Day 28 - To Lugar do Corgo

To Santiago de Compostela: 167 km
Walked today: 24.3 km
Total walked: 473.5 km

Started with our usual routine; breakfast of juice, fruit and bun in the hotel room and out on time to see the sunrise.

We passed though Vila Boa and we found floral arches across the road and people setting tents for the festival of the Santa Cruz - Holy Cross.  One lady explained to us what they were going to do, unfortunately I did not understood much so we smiled at each other and said good bye.

We traveled through the country and as we were climbing a hill we started to hear a choir singing the Ave Maria.  The music and the views combined gave us a very spiritual morning.

At 10 am we stopped at a restaurant to eat something.  Up to this point we had seen only one Portuguese pilgrim.  Here we met a young man from Poland, and just outside we met Natalia from Russia.

After that we saw the 3 Brazilians from yesterday, two Germans, Ferdinand and Gerthart  and later at another cafe we met Tom from England, two ladies from Denmark; Liz and Gerda, Donna from Calgary, and our old friends from Virginia Lee Ray and Annemarie. The Caminho got busier after Porto.

I don't know why but the first 10 km of the day are easy but the last 5 are so hard. My blisters are a bit bigger but what hurts the most at the end of the day is the bottom of my feet.

A few kilometers before our objective we found ourselves alone in the middle of some woods.  Beautiful spot.  So we took advantage of the moment to pray our rosary.  A moment of peace and spirituality.

We had called to make a reservation in Casa Fernanda, when I asked for a "matrimonial bed", Fernanda wanted to make sure I was with my wife.  This place is famous in the pilgrim forums.  The fee is a donation, that means you give what you want.  They gave us the only room in the house which is very nice.  The rest of the people are in dormitories.  In total we had 15 people at the table.

We knew most of the people, our Virginian friends are here, they are really our favorites and he have known them the longest since met them back in Azambuja.  Pur German friends from last night's Mass, Mara and Mel are here too.

They gave us wine, bolos de bacalau, .and then a plentiful dinner with more wine.  Great dinner.  It was quite an experience the time we shared with all these pilgrims. It seems that the whole purpose of Fernanda and her husband Joaquin is to take care of pilgrims.

Today I go back to Our Lady Mary and ask her to pray for us. Hail Mary full of grace.

Day 27 - To Barcelos

To Santiago de Compostela: 187.7 km

Walked today: 29.2 km

Total walked: 449.2

They treated us very well at the Quinta Sao Miguel, since we planned to have breakfast around 5:30am,  last night they gave us a care package to put in our fridge with yogurt, ham, cheese, butter, etc and this morning they had left in the dining room fruit, bread, coffee, really anything you may want for breakfast.

The blisters are still sore so I tied the boots a bit different and bit tighter and despite a long day of almost 30 km, they don't seem to have grown.  Most important I lasted the day.

We started at dawn, more asphalt and worse, cobblestones (after a while they make my feet very sore).  However the terrain was nicer, we had a few kilometers on the highway shoulder 

But we also got to walk by some woods

And grass fields

And farmland

And passed several areas that look like suburbs.  When we were almost there I saw a nice restaurant, we were very hot, sweaty and hungry so to the restaurant we went.  It was a little fancier than we expected and they had some really nice cars parked in front, Mercedes, Alpha Romeo.

We went in, and the place was busy, though we saw some free tables.  A waiter came running to greet us and told us to follow him.  He took us to a back room, all the tables nicely set up but no one was eating there.  He took us to a table in the corner and sat us there.  Were we pretty smelly?  Is that why they keep pilgrims apart?  On the other hand the waiter was very attentive and the food was plentiful and very good. (But it was funny).

And we finally crossed the bridge to the city of Barcelos

And we found ourselves in the middle of the town medieval festival.  Lots of people dressed in period costumes, bands of drums and pipers from the period, estudiantinas (university music groups in the traditions of the middle ages). Lots of stands selling things, some very remotely related to medieval times but lots of fun.

We found ourselves a nice hotel and we negotiated a good rate.  Since we had a really good lunch we decided to had some fruit for dinner at our room so to the supermarket we went and bought enough for dinner and breakfast.

