I was in Lisbon last week and was privileged to meet three members of the Via Lusitana, Lisbon's pilgrim group formed about one year ago. This is an amazing bunch of camino supporters, who are single handedly raising the profile of the Camino within Portugal south of Porto.
This indefatigable bunch has divided up the route from Lisbon to Porto, with each one taking a chunk and assuming responsibility for regular arrow painting and general Camino promotion. They have so many plans and are working on so many different projects with different towns and tourist offices, it's impossible to recount them all. But the bottom line is that things are changing quickly on this segment of the Camino, for the better, and it's thanks to people like Helena, Natercia and Ze Luis. You should take a look at their web site http://www.vialusitana.org/ -- though it's currently only in Portuguese, you will see that their section devoted to a Guide of the Camino (Guia) has google maps, google earth pictures, in addition to the Portuguese text.
And, though I will put this in a separate post to call attention to it, the Via Lusitana now operates on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis, an SOS phone for pilgrims. The number from within Portugal is 915-595-213. They have members who speak English, French, German, and who knows what other languages, so this is a terrific service.
We had a wonderful meal together, and I was in awe of the amount of energy and dedication they bring to this labor of love. Kudos to the Via Lusitana! Laurie
This indefatigable bunch has divided up the route from Lisbon to Porto, with each one taking a chunk and assuming responsibility for regular arrow painting and general Camino promotion. They have so many plans and are working on so many different projects with different towns and tourist offices, it's impossible to recount them all. But the bottom line is that things are changing quickly on this segment of the Camino, for the better, and it's thanks to people like Helena, Natercia and Ze Luis. You should take a look at their web site http://www.vialusitana.org/ -- though it's currently only in Portuguese, you will see that their section devoted to a Guide of the Camino (Guia) has google maps, google earth pictures, in addition to the Portuguese text.
And, though I will put this in a separate post to call attention to it, the Via Lusitana now operates on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis, an SOS phone for pilgrims. The number from within Portugal is 915-595-213. They have members who speak English, French, German, and who knows what other languages, so this is a terrific service.
We had a wonderful meal together, and I was in awe of the amount of energy and dedication they bring to this labor of love. Kudos to the Via Lusitana! Laurie