Camino pilgrimages are basically from church to church till you get to Santiago. Sometimes, the churches are with sight of each other...at least you know where you are going next, eh?
I was originally planning to go to Agadir, Morocco and do some surfing. To tell the truth , I feel I am getting too old for that and the partying around it. What I felt like doing was walking, and RyanAir put me in Santiago, Spain for a cheap price, hence the Portuguese Camino.
It cost about 1 Euro a kilometer to do a Camino, which is quite a bit cheaper than backpacking in Euro countries. Portugal is even cheaper than that, so I was spending about $35 a day while averaging 24 kms a day
10 days of walking, 5 days that I got in a swim, sunshine everyday but one. Some funky albergues and fairly interesting group of Pilgrims. This time of year, about 20-25 people a day start the French Camino....the Portuguese..maybe 5 -6 people a day.
People move at different speeds, so the group changes a lot, but there are only so many places to stay, so people drift in and out of your way all the time. As usual, Germans make up about 50% of the crowd.
The weather was great, the people and Pilgrims very friendly, the paths thru Portugal went thru small farms all day, the cafe con leche were irresistable, the Pilgrim menus at times wonderful. All in all, a very enjoyable Camino.
Walking all day is its own form of meditation and walking continuously until you meet a goal is quite satisfying.
This is one serious mixed salad
Stone pathways, funky old houses, churches everywhere. Great for walking on a sunny day
Porto is built on hills. I love what hills do to architecture. Good warmup for Camino
I want to live here
Porto, a most beautiful city
Camino start
Pansy with an attitude
My signature photo when backpacking
The catedral in PonteVerde. The albergue is on the same grounds.
Good morning!
The Camino has many looks...this one I have only ever seen once.
Look at the grooves worn into these stones....how many passages over how much time did this take?
I take pictures of all the various ways that the shell gets worked into design. This one I like quite a bit
Glad that is not me working
Some of the albergues are very pretty inside
The Spanish are very gregarious. This crew was singing with guitars for a few hours, with many people in the restaurant joinng in. Note the size of the bottle of vino tinto
A bit of colour to brighten up your day
Camino end in Santiago
Camino foot damage
Great stuff, Bruce. I sent it on to my friends Lois who did the Camino frances this past Fall....we are all on the move!!!
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