Beggining caminho at Santarem or Coimbra.

another walker · Jul 20, 2014

Hi . Is here any reason one should start the Caminho Portuguese at Lisbon or Porto.?
Is it acceptable to start at Santarem or Coimbra ? Assuming it is possible,would one have to get a stamp in the main church of that town? Unfortunately, i have a limited time in which to complete the caminho,but its more than the time required to walk from Porto to SdC .

Diogo92 · Jul 20, 2014

another walker said:
Hi . Is here any reason one should start the Caminho Portuguese at Lisbon or Porto.?
Is it acceptable to start at Santarem or Coimbra ? Assuming it is possible,would one have to get a stamp in the main church of that town? Unfortunately, i have a limited time in which to complete the caminho,but its more than the time required to walk from Porto to SdC .

The Caminho, and specially YOUR Caminho, starts wherever you want. I believe that the place where you start depends from the days that you have available and also your walking skills (if you can walk a maximum of 25km per day, or if you can do 40km per day without any problem).

There is no problem for you to start either in Santarém or in Coimbra. Since both are cities that the Caminho cross, I believe that yes, you can get a stamp in there. Just don't forget that in order to get your Compostela (that is, if you want it), you just need ONE stamp per day until you reach Tui. After Tui, which marks the last 100km from the Caminho, you will need 2 stamps per day.

From Lisbon to either Santarém or Fatima, you can either reach by train or by bus. For Santarém the best way it's the bus, since there is still a big distance from the train station to the city center itself.

How many days do you have?

another walker · Jul 20, 2014

Diogo92 said:
The Caminho, and specially YOUR Caminho, starts wherever you want. I believe that the place where you start depends from the days that you have available and also your walking skills (if you can walk a maximum of 25km per day, or if you can do 40km per day without any problem).

There is no problem for you to start either in Santarém or in Coimbra. Since both are cities that the Caminho cross, I believe that yes, you can get a stamp in there. Just don't forget that in order to get your Compostela (that is, if you want it), you just need ONE stamp per day until you reach Tui. After Tui, which marks the last 100km from the Caminho, you will need 2 stamps per day.

From Lisbon to either Santarém or Fatima, you can either reach by train or by bus. For Santarém the best way it's the bus, since there is still a big distance from the train station to the city center itself.

How many days do you have?

I could squeeze 16 or 17 days,maybe 18 at a push. 19 if i promise to steal the crown jewels of England and give them to my wife as a thankyou for giving my an extra day. For the first few days on the road i shall walk +/-25kms, then switch on the turbo chargers and get some serious walking done. I cannot take the time to walk from Lisbon to SdC and actually getting the compostella is not really important to me. What matters,i my case, is the peregrinaçao. I began this journey in 1977 with a overland journey to India and this is phase 2 of that same journey. I believe that which i am looking for will find me on the road between Lisboa and SdC. Vamos ver,nao eh?
I shall perhaps take the Alfa Pendula from Faro to LIS and then take the bus to Santarem.
Anyway,Diogo, thanks for the reply. I hope all is fiche contigo ! Tchao.

Diogo92 · Jul 20, 2014

another walker said:
I could squeeze 16 or 17 days,maybe 18 at a push. 19 if i promise to steal the crown jewels of England and give them to my wife as a thankyou for giving my an extra day. For the first few days on the road i shall walk +/-25kms, then switch on the turbo chargers and get some serious walking done. I cannot take the time to walk from Lisbon to SdC and actually getting the compostella is not really important to me. What matters,i my case, is the peregrinaçao. I began this journey in 1977 with a overland journey to India and this is phase 2 of that same journey. I believe that which i am looking for will find me on the road between Lisboa and SdC. Vamos ver,nao eh?
I shall perhaps take the Alfa Pendula from Faro to LIS and then take the bus to Santarem.
Anyway,Diogo, thanks for the reply. I hope all is fiche contigo ! Tchao.

Well, if you say that you that the important for you it's the pilgrimage, let’s be honest: walking on Turbo mode it's not really enjoyable has that for a Pilgrimage. Start in Coimbra, with the days that you have, it's the best for you. 18 or 19 days from Santarém are a little bit killer. Never forget that you can see distances in Google Maps, but add to those amounts always an extra of 3 or 4km per day, has a margin, since some times the Caminho does some detours that would take less time doing it by the road.

If you need something just ask

another walker · Jul 20, 2014

Diogo92 said:
Well, if you say that you that the important for you it's the pilgrimage, let’s be honest: walking on Turbo mode it's not really enjoyable has that for a Pilgrimage. Start in Coimbra, with the days that you have, it's the best for you. 18 or 19 days from Santarém are a little bit killer. Never forget that you can see distances in Google Maps, but add to those amounts always an extra of 3 or 4km per day, has a margin, since some times the Caminho does some detours that would take less time doing it by the road.

