Day 5 - To Santa Iria

To Santiago de Compostela: 591.4 km

Walked today: 12 km

Total walked: 37.2 km

Today we did not walk much, under 10 km of the Camino (though we always walk more than what is shown in the map).  I think I was tired from yesterday and we had full packs for the first time.  Pains all over, feet and legs plus a hikers rash in the legs (very itchy).  How easy we forget how hard are these first days.

So we walked from the hotel to the metro and then to the park of nations, where we stopped yesterday.  By then we had walked 4 or 5 km with full packs.  We continued the trial along the Tejo river.  Beautiful walk but the girl told me that I looked very tired ( whiich indeed I felt). I don't know if I was tired from yesterday or if it was the first day with the heavy pack or what but I was feeling it.

When we arrived to Sacavem around noon and we decided to call the day.  We took the suburban train for two stops to Santa Iria where we had reserved a room.  The hotel was easy to find.  It is an ugly industrial area but the hotel is great, better and cheaper than the one we had in Lisboa.

After we checked in, we walked to the village to eat lunch.  We found a little place called Churresqueira Baixihno.  It was full but we did find a table.  Before we ordered anything they brought us olives, goat cheese, prociuto, and bread almost a meal.  Then the waiter took us behind the counter and showed several kinds of fish and asked us to pick what we wanted so they could prepare it for us.  It was a glorious meal, we returned to the hotel, changed into our bathing suits and went to lie by the pool.  This is the hard life of us suffering pilgrims.

Now we are in our room resting.  Brenda tells me that I look much better than this morning.  Hopefully I will sleep well tonight so I can make the walk to Vilafranca de Xira, about 16 km.  We are going to get up at 6 am to get going before it gets too hot .  We are still walking short the distances, we are still in training.

I had never heard of Santa Iria, so I looked her up.  In English, she is Saint Irene of Tomar, virgin and martyr.   She lived in the VII century in Visigothic Portugal.  Born in Tomar to an influential family she was kept away from temptation, she only went out to church or to study with her monk tutor.  A young nobleman seeing her from afar fell in love with her and approach asking for permission to court her.  She explained that she would be a nun so she could not accept his advances.  The tutor tried to molest her and she rejected him so the tutor started rumors saying that she was pregnant.  The young nobleman felt betrayed and hired an assassin who attacked her with a sword and killed her.  she became known as a Saint and the city of Santarem (which is not far from Tomar) was named after her.

Tonight when we are the in this town, we pray to Santa Iria,  we ask for her protection and we ask her to pray for us.

The statue below is Catherine de Braganza, on the trail by the Tejo river and next to the Vasco de Gama bridge.

 

Day 4 - To the Park of the Nations

To Santiago de Compostela: 604.9 km
Walked today: 17.9 km
Total walked: 35.2 km

We really started today our pilgrimage walk. On the map we only advanced 9.2 km but we walked around 4 km to the cathedral, we walked in the museum and sightseeing sites and some more on the way back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we'll take the metro to the Park of Nations and finally leave Lisbon behind.

It is easy to forget how hard the first days are. Lying in bed I can feel my sore feet and all the muscless in my legs and really we did not  walked a lot.  All the sidewalks in Lisbon are of pretty cobblestones, nice to look at but very hard on the feet.  Besides, today I had a light pack, may be 5 kg, half load.  Tomorrow I will have the full 10 kg on my back. It is going to get worse before it gets better.

We started the day at a small bakery that seems to be a favorite in this neighborhood.  It is busy but no tourists. We have learned a few words there, like cha de camomila (camomile tea) or pao (bread). The people there, clients and staff, seem to have as much fun as I do with my Portuguese lessons.

After breakfast we walked thru downtown to the cathedral - about 4 km away - this was the only time we met pilgrims.  First we met Salvatore from Italy, he starts tomorrow, and Petra, a young Croatian gal who planned to walk 40 km today.  

The rest of the day no a single pilgrim more.  The Portuguese people are rarely aware of pilgrims and they cannot give directionns for el Camino. In Spain everyone knew exactly where the Camino is.

We walked thru Alfama, the old Moorish quarter. Tiny streets, lots of houses covered in tiles and nice people everywhere.

Eventually we arrived to the Tile Museum.  It is housed in the old Convent Madre Deus.  A large building of Manueline style.  It houses a baroque church covered in medieval gold decorations.  The large collection of tile masterpieces goes back to the Moorish occupation and includes modern pieces.  Fascinating as Spock would say. 

