it is so noisy here?"
Maria: "Oh I don't sleep here, I sleep in the (private) albergue (off the main square)!"
Lucy practically exploded: "Not even the £^"&8*** hospitaleras sleep here - how are we supposed to?!"
After breakfast I shared my guidebook with Lucy, pointing her to places with private rooms, so she could replenish her sleep and restore her calm. (I heard later that after two days of rest in a Casa Rurale she did complete her camino.)
Louis and I walked to Logrono together, joking about our questionable choice of accommodation. But the next time I am in Viana, I will stay in the parish albergue again!