ML walks from Porto

It was an excellent day! Woke up to fog and drizzle after a night with some serious snoring! Somehow I actually slept through a lot of it!

Fresh orange juice, yoghurt, toast or tiny packaged croissants for breakfast at the albergue.

Quiet morning. No big groups. Clouds hanging low over the hills. For the last stage before Santiago, this walk was remarkably rural and pleasant. Certainly the best of the three ways into the city I have taken.

Nothing physical was bugging me, it was not raining. It wasn’t super hot. It was another day with a lot of cats. And two musicians. A guy plying electric piano at one point and a guy playing guitar and singing. Guitar guy was stationed under a bridge. A few short conversations while walking, much easier now that people are not wearing their hoods up.

There was one coffee stop about 7 km out and then I followed that with a stop at a pastelleria and another at a panaderia.

Super easy entrance to the city. At one point there is a choice of two routes. Who knew? I went left and was, all of a sudden, right into the city.

When I got Santiago I walked into the square in front of the cathedral and went straight to the spot when I had sat for a while last time. Three of the people from last night’s albergue were sitting right there! Literally in the same spot. That’s a very camino thing.

Before I came to my room I went for a clara and then for fancy coffee. The room itself is in a hostal on the west side of the old city. Great room! It’s purple and has an amazing view of the cathedral. I think @SabsP has stayed here too before.

I wasn’t going to get a compostelle (certificate), but I did. It took about two minutes. And when I was walking out of the pilgrim’s office, somebody called my name, and it was Jordan the young woman from Toronto I had met a little while back. We made plans to have dinner together after the mass.

The pope died today and everyone assumed the butafumeiro would swing at all the masses today. But no, it did not! The evening mass was packed and freezing. There was definitely mention of the pope, but I could not follow. I always sit on the sides and there are no speakers there so it’s impossible to hear. There was a choir today, which I have not seen before. And the person doing the solo singing was not a nun, as had been the case before, but a woman who was wearing some kind of long red robe.

Met up with Jordan and two Scottish women, Hannah and Grace, and ZaZa from Germany for dinner. We went to Paradiso cafeteria. Very good vibe. Okay food. It was a lot of fun.

And that’s it for the short version of the Camino Portuguese.Читать далее