El Camino: Summary of the Portuguese Way

Porto

We started our spring walk in Porto, a gorgeous city of hills and brightly painted buildings with tiled murals and interesting shops and cafes along the Douro River. Worth at least two days.
Accommodations: Boutique hotel Oporto Near, a great combination of modern amenities and rustic elements not far from downtown.
Highlights:Old bookstore Livraria Lello. Clerigos Tower, Chapel of Souls, Sao Bento Railway Station. Sipping a drink along Cais da Ribeira. Port tasting on the Gaia side of the river.
Food and drink: Tapas. Flaming chorizo. Douro wine. Port. O Bolina and Taberna Manuel on opposite sides of the river. French toast at Majestic Cafe.
Stamp: Porto Cathedral
Suggestion: Walk from Porto to Matosinhos 8.4 km and stay there overnight.

Note: You need at least two stamps per day from Tui onwards to receive your final certificate in Santiago de Compostela. Most cafes, bars, churches and hotels en route will stamp your passport which must be obtained before you arrive.

Crossing the bridge in Matosinhos

April 28
Porto to Vila do Conde 24.7 kmTrain from Porto to Matosinhos. Walk across the bridge and down a long street to the waterfront. Turn right at the ocean front and walk along the sands and flowers and ancient shipbuilding villages with their brightly painted houses till you can't go any further.
Accommodations: Residencial Princesa Small older hotel, cheap, clean and comfortable. Excellent staff. Cafe next door for breakfast.
Food and drink: Tons of modern seafront cafes serving bocadillos and beer and coffee and ice cream along the route. Harbourfront restaurant for dinner. Octopus and risotto.
Stamp: Matosinhos Tourist Booth
Suggestion:Overnight at the small homestay "Sandra" at Vila Cha...so you don't have to walk so far the first day.

Senda Litoral, the seaside path

April 29
Vila do Conde to Sao Pedro de Rates. 15.6 km
We turned inland at this point although you can continue up the coast. Interesting walk out of town, especially the old aqueduct which has been hacked apart so the road and train can go through. For much of this walk, the waymarking was removed so we used Google maps which took us through some quaint lanes by some gorgeous houses and even right through a farmer's field to the country roads and paths to the village of Rates- a small and very tidy agricultural village of whitewashed homes with a charming and deserted church filled with flowers. One long cobblestone street up the middle.

Accommodations: Albergue, an interesting old building with a very friendly staff and laundry and kitchen facilities. By donation. Several large rooms. Everyone asleep by 9:30. So much snoring. SO MUCH.
Food and drink: Nondescript pizza. Fish and chip dinner. Bottle of Douro from the local shop. Cafe up the hill for breakfast.
Stamp:  This albergue had the prettiest stamp of the trip!
Suggestion: Earplugs or noise cancelling headphones.

Rates

April 30
Rates to Barcelos 22.9 km
A pleasant walk, mostly on the back roads, past very nice houses and some farms and vineyards to the quaint city of Barcelos which was having a blow out "Festa das Cruces". Originally a religious festival but now several days of live music, markets, folk singers marching through the lit-up streets and more frivolity.

Accommodations; Modern albergue. More snoring. Beds pushed beside each other so you might get someone of the opposite sex sleeping inches away from you with their garlicky breath or cranky shushing.

Food and drink  Francesinha at Taberna M. A huge Portuguese sandwich of bread, cheese, meat, cheesy sauce and some kind of gravy. An amazing beer.
Suggestion: Book a room in advance and you can get a very pleasant hotel room for a reasonable rate. 

Broom on the doorways

May 1
Barcelos to Balugaes 20.23 km
Lovely walk through farms and vineyards and small villages, over a Roman stone bridge on the Labruja River. The broom was in blossom everywhere, just spectacular. Almost every house was decorated with a spring of yellow broom on the doorway, an April 30 tradition dating back to medieval times to keep the evil spirits at bay.

