As you probably know, Kelly and I finished what we had to do when we first arrived in London and we had some free time, so we took a quick trip to Spain/Portugal to walk the Camino Portugues. The Camino is part of a larger network of pilgrimage routes that all lead to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. The basic idea is that the mortal remains of James the Apostle are buried in Santiago and pilgrims from all over Europe have walked there for centuries out of religious devotion and for whatever spiritual reasons they might have. From what I've read, it seems like the pilgrimages had almost died out, but over the last 10-15 yrs there has been a renewed interest from religious as well as cultural/adventure travelers. The most famous route starts in western France and crosses northern Spain. We chose to walk north from Porto, Portugal to Santiago because there was a promise of smaller crowds and more time spent walking on country lanes and through the woods, as opposed to the shoulders of highways like you do on the Camino Frances. In all, we walked about 150 miles in 9 days.
Pilgrims on the the trail come in all shapes and sizes and from a variety of countries. We met mostly Germans, Spaniards, and Portuguese, as well as a few Czechs and Russians and some miserable Ukrainians that no one liked. When you start your journey, you are given a passport that gets stamped each night in your hostel and at other churches and places of interest along the way. Your passport helps to prove that you did indeed walk the entire way. When you arrive in Santiago, they look at your passport and, if you've walked at least 100 km, they give you a nice little certificate written in Latin that certifies you completed the pilgrimage. We usually walked between 12-20 miles each day and stayed at a special pilgrims hostel at night. The hostels are only for pilgrims and they charge only 6 Euros for a bunk bed in a room with 15-50 other people (when everyone comes in off the trails and takes off their packs and shoes it smells exactly like you think it would). Because of the hot weather and loud dorm rooms (think old Polish ladies walking around with a head lamp and rattling her 30 plastic shopping bags at 5 am), we often started hiking at 6:30 am when it was still dark and we usually finished before noon. We would then take the afternoon to shower, wash clothes, eat some local food, and have a look around the town we were staying in. After the first two days the walking was easy and the route is well marked the whole way. Local organizations have painted yellow arrows on buildings and light posts along the way to help you know where to turn and where to go. Sometimes you walk through cities (Porto) and sometimes you wander through corn fields and eucalyptus groves. We did manage to miss a split in the trail on day 2 and ended up at a town 10 miles from where we wanted to be. The next day we took a bus (actually 2 buses and a taxi) to get back on the right path and we continued on from there.
Downtown Porto
The arrows marking the way. Yellow to Santiago and Blue to Fatima (in southern Portugal).
Walking between cornfields and vineyards on day 2.
River separating Portugal and Spain. Walking into Spain was very anticlimactic. You just cross the bridge and there's not a single border guard in sight.
Wagon ruts on a Roman or Medieval road (not sure how old it is).
Our room one night. About 50 stinky pilgrims in this one. We got up and left around 6 am because it was so hot and stuffy.
The Cathedral in Santiago. We attended the pilgrims' mass that they put on each day. They read off where all of the recently arrived pilgrims came from and we were the only Americans for the day.
*Here's some notes I made of our first day walking.
Day 1 - Porto to Vilarinho
- Downtown Porto was great. Old, dark buildings towering over the town. Hot and sunny.
- Bought our pilgrims' passports at the main cathedral and quickly found our first yellow arrow. Easier than I thought.
- Walked through Porto, shopkeepers were great and very friendly. Bought Bolinhas de Bacalhau at a bakery with other snacks. Shop keeper gave us a free treat on the way out.
- People on the outskirts of Porto just look at us strange but don't say hi unless we do. One man stops his car to ask if we're going to Santiago and he says he did on his bike last week.
-Fill our water bottles at a public tap and the old ladies waiting in line let us go first when they find out about our trip.
- Walking through small villages and walled-in lanes. Hungry, but not sure where to eat and can't find a restaurant. Finally find one, walk in and say, "do you have food?" Of course he does.
- We order what the others are eating because it looks good and we don't know what else to get. Portuguese is a bit rusty. Food comes and what I thought was a pot pie turns out to be beef, ham, sausage, hot dogs and cheese between two pieces of bread, topped with a fried egg and covered in sauce. All with a side of french fries. Very good.
- Eat and hit the road. Tired now, looking forward to the albergue (pilgrims' hostel) and wondering where it is. Gets dark and we're still walking.
- New camino markings turn us off the main road. Still dark. Are we even going the right way?
- Church with green neon cross appears. The albergue? Not yet. Ask directions and the guy says it's only 2 km more. Walk more than 2 km. No more street lights in some sections. Hard to see yellow arrows. Locals out walking look at us funny.
- Come into small town square and see local women sitting at a cafe. Turn towards them to ask directions and they all start waving and saying that the albergue is other way down the road. How did they know what we wanted?
- Local man says he lives nearby and will take us. We walk 10-15 min in near silence.
- Look up at a window and a man yells down, "peregrinos?" We say yes and he meets us at the gate of an old monastery. He's German with no shirt or shoes on. Turns out we're in Vairao, not Vilarinho. Our room is on the 4th floor of the monastery tower. No one else in our room. The few other pilgrims are already asleep and the place is totally quiet. Sleep with the window open and a great view of the stars out over a valley. Very ornate cemetery next door.
-Miles walked - about 16
