- Time of past OR future Camino
- Recent:Norte/Muxia- Spring '23
MadridWay- Fall '23
Hello all!
I've been home for a week after being in Portugal and Spain for a full month with my son and thought I'd give a shortish recap of my experience. We started out with a couple of tourist days in Lisbon and beautiful Sintra before starting our walk on the Rota Vicentina's Fisherman's Way. A three hour bus ride south to Porto Covo was the beginning of our ten day walk along the coast southward. We had warm, mostly sunny weather and gorgeous non-stop ocean views of coves with huge boulders strewn about. We stopped often to take them all in with the vantage point of a bird looking down from the high cliffs above; one cove after the other as we walked along. The rather deep sand was quite difficult on several of the early days starting out. Twenty kilometers of watching each step I took in the sand was hard work and my hiking poles seemed to do little to help so I gave up using them after a few days. The low growing succulent plants and flowers were in abundance and beautiful, following our steps most of the way. Lovely ocean breezes often refreshed us as we walked. Once in awhile the terrain would change, walking through a pine forest with some nice shade and was appreciated. Our lodgings were a combination of mostly reasonably priced guest houses and occasional hotels, all comfortable with good experiences. The villages were almost exclusively whitewashed stucco buildings, trimmed in bright blue around the windows and doorways, and although I liked them I eventually came to miss the stone structures of Spain's Caminos.
About a week in I developed a bad cold, complete with a sinus infection and stopped often at farmacias for meds to help lessen the symptoms. In addition, while exploring a park after we had dropped off our backpacks for the remainder of the day, low and behold I tripped over an embedded rock and slammed forward on a hard dirt and stone surface. I scraped both knees pretty good and felt pain in my left chest area. I rallied and persevered through the rest of the planned journey, but each time I coughed I noticed pain on my left side where I had fallen.
After about ten days we finished in Sagres, and took a long, but comfortable 7 hour bus ride up to Porto, a city I love, spending two nights there before starting the Portuguese Camino. We walked along the river and ocean out of Porto on our first day to Matosinhos, then on to Vila do Conde, finally turning inland to join the Central route. I shortened a couple of the longest stretches, taking taxis twice as my cold seemed to deplete my energy. I loved many of the views of big hills that were sprinkled with clay roof villages in the distance. Vineyards were everywhere and always fascinate me. We saw very few farm animals on this route and wildlife consisted only of one rabbit and many small lizards.
I especially loved the exceptional beauty of the large towns of Ponte de Lima and Pontevedra, although Barcelos and Tui were nice, as well.
We eventually turned onto the Espiritual Variant and stayed overnight in the stunning oceanside stone village of Combarro in order to have more time there, and to make the next day's hill climb shorter. We loved the nearly two hour boat ride from Vilanova de Arousa to Padron. In Santiago we stayed for two nights enjoying the city and meeting up with a few forum friends before our flight home. I made a special point of stopping in to meet Ivar, our forum CEO, so to speak. He was so kind and made me feel welcome in his little office. I also met Faith and Nate at Pilgrim House, the lovely facility they envisioned which provides a place of rest and connection to weary pilgrims.
The food was always excellent and quite reasonablly priced. We decided to mainly enjoy seafood on this trip and the many variations of squid became a highlight. Occasionally I ordered fish, but they usually had many bones to deal with, at least in the price range we were looking at; the squid and pulpo have none!
After returning home I went for a chest x-ray and discovered I have two fractured ribs on the left side of my chest. They have not shifted so no worries of punctured organs and I should be good as new in another month!
I love this forum and had presented several questions early on to members which helped me with my planning and I would not have changed anything. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to answer my questions with their helpful advise and opinions! You're all "the best"!
I've been home for a week after being in Portugal and Spain for a full month with my son and thought I'd give a shortish recap of my experience. We started out with a couple of tourist days in Lisbon and beautiful Sintra before starting our walk on the Rota Vicentina's Fisherman's Way. A three hour bus ride south to Porto Covo was the beginning of our ten day walk along the coast southward. We had warm, mostly sunny weather and gorgeous non-stop ocean views of coves with huge boulders strewn about. We stopped often to take them all in with the vantage point of a bird looking down from the high cliffs above; one cove after the other as we walked along. The rather deep sand was quite difficult on several of the early days starting out. Twenty kilometers of watching each step I took in the sand was hard work and my hiking poles seemed to do little to help so I gave up using them after a few days. The low growing succulent plants and flowers were in abundance and beautiful, following our steps most of the way. Lovely ocean breezes often refreshed us as we walked. Once in awhile the terrain would change, walking through a pine forest with some nice shade and was appreciated. Our lodgings were a combination of mostly reasonably priced guest houses and occasional hotels, all comfortable with good experiences. The villages were almost exclusively whitewashed stucco buildings, trimmed in bright blue around the windows and doorways, and although I liked them I eventually came to miss the stone structures of Spain's Caminos.
About a week in I developed a bad cold, complete with a sinus infection and stopped often at farmacias for meds to help lessen the symptoms. In addition, while exploring a park after we had dropped off our backpacks for the remainder of the day, low and behold I tripped over an embedded rock and slammed forward on a hard dirt and stone surface. I scraped both knees pretty good and felt pain in my left chest area. I rallied and persevered through the rest of the planned journey, but each time I coughed I noticed pain on my left side where I had fallen.
After about ten days we finished in Sagres, and took a long, but comfortable 7 hour bus ride up to Porto, a city I love, spending two nights there before starting the Portuguese Camino. We walked along the river and ocean out of Porto on our first day to Matosinhos, then on to Vila do Conde, finally turning inland to join the Central route. I shortened a couple of the longest stretches, taking taxis twice as my cold seemed to deplete my energy. I loved many of the views of big hills that were sprinkled with clay roof villages in the distance. Vineyards were everywhere and always fascinate me. We saw very few farm animals on this route and wildlife consisted only of one rabbit and many small lizards.
I especially loved the exceptional beauty of the large towns of Ponte de Lima and Pontevedra, although Barcelos and Tui were nice, as well.
We eventually turned onto the Espiritual Variant and stayed overnight in the stunning oceanside stone village of Combarro in order to have more time there, and to make the next day's hill climb shorter. We loved the nearly two hour boat ride from Vilanova de Arousa to Padron. In Santiago we stayed for two nights enjoying the city and meeting up with a few forum friends before our flight home. I made a special point of stopping in to meet Ivar, our forum CEO, so to speak. He was so kind and made me feel welcome in his little office. I also met Faith and Nate at Pilgrim House, the lovely facility they envisioned which provides a place of rest and connection to weary pilgrims.
The food was always excellent and quite reasonablly priced. We decided to mainly enjoy seafood on this trip and the many variations of squid became a highlight. Occasionally I ordered fish, but they usually had many bones to deal with, at least in the price range we were looking at; the squid and pulpo have none!
After returning home I went for a chest x-ray and discovered I have two fractured ribs on the left side of my chest. They have not shifted so no worries of punctured organs and I should be good as new in another month!
I love this forum and had presented several questions early on to members which helped me with my planning and I would not have changed anything. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to answer my questions with their helpful advise and opinions! You're all "the best"!