If you need something just ask

Turbo mode is just the way that i am,my whole life. My parents should have called me "whoosh" for a name.

Former member 22438 · Jul 20, 2014

I agree with my good friend Diogo. Start in Coimbra if you have only some time to walk.
It took us three weeks walking in a moderate pace to get from Lisbon to Porto. From Porto to Santiago it is about a forthnight to go.
From Coimbra it is a nice walk and there are good places to stay.

Just outside Mealhada in Serdanelo is albergue Hilario ,one of the few you can diner together with other pilgrims

In Águeda we stayed in hostal Céleste which is also past the center and mind if tou want to eat something you have to go back to the center 2kms downhill and back...uphill. But nice place to stay. Good breakfast

Past Albergaría-a-Velha..I hope you follow the map where all the places are .. Is Santuario de Nossa Senhora del Socorro, a retrait house with nuns... Nice place to be, nice views over the surroundings, a bed, lunch, diner and breakfast..we paid 3€ each !

In São João da Madeira we stayed in hostal Solar just at the main square of the town. Nice place and a place many pilgrims stay.

From there is a long way to Porto, 34 kms We walked to Grijó. About 20 kms and took the bus from there to the Batalha bus station in Porto avoiding the walk through the busy suburbs of Vila Nova de Gaia .

Former member 22438 · Jul 20, 2014

another walker said:
Turbo mode is just the way that i am,my whole life. My parents should have called me "whoosh" for a name.

There is an airline connection from Lisbon to Santiago too.

I know the pilgrimsoffice provides the Compstela certificate on base of walking, cycling and on horseback but maybe they will make an exception for you by showing your boarding card Whoosh...

another walker · Jul 20, 2014

Albertinho said:
There is an airline connection from Lisbon to Santiago too.

I know the pilgrimsoffice provides the Compstela certificate on base of walking, cycling and on horseback but maybe they will make an exception for you by showing your boarding card Whoosh...

Maybe i could jet around the world from Lisbon to Santiago and still get the compostela. Whoooooosh ! (i don´know how to include a smile in the post) Thanks for the input Albertinho.

Former member 22438 · Jul 20, 2014

: + - + ) =

amorfati1 · Jul 20, 2014

Good morning - another option might be to visit Santarem and Coimbra by train so you see the lovely sights and experience the towns, and then start walking in Porto and take your time until Santiago. Have a rest day in one of two places that you enjoy ... (Ponte de Lima comes to mind...)
Whooshing about can be useful at times - another matter might be how your feet/shins/knees feel about whooshing across the landscape on cobblestone lanes/street, and other hard surfaces.
Have a marvelous time on the caminho - because it can indeed be full of MARVELS ... best wishes!

another walker · Jul 20, 2014

Albertinho said:
: + - + ) =

:+-+)= grrrrrr

Former member 22438 · Jul 20, 2014

another walker said:
:+-+)= grrrrrr

¡. Encantado ! Muito prazer !

another walker · Jul 20, 2014

amorfati1 said:
Good morning - another option might be to visit Santarem and Coimbra by train so you see the lovely sights and experience the towns, and then start walking in Porto and take your time until Santiago. Have a rest day in one of two places that you enjoy ... (Ponte de Lima comes to mind...)
Whooshing about can be useful at times - another matter might be how your feet/shins/knees feel about whooshing across the landscape on cobblestone lanes/street, and other hard surfaces.
Have a marvelous time on the caminho - because it can indeed be full of MARVELS ... best wishes!

Yes indeed! How the feet, etc might feel. Living in Portugal for the last 30 years,i have visited quite a bit of it,Santarem and Coimbra included,so i have no real desire to spend time in either of them. That being said,the history of both towns is of interest to me,and i suppose there is always more to learn.
Thankyou for your kind best wishes and enthusiasm. I am surely looking forward to the trip. Did you enjoy Portugal ?

amorfati1 · Jul 21, 2014

Did I enjoy Portugal? SIM! - and much more.
that land and it's people has a special place in my heart ever since I've been a young teenager (my first visit) - working as an au-pair with a family in Sao Pedro de Moel. - And I have been back several times - each time 'enchanted and captured' anew - and grateful that I could spend time there (and it's not only because I enjoy the Vinho Verde, Pasteis de Nate/Belem and Bacalhau
(many a times I wished I could purchase a plot of land and build a li'l house there on a green hill overlooking the ocean ... 60sqm would suffice - provided there's lots of garden and trees around.)
Have a splendid time on the caminho! there isn't a day that i don't 'revisit' in heart and mind. Bom Caminho indeed! Claudia -

Former member 22438 · Jul 21, 2014

another walker said:
Yes indeed! How the feet, etc might feel. Living in Portugal for the last 30 years,i have visited quite a bit of it,Santarem and Coimbra included,so i have no real desire to spend time in either of them. That being said,the history of both towns is of interest to me,and i suppose there is always more to learn.
Thankyou for your kind best wishes and enthusiasm. I am surely looking forward to the trip. Did you enjoy Portugal ?