Being Saturday evening we went to mass, to comply with our Sunday obligation.  The church is nearby and is run by Franciscan friars.  There was a Monsignor officiating with two other priests concelebrating, very solemn.  Of course, being in Portuguese I understood only some things. I knew that there was a special blessings at the end of the mass but that was all.  When mass was over and we were leaving Fray Jose Carlos came and stopped us as well as two German ladies that were sitting next to us.  The ladies are Mel and Maria.  He also called another Lady to translate.  She explained that the blessing at the end of the mass had been for us. That she is a volunteer at the church to welcome pilgrims.  They passed us to the sacristy and Fray Jose Carlos gave us carinbos (stamps on our pilgrim credential s), he also gave us little prayer cards and they had us sign our names in their pilgrims book.  Finally they took us in front of the altar so we could have our picture taken as a group.  Very touching.

Tomorrow we have a tough day, we are walking 20 km to Casa Fernanda and there is a steep climb of over 200 meters.  Maria is going to stay there too and our gringuitas from Virginia, Annemarie and LeeRay  are going to be there as well. Looking forward to see our friends again.

Tonight we ask San Antonio de Lisboa (the Italians call him de Padua) to pray for all the souls that are in danger of going to hell, we ask him to pray for all the people who have asked us to pray for them in this pilgrimage and we ask him to pray for us.

Day 26 - To Los Arcos

To Santiago de Compostela: 207.5 km
Walked today: 22.2 km
Total walked: 420 km

Up at 5 am, gourmet breakfast in the room, supplies we got yesterday: orange juice, a sweet bun and fruit.  On the move by 6 am.

We took the metro to the outskirts of Porto, as we were ready to board there was Annie from Sweden.  She rode with us and stayed on the train.  She was on her way to the coastal route while we are taking the central and traditional Caminho.

When we left the metro station we found ourselves in a busy, narrow highway with no shoulders.  Thrilling or scary your choice.  This went on for almost 10 km.  Asphalt and cobble stones.  Then a quiet road, more and more cobblestones.  Feet destroyers. 

Around 10 am we found a pasteleria in Vilarinho where we had a rest and a ham sandwich. By then my blister on a blister started to make trouble. At the park in front of the pasteleria, I changed the blister plaster and adjusted the boot - it did not help much.

We did have a couple of short breaks from the cobblestone, we crossed another mediaeval bridge which was built for pilgrims and we had a short path through woods.

At around 1 pm we found a full service restaurant so we stopped for a real meal. The place was full and the food was good. We took our time, salad, fish fillets, potatoes and rice accompanied by vinho Verde plus dessert for only €6.50. A lot better and cheaper than Porto.  This is what a big Mac meal costs.

Shortly after lunch we saw the first couple of pilgrims, not very talkative but they are staying in the same Quinta, I think they are German and they are walking without backpacks.  A bit later we met a Spanish couple also on their way to Santiago.

And then we arrived to our destination, Quinta San Miguel.  This is a very nice place, an old mansion and they have managed to keep the old flavour but with all the comforts of home.  We got a really big room and the bathroom is down the hall. There ate two swimming pools and they do the laundry for free for pilgrims. Surprisingly it is one of the most economical places we have stayed at.

The church is next door and they had a mass at 7 pm which was perfect for us. 

We are really not very hungry so we had soup for dinner and they gave us a package so we can have breakfast at 6 am (they serve breakfast at 8 am).

So now it is 9 pm, bed time.

Santiago el mayor, friend and apostle of Jesus, help us in this journey to your tomb and resting place and pray for us.

 

Early morning in the cobblestones

A shell in el Caminho

The cross of Santiago in a village

The Peregrino from Vilarinho

The mediaeval bridge

At Quinta San Miguel

Day 25 - Last day in Porto

To Santiago de Compostela: 249.1 km

Walked today: 11.7 km

Total walked: 397.8 

Another good night of sleep.  The feet are in much better shape.  I am afraid I am getting used to the easy life of the tourist but I am ready to restart the pilgrimage.