The temperature today was supposed to be a comfortable 19C but walking in the sun felt very, very hot.  Enough for me to get hikers rash on my legs.  In a few days the temperature is going up to 28C.  I don't know what we are going to do.

Later in the street we found a bench under a tree and we had a lunch of fresh fruit and nuts. It was a nice rest.

And then walk, walk walk, the buildings changed and suddenly we found ourselves in an area full of modern buildings.  Brenda spotted the Oriente metro station.  We had arrived to the Park of Nations, our objective for today. It was around 3:30 pm and we were getting hungry.  The Vasco de Gama shopping Centre is right there so we entered, found the food court and had an early dinner.

Then, we just jumped into the metro to come back to our hotel Aviz. 

Now, what is Aviz? It took a bit of research, the hotel in named after the royal house of Aviz that ruled Portugal from the XIV to the XVI centuries. 

Tomorrow out of the city should feel more like a pilgrimage.  We are still trying to take it easy and planning for something under 20 km.

Sao Jorge is the patron saint of Portugal so tonight we say:  St. George protect us and all pilgrims and pray for all of us

Day 3 - in Lisbon: meeting other pilgrims

After we walked to the river near another plaza.  See the first picture.
After we walked back to the cathedral where we had a date with Laurie.  She is a university professor from Illinois.  She loves Portugal and meeting other pilgrims.  She had invited other people to get together.  We met Dayton and Karen from London, Ontario.  The start walking tomorrow and have ambitious plans to go fast and far.  A Portuguese gentleman, Aurelio and a young man, Joao.  Aurelio offered to take us to the church of Santiago which is nearby but not open often and to get us a stamp for our pilgrim credential.  It was really nice of him to do that for us.
Later we walked to an outdoor cafe torn socialize.  It was a good afternoon.
Now, something I did not mentioned is that after two days of taking photos all over Lisbon I left my camera behind, probably on a bench.  So not only I lost the camera but a bunch of pictures.
Laurie knew a store recommend by Joao so she walked us there.  I have now a new camera almost identical to the one I had this morning minus the pictures.

Also it seems there are some bugs in the blogger app.  It does not seem to get along with pictures.  I am still experimenting.

In any case it is bed time.  Tomorrow we'll walk a little, may 10 km of the Camino.

Mother, Mary of Fatima pray for us peregrinos on our way to your shrine.

Day 3 - in Lisboa playing tourist (morning)

Santiago de Compostela: 614 km

Walked today: 15.2 km

Total walked: 17.3 km

I have two entries for today because I am trying to get some pictures in the blog.  This first part is a test.

We started the day in a very crowded bus.  We did not have a clue of where we needed to get out.  Very soon we started talking to several passangers in a combination of Spanish, Portuguese and English and very soon a couple offered to take care of uss.

We arrived to the monastery of the Jeronimos just before 10 am, opening time. What a fabulous place this is. It was built by order of king Manuel starting in 1501 to commemorate the return of Vasco de Gama from India.  The architectural style is called Manuelino and it is considered one of the great architectureal jewels of Portugal. The first picture shows the main entrance to the church.  It is so beautiful that I spent the morning taking pictures of every detail.

From there we walked to the shore of the river Tejo (or Tajo or Tagus) and stopped to admire the "padrao dos descobrimentos" a monument to the discoveries of the XV and XVI centuries.

Following the river we arrived to the Tower of Belem.  This tower is also of Manuline ararchitectureal style.  It was built in the XVI century  by order of king Joao II to complement the fortifications that protected the entrance to the river Tejo. 

We walked back to the monastery of the Jeronimos.  One of the end wings contains the Maritime Museum.  It has pictures and models of ships from the beginning of Portugal thru the age of discovery to the present time.  

It also contains a collection of royal boats, one boat required 40 Oarsmen and was last used during a visit from Queen Elizabeth from the UK.  Magnificent vessel.

Another bus ride took us back to the centre of the city so we could admire the plaza de commercio.  

Day 2 - in Lisboa

Santiago de Compostela: 614 km away
Kilometers walked today:  11.9 km
Total to date: 11.9 km

A lady seating next to us in the plane asked about our daughters.  That is the girls we met at the airport.  Later on we had a laugh with them.

