José Saramago "Journey to Portugal"

I am preparing for my mini-Camino, Porto to Santiago planned for October. In my never ending struggle against triviality, I have left the guidebooks aside and am preparing through my true loves, literature and history. I struggle against the far too uncomplicated fall into the traps of banality - how many kilometers until the next albergue and where might the best pilgrims' menu be found - so I am deep into José Saramago and loving every minute. I know, I know, a Communist, an atheist, whose writings commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor (thank you Wikiguru), a Noble Prize recipient whose extensive travels in Galicia, Leon, and Portugal forgive his many iniquities. His book "Viagem a Portugal" "Journey to Portugal" appeared in 1981, in English translation only in 2000. He did NOT walk the Camino however his observations on Viana del Castelo, on Caminha, on Rubiaes (and the Chapel of Our Lady of Refuge just beyond, Bertiandos, and Romarigaes, the Capela da Aparecida and Barcelos and Braga are enchanting and illuminating-his comments on walking are beyond time and express a Portuguese world view. The book has an extensive bibliography should one not be tempted to read all-individual towns and sites are easily found, his words touch the soul while ignoring blisters, packing lists, and Altus ponchos. I heartily recommend a peek on the net or walk over to the library for a treat.

mspath said:

Indeed.

'The journey is never over. Only travellers come to an end. The end of one journey is simply the start of another. You have to see what you missed the first time, see again what you already saw, see in springtime what you saw in summer, in daylight what you saw at night, see the sun shining where you saw the rain falling, see the crops growing, the fruit ripen, the stone which has moved, the shadow that was not there before. You have to go back to the footsteps already taken, to go over them again or add fresh ones alongside them. You have to start the journey anew. Always. The traveler sets out once more."
............Journey to Portugal

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A mere tourist guide was what I least wanted in the Journey to Portugal to become, any more than I wished the intervening years to have passed by. Some things described here have either ceased to exist or are no longer immediately recognisable. Landscapes have been transformed, as have towns and their architecture, tastes and ways of life have changed. But this book should not be read as a melancholy journey into the past. Instead the reader should bear in mind that the principle which guided the the traveler at every step on every page: a pursuit of Portugal's history and culture. Guided by this principle, there is no chance of losing the way.
I have walked the Camino not enough times with this very thought in mind. Santiago will always be there waiting for us, it's the history and the culture the spirituality and the freedom of Camino which is the heart of the matter.

beiramar said:

Along the lines of this book I'd like to recommend viagens na minha terra by Almeida Garrett (1849).

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Thank you! I have read quotes from "Travels in My Homeland" as appearing in
"Backwards out of the Big World" a book by Paul Hyland. Almeida Garrett in English translation is hard to find and expensive, the copy of Travels in My Homeland has been 'missing' from the National Library here in Jerusalem for years. I must thank you again because your comment sent me over to check the cataloge online and I have discovered there is now a replacement copy!