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.