Category Archives: Travel

Albergaria-a-Velha to Oliveira de Azemeis

Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, Travel, ,

9/20 – is it my imagination, or do the names of towns get longer as we move north? 13 miles today, doubling back through town to pick up the yellow arrows that mark our path. The sun was out this morning, with about the same sights to see: more dogs, more eucalyptus forest, more little towns. Here’s what the trail looks like the morning after the big rain:

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Yes, that’s not a river, that’s the trail.

Part of our path today was the original Roman road that the medieval pilgrims walked on:

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We came upon a statue of Mary in the middle of nowhere: image
And a shrine to Senhor Jesus: image

When we got into town, we found, for the third day in a row, that the residencial and the pension had gone out of business. I called the tourist info, and the lady suggested that we ask to sleep on the floor at the fire station, which is common practice here for pilgrims in towns with no hostel. Fortunately, this town has a 4 star hotel, and the hotel offered a discount because we are pilgrims. It’s more than we are used to paying here, but it sure beats the floor of the fire station!

So now we are in a king sized bed with extra pillows, a sleek modern bath with little shampoos, and a lavish buffet spread for breakfast. If this isn’t nice, I just don’t know what is!

Agueda to Albergaria-a-Velha

Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, Travel, , , ,

9/19 – only 10 miles to walk today, so we slept in and partook of the hearty breakfast offered by the Residencial Celeste. The walk was easy today, and the sun came out in between the rain clouds, so here are some pictures, lots of flowers of course, and fall harvest:

The day was mostly on asphalt, with an hour walking through a eucalyptus forest. You can see how hard it is to keep the trail marking on trees when the outer bark peels off!

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Dogs here are chained outside, and they wear themselves out barking at every passerby. Here are some watch dogs and a watch cat, with a pig and some sheep thrown in for good measure:

We got in to Albergaria around noon, and spied a large, modern supermarket, so we stopped in for provisions. Once again, as soon as we were safely inside, the skies opened and the rain poured down. We sat in the cafe inside the market, and watched the other pilgrims come in, drenched and dripping. An old woman came up to me and asked if I was a pilgrim, then hugged me and cried and patted my face, asking me in Portuguese to take her prayers with me. I’ve been collecting a lot of prayers to deliver to St. James. If you would like to add a prayer, I’ll be happy to take yours too…

There is no tourist info in this town, so I used the opportunity of being seated and dry to get out my phone to see where we could stay for the night. Once again, the alburgue was out of business, and so was the residencial and the pension. What now? We asked three young Canadians where they were going to stay, and they told us they were fed up with rain, and were taking a bus to Porto. The French don’t speak any English and we don’t speak any French, so we don’t know what they were doing. The Austrians, ever efficient, had pre-booked a room two miles northwest of town via Bookings.com. That looked like the only game in town, so we headed there too.

The Hotel Ribeirotel, painted pink, is in the middle of the industrial zone, on a busy highway. When we asked the price of a room, we were shown the rate sheet: single, double, or “couples by the hour”! Oh dear, another place of ill repute, but there was nothing for it, so here we are in Room 29. It’s clean, there are no mirrors on the ceiling, and the shower is good. And yes, we did watch a lady of the evening plying her trade on the highway across from the entrance.

There was no restaurant, so we crossed the busy highway to get to a mini mercado to buy the makings of sandwiches and beer for an elegant supper in bed, while watching an old Robert Redford movie on TV with Portuguese subtitles. Now, this is living!

Mealhada to Agueda

Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, Travel, , ,

9/18 – 16 miles today, with grey skies and lots of rain, so no pictures. The walk was mostly flat, and mostly asphalt. At midday, we bought tuna and bread from a mini-market and looked for a place to sit down and eat lunch. We sat under the portico of a church, just before the sky opened up, drenching all the passers by, while we were sheltered from the storm. Pretty neat.

When we reached Agueda, there was a tourist office, so we stopped in for directions to a place to stay. Turned out that the alburgue in our guidebook was closed, and the other residencial in town was “not of good reputation”. We ended up walking another mile and a half off the trail to reach the Residencial Celeste, which is also acting as an alburgue for pilgrims. It had no restaurant, and the rain was pouring down, so the receptionist called Telepizza, and we poor wet pilgrims all had pizza and beer for supper.

We ate with two young women from Germany. Ruth is an IT professional, on six month sabbatical from Bayer Pharmaceuticals, and Annetta is on one month’s holiday from her job as a criminal judge. Annetta brought her little dust mop dog along, thinking she would enjoy walking 20 miles a day on those itty bitty legs. Annetta has to carry the dog and her backpack too!

Of course, their English was excellent, so we had a wonderful conversation about many things. Pilgrims could solve all the world’s problems, if given the chance!