Accommodations: Casas da Quinta da Cancela, an ancient vineyard turned into a boutique hotel. We were upgraded to the 4 room suite that included an antique piano, four poster beds, a shrine to the Virgin and lovely stone window seats overlooking the vineyard as well as a relaxing courtyard with kitchen access to the honour bar with 8 euro wines.
Food and drink: Vinho verde. Excellent full breakfast in the Quinta's farm kitchen.
Suggestion:The Quinta serves dinner. We did not know that so we went to the tiny cafe in "town". There, we tried the "green wine". Not really green, actually white or red-but fresh and frothy and still fermenting in the bottle.

View from our rooms at La Quinta

May 2
Balugues to Ponte de Lima 18.9 km
Far and away the most beautiful walk of the trip. Flowers, forests, birds singing. The broom flowering in the hills. The pathways of ancient stone. Wonderful. Ponte de Lima itself is a gorgeous small town along the river with wonderfully restored buildings and delightful cafes and fountains and music playing.

Accommodation:Boutique Hotel Terraco da Vila A charming room with a view in the centre of town.
Food and Drink: Sangria at a cafe on the square near the bridge, Tapas and the best lemon meringue pie ever at Taverna Vaca Das Cordas
Suggestion: Stay longer.

Ponte de Lima

May 3
Ponte de Lima to Rubiaes 16.4 km
This was the hardest day of walking as you must ascend a steep hill through a pine forest. The sap from the pines is being collected, possibly for use in turpentine manufacture. The walk is more of a scramble over boulders than a proper path ending in a clearing at an old forestry station where there are great views.

Accommodation: Albergue Constantino Large rooms. The owner will drive you into town to his restaurant.
Food and Drink: Stop for lunch and water at the last stop before you begin the ascent. Great small bar in a farmyard after you descend, right before the "town" where everyone stops to celebrate their climb. Pilgrim's menu of delicious soup and pan-fried trout and potatoes at the albergue's inn.
Suggestion: Take your time. It's a steep climb but very do-able. 

On the path under the pines

May 4
Rubiaes to Tui 23.4 km
A good day of walking through pretty countryside. Valenca, on the Portuguese side, has a charming 13th century walled city with lots of quaint shops and cool historical sites with good views down the river. Tui Cathedral is worth the stop. The area around the cathedral is charming with lots of shops and cafes.

Valenca

Accommodation: Boutique hotel very close to the cathedral Pensión O novo Cabalo Furado  Really nice and quiet.
Food and Drink: Lots of restaurants and tapas places.  The most excellent Ideas Peregrinos, just down from the hotel, serves a great breakfast and sells some traveller's items.
Suggestion: Stay an extra day to see Valenca properly.

Early morning, Tui

May 5
Tui- Mos 21.5 km
An easy walk. Make sure to avoid the industrial area of O Porrino, which the guidebook calls a "soulless slog". The official path has been re-routed through parkland along a lovely river path. However many of the locals have removed the waymarking to direct foot traffic back to their cafes. You need to keep your eyes open through here!

Motion-activated shrine

Accommodation: Albergue Casa Blanca. A smaller and quieter albergue. Excellent sleep.
Food and Drink: The cafe across the street serves most pilgrims on the route. It's a very small place so everyone congregates in the same spot. Food was so-so but the visiting was good.
Suggestion: Mos is is a tiny town. If you can manage to go a bit farther to Redondela there is a nice old albergue there.

Under the broom

May 6
Mos to Arcade 17 km.
The walk was pretty at the start. Found a great cafe with a view for breakfast en route. Redondela is an interesting town with a few cool old buildings including a nice church, worth a good wander. Past the town you have to walk along the highway then down the hill to the ocean where the ancient town of Arcade lies. Once you get past the medieval bridge there are some interesting old stone houses. Very pretty. You will see many traditional horeos, elevated grain bins that are now a designated historic feature throughout the region.

View over the bridge from the cafe

 Accommodation: Highway Hotel San Luis Hotel A liitle over a km out of the town. Includes breakfast. There are other accommodations as you enter town which may be better.

