Anamya, can I ask which route you took on the Portuguese camino?
Hi Wazza!
I did the Central Route in April 2017, starting in Porto via Barcelos and Ponte de Lima. I really, really loved it.
- Topography: In general, not too challenging and not too different from the Galician part of the CF. I usually highlight that Alto da Portela felt way more challenging than Cebreiro, imho, but it was one off tough day out of 11 that were tranquil.
- Road/track surfaces: there is more road walking in CP than the same distance in CF. But tarmac is not the issue, it does not happen thaaaat much. Stones are the issue. Sometimes you get kms and kms on stony paved roman/medieval/somewhat new roads. I had no problem with them as my shoes were very comfortable and cushioned, but my husband had almost flat feet by the end of some days. So, yeah, it will vary from person to person, but can be challenging.
- Accomodation: there were plenty of albergues, and also plenty of small inns and hotels that were affordable. We actually stayed in a few casas rurales, when the price of a private room was close to the price of two beds in an albergue. We never had a problem finding a place to stay, in April. The places we stayed also seemed newer than the ones in CF, and we were fine just having a silk liner instead of sleeping bag.
Some other things:
- weather: although the Portuguese were saying "Abril, águas mil" ("April, heaps of water"), we only got sporadic rain. It was not too hot, neither cold, neither humid... it was actually very, very pleasant. Maybe I was lucky.
- Food: Probably the best gastronomic experience of my life, hands down. Plenty, hearty, cheap, delicious. Just tell them you don´t want all the extras (they fill the table with extra bread, olives, etc), or it can get expensive. Try obviously the Port Wine in Porto, plus the Bacalhau (cod fish) and Francesinha (7 meats and cheese sandwich wrapped in cheese and beer gravy). Get also Pasteis de Nata (custard pastries), they give you energy for hours! Try Pimientos (Sizzled peppers) in Padrón and eat at the old tavern under the bridge in Caldas de Reis (we had 1 portion of sardines for both of us... it came with 16 sardines!).
- Language: I can speak Portuguese and Spanish well, which always opens doors over there. But everyone in Portugal seemed to speak at least 3 or 4 languages, it was quite incredible.
- History: Porto is a fantastic city - I spent 2 and half days there before I actually started walking, totally worth it. Barcelos, Ponte de Lima, the border Vaçença/Tui and Pontevedra were my favourite cities, full of historical places to visit.
- Water: there were less water fountais along the way, so I was always refilling my bottle when possible.
I'd also mention that I took the Central route because I lived most of my life near the sea, so the inland landscape and the history interested me more than the seashore. I was also not fond of feeling "the sea breeze" all the time - had lots of it most of my life. although enjoyable, I wanted something different.
In a nutshell, i loved it and really recommend. Feel free to drop a message if you wanna talk about any details! Bom caminho!