Brenda found a laundromat so the first order of the day was to wash.  Washing machines are a luxury on the Camino and since we have only one change of clothes the daily wash is a must.

 We visited Porto's market which is very similar to the markets we know in Mexico city. They have a large variety of fruits here but the best thing for me is the cherries, there are all kinds of them everywhere.  We got some fruit for tomorrow and we got back to the hotel to leave our loot.

Out again we had planned to walk to the river and visit some of the wineries that are located there. But we took our time, we stopped at the Igreja dos Congregados It was so peaceful in there that we found a spot in front of Our Lady of Sorrows and prayed our rosary.

I could not resist one more stop at the train station to admire the tiles and take more pictures.  I am fascinated by the pictures of knights and battles.

Then down to the river Duero shore, we crosses over the Dom Luís I bridge. It is a metal arch bridge that spans the Douro Riverbetween the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. At the time of construction its span of 172 m was the longest of its type in the world. The construction was begun in 1881 and the bridge opened on 31 October 1886. Total length of the bridge is 385.25 m. This is very interesting for an old engineer like me.

The views of Porto are amazing from the other side of the river.  Pretty soon we found a winery, Calem Cave.  We were informed that the next tour in English was two hours away and the Spanish was even later.  We must have looked disappointed because then the receptionist said she was expecting a group from the US and that she would ask for permission to include us.  Of course we were accepted.  The people were nice and we learned that Porto wine was invented because in the old daus, the Portuguese were selling wine to England but with the boat trip it would go bad and arrive as vinager.  So they started adding another wine with higher alcohol content during the process.  They call this a brandy (but it is not what we know as brandy). This would stop the fermentation and keep more sugar in the wine and that is how the porto wine was invented. There is a lot more to it, different kinds, different grapes.  The important thing is that it is sweet and as a consequence I like it.

By then we were a bit hungry so to an Italian restaurant (yes, I know we are in Portugal but I like my pasta). Then walk back but instead of walking up the very steep hill to town we took the funicular.  We met there a very happy young Korean girl, Joy, and had a nice chat.

Back uptown, we went for a sangria in the plaza nearby where we met Clare from Ireland (she is very nice), while we were with her the teens from NY came by to say hi and when we were getting ready to leave our friend Klemens from Germany arrived. Pilgrim style hugs and kisses all around and good byes though I expect that we will see all of them again in el Camino

And now, while we get ready for bed, we ask Our Lady of Sorrows to pray for us and help us in el Camino.

Day 24 - In Porto

To Santiago de Compostela: 241.9 km
Walked today: 9.1 km
Total walked: 386.1

The luxury of vacation.  We did not get up until 7 am.  After breakfast we walked over to the train station.  It has gigantic tile murals like the one below

From there we walked down to the cathedral, by then it was 9 am and it had just opened.  We went to the chapel of the holy sacrament and prayed our rosary.  It was just in time, by the time we finished, the hordes of tourists were coming in, noisy and disrespectful.

Form outside the cathedral there some very nice views of the city and the tower of the clerigos is clearly visible.

We went into the claustro of the cathedral and there is a lot to admire there, including the

Sacristy which contains a lot of medieval religious art.

We kept going down the hill and arrived to the seminary with its art museum.

This statue of Santiago Peregrino is an example of what we found there.

We had made a date with our pilgrim friends and a good group got together for lunch.  It was great to see people with whom we share some unique experiences.  

Later our friends from the USA organized us to take a boat tour of the river.

After the boat rode we had a nice dinner together by the riverside.  Hopefully our paths will cross again soon.

St. John the Baptist is the patron saint of Porto so we ask him to pray for the Christians that are prosecuted for our faith and to pray for us.

Day 23 - To Porto

To Santiago de Compostela: 241.9 km
Walked today: 7.5 km
Total walked: 366 km

With the pain in the back of my left foot, I think I walked funny yesterday so I ended the day with two new blisters on the bottom front of the foot.  I have trouble walking.  So as planned, we got up late and took the 9 am bus to Porto. We were here by 10am. The hotel is just a few blocks from the hotel so we walked.  