Food and Drink: Great little bar just past the medieval bridge that serves light meals. Perfect for people watching. Arcade has renowned seafood restaurants and we ate a late and large dinner at Restaurant Veiramar. 
Suggestion: When the seafood platter says "minimum 2 people" it really serves 4.

Just past Arcade

May 7

Arcade to Barro  15 km
A nice walk through the old city of Pontevedra which has a great old city full of charming cafes where people don't get up until noon. A bit of this walk is along the highway but mostly through forest and village.
Accommodation: Portela Albergue is a deserted old elementary school next to a church. There is nothing else there. There is a beer fridge with 50 cent beers and wifi and laundry facilities and a chill courtyard to hang out in.
Food and Drink: There are two busy restaurants in the small town of San Amaro before you get to the albergue. The proprietors of the albergue cooked dinner for us. Spanish omelette, pasta with sauce, bread, salad and beer for 7 euros. Wonderful outdoor dinner with everyone sitting around the table outside. They provided breakfast for the morning as well.
Stamp: At the restaurants in San Amaro and the albergue.

A shared meal

May 8 

Barro to Padron 25.8 km  
A long walk today through some small towns and forest paths
Accommodation: Boutique Hotel A Casa do Rio (before Padron at Puentecesures)
Food and Drink: The food at the hotel hear sucked and it was pricey. Go into Padron or even the bar across the river
Suggestion: Go the extra couple of km to Padron which has lots of interesting sites and history.

Ulla River

May 9 

Padron to Picarana 12.3 km
A short walk with a bit of time in Padron which has a lot of cool things to see. Historic religious sights mostly. Then up through some farm land mostly paralleling the highway. The town here is mostly an industrial area with a few local bars and not much else. But we wanted to get to Santiago for the noon Pilgrim's Mass so that's how we timed it. There are more and more shrines and religious symbols as you get closer to Santiago.
Accommodation:Pension Gloriosa A large room, surprisingly quiet for its location. Our room faced the back with its fields and vineyards. A good place to rest up.
Food and Drink: Not much for food here. Pretty dull. There was supposedly a good bar/restaurant across the road but it was closed. 
Stamp: At the Pension Bar.

Oldest cross on the camino

May 10

Picarana to Santiago de Compostela 15 km  
Kind of a weird walk for the last bit.  First, along the highway in the dark and rain. Stopped for breakfast at a small inn. Then into the city which seems to go on forever. We took a shorter route that went through a park and through an old neighbourhood and over a big bridge and along some city streets. There are many bus tourists here. I guess there are many ways to make a pilgrimage. Lots of shops and cafes as befits a tourist destination.

In Santiago

Accommodation: Budget Hotel Plaza de Galicia. Our room had a wonderful balcony with a view over the rooftops.

Food and Drink:Great tapas at A Taberna do Bispo where we happily but unexpectedly met up with a Dutch couple from earlier in the trip.
Suggestion: Do not miss the Pilgrim's Mass at noon!  There are many other masses during the day but this is the one! You cannot take your pack or walking stick into the cathedral but you can leave it at your hotel or there is a left luggage area at the post office not far away. Stamp: Get your passport stamped at the official office. And get your official certificate saying you have walked!

Bom Caminho!

El Camino: What to Take

Some practical suggestions with thanks to Connie!

NOTE: You can stay in hotels which makes towel/sleeping bag unnecessary. You can hire companies to carry your bag forward if you really want to take a lot of stuff. You can even use a company that will book your accommodation and forward your bags.  That's one way to go. We didn't go that route. 

Backpack. Ditch that 2007 pack you bought to hike the Inca Trail. It might have been state of the art at the time but it isn't now. Get yourself over to MEC or Camper's or Atmosphere. Buy a pack that is really light and easy on the back. MEC calls these smaller bags "overnight" bags but you can get enough gear for your 10-15 days into the small bag if you do it right. Get the staffers to adjust the straps for you. You want a pack that is 35-40 liters in capacity. No larger. Seriously. One with pouches on the waistband, a side pouch for your water bottle, one easy-access top compartment and a waterproof cover.