Coimbra to Mealhada

Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, Travel, , ,

9/17 – back on the road this morning for a 14 mile stretch to Mealhada, known for a local brand of wine, and broiled suckling pig – yes, the whole little piggy, from his little pink head to his little curly tail!

Our walk was mostly flat and went through several small towns. We are getting used to the townsfolk answering our Bom Dia with a Boa Viagem! (Sounds like Bon Voyage, but spelled funny – silent “m”) to which we respond with a thank you. Lots of smiles and encouragement.

My Nice Person of Portugal today is the lady who runs the cafe where we stopped for a mid morning espresso. Whenever we stop for a break, I always use the facilities, as you never know when the next opportunity will be. I didn’t see a WC sign in the cafe, so I asked, thinking maybe it was in the back. In response, the lady motioned me to follow her out the door, and down the street, where she ushered me into her home to use her bathroom! How nice was that?

The town of Mealhada welcomes you with a statue of Baachus, god of wine, and grapevines in the square instead of flowers. By the time we got there, the rain that had been threatening all day, started coming down.image

Our last residencial had very poor wifi – we had to sit on the stairs in the hallway to get any reception – so today Jim suggested we stay at the alburgue. After all, who knows more about the needs of pilgrims? We walked through Mealhada and out the other side, passing pensions and residencials, before finally getting to the alburgue. They were out of private rooms, so we could either stay in the dormitory (16 bunk beds in a row with shared WCs), or walk back through town in the rain. We opted for the bunk beds. Luckily there were only 6 of us, and Jim was the only snorer, so we had a surprisingly restful night.

And no, we did not have suckling pig for supper…

A Day in Coimbra

Caminho Portugues, Portugal, Travel, , , , ,

9/15 – Coimbra is a university town, and the tourist attractions are all on the university grounds, way up at the top of the hill. Students in Coimbra don’t have to worry about the Freshman 15 if they walk up and down these hills every day!
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Our day to see the city happened to be the first day of the fall semester, and the campus teemed with students from the different college majors congregating in the square and trying to outshout and outsing one another. As best we could tell, the poor freshman were being indoctrinated into their respective houses by having to wear bibs or signs around their necks proclaiming their unworthiness, being made to run around the square shouting “I am an Idiot”, and other fun things that will remind you of pledge week at the frat house.image

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The upperclassmen and women all wore long black gowns a la Hogwarts, and we were told that this is the daily dress expectation, not just because it was the first day of class.

We got to peek in the St. Michaels Chapel with its grand pipe organ:image

… and the historic campus library, where there were books over 600 years old. The library is home to a family of bats, who fly around every night and eat the bugs, so that the bugs don’t eat the books. The furniture is covered every evening against the guano, and the place cleaned every morning…image

We also got to peek into the Academic Dungeon, which wasn’t built with tall people in mind. We wondered what crime one had to commit to be remanded there! image

I liked the fancy ceilings:

We ambled around the city, and stopped for lunch at a place that advertised Cheeseburguers. Now that’s something we haven’t had in a while! We ordered two, and should not have been surprised when they were served, no bun, with a slice of ham and a fried egg on top. We asked for ketchup, and were given a tiny packet with not enough ketchup for three French fries. We are citizens of the world and loved these cheeseburgers! Viva Portugal!

Lexi and Emma, here are some pics for you! Love you! image

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Fatima Evening Procession

Portugal, Travel

Here is Jim’s video of the evening procession at Fatima. Beautiful!

beinghere2014's avatarBeinghere

In Tomar, we visited many sites, such as the Castelo Templario and the Convento do Christo.  The castle and convent are on a hill high above the city. The Rotunda within the complex was designed to allow the Templar knights to attend mass on horseback. While inside, I was overwhelmed by the monumental paintings and murals. I could not frame a video which would capture their power and beauty. The idea of horses attending mass is interesting, though. The Moors would target the horses during battle and by doing this disable the knights. Templar knights often suffered 80-90% casualties due to their manner of attack. They had taken oaths never to retreat unless ordered to do so and would attack enemy front lines in a manner that indicated their refusal to retreat. This action often caused breaches in the enemy front which could be exploited by regular troops. The Templars…

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Condeixa-a-Nova to Coimbra

Backpacking, Hiking, Portugal, Travel, , , ,

9/14 – Happy birthday to Eliese and Tiare and Eva! Hugs and much love to you!

Today we walked 12 miles into our next big city, Coimbra. The morning walk started out on level ground, so we made great time for the first few hours. Here is our 7am sunrise:

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My salute to a Nice Person of Portugal came as we stood at a crossroads with conflicting Caminho arrows; a spray painted one pointing to the left fork, and the more official looking but less reliable municipal sign pointing to the right. A driver pulled up and pointed to the left, assuring us that the hand painted sign was the one to follow. Obrigado to you, sir!

