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  • Sofie Lacroix

Camino de Santiago

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  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Isla Cies

    September 13, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    So today was my last day in Galacia region as I board the plane to Barcelona soon. It was a beautiful day on this remote island with my friends who I will dearly miss. I was lucky that the camino brought me such great people and a great experience. I am sure I will see them again some day - maybe in Canada! Bye bye Galacia!Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    A Coruña, Spain

    September 13, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Beautiful day in A Coruna! It really feels like my vacation has started now. I took a "me" day and went for a massage and manicure. Boy did it felt good. I rented a bycicle and went around the coast with a long stop to relax on the beach!!! This town is really cute. I head out in the morning back to Pontevedra for the ferry to Island of Cies with my friends before catching my flight to Barcelona at 11:00pm! I will be in Barcelona for 3 days so will have time to enjoy the city. Staying put for a few days will feel good... This getting up and changing places every morning is getting tiring!

    Barcelona- Here I come! 👌😉😍    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 10 of Camino De Santiago

    September 11, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Surprisingly I slept quite well last night.

    The ultimate day. This is it. After so much suffering, blisters, bad days, good days, acquaintances - it's finally here! 17km to go until we reach Santiago. We are full of energy all day - so anxious to arrive. Dancing and singing along the way. We see it in the distance - the village of Santiago. 7km to go and we're there.

    ...Is this it?? Are we seriously here?? I thought to myself as we were approaching the cathedral. Vanessa and I start to tear up- tears of joy I imagine as we are finally at the end of this crazy journey. We sit down to absorb the moment; hugging, laughing and crying all at the same time. Wow. 10 days. 269km. It's such a wonderful feeling being here and seeing everyone's smile on their faces. It seems like everyone has forgotten their pain and sufferance and are completely in aww of this moment. After taking a good half hour to absorb the moment we decide to go get in line to obtain our certification. We got lucky - only 1 hour wait.

    My friends were meeting their family for lunch and heading back home for the night so I headed off to my hotel. I will see them Thursday when we go to Isla De Cies together. Tonight I will visit this beautiful town and grasp these past few weeks.

    I will keep blogging about my adventures as I visit Europe. Not sure where I'll go next week but that's kind of the exciting part.

    P.s. My feet will thank me tomorrow. But I think I will have these blister scars for life.
    P.p.s. Wow. Now I can finally start my vacation!! 😍😍😍    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 9 of Camino De Santiago

    September 10, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Dios Mio!!!!! Why is every day harder than the previous!!! This morning was starting out great; only a small day of 18km ahead of us. We were taking it easy, stopping at cafes often enough, meeting people along the way (I met 5 Canadian ladies who are from Ottawa and outaouais region) - everything was going great. Until. We get to our village and start looking for our albergue. We pick up our phones and start entering the address into our Google maps. Luis looks at us with a look of desperation on his face and shows us his phone. 7km. You're kidding right? It's 35 degrees outside, we have been walking for almost 6 hours and we need to keep going another 7km? If that wasn't bad enough- he goes to ask someone in a store and the man laughs and says 7km? No no it's more like 10km! 😒....

    Vanessa and I weren't saying anything - everyone was completely unimpressed and mad. After bitching it out we started walking and went straight into the first bar we saw. Nothing helps a situation like a good glass of sangria. 😍 We decided to finish this route to go to our albergue by the road and not the actual camino since it was 3km more. What. It's still walking the camino even if you're walking it on the main highway to save time! It must of been the most brutal 5km ever. The heat must of reached 40 with the humidex. Finally. We arrived. I'm pretty sure we walked 7km but any way. Once we arrived we made some drinks and went into the pool and laughed it out.

    On the bright side - only 17km to reach Santiago in the morning.. last day tomorrow. I don't know how I will feel but I think the emotions will be in the air when I see that church afar.

