Arriving in Santiago

Wednesday morning, Ina, Christian and I were the last to leave the albergue at Padron. We had a leisurely stroll of about 8 miles to the halfway point of the day's walk. It was fun to walk together and was more reminiscent of last year's walk. We walked through narrow paths that snaked through very old villages. We were trailed by the bread delivery van who we encountered througout the morning. We stopped at about the midway point for breakfast. From there Christian took the bus to Santiago and Ina and I continued on our way. The walk was pretty nice. Approaching Santiago from last year's route featured lots of construction, the Santiago Airport and some industrial stuff. The walk in from the Portuguese route was a bit nicer. I started walking with Ina but went on ahead and passed several people walking that I had not encountered earlier on the trip. It was another frustrating sunny/rainy/sunny/rainy day and I arrived in Santiago in the rain at about 2:30, p.m. Ina and I had decided early on that once in Santiago we would prefer to stay in the center of town than out at the albergue a couple of kilometers outside of town. Christian arrived early and procured a pension (Sang Kyoung--I think it was the same place where you stayed last year with Nicole --Pension Fonseca) right next to the cathedral and pilgrim office. Ina arrived awhile after I did and we all checked in. I love Santiago -- it is a town full of beautiful old town squares and outdoor cafes. Last year we spent a lot of time lounging in the sidewalk cafes. This year, the rain put a damper on that option so we had to do our extensive eating and wine consumption indoors. The three of us spoke a lot about the year before and we had very happy memories of Sang Kyoung, Catherine, Toby, Nicole, and the others from last year. We had dinner at Casa Manolo, our favorite restaurant from last year. We even remembered the waiter and he us. On Thursday morning we got up and had a good breakfast. We went to the pilgrims' mass at noon. On the way there we ran into some English ladies who alerted us that Dorron had arrived earlier that day. He had done a lot of walking to try to make it to Santiago before Ina left town. So, we ran into him at the mass and he joined us at the pension as well. Later in the day, I saw Ina off at the airport and then had dinner with Christian and Dorron. It was a really good trip but as expected, it didn't really match last year's month. The tight schedule and lack of other people made it a little different. We were really happy that Christian arrived to join us the last few days. We were delighted to meet Dorron who added a lot of fun to the trip. Will there be a walk next year? Probably not but you never know...

27 Miles--Never Again

On Tuesday, in order for Ina to make it to Santiago for her Thursday flight, we had to walk what amounted to about 26 or 27 miles. It was hard. Last year, I think, we became better accostomed to the long distances. This year, the trip has been great, but the walking portion, although good, seems to be more of a chore than last year. It was another on again/off again rainy/sunny day. Ina headed out very early before sun-up. I left about an hour later at 7:30 a.m. I walked quickly and without any breaks until lunch time. At Caldas de Reis, just past the halfway point, I walked through town and Ina dashed out of a cafe to alert me that she was there along with Dieter and had stopped for lunch. I'd been surprised that I hadn't caught Ina earlier but she was walking her fastest as well. The sun had come out again but by the time we downed our tortilla de patatas sandwiches and our giant, extra milky--cafe con leches, it had started to rain. We walked a bit together and then continued at our own paces. I felt very tired arriving in Padron. Christian had taken the bus and welcomed Ina who arrived some minutes before me and then greeted me as well. Ina had some blisters and I had one also. After the long, hard day, young Ina (age 24) alerted me that she knew what it was like to be old, like me. We showered and headed out with Christian to have some drinks and eats. Ina and I were both limping a bit (due to blisters--there were no other problems). We had caught up with a "pack" of people at the albergue--I'd guess there were about 15-20 people there which was huge for us as we were accostomed to just our little group. The albergue was a beautiful old building--the kitchen featured a huge stone fireplace. Granite is a common stone in N. Portugal and Spain and it is featured in many of the buildings there. The night's sleep wasn't great due to the blaring synthesized music of the nearby carnival. That, which continued to about 4 a.m., combined with Christian's snoring eclipsed the power of the earplugs which resulted in a not so good night's sleep.

Lots o' Rain

Today we had a wonderfully short walk from Redondela to Pontevedra. Only about 12 miles. Unfortunately it started out a bit rainy, dried out a bit and then resumed. The original plan was to stay here in Pontevedra but that would mean that we would have about a 24 mile day tomorrow so we had thought of walking a bit more. Shortly before I arrived in town, the rain really picked up. Christian surfaced in foul weather gear hovering under a bus stop and we went ahead to the closed albergue. We left a note for Ina that we would walk on to the next town but Dieter arrived and said she was just behind him. We waited for about an hour at the nearby cafe and kept an eye out for her. During that hour we tried to dry out (not from alcohol comsumption--just our clothes) at the warm bar. The rain continued and we decided not to go on to the next village. There are now 8 of us at the albergue which is double what we have had so far at any of the places where we have stayed. We had a nice lunch with Christian and Doran (the Israeli guy) and then I was delighted to share a load of wash with Ina, Doran, and the French couple and I should have clean clothes for the remainder of the trip. So, I am NOT looking forward to the 40 km. tomorrow but the way the albergues are spread out, we have little choice. Christian will walk a bit with us and then take the bus to Padron, the next town. Should be fun. I hope the weather holds. I also hope that these old legs hold up. Pontevedra is a really lovely city --I was here years ago and I´m glad the rain stopped so that I could take a walk around the old center to enjoy it. Catherine--sorry you are not here. The last two days of walking were not as pretty but Friday and Saturday were gorgeous. You´d have loved it. Okay, I hope everyone is having a grand time at work.