We stopped for an espresso mid-morning, and were delighted and mystified to hear a bagpipe and drums bleating out a lively tune and coming our way. I love a parade! Never did find out what the occasion was, but they stood in front of us and played a merry tune while we clapped encouragement. Then off they went down the street. Do you think all Pilgrims get this reception?

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We passed three churches in three towns on this Sunday morning, none of which were open or holding a service. Don’t know what to think about that…

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The love put into flower gardens spilling out over walls and fences continues to amaze me. Today I saw lots of purple.


…and a waterfall. image

Before we knew it we were looking down the city of Coimbra:
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Here a Roman aqueduct had to be partially destroyed to allow the highway to be built. Thankfully, much of the aqueduct was spared:

At the entrance to the city is the Convento Santa Isabel, erected in honor of the beautiful and kind hearted young queen who gave her riches away to the poor. When her jealous husband tried to catch her in the act, her basket of coins miraculously turned into roses. She is buried here. image

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Then the rain came down and we hoofed it over to our residencial (with a balcony!) where we will rest our weary feet and see what the city has to offer for the next few days.

Rabacal to Conimbriga to Condeixa-a-Nova

Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, Travel, , , ,

9/13 – Ave Maria got us out of bed and back on the road. There was no kitchen in the hostel or cafe in town, so we got a sluggish start, but we don’t have far to go today.

We came upon a little hamlet that claimed to have the actual road where St. James had trod, and there we met a lady out walking her three goats. She graciously allowed me to take her picture, and is my Nice Person of Portugal today.

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A Belgian pilgrim named Jacques caught up with us, and he and Jim talked economics and politics for a while. This was his second Caminho, having walked through Belgium, France and Spain two years ago.

We parted ways as we approached the town of Coimbriga, where we detoured to see the oldest Roman ruins in Portugal, where objects have been found dating from the 9th centurny BCE.

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I especially liked the intricate mosaic floors of the homes, which were intact and still beautiful after so many years.

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One house had patterned swastikas on the floor. I wonder what the symbol signified back then? The excavations began in 1898, and are ongoing.

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From Coimbriga it was just a few kilometers to Condeixa, where we are spending the night at Residencial Ruinas. There we saw an artist’s rendering of the House of a Fountains ruin we had just visited, where the fountains still worked. I’m happy to report that it was a very nice place, not the ruin implied by the name!

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For supper we found a restaurant that served pasta, and I had fettuccine with Parmesan and chicken – what a treat! We’ve had enough pork and fried potatoes to last us a lifetime…

Ansaio to Rabacal

Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, Travel, , ,

9/12 – we started to see signs of fall as we hiked our 11 miles today, although the days are still warm: image

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We came upon some rabbits, ate some grapes and blackberries off the vine, and just enjoyed the day: image

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As we were eating our lunch under a shady tree, an old man came up and started speaking rapidly and gesturing across the road. We tried Bom Dia, and Obrigado, but neither satisfied him. He hustled off, but then came back in a few minutes with a handful of figs that he picked off a nearby tree. Now when we said Obrigado (thank you), his face lit up. Nice people everywhere!

Rabacal is a very small town with one hostel and one cafe. At the hostel we met a young man from Boston named John, and he accompanied us to dinner at the cafe. He has caught the travel bug, and we shared stories of the different places we’ve been. It was nice way to spend the evening.

The town church played A full chorus of Ave Maria every hour and half hour, and we wondered if we would be able to sleep. Mercifully, the bells were silent after 10pm, but woke us promptly at 6!

Tomar to Alvaiazere to Ansiao

Backpacking, Caminho Portugues, Hiking, Portugal, Travel,

9/10 – my first 20 mile day! It rained in the morning and was cool and overcast for the rest of the day, so we just kept walking. One blister. Not bad!

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Above is Jim walking across a medieval bridge. There is so much here that is so old, but well built and still being used. Incredible!

We were the only guests at Residencio O Bras, where we had a gorgeous tiled ensuite (I’m getting very fond of bidets, btw, will have to have one installed when we get home). The price included dinner, so we went down to the restaurant for our meal at 7 to find the door locked. A knock got us in, and we found only one table, set for two. The chef served the soup, pork filets, salad and fried potatoes, and kept hovering and refilling our plates as we ate. Very intimidating, as we kept trying to tell him we had enough, but there was evermore food to consume! Then three French pilgrims came in asking for dinner, and were told they would not be served as they weren’t staying at the Residencio! They talked him into serving them eventually… A very strange way to run a restaurant, don’t you think?

9/11 – after yesterday’s 20 miles, I knew I wouldn’t be much good today, so it was good that we only had 9 miles planned. Another rainy morning, with a long morning climb followed by a longer descent on loose, slippery rock. Not my favorite, but better than walking on the highway! Happy to say the sun came out by noon.

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