Of course it was to early to get our room so while I was talk ng my boots off and switching to my ultralight shoes, this gentleman with a backpack arrived. Brenda said: I know that man. We know him from his picture; it was John Brierley, the man who writes the Camino guides.  He is a nice man and after a chat, he signed our guide books.

Since we could not stay we went out for a very slow walk.  This is the Igreja de Story Ildefonso

At the end of the street I think is the Igreja dos Clérigos

This is the famous Liberia Lille

And the side of the Igreja dos Carmelitas

We had a bite at a pasteleria and back to the hotel.  We rested the hottest part of the day.

 We went back out to buy more blister plasters, had dinner and went to visit the Igreja dos Congregados.  We were lucky, they were praying the rosary so we stayed and then we had a holy Mass.  We were pleased we could participate.

To end the day, In the way back we sat at an outdoor bar and enjoyed a glass of Porto.

The church of the Igreja dos Congregados is dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua also known as Anthony of Lisbon.  He was born in Lisbon in the XII century and died in Padua. He became a Franciscan friar.  He is probably the best known of the followers of St. Francis of Assisi.  He was proclaimed doctor of the church by pope Pios XII.  Since he is also patron of the travellers, we ask him to grant us his protection and to pray for our pilgrim friends.

Day 22 - To Albergaria a Velha

To Santiago de Compostela: 305.4 km
Walked today:
Total walked: 358.5

Up at 5am, the hostel attendant left us a bagged breakfast so we were able to start walking by 6 am. Suprisingly, half an hour later we found an open pasteleria - these are some of the best places to visit in Portugal - so we could have our morning's coffee.

The walk continued without incidents, unfortunately always on asphalt, we crossed a few towns were we found more houses, more like palaces, covered in magnificent tiles.

We did have some ups and downs and some very nice views.

A notable place was this Roman bridge, it is very long and looks magnificent.

One sign that fascinated Brenda is this school crossing sign. She comments that it looks like two happy kids going to school but a friend replied that it looks more like an adult dragging a kid to school. 

At around 10:30 am, Canadian Scott and German Tom caught up with us.  They started at 7:30 am an hour and a half after we did. Boy oh boy, we are slow. Since the stage for today is short they plan to keep going. If they reach their goal they will have walked around 35 km.

As we arrived to Albergaria a Velha we sat in the shade in front of a church to pray our rosary.  Shortly after Reinhard and Kirsten passed us as well.  By then I was having serious trouble with my feet.

We managed to find our hostel and get our room. When the boots came off I found more blisters on my feet, no wonder they are do sore.  I really don't think I can walk the 20 km we had planned for tomorrow. So reluctantly wonder woman agreed to take the bus tomorrow to Porto and take a couple of days off there to give my feet a chance to heal.

Albergueira is a nice town.  We had lunch in the restaurant attached to the hostel of vegetable soup and bolos de bac - fried balls of bacalhau with rice.  Nice.

We went to the drug store to get more patches for my blisters (though for tomorrow I have a couple of patches of "second skin" that Scott gave me). We had fun there, the pharmacist speaks only Portuguese so it is a comedy trying to communicate in a bit of English, Spanish and Portuguese.

We also saw English Laura and Australian Kate having a cold drink at a cafe. Laura's feet are in worse shape than mine so they are taking the bus to Porto today and plan to rest there for a couple of days.  I am definitely not the only one with foot problems.  Even wonder woman got a new blister today. The heat and walking on asphalt combined are foot killers.

We will be resting the rest of the day so this is it for today.

The church where we prayed this morning is dedicated to St. Joseph so we ask him today to pray for us.

Day 21 To Agueda

To Santiago de Compostela: 321.7

Walked today: 26.4 km

Total walked: 358.5 km

Very tired. That's how I finished the day yesterday.  So this morning we got up late so we could have the hotel breakfast at 7:30 am. Then, still feeling lazy we called a taxi to take us 6 km ahead - just a little cheat - of course the taxi left us off the Camino so it took us an hour to find ourselves following the yellow arrows and the shells.