With the old grey backpack that was ditched en route

Clothes Three changes should suffice although I took 5. One pair of shorts, one pair of capris, one pair of lightweight nylon pants, a longsleeved shirt, two sleeveless shirts and two t-shirts. Ok, I actually took 3 long sleeved shirts and ditched 2 of them. Take lightweight drip dry stuff since you will need to wash it and have it dry every second day. Some people sleep in their clothes. I think that is yucky. I took leggings for sleep time. Also a fleecy jacket and one of those super light down jackets you can stuff into a bag and the lightest breathable waterproof jacket you can get or a cheap poncho. The lightest you can get. Really important-good socks, like the light or medium weight PhD socks from MEC. Are you picking up what I am laying down? Go light!

A Belt  Because by the end your pants will be falling off.

Walking poles I found them indispensable. Ours were the Black Diamond ones that telescope down and click into place, not the "screw down and lock" kind. A German lady will tell you the metal tips make a clickety-clack the villagers don't like and you should buy the rubber tips like she has. In fact she will tell you the metal tips are illegal. You can get the rubber tips at MEC I believe. I liked the clickety clack so take that, cranky German lady! 

Sleeping bag. If you are staying at albergues (which I recommend for at least a few nights), they do not all have blankets, so if you go in spring (which I also recommend) it gets a bit chilly at night. Take the smallest and lightest sleeping bag you can find. Doesn't need to be warm. We had one from Camper's Village and found another at Atmosphere. If you go in late spring, summer or early fall, a sheet will do. You do not need a sleeping mat or air mattress.

Toiletries  Hairbrush. Folding toothbrush. Small toothpaste. Solid round shampoo in a square tin as sold by LUSH (doubles as laundry detergent). Small sunscreen. Small Purell. Antibiotic cream. Tiny sewing kit. Tweezers. Blister band-aids. Bring lots of those. Painkillers- I always take a combination bottle of aspirin, advil, mersyndol and naproxen with some benadryl for allergies. And some Imodium, just in case. Never used it though.

Towel The super absorbent kind that rolls into a teeny pouch. 

Toilet paper

Sunglasses

Footware  Hiking boots- I have a wonky ankle so I bought boots with a lot of ankle support . Most of you won't need that. Make sure they roomy as you feet may swell and they will take a beating. One guy we met said his feet hurt every day. BREAK THOSE BOOTS IN!  I thought I had by walking 3 km every day for 10 days, but you should really walk with your fully loaded pack for a good 10 km at least twice.  Otherwise you could get blisters like I did. Plus lightweight shoes or sandals because after 20 km, you need to remove those boots. I had a pair of super light Skechers and hubby took his Birkenstocks.

Electronics  Some people don't take a camera, but we love taking photos and a camera phone doesn't cut it. But I would consider a smaller, lighter camera that could go in the waistband of the backpack. Phone. Get yours unlocked and buy a SIM card that is good for Spain and Portugal. You can get a good plan with lots of data for cheap at the airport or any cellphone shop.  We went with Orange. Sometimes access to Google Maps is needed, or your phone for that matter. Kindle. Travel adapter. Cordless multiple outlet extension device so you can recharge multiple items at once. No more chargers than absolutely necessary.

Headlamp For those early morning getaways. Some people used their camera flashlight.

Waterbottle  Light plastic, large.

Large ziplock bags Just because.

Hat  One with a large brim as the sun is intense.

Pilgrim's Passport. Also called a "credencial." Order it online from the Canadian Company of Pilgrims. You will need to stay in the albergues and you will need to get it stamped with a "sello"  twice a day for the last 100 km at albergues, bars and cafes and churches along the route in order to get your compostela at the end. It is fun to collect the stamps as each one is unique.

Guidebook The Germans used a yellow guidebook called "Outdoor:The Way is the Goal". There are lots of others. We used John Brierley's Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino Portugues. A must have.

Weird thing we took and would take again  Tiny projector. We have one the size of a deck of cards that connects to your phone. We watched movies on it, including The Way with Martin Sheen.