Leaving the Land of the Barking Dogs

I love, love, love Portugal so it was a little sad spending our last night there, however, I will not miss the dogs. One bit Catherine, the following day one almost bit Ina. They jump out of nowhere and startle you and even the chained ones bark and bark. We are finding the Spanish dogs much more agreeable. So, Catherine left Friday morning and Ina and I set out for a long walk. It rained off and on in the a.m. but not too hard. It was somewhat annoying though as we constantly had to take off our backpacks, put raincoats on and then put packs and pack covers back on. Moments later it would be sunny and warm--too warm for raincoats--this went on for a few hours before remaining nice. We arrived in Ponte de Lima which is yet another gorgeous town (Kikas: you need to go there as well as Guimaraes--oh, and don´t worry about the above dog comments. I love Tita). Ina often has trouble finding vegetarian fare apart from potatoes, bread, and eggs so she was delighted to find a pizza place. It was great and with a great view of the roman bridge, river, and church. As Ina stood up to take a picture of the view, she inadvertently knocked a 3'x 5' painting off the wall. It was pretty funny. For days we had been noticing in the albergue sign-in sheets a Norwegian couple named Erik and Rita. We had seen very few pilgrims (only Frank, Dieter, and the lovely French couple) and I suggested to Ina that the non-Portuguese couple behind us might have been the elusive Norwegians who we had not met. Ina barrelled on over and said, "Are you Rita and Erik?". They were not. They were a befuddled Hungarian couple trying to work out what we were talking about. Moments later as Ina looked out the window, she saw (I heard it) a small tractor pulling a wagon of workers. It drove up onto the sidewalk and rammed into a beautiful old street lamp which tumbled to the plaza and broke in half. The workers got out of the wagon, moved the lamp to the side of the walk way and they all took off. It was all very bizarre. Yesterday we had a nice walk with a large hill. I walked awhile with Dieter and as we chatted we failed to pay attention to the yellow arrows and found ourselves somewhat lost. As any good German should do, he pulled out the GPS and informed me we were 500 meters past the turnoff. He also was able to use the device to let me know how long it took him to eat lunch and when he should drink water. The walk was lovely and there are beautiful homes, farms, plants, flowers, everywhere. I was disappointed to not see as many cute little lambs as last year. Farm town girl, Ina, thoughtfully informed me that they´d all been killed for Easter dinner.
We arrived in Valenca, the border town with Spain. It was nice (you know, compared to Tijuana) . Instead of Americans buying cheap silver, and salsa containers, there were loads of Spanish people there buying sheets and towels by the busload. There were no small children selling gum but I did see a big ad for Chiclets which I thought was something of a coincidence.
At the albergue we met a young Israeli guy who was starting out there.
We have had many long days of walking (the last three are 20+ mile days). Although I prepared somewhat (thanks M. Kem, I wouldn´t make it without you), I didn´t do as well as last year. THese long days are quite tough for ye olde chubby legs. I´m okay but I arrive kind of dragging myself in.
Today was a long walk from the border to the town of Redondela. I arrived at a couple of hours ago and hope that Ina has since arrived. There are very few people walking but we suspect we´ll meet more as many start at the border.
Christian will reportedly join us for a few days starting tomorrow in Pontevedra. This is the first time I´ve been able to check e-mail so I´m not sure of the plan but it will be great to see him again and Ina will really enjoy seeing him as well.
I´m tired and pretty hungry so I will go eat. Oh, although sad to leave Portugal, I am very happy to be in Spain. I really do feel quite at home here.
Hope all are enjoying the Easter holiday.



(CCW--glad you got home safely. We miss you. C. McQueen sends her regards. She wet her pants the day before yesterday. I´m not making this up. We think we were able to shake Frank but he kept trying to hitch the wagon. In Ponte de Lima he assured the employee at the hostel that he could stay in our room --we weren´t there when all of this transpired as we were in the town trying to avoid running into him--the woman was wise to him though and told him no and was very concerned when we arrived due to the shady guy. The first 5 hours of walking on Friday--until your flight we spoke of your whereabouts: c. is arriving in Porto. c. is eating big fat toast at cafe majestic. C. is taking a picture of Marcos Santos at Praca Batalha, etc.)