Today the trail was not as nice, it was a hot day and pretty well all day was on asphalt which tends to get very hot and my feet suffered.  I truly have now blisters on my blisters. I missed the eucalyptus forests of previous days.

When we got to Sao Joao de Azenha, we decided to visit the church.  Today is Sunday and while we thought we were going to miss mass at least we could say hello to Our Lord Jesus.  Well, we found ourselves in a mass in progress and while we were there just for a small part, we did have a chance to receive holy communion

We did see a lot of pilgrims today.  We saw again our French friends Daniel and Chantal and we met a young German, Reinhardt while we were walking.

When we arrived to our destination, after our shower we had two options for supper. The hostel could order pizza for us or we could walk a couple of kilometres to McDonald's so McDonald's it was.  It was a nice dinner, this time we really need the fats and the carbs.  Brenda's app says we are burning over 5000 calories a day. So bring on the Big Macs.

When we returned to the albergue, we went to the yard to join the pilgrims. A nice crowd, a good crowd. Kristen from Holland is here, it was really nice to see her again. Tom and Reinhardt from Germany, Daniel and Chantal from France, Scott from Canada, Laura and Tom from the UK, Kate from Australia.  It was great hanging out with them.

We also had a chance to talk to all of our sons. We used skype to call them. Since it is Sunday we caught all of them at home.  We been gone for three weeks and we miss them.

And now to bed. Tomorrow up again at 5 am to start walking before the heat arrives.

The pictures from today:

This church is a classic Portuguese, covered completely with tiles.

Here we are coming down to a river and in the other side the town of Agueda can be seen. We thought we were there but we still had a couple of kilometres up the hill.

Here we are crossing the river to get into the town

And finally going up the hill, up and up to get to the albergue

Today is the day of Pentecost so we pray to the Holy Spirit asking for his protection.

Day 20 - To Mealhada

To Santiago de Compostela: 347.1 km
Walked today: 29.5 km
Total walked: 332.1

We started early again. The hotel manager arranged for breakfast to be ready for us at 5:30 am so we were on the move shortly after 6 am.

We started very strongly again.  5 km in an hour and then slow down. The difference was that I was still tired from yesterday.

We arrived to Trouxemill around 9 am. They have a nice small church and a nice statue of Santiago peregrino. Nearby we found a little the store that have everything, a cafe, a supermarket and they even sold hardware items.  We sat there to have a café and to buy some fruit and chatted with Bruno, the owner.

Most of the day we walked through small villages or quiet asphalt roads.  Again, a beautiful country, lots of flowers, vineyards, and farm fields.

Pilgrims say that the people of Portugal are very nice to pilgrims but that the dogs of Portugal are very nasty with pilgrims.  So we had a good scare.  We were walking through a nice suburb, I was walking abut 10 metres ahead of Brenda.  I walked in front of a house and I saw a woman in the garage with a pretty big black dog.  I mean BIG.  The animal growled at me but the woman called it off.  When Brenda arrived the animal came out running and and jumped snapping at her arm. The owner kept calling the dog off and I could her panic in her voice.  Fortunately the dog finally obeyed before he could hurt Brenda.  I was to far to do anything and we had our poles in the backpacks.  It was pretty scary.

From then on we did not have any other nasty incidents. Thank God.

As for pilgrims, the French couple of Daniel and Chantal passed us while we were praying the rosary in the woods.  Later on we met a German gentleman, Clementz, he is 78 and walks faster than us.  We ended staying in the same hotel and we had dinner with him.  Interesting man, a university professor of Sociology. Finally, when we were almost finished walking for the day, a Canadian with a Toronto maple leafs caught up with us, his name is Scott.

Now it is past 10pm, way past our bedtime. So good night.

I will end with the Fatima prayer

O my Jesus, 
forgive us our sins, 
save us from the fire of hell,
lead all souls to heaven, 
especially those who are in most need of Thy mercy.

Today's pictures:

Yellow arrow to Santiago, blue to Fatima

Santiago Peregrino

A rest with a nice view

We walked through evergreen and eucalyptus woods

You can see Mealhada far out there