Camino Portuguese

[Karen McMenamy]

I just finished walking Camino Francis at the end of September. I would like to try Camino Portgues next. I read in one of the guide books that you should be an experienced Pilgrim and be able to speak Portuguese to take this route. I also will be traveling alone. I am 65 and had no problems completing the Camino Francis in 34 days. Do I need to look more cautiously at the Portuguese route? Any advice or insight would be most appreciated.

 

[MichaelSG]

While I do suggest to my friends that they walk the Camino Frances before walking a Portuguese route, I can't for a second understand why really needed to be an experienced pilgrim and there is no way that you would need to speak Portuguese. Obviously, language abilities will enhance your experience and make it easier but my wife and I started out with two phrases: Bom Caminho and Obrigado / Obrigada. A close friend in her late 50's did her first Camino from Lisbon to Santiago, doesn't speak anything but English and Australian, walked solo and had a fantastic time.

All that said, the Portuguese routes are different from the CF. From Lisbon to Porto, there are very few pilgrim. On some stages, you will need to be a little creative if you want to walk less than 30km but it is possible. Laurie (@Perigrina2000) has some great information on http://www.vialusitana.org/. Lots of blogs of the walk are available on this forum to. Mine is listed below. @Magwood also has a good one that would be useful to you as I believe she also started walking on her own.

 

[Former member 42123]

I just finished walking Camino Francis at the end of September. I would like to try Camino Portgues next. I read in one of the guide books that you should be an experienced Pilgrim and be able to speak Portuguese to take this route. I also will be traveling alone. I am 65 and had no problems completing the Camino Francis in 34 days. Do I need to look more cautiously at the Portuguese route? Any advice or insight would be most appreciated.

I walked the C P. from Oporto this year.I can say that the only problem I had was the cobblestoned sections,and the occasional busy traffic on some roads.The cobbles played havoc with my feet,and some of the traffic at busy times was scary.I do not speak Portuguese,apart from basic phrases,but found I did not need any more than that.The Portuguese people couldn't have been nicer or more helpful,one lady going far out of her way to lead me back on route when I carelessly got totally lost.So I say Go for it and Buen Camino.

 

[amorfati1]

I just finished walking Camino Francis at the end of September. I would like to try Camino Portgues next. I read in one of the guide books that you should be an experienced Pilgrim and be able to speak Portuguese to take this route. I also will be traveling alone. I am 65 and had no problems completing the Camino Francis in 34 days. Do I need to look more cautiously at the Portuguese route? Any advice or insight would be most appreciated.

good morning Karen -
my two pennies: chuck out that guidebook!

walked the route in May 2014 for four weeks - from Lisboa - on me own. - am an almost certified garden-lounge-potato (i.e. not very 'fit' on a good day) , and speak minimal portuguese (even though, i must admit, speaking italian did help) - but did a great immitation of portuguese, and it worked fine. more portuguese speak english than spanish folks that i encountered. portuguese people have been mega-helpful and kind all the way through.
the section directly after Ponte de Lima (in the north) probably requires a good set of lungs and sturdy legs/feet - it's a bit steep and iffy. Knowing that in advance, and after days of rain, I opted for sharing a taxi with other equally drenched pilgrims to the top of the hill. voila', 'issue' solved ;-)

read up on the portuguese caminho section on this fine forum ... plenty of well shared experiences of all sorts. - plus the above commentators also added good links for you to visit.

bom caminho
c

 

[Magwood]

As suggested by @MichaelSG, I think it is a good plan for unexperienced hikers ( ie, me ) to walk the camino Frances as a first camino experience. But really there is no need of experience to walk the Portuguese route, which I chose (from Lisbon) for my second camino trail. It is certainly different, with plenty of road walking, and way too many cobblestones, but also much beautiful countryside and woodland. I loved it - as I have loved all three of my caminos - each one very different and challenging in their own individual way.