One question @another walker ! If you live for the last 30 years in Portugal,you should know by now at least a bit of the geography of the country I suppose so why the question on this forum where to start , which was the beginning of this thread ?

another walker · Jul 21, 2014

Albertinho said:
One question @another walker ! If you live for the last 30 years in Portugal,you should know by now at least a bit of the geography of the country I suppose so why the question on this forum where to start , which was the beginning of this thread ?

Simply because i did not know if it was possible to start the journey anywhere other than the cathedrals of Lisbon or Porto.

another walker · Jul 21, 2014

Albertinho said:
¡. Encantado ! Muito prazer !

I really hope that i have not offended you Albertinho by copying the plusses ,minuses and bracket as followed by a smile on your post the(grrrrr) was me signaling my frustration and jokingly adding the (grrrr). I rerally am not the type of person that resorts to sarcasm on the web. If you were offended,then please accept my most sincere apologies,as it was not my intention to offend. Best wishes.

Former member 22438 · Jul 21, 2014

another walker said:
I really hope that i have not offended you Albertinho by copying the plusses ,minuses and bracket as followed by a smile on your post the(grrrrr) was me signaling my frustration and jokingly adding the (grrrr). I rerally am not the type of person that resorts to sarcasm on the web. If you were offended,then please accept my most sincere apologies,as it was not my intention to offend. Best wishes.

No you did not offend me at all. I was trying to find out how you solved this "mathematical " problem

another walker · Jul 21, 2014

another walker said:
I really hope that i have not offended you Albertinho by copying the plusses ,minuses and bracket as followed by a smile on your post the(grrrrr) was me signaling my frustration and jokingly adding the (grrrr). I rerally am not the type of person that resorts to sarcasm on the web. If you were offended,then please accept my most sincere apologies,as it was not my intention to offend. Best wishes.

When i said in a previous post that i did not know how to include a smiley face i was serious,i honestly don´t know how. I assumed that :+-+)= would produce a smiley face.It didn´t,hence (grrrr)..

Former member 22438 · Jul 21, 2014

another walker said:
Simply because i did not know if it was possible to start the journey anywhere other than the cathedrals of Lisbon or Porto.

You can start everywhere you want. Not specificly needed to start in Lisbon or Porto.

If you you go for a Compostela certificate the only condition is that you walk the last 100 kms before Santiago and collect two stamps a day to prove you walked these 100 kms. That means on the Portugese you start either in Valença do Minho or Tui.

I tried with some "mathematical " skills to find out where you could possibly start when you have 19 days under conditions you steal the crownjewels- alternative take your wife with you but as you say you start moderately but after a while you will wooshhhh. So probably counting down you will start somewhere around Coimbra as been said before.

Former member 22438 · Jul 21, 2014

another walker said:
I really hope that i have not offended you Albertinho by copying the plusses ,minuses and bracket as followed by a smile on your post the(grrrrr) was me signaling my frustration and jokingly adding the (grrrr). I rerally am not the type of person that resorts to sarcasm on the web. If you were offended,then please accept my most sincere apologies,as it was not my intention to offend. Best wishes.

Is this the first time you are going to walk the camiño ?

another walker · Jul 21, 2014

Albertinho said:
Is this the first time you are going to walk the camiño ?

Yes, it is the first time. Many thanks for all of your useful help and advice,i am sure with all of that information and the input of others, i shall be well equipped with information,wherever i choose to begin.

another walker · Jul 21, 2014

another walker said:
When i said in a previous post that i did not know how to include a smiley face i was serious,i honestly don´t know how. I assumed that :+-+)= would produce a smiley face.It didn´t,hence (grrrr)..

i may have found the smiles ?

Former member 22438 · Jul 21, 2014

another walker said:
i may have found the smiles ?

Yep !

Former member 22438 · Jul 21, 2014

another walker said:
Simply because i did not know if it was possible to start the journey anywhere other than the cathedrals of Lisbon or Porto.

