We left early and walked 10 miles
Through gorgeous farm land, eucalyptus, and villages into Barcelos. There was dancing on the square tonight. Maybe that is every Sunday?
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We left early and walked 10 miles Through gorgeous farm land, eucalyptus, and villages into Barcelos. There was dancing on the square tonight. Maybe that is every Sunday?
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The weather had been good, but on the warm side--high in the low 80's. We're ramping up the miles, but haven't yet reached our long term average of 20 Km. Some scenes include a Medieval bridge, farmland along the trail, and the interior of San Pedro of Rates church in the town where we are spending the night. In Second Wind, Bert imagined what the last nun might do when she inherited her monastery. I think we figured it out. She sold it to a Portuguese couple. Our first day of hiking brought us to the Monastery at Vairo. There are about 50 beds, all cots, in rooms of three to six, some with tile walls. The hosts are Portuguese speaking and give credence to the belief that you can communicate with anyone of you really want to. We hoped to have escaped from stair climbing after the spiral stairs in Lisbon and fifth floor walk-up on Porto, but we "lucked" into the top floor here...four flights up. The view is magnificent. We have a room with three cots and two double windows. They are wide open. A marvelous warm breeze is blowing in as I type and Russ reads. So far we seem to be the only people here and it is already 4:30. Could we have a whole monastery to ourselves? It is a donativo. I hope more people come. I hate to see this place not have enough people to stay open. Following Brierley's guide, we took metro past the commercial section of Porto. The short walk here was relatively challenging because it was all on cobblestones. After our warm welcome and a few minutes of settling in, we went to the nearby restaurant for a late lunch. The Rice with Seafood was excellent. It came with a full bottle of green wine, lots of olives, rolls and spreads. Our language choices were Portuguese and French. We got by. The meal took a while to cook. It was all from scratch and fresh. We were entertained by the locals our age who were all playing with a toddler. About a dozen Grownups came for coffee and each in turn played with the little one. Maybe it is the only baby the town's had for years? Having showered and done laundry, it's time to read and rest up for tomorrow. We are glad to be out of the cities and on the trail in our lovely personal monastery. We could not post on May 16 when we were at the monastery because there was no internet. So, an update--one other pilgrim spent the night with us. She had the four person room across the hall. Janna, a young Czech from Pilzen, had a huge pack...maybe twice ours. But she was only a third our age :) Of note to other pilgrims: there was a small notice in the monastary kitchen saying the "tap water was not controlled" and should not be drunk. In 6 Camino's we never saw that before and thought the warning should have been more prominately displayed. On Wednesday we took the train to Porto, found our lodging (the very nice Hostal Porto Lounge), and settled in for our day and a half stay. In the evening we stumbled in to the Majestic Cafe. We had a nice meal, and later we learned it is "must" visit, so we started out lucky. Today we've been touring the city, trying to take it easy in preparation for beginning to walk tomorrow. Temperatures in the steamy mid-eighties are expected, but are expected to cool off next week. Some scenes from the city follow. Yesterday evening we decided to have a picnic on the terrace of our hotel, overlooking the Center City. The idea had a low-key appeal for our arrival day. I went to the nearby, crowded supermarket and bought us wine, cheese, bread, and sliced smoked ham. It was a lovely evening. We met others staying there, from France, Oregon, Switzerland, and Germany.
Now we are in Porto. It was a fast train ride and pretty enough countryside to watch fly by. The weather continues to be in the low 80s. For being in the cities that's fine. It should cool down in a few days. Believe it or not, we have another major staircase here. Our hotel is newer and upscale from the quaintness of last night. Our big bright room has two French doors onto a tiny balcony. Too scarey to sit out there but the chairs will be great for drying laundry and the sun pours in to the room. But it is on the 4th floor, with no "lift". We won't run down to reception very often. Our legs are getting the climbing practice they missed in flat Florida Flying has not become more pleasant since we did it last. All three flights were full, crowded, jammed. The wait times at the transfer airports were 4 hours and 2 hours. Lisbon is the reward. It is sunny, breezy, in the 70s. This is a hilly city. Our hotel, The Keep, calls itself a sleep boutique. There are 6 rooms, a living room and kitchen to share, and a terrace overlooking the Center City. To get here from the plaza, where Aerobus delivered us, we climbed two stairways and a steeply hilly street. When we arrived at The Keep,, we had to climb to a spiral staircase to the first level and reception. I was happy for a small backpack instead of a rolling suitcase. Our room was down and, much shorter, second spiral staircase. Lots of practice for our hiking! Later we learned there is an elevator, not at the sleep boutique, in lieu of the steep street stairs. We will probably spend more time here in Lisbon after our hike. For today, we are satisfied to rest and enjoy the view from the terrace. Portugal, and Spain Our plan is to fly to Lisbon, which will take a whole day and night. We will spend the next day in Lisbon before going by bus or train to Porto on our third day. We will spend an extra day there. On the fifth day, we will begin our walk. Unless we change our minds along the way . . . which we might . . . we will walk north through Portugal and Spain to Santiago, then turn west and walk to Muxia on the Atlantic coast. All in all we have a month to do whatever this adventure presents to us. The map shows our Camino-walking history. In 2008, we walked about 150 miles in France and Spain on the Chemin de St. Jacques and Camino de Santiago, taking a train from Moissac to St Jean Pied de Port.
In 2009, we walked from Leon to Santiago . . . about 200 miles. 2010 was a "cheese year" not a Camino year. The Summer of a Thousand Cheeses came out and we gave cheese talks all summer. In 2011, we walked from Pamplona, where we had stopped in 2008, to Molinaseca. We walked almost 300 miles, completing the Camino Frances and duplicating a favorite section. 2012 took us to the alternate route, Via de la Plata. We we walked about 125 miles from Caceres to Zamora. Last year we volunteered as hospitaleros for two weeks and then walked about 150 miles with Pam and James from Astorga to Santiago. And now, we will see what 2014 has in store for us. Yesterday and today we walked about 6 miles each in bright sunshine, one day in Gainesville and the other in Cedar Key. The day before, we walked 6 in a steady downpour. Sunshine is better, but at least we can now proclaim that our ponchos do their jobs. We leave for the Portuguese Route next Monday, May 12. Training is one of the primary reasons we so enjoy our annual Camino treks. With the 2014 training season about to end, I took a look back at some of the highlights. It made me smile and look forward to the next phase. |
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