What we should have taken: Noise cancelling headphones or earplugs for the snoring in the albergues.

What we should have left behind: The Ipads. The numerous electronic chargers. The sweat-inducing crappy waterproof jacket.  A skirt. Some dressy shoes my hubby carried and I never wore. The umbrella. The bathing suits.  

Oldest cross on the camino

El Camino: Why Walk the Portuguese Way

I love to travel. But I rarely tell anyone to go to the places I have been.

For the Portuguese Way of the El Camino de Santiago de Compostela, I will make an exception. 

You should go.

If you have a passport and you can scrape together the airfare and have 15 days of vacation and you can walk 10 km a day, you should go.

You should go for the solitude and the companionship. You should go for the rest and for the exercise. You should go for the simple pleasure of going to bed each night physically exhausted. You should go to be alone with your thoughts and go to share them with others. You should go for the surprises that lie around each corner. The scenery that will stop you in your tracks over and over again every day. The walled medieval cities and the sleepy villages and the arched bridges and the seaside paths and the wide valleys and the forested mountains and the neighbours chatting by their gates. The ancient stone walls covered in moss and the grapevines unfurling in the vineyards and and the burbling streams and the early morning dew on the newly planted fields and the sun on the lemon trees and the spring flowers and the hills of yellow broom and the overgrown ruins of abandoned homes. The cobblestones leading to charming boutique hotels and rustic albergues. The most magnificent of cathedrals and the tiniest of roadside shrines. Go to see all these things you can only see when you walk.

Go for the green wine and the tiny beers and the espresso and the pastries and the octopus and the trout and the substantial free snacks. Go for the tapas and the three course pilgrim's menu. 

Go to renew your soul and go to remind yourself of what matters. 

Go because you want to walk your own way and go because there are many who will help you find the path. 

Go to feel solidarity with the generations who walked before you and those who will follow in your footsteps. 

Go to prove to yourself you can.

Just go.

Waymarking

Those who walk the Camino know the value of the waymark. All along the way, the route is marked with the symbol of the scallop shell, yellow on blue, the rays of the shell pointing you in the direction you should go. Supplementing the scallop shell are actual shells, painted yellow, attached to trees and fence posts. Some adorned with just a simple name. In addition to the shells are yellow arrows, some neat and formal, painted onto walls and lamp posts and signposts. Or wooden arrows attached to stakes or nailed to trees and walls. Others spray-painted low on walls, on curbstones, on sidewalks and the very road itself. Painted by local residents, volunteers and city employees, the signs keep you on a path that is centuries old, leading you past churches and chapels and drinking fountains, to cafes and albergues and hotels. Installed with love to guide pilgrims on their way and keep them safe.

The walker soon learns to search out these marks, always looking ahead towards the next directional sign on highways and on country lanes, in cities and towns. Sometimes the signs disappear, especially in busy cities where there are distractions or businesses competing for the custom of the pilgrim. Rarely but annoyingly, businesses who have lost foot traffic when the route has been changed vigilantly remove new waymarks, crossing them out with black paint and redirecting the stream of traffic back past their bars and cafes. In a world full of conflicting roads, without the waymarks, peregrinos would soon be lost and confused. They would never find their way to their destination.

From one end of the Camino to the other, signs point the way. And when signs fail, the peregrino is encouraged by people who live along  the path, pointing the way, calling words of encouragement from the path, from farm fields, from the balconies of their homes. Although you do not share a common language, the calls "Santiago! Courage!" and " Buen Camino!" cheeer you as you walk, reminding you that you are never alone.

In the end, you arrive at your destination. Tired, sore, worn out from days of walking, you come to Santiago de Compostela under your own steam, but not all on your own. The waymarks left by hundreds of others have led you here. The path trod by generations of pilgrims has led you here.

And then you are done.

There are no more arrows. No marks to watch for. No signs to tell you which way to go. No one lays out a path or calls out words of encouragement.  The road you take is your own.