Finally Walking

Catherine and I spent two nights in the charming town of Coimbra and returned to Porto Tuesday afternoon to meet Ina at the airport. We had another glorious day and rested up to begin our walk. We started yesterday from Porto but had been told that the first 10 km. were along the main highway and not so pleasant. We took a bus the first 10 km. and then walked about 26 km. to the small town of Sao Pedro de Rates. The day started out a bit chilly and with clouds but turned sunny and beautiful. I wouldn't change a thing about last year's walk but there is certainly something to be said for walking later in the spring. The landscape is incredibly beautiful this time of year. There are green fields, blue skies, and flowers everywhere: wisteria, calla lillies, birds of paradise, camellias, hydrangeas, roses, wildflowers--It is amazing. The floral aroma is lovely but, sadly, interspersed with the aroma of cows--such is life in rural Portugal. There are also tons of lemon and orange trees that are ripe with fruit--we picked some oranges at Carlos's house and have been enjoying them. Yesterday´s walk was great yet we spent a lot of time reminiscing about last year's walk with Sang Kyoung, Christian, Carlos, and the others and we miss them greatly. We arrived in the village last night in the late afternoon at the unmanned albergue to find Dieter (a German man) and Frank ( a young American). They are friendly but we have decided not to hitch our wagon to their star. The village last night was quiet but beautiful and we had dinner and turned in early. It was quite a luxury to have a room for just the three of us. It might have not have been so grand for the aforementioned Dieter and Frank in the next room who undoubtedly heard us laughing well into the night.
This morning we set out on our very short walk for Barcelos. Fortunately we arrived on Thursday--the big market day which people travel far and wide to attend. Unfortunately it started to rain just as we arrived in town. We stopped by the tourist office for information and were told by the apparent Colgate toothpaste model, "Fonseca" that after we procured accomodation we should swing back by the tourist office for wine and pastries. There are no albergues in town so we found an inexpensive pension for the night. Our favorite thing about this sort of arrangement is that towels are provided and we do not have to use our wretched camp towels. We returned to the tourist office and there was a veritable "pastry museum" as Ina called it. Tons of desserts set up for the taking. We loaded up and then headed to a very leisurely lunch. One reason for the short walk today is that this is a larger town and has a train connection for Catherine who, sadly, returns to Porto tomorrow in the a.m. in order to catch her flight to the U.S. I commend her for her strong work ethic. Ina and I will have some long days of walking ahead of us in order to arrive in Santiago on Wednesday. Carlos, SangKyoung and Christian, we miss you so much and wish you were here.
(sidenote to Mom and Dad:--favorite chicken place in coimbra with east european coal pickers is tragically no longer open for business. We have been to some other places that were okay but not quite the same)

Enjoying Lisbon

Catherine arrived on Thursday in Porto and it was great to see her. We milled around on Thursday and went to a cute cafe for lunch. It seemed to be a place that was very popular with the over 80 crowd. We walked around the market and then down to the water. It was another gorgeous day with sun and blue skies. We sat by the river and had a drink and then milled around a bit more. Friday morning we went across the river to the Port wine houses. We took a couple of tours and then did some tastings. It was great fun. Friday afternoon we got on the train to Lisbon where Carlos met as at the station. He has been an excellent host. We have been staying at his parents' lovely home. The first night we had some really great grilled fish for dinner. Yesterday we had a full day of sight seeing. Carlos took us to Sintra, a beautiful fairytale-like village. I have visited this town several times but was delighted to go again as it is one of my favorite places in the world. We visited the Palacio de Pena at the top of the hill and the old ruins of the Moorish (aka "Moopish") castle as well. Then we met Joanna, Carlos's girlfriend and had a delicious lunch. We then went to Belem, a really pretty area of Lisbon to visit the sights there. Then to Lisbon proper where we enjoyed the view of the city from up at the castle walls. We had a really full day and Carlos did a great job of showing us around. We returned to his parents' place for dinner where we had another wonderful meal with the whole family. This morning we will go by train up to Coimbra, another of my favorite towns in Portugal and will spend the day and night there.

The Sky's Always Blue in Portugal

Years ago when I lived in Spain and made many weekend trips to Portugal, I used to think that the sky was always blue in Portugal. It seems to be true. The last two days have been gorgeous: sunny and about 75º. The sky is extremely blue, there are azaleas and other flowers everywhere. The orange trees have oranges just dropping off of them. This town, Guimaraes, is amazing. I have worked out the winding, cobbled streets and now feel quite at home here. I don't know how they are making a living here. My really good coffee (mostly milk) and big, fat, toast, came in at less than 2 bucks. My lunch today (soup, fresh grilled fish, potatoes, carrots, green beans, bread, 2-3 glasses of wine) was less than 7 dollars. This seems to be no more expensive than it was about 20 years ago.
I had a very full day as a tourist today. I visited the castle, a palace, several churches, two museums, a beautiful monestary, churches, parks and gardens. In the afternoon I walked to the top of the local mountain (hill?). My life of luxury in France (and slacking on the walking preparation at home beforehand) might not have me well prepared for this year´s walk. I was pretty weary today by the time I reached the top but the view of the town below made it worth it.
I´m off to have my p.m. coffee and big fat toast.

(sidenote to Dad): I went to the big church of St. Gualter today. Evidently in August they have big festivities for him--the festivales gualterinas. Perhaps you can attend.