As already suggested, do check out the resources section and take advantage of the creative ways to shorten some of the stages if necessary. But don't fear the route - the Portuguese are the most welcoming people and they will understand any spanish phrases you have, although many will speak and understand English. (I was told by my good Portuguese friend and forum member @amsimoes that Portuguese TV, which shows a lot of English language programmes and films, do not dub the dialogue into the local language but use subtitles, and so many people learn English this way - please correct me Aurelio if I have got this wrong).

Walking from Lisbon may add to your daily budget if walking alone, because there are some stages without albergues, and so it is necessary to use private hostales or hotels. But from Porto there are plenty of accommodation choices.

I would definitely recommend wearing boots with good, heavy soles and supportive replacement insoles, to protect your poor feet from the dreaded cobbles, and apply some high visibility tape to your back pack and walking poles to ensure that passing cars are aware of your presence on the road.

And if you can organise it, walk the industrial areas at the weekend when the traffic is almost non-existent.

I found a walking partner (via this forum) to accompany me from Lisbon to Porto, at which point I continued alone. There are not too many pilgrims setting off from Lisbon, but it is a route with many, many points of interest and beauty.

Interestingly, on my most recent camino (Mozárabe from Málaga), at one stage I heard a voice that sounded familiar and on investigation I discovered a pilgrim who I had met a couple of days out of Lisbon on my camino Portuguese.

I was aged 60 when I walked this route and my only previous hiking experience was walking the CF - and I encountered no problems.

All will be well - continue to ask any questions here about the route, and enjoy your planning.

I posted every day live from the camino. If you are interested you can see my blog here
http://magwood.me/camino-portuguese/

Bom caminho!

 

[Annette london]

As suggested by @MichaelSG, I think it is a good plan for unexperienced hikers ( ie, me ) to walk the camino Frances as a first camino experience. But really there is no need of experience to walk the Portuguese route, which I chose (from Lisbon) for my second camino trail. It is certainly different, with plenty of road walking, and way too many cobblestones, but also much beautiful countryside and woodland. I loved it - as I have loved all three of my caminos - each one very different and challenging in their own individual way.

As already suggested, do check out the resources section and take advantage of the creative ways to shorten some of the stages if necessary. But don't fear the route - the Portuguese are the most welcoming people and they will understand any spanish phrases you have, although many will speak and understand English. (I was told by my good Portuguese friend and forum member @amsimoes that Portuguese TV, which shows a lot of English language programmes and films, do not dub the dialogue into the local language but use subtitles, and so many people learn English this way - please correct me Aurelio if I have got this wrong).

Walking from Lisbon may add to your daily budget if walking alone, because there are some stages without albergues, and so it is necessary to use private hostales or hotels. But from Porto there are plenty of accommodation choices.

I would definitely recommend wearing boots with good, heavy soles and supportive replacement insoles, to protect your poor feet from the dreaded cobbles, and apply some high visibility tape to your back pack and walking poles to ensure that passing cars are aware of your presence on the road.

And if you can organise it, walk the industrial areas at the weekend when the traffic is almost non-existent.

I found a walking partner (via this forum) to accompany me from Lisbon to Porto, at which point I continued alone. There are not too many pilgrims setting off from Lisbon, but it is a route with many, many points of interest and beauty.

Interestingly, on my most recent camino (Mozárabe from Málaga), at one stage I heard a voice that sounded familiar and on investigation I discovered a pilgrim who I had met a couple of days out of Lisbon on my camino Portuguese.

I was aged 60 when I walked this route and my only previous hiking experience was walking the CF - and I encountered no problems.

All will be well - continue to ask any questions here about the route, and enjoy your planning.

I posted every day live from the camino. If you are interested you can see my blog here
http://magwood.me/camino-portuguese/

Bom caminho!