At the airport we got a Portuguese Sim card for the phone, a map of the city and took the subway to our hotel.  It was 10:30 am, the room is not available until 2 pm so we'll go for a walk.

Later, we walked towards the old city down a magnificent avenue, Avenida da Liberdade, by the time we got there it was noon so we stopped at an outdoor cafe for a sandwich and then we walked up and up to the Castelo de Sao Jorge.

The castle of St. George is one of the most notable features of the city. It is a top of a hill in a dominant position and with great views of the city and the river Tejo.  The original construction probably dates from the time when this city was part of the roman empire.  Most of the existing castle was built by the moors.  The moors were expelled by Alfonso I in the XII century and in the XIII century became the royal residence of king Alfonso III.  The castle suffered major damage in the earthquake of 1755 and while some parts have been restored, others, like the royal residence are still in ruins.  Interesting visit with magnificent views.

By the time we finished visiting the castle we were tired, it was around 2 pm, we had slept only 3 or 4 hours and my body was still thinking it was 8 am.  But the cathedral, the Sé of Lisboa, the church of Santa Maria Mayore, it's just a few blocks down the hill from the castle so we just had to go there.

The cathedral was built on the XII century just after the Moors were expelled on the site where the main mosque used to be. It is of a severe late Romanesque style and like most of Lisbon has been damaged by earthquakes and rebuilt.  We had a little time to say hello to our Lord and we got the first stamp on our pilgrim's credential.

After that we walked back to the hotel, got our room and after a shower we went to sleep for a couple of hours.  It is now 8 pm and I think we are in bed for good.

 

Day 1 - Flying out

We are at the airport, waiting for our plane. First to Philadelphia and from there, overnight, to Lisboa. From there we take an Iberia flight right to Lisbon.

This time we are a bit more nervous.  We know how hard it gets, specially the first few days.  Also a bit concerned about the fewer facilities for pilgrims in Portugal and the fact that many of the stages are around 30 km.  That's a bit more that what we want to walk in one day. We'll have to figure out how to do shorter stages.

We found that we are not alone in our travels.  There are four Canadian girls in their 20s going to Lisbon too.  Victoria is traveling by herself  and Emily, Kiley and Carolyn are traveling together. They are a happy bunch.  It is always nice to talk to young pretty girls.

I've been looking up some Lisbon facts.  The metropolitan area has 2.6 million people - a quarter of the country's population.  It is probably the oldest city streets in Western Europe.  It goes back to the Phoenicians.  Celtic tribes moved in later, the Romans, followed by barbarian Germanic tribes.  The moors invaded later on and finally they were chased out in the war of reconquista.  The city was destroyed in 1755 by a terrible earthquake and rather than rebuilding, they demolished whatever was left and started from scratch. Thus, the oldest buildinggs date from the XVIII century.

LIsbon in the place where Vasco the Gamma launch his expedition to India and also the expeditions to Brazil started here.  The golden age for Portugal was the XVI century when their empire was at its peak. I am looking forward to explore this ancient city

We also have plans to meet some fellow pilgrims in the next few days.  Laurie from the U.S. is going to meet us Wednesday, she has written a guide for the Camino Portuguese and she should be able to give us some pointers. She also is going to introduce us to other pilgrims who will be starting around the same time than us.  Annie from Sweden starts one day after we do and Sandy two dayss later.  We will probably meet her too... Soon or later.

Our flight leaves in one hour so I will continue tomorrow.

Still at home

Day  minus 2

Only two more days. 

After we came back from Mexico I decided to double my daily walk from Around 7 km to 15 km.  We had been doing that in city streets, in concrete.  Well 4 days later I am grounded with shin pain.  Not walking, icing my shins and taking anti-inflammatories.

We really started our pilgrimage yesterday, we went to mass and received a pilgrim blessing from our pastor. That was the real beginning and even though the first stage is by airplane,  our pilgrimage to Fatima and to the tomb of the apostle St. James the great has started.

We still have a lot of prep work and the time is flying by.  As for packing, we think we have everything ready.  We only need to put all the luggage in the backpack.

Last year I was pretty sure of myself.  Absolutely sure we would walk el Camino.  Today, I am wiser, after last year experience I know how hard it can be.  Also, I know there are fewer facilities in Portugal and this time we do not speak the language.

I was thinking yesterday at mass that when we have this insecurities is when we realize that we are not in control and that we need to put ourselves in the hands of Our Lord.

Santiago pray for us