    T-minus 1 day. 17km.
    P.s. albergue for our last night. Please no one snore. Man I do hate shared rooms.    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 8 of Camino De Santiago

    September 10, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Today was hard! It was approx. 24 km but with 30 degree weather and full sun. 45km to go and I reach Santiago. I really getting anxious now. My blisters are really bad and my feet hurt all the time. I never would of thought that it would be this physically hard. It helps walking with Vanessa and Luis because it makes the day go by faster! We went out for typical Spanish tapas for supper where I had galacian squid. Pretty interesting but I liked. We met some Americans along the way from Texas. The route is starting be very busy with pelegrinos. I think Santiago will be very very busy. Let's hope it's not so long of a wait to obtain our credential! The hostel we are in is adorable. I feel like I'm at my grandma's house. The lady even did my laundry for me and when I arrived it was layed out on my bed. 😍

    T-minus 2 days.    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 7 of Camino De Santiago

    September 9, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Today was a hard one! I decided to combine 2 days into one and do almost 40km to meet my friends that were ahead of me in Pontevedra (the portuguese/spanish couple I met 2 days ago). I made it around 6:00pm when they sent a taxi for me as I was still 40 minutes away!! It saved me a few kms and was well worth it as my back was hurting me so much from my heavy backpack! The path we continue on now is the same path the people from the Portuguese inland camino take to get to Santiago as well. This means these next 3 days will be very busy along the path to get to Santiago. But hey - at least being crazy determined yesterday saved me a day in the end LOL. My friends have a house in Pontevedra so they invited me to stay with them for the night as they had a spare room. We went out for supper and had typical Spanish food and wine. It was a lovely evening and we will continue this journey together the 3 of us. The next 3 days will be quite smaller - averaging 23km. I left some stuff behind at their place as there were alot of things I was carrying around that were unnecessary. I will pick them up when we are done in Santiago as we will be returning to this town to visit an island not too far away. It must of liberated a good 4 or 5 pounds. Ouff

    P.s. I am obsessed with these road fruits. The green fruit is a fig - they are everywhere on the way and so yummy to eat along the path.    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 6 of Camino De Santiago

    September 7, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Is this walk done yet? Today was hard. Not in km - because it was a small day with 20km. But mentally. It's hard going from town to town not necessarily knowing where you're sleeping, what time you're arriving or whether or not you'll have the physical ability to get the kms done. On top of that it decided to get hot again and it hit 30 degrees. I reapplied SPF 60 a few times during the day and still managed to get burnt. It doesn't help that I'm not sleeping super well. Last night's hotel was so sketchy and gross I barely got 5 hours of sleep.

    On the bright side, the most beautiful views I have seen thus far. Now this is what I had in mind when I decided to do this coastal route...

    I think I have a little over 100km left to do. Too tired to count. 5 days left. More than half way. It's getting there.

    P.s. Misty - maman s'ennuie. 😭    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 5 more pictures

    September 6, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    2

    Day 5 - Camino De Santiago

    September 6, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Bye bye Portugal - Hello Spain!! Officially half way done the camino. 140km done - 140km to go. Excited to see what Spain will bring! Gorgeous views so far. Day was pretty interesting. Met some Canadian guys from Ottawa (yehhh) by randomly walking into a bar for a water. We started talking and ended up walking together for the afternoon. I ended up staying at nearer hostel as my day was already reaching 28km and they wanted to keep going another 10km. I went to take a dip in the pool and later met a Polish couple with their friend from Switzerland. We had sangria while looking at the ocean and talking about our plans for the camino. My eyes are shutting as I am writing this but I am procrastinating going to sleep. This hotel is pretty gross. So gross I got out my sleeping bag for tonight and put their sheets on the side. 😐 Cleanliness is obviously not everyone's forte. Bonne nuit Canada. 😘

    P.s. Only on the camino will you see this... Everyone is walking around with socks and underwear drying on their backpacks.🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    2

    Day 4 more pictures

    September 5, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    Our walking paths today.
    The mountain you see is Spain- where I go tomorrow.
    Baclahau😍😍😍
    My videogame room has the same Cisco connect VoIP phone I have at work. 🤔🤔🤔

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 4 of Camino de Santiago

    September 5, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    Wow it's 8:30am - I slept for 11.5 hours. I guess my body needed it! I start my day when the funicular brings me down at 9:00am (nope - not going down those stairs). It's beautiful the sun is out and the weather is perfect! I had breakfast with the couples from France (the ones wearing a QC poncho on day 2) who were in the kitchen before me. They gave me suggestions as to where to go in Europe after this trip. They were all talking over each other one with a better suggestion than the next - I left there more confused than before about where I should go. 🤔

    My day was wonderful. Despite walking another 30km. These distances are brutal and much more than I expected! My feet now have 5 blisters- I have no idea what I'm doing wrong to get so many blisters. I went to the pharmacy to buy compounds to wear tomorrow. Anyway- At the start of my walk this morning I ended up meeting this couple - he from Portugual, she from Spain. They were absolutely delightful and so so sweet. We walked together all day. I practiced my Spanish, she practiced her English and her boyfriend was the translator. It was quite comical. Along the way we kept meeting the gay couple (who's totally not gay btw) and their friend. They are 3 friends doing the camino together and are all in their 70s. Two of them have done the camino 26 times!!! That's insane.