We walked from Oporto to Santiago in about 8 or 9 days. I'm afraid it was our least liked one as there is so much road walking and extremely busy roads. My husband was nearly killed on the first day out with traffic whizzing by. Saying that, the portoguse people were some of the nicest we have met and the albergues were lovely. Enjoy your Camino whichever one you choose to do. Best wishes

 

[Magwood]

We walked from Oporto to Santiago in about 8 or 9 days. I'm afraid it was our least liked one as there is so much road walking and extremely busy roads. My husband was nearly killed on the first day out with traffic whizzing by. Saying that, the portoguse people were some of the nicest we have met and the albergues were lovely. Enjoy your Camino whichever one you choose to do. Best wishes

Due to unfavourable weather conditions, I chose to walk the central route out of Porto rather than the coastal. I have to admit it was an awful experience, with the scariest road walking I have known (one of the reasons I recommend applying hiviz tape everywhere it will stick). I regret my choice (although I met with a wonderful bunch of people that night and had a fabulous time in their company). Take the coastal path and avoid what is the worst day's walk on the CP.

 

[Dutch]

Camino portugees is a wonderful walk and there is absolutely no reason why you should have walked the frances first.
Also complete nonsens that you need to be an experienced pilgrim to walked this route. As if it is a hard walk....pfff....no its not. Lots of parts on the Frances are alot more demanding.

Go on, enjoy it and yes, the book that says all that....just throw it in the bin. What a load of peeeeeep!

The only thing i would say is, on your first day out, walk the coastal route and on day two walk inland. The walk on the central route from oporto cathedral on day one is not nice and should, imho, be avoided. It is, now and that, even VERY dangerous road walking.
So, Coastal route on day one, central route from day 2 onwards. You'll walk the whole thing (from Porto) in +/- 10 days and love it!

Oh, and as for having to be able to speak Portugees? Again a load of nonsens. Your better of knowing how to speak a bit of Spanish, 'cause the Portugees people speak english about 673 times better than the Spanish people do.

Ps
What boook was that? Real curious about that.

 

[ourgirl]

I walked the coastal Camino Portuguese, from Porto to Santiago. It was lovely. The amount of pilgrims increased as I met up with the central route in Redondela. I loved every bit of it. Very little cobblestones on the coastal paths. Advise taking extra days in Porto and Viana do Costelo. I loved Viana! This was my first Camino. I knew very little Brazilian Portuguese and the Portuguese people preferred to speak English with me--they were happy that I tried, though. I really missed Portugal for several days in Spain. The sights, the people, the food--very singular. Not to be missed.

 

[donnercruiser]

I walked the Caminho Portuguese twice. In 2014 allone and in 2015 with my wife. The 2014 camino was my first pilgrim experience. Cause of some few problems with health, job and so on, i decided to run away from home to do a camino. I was not really fit and i did not had really informations about that way. But i booked a flight and found a very well marked way. The portugese and later on the spanish people have been very nice and helpful. My portugese/spanish is very poor. Mostly they understood my english and we talked with hands and feet. A smile will open many doors ;-)

I don´t know the CF, but lots of people told me, that the infrastrukture of CP is nearly the same. There have been a lot of auberges, bars and restaurants. Waymarkes have been perfect and the number of other pilgrims was not too high. So i would advice you to do the CP and don´t think too much.

regards

Olaf

 

[Utgaard]

I walked solo from Porto along the coast to Caminha, then followed the river to Valenca/Tui and the central route. It was my first Camino and I speak neither Portuguese nor Spanish. Traffic was not a big issue on my walk. I second Magwood's recommendation of sturdy boots to deal with the granite pavers/cobbles. The Portuguese people more than made up for any problems, real or perceived, that I encountered.

In short, I disagree with the guidebook and I wish you a bom Caminho!

 

[Karen McMenamy]

Thank you all for your response and encouragement! Next fall it is! I am excited to be able to physically and spiritually prepare for a second Camino experience!

 

[cj2003]

I cannot add much to what the otheri forum members have written - they pretty much sums up what I've learned by reading here for some time - only thing to add is that you might benefit from the list of accomodations I've made for this community (and myself!) - beware that it uses the coastal route from Porto, but the journey from Lisbon to Porto is the normal route

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...-route-portugues-route-monacal-coastal.35534/