Rubiães to Tui: Tchau Portugal & Hola España!

Today was the final stage in Portugal and traditionally ends either in Valença, on the Portuguese side of what they call the Rio Minho, or in Tui on the Spanish side of what they call the Rio Miño. I was planning to head to Tui, and bid farewell to Portugal, at least until my return journey via Porto.

I packed up and set off in the chilly morning, with an extra layer on for the first time on this trip.

At the exact moment I passed the other albergue along the road, my Dutch friend appeared at the gate and so we agreed to walk together initially. He was going to stay at an albergue which he knew very well (this is at least his fourth Portuguese Caminho), which was less than halfway to Tui.

Much of the Camino in this area follows the line of a Roman road, built by the Romans to connect various cities and their silver mines.
The path took us over a Roman stone bridge across a small river, just below the albergues and we the stopped at a bar at the far end of Rubiães for breakfast and immediately met some of our Canadian friends, and so we all continued together.

The path once more took us into very pretty countryside. We had a small ascent today, as we left one valley, to enter the Minho valley.

We also caught up with, and then walked with a very friendly Italian couple from Bergamo who we’d all crossed paths with a number of times. They didn’t speak much English but always greeted those of us with limited or no Italian very warmly with lovely smiles.

After a coffee stop, the Canadians and Italians went ahead and then a little later I bid my Dutch friend farewell when he stopped again for a break because he had time to kill before his albergue opened.

As I enjoyed time on my own, the Camino eventually approached the outskirts of the modern border city of Valença, which sits below the old fortified city. Urban sprawl finally gave way to Vauban-style 18/19th century fortifications.

I met up again with 2 of my Canadian friends as we entered the old city and agreed to have lunch together, before I had a little wander around Valença.

I couldn’t resist a pastel de nata from a cafe with a sign offering “the last pastel de nata in Portugal”. I think they meant to say “my last chance” to have this Portuguese delicacy before the border, rather than that I was about to extinguish the country’s entire supply!

I then passed though a gate in the fortifications to descend to the International Bridge leading to Spain. The bridge carries rail traffic on the top level, with vehicles and pedestrians on the lower deck.

Once across the Miño, I checked my phone had adjusted to the change in time zone, Spain being on CEST (rather than the same time as BST). I then followed the arrows into Tui’s historic centre, which is surmounted by the cathedral. The Xunta albergue, run by the Galician regional government, is tucked behind the cathedral.

When I went to check in, the lady rattled off some serious sounding Spanish, which I didn’t follow and she said she didn’t speak English. With help from Google Translate, it turned out that she only had top bunks left. She apparently assumed I would not wish to accept and seemed surprised when I responded positively!

After the usual routine, including changing room-style communal showers (in the Gents, at least) but with a view across the river, I went to explore Tui.Read more