    Anyway. 30km later and I had arrived at my stop for the night. The sweet couple were crossing over to Spain as they're doing this camino in compressed time. Wow. They are in shape! We exchanged numbers and they told me to call them if ever I needed help or anything along the way. I truly hope I cross them again. Its strange how you just click with some people sometimes.

    I found a hotel as there were no hostels or alot of choices. It was crazy expensive but as soon as the front desk mentioned pool and spa I was sold. The pool felt oh so good on my feet and entire legs. The spa was perfect to detox. My room has a theme: "videogame".😒 Couldn't I get a room with a different theme... Say wine? Puppies? Shopping? Nope. Videogames. I do feel like I'm in a videogame with these walls.

    The gay couple who are not gay (for the rest of my blog I shall refer to them as the Spanish men - since I am sure we will cross paths just about every day). So the Spanish men told me I could not leave Portugal without having "Baclahau'". So. Since I cross over to Spain in the morning I knew it was my last night to have this. What a bummer that I hadn't discovered this before!!! It's AMAZING 😍😍😍. I know we have salted cod in Canada. I must learn to make this recipe.

    Almost 120km done so far. Almost half way! Spain - here I come! Portugal - it's been an adventure!

    P.s. I've decided to abandon my birkenstocks here. They really stink and are heavy. They've been replaced with 2Euro Brazil flip flops.    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 3 more pictures

    September 5, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 3 of Camino De Santiago

    September 5, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    So day 3 was even more bleh than day 2. It started off rainy and muggy again. Today, I saw less pilgrims. Maybe 10 at the church in the morning to get our stamps then everyone dissipated. I walked with the gay couple from the hostel for about an hour and then stopped to get a bite to eat for breakfast so they went on their way. From there I had the choice to stay on the marked path or go towards the ocean on the "riskier" unmarked path. Since this was on the ocean, I decided to choose this way. Not to late after I was starting to regret my decision! Not only was the path on the ocean unmarked, but it was sand dunes after sand dunes of climbing. Not to mention there were bulls everywhere on this beach. I've never seen bulls on a beach. I was praying they would stay put. They did. My feet were hurting so bad at that point that I decided to take my shoes off and walk bare feet in the ocean. Was it ever freezing!! (Please remind me to go somewhere in the Mediterranean after this walk 😑) But it was better than taking the suffering from the blisters. To give you an idea, of the pain I decide to cut up pads to tape to my socks inside my shoes.. 😑😐.

    The more you walk the camino the more you will try anything to heal the pain you are creating!!!

    Anyway. 30 km later I had arrived at the ferry to cross over to Viana Do Castelo. This wonderful town. My GPS gave another 55 minute walk to my albergues. You've got to be kidding me! How did I not notice this when I booked it! Ugh. If I thought that was bad! I get to a the flight of stairs to go up to Santa Luzia. Well. That's the way to my room for the night! There must of been something like 500 steps. If someone can find out how many there were please do tell me! It felt like 1000 at this point. About half way through I notice a funicular going up from the city to the top. You have to be f*cking kidding me!!! 😡😡😡 #%×*$#!!!! Thanks GPS for telling me I had another option!

    Many breaks later and some cursing - I get to the top. Why would someone do this walk and put themselves through this much suffering! The albergue was nice but strange. Almost too quiet. On top of that the doors didn't have a lock. I guess I'll be sleeping with one eye open. I used the funicular to go get some food in the city and called it a night at 8pm. Let's hope tomorrow is better.    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 2 - More pictures

    September 3, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Why doesn't this thing let me post more than 6 pictures at a time!!

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 2 of Camino De Santiago

    September 3, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Omg today was brutal. From km 1 to km 20 I wanted to give up and take the bus. Thank God I did 30km yesterday because I never would of made it to this village today. My neck and back hurt (from carrying