Did you buy a guide about the camino ? For example
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1844095924/?tag=casaivar02-20

another walker · Jul 21, 2014

Albertinho said:
Did you buy a guide about the camino ? For example
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1844095924/?tag=casaivar02-20

I bought the John Brierley guide . I could easily do the arithmetic and make a plan to walk however far every day and stay at certain places,but i want to plan as little as possible and arrive where i arrive when i get there. To some that may sound a bit silly or unwise,but i travelled like this for a long time (years) when i was younger,and want to do it again and get some time away from a totally planned life (every day is kind of planned by me for me) and be a bit free for a short time. All the best, Martin

Former member 22438 · Jul 21, 2014

another walker said:
I bought the John Brierley guide . I could easily do the arithmetic and make a plan to walk however far every day and stay at certain places,but i want to plan as little as possible and arrive where i arrive when i get there. To some that may sound a bit silly or unwise,but i travelled like this for a long time (years) when i was younger,and want to do it again and get some time away from a totally planned life (every day is kind of planned by me for me) and be a bit free for a short time. All the best, Martin

Okay. " Do what you say. Than you do not lie " is a Dutch saying.
However the Portugese caminho is not to be walked randomly as a matter of speaking.
You have to count with the places where you can sleep. And these are mentioned among others in Brierleys guide.
Anyway bom caminho Martin . hope to read about your caminho how you cope with it and how you will go !

Best regards from the Netherlands

Albertinho

shubertj · Jul 24, 2014

another walker said:
Hi . Is here any reason one should start the Caminho Portuguese at Lisbon or Porto.?
Is it acceptable to start at Santarem or Coimbra ? Assuming it is possible,would one have to get a stamp in the main church of that town? Unfortunately, i have a limited time in which to complete the caminho,but its more than the time required to walk from Porto to SdC .

Another Walker,
Looks like my wife and I have finalized doing the Camino Portuguese from Lisbon to Santiago in September instead of the Italian part of the Via Francigena to Rome. We have plotted the route and planned 18 days from Coimbra to Santiago. So to simply answer your questions we would recommend you start there.

Former member 22438 · Jul 24, 2014

shubertj said:
Another Walker,
Looks like my wife and I have finalized doing the Camino Portuguese from Lisbon to Santiago in September instead of the Italian part of the Via Francigena to Rome. We have plotted the route and planned 18 days from Coimbra to Santiago. So to simply answer your questions we would recommend you start there.

That is what I thought but also means that you are walking all the time.
No time for sightseeing in Porto, Barcelos ( great detour to the town of Braga ), Ponte de Lima or one of the beautifull Spanish towns you encounter.

shubertj · Jul 24, 2014

Albertinho said:
That is what I thought but also means that you are walking all the time.
No time for sightseeing in Porto, Barcelos ( great detour to the town of Braga ), Ponte de Lima or one of the beautifull Spanish towns you encounter.

Albertinho
I agree we planned an extra night in Porto and plan to spend a night in Ponte de Lima. What is Barcelos? Also did you have any problems finding places to stay. We might prebook some stops.
Jack

Former member 22438 · Jul 24, 2014

shubertj said:
Albertinho
I agree we planned an extra night in Porto and plan to spend a night in Ponte de Lima. What is Barcelos? Also did you have any problems finding places to stay. We might prebook some stops.
Jack

We started in Lisbon last year and never had a problem finding a place to sleep as long as you do some preps and reading in about the matter.
Sometimes we called during the day we walked.
All the addresses to sleep are in the John Brierley guide camino Portuges with telephonenumbers.

Barcelos is a medieval town between São Pedro de Rates and Ponte de Lima
From there by bus without backpack you can make a detour of 20 kms to the town of Braga where is a very famous and beautifull church, bom Jesus do Monte .the towncenter is medieval too

Instead of sleeping in Ponte de Lima stop in Vitorino dosPiaës between Barcelos and Ponte de Lima at casa da Fernanda. I allready mentioned this place 100 times it is the best lodgingaddress on the entire caminho Portuges from Porto to Santiago. It is a private house, donativo. You get a lunch,diner breakfast a bed and they are the most friendly and helping people you ever met.And you meet fellow pilgrims and eat together and feast together singing etc etc. We have been there three times. Last year once and this year twice and we will be there next year again although we have to make a worthwhile detour of 50 kms because we are going to walk the coastal way from Porto.

-

another walker · Jul 24, 2014

shubertj said:
Another Walker,
Looks like my wife and I have finalized doing the Camino Portuguese from Lisbon to Santiago in September instead of the Italian part of the Via Francigena to Rome. We have plotted the route and planned 18 days from Coimbra to Santiago. So to simply answer your questions we would recommend you start there.

Thankyou for your consideration and input.

Beggining caminho at Santarem or Coimbra.

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