Perhaps the strength you gained from the road will guide you. Perhaps knowing that you never walk alone will give you comfort. Perhaps remembering that others have gone before will help you forge your way.

Perhaps the path you walk will serve as a guide for those yet to come.

Buen Camino, amigos. Walk well!

Early morning, Albergue

It's pitch dark when the rustling begins. Sleeping bags shoved into stuff sacks. Legs into pants, feet into socks,  gear into backpacks. The morning ablutions. Headlamps and cellphone flashlights dart into the darkest corners, checking nothing has been left behind. Evening pleasantries forgotten, not a word spoken.

You're one of the first out the door, closing it softly behind you. You forego the sleepy cafe across the street, taking one last glance at the village you are leaving, with its shuttered shopfronts and rainy pavements and grey silent church. Then it's uphill on an asphalt road past country houses still asleep, onto a woodland path beneath dripping pines, the rain gentle on your poncho.

Before long the older Dutch couple catch up to you, the petite wife in her high tech gear motoring ahead as she always does. The husband slows briefly to chat, introducing you to a pilgrim's song, its rhythm echoing the pace of the walk. Then he too is off, joining the wife, the two of them singing into the rain.

You enter a town. Everything closed. So quiet, dogs don't even bark. The sun comes out and for a moment you see your shadow. How much do you resemble the other pilgrims who have walked this same path? You, with your broad brimmed hat, your cloak-like poncho and your walking stick. You and thousands of pilgrims have walked this road for centuries, rising early with strangers, walking through the days. Knowing your destination but perhaps not knowing the reason you walk until days or even years after your journey has ended.

Quinta das Cancelas to Ponte de Lima

You walk past vineyards, tiny grapes just beginning to form. There are thousands of vineyards here in northern Portugal that produce "vinho verde". The "green wine", bottled while still fermenting, frothy, fruity, best consumed young.

Down farm lanes and cobbled paths you walk, low stone walls centuries old, mossy green, sprouting tiny pink and white asters. You walk past fields of purple wildflowers, the hills above yellow with Portuguese broom in blossom.

You walk by scenes that have played out for generations if not centuries by these same families. A wife watches her husband plow a field. Laundry is hung to dry. A man repairs a scarecrow. A mother pulls a child in a cart. Hay is stooked by hand.

Farm fields and vineyards give way to a forest path. A brook babbles below. A hillside studded with Cala lillies. Brilliant pink foxglove interrupt the green and white. Birdsong loud overhead.

The forest gives way to farmland, gives way to ancient hamlets, stone wall beside stone wall. Ancient stone churches and immaculate farmhouses and casas in ruins blend one to the next until you reach a cobblestone path. Grape arbours over top, their shadows intense under the Portuguese sun. The path becomes a riverside walkway alongside the River Lima. The magnificent arched stone bridge, Ponte de Lima, appears ahead of you. The city, beautifully restored. The river filled with rowers. Swallows. Music.

You have arrived.

Senda Litoral

To your left stretches the Atlantic, blue green and aquamarine, the colours you only thought you'd see in the Mediterranean. A sandy beach, soft sand broken up by rocky outcroppings, stretches as far down the coast as you can see. On the horizon, far, far down the beach, resort towers stretch upwards. Your destination. Kilometres away. Never seeming to get nearer.

To your right, wildflowers splash across the dunes. Flowers we in Canada cultivate in our gardens and hope they live. Here, they bloom wild. Gerbera daisies, portulaca, California poppies, oleander, calla lilies. Things you cannot name. White, yellow, brilliant pink against the deep green foliage. In the tidy yards, flowers we only see in floral arrangements. Bird of Paradise, orchids, amaryllis, proteus. Oranges fall from the trees to rot on the ground. Lemons bigger than you have ever seen.

Ahead the boardwalk stretches for more than 20 kilometres through sand dunes and past glass fronted cafes and modern apartments and ancient fishing villages, houses painted brilliant colours, where ship-builders build the "best sardine boats in the world."

Senda  Litoral.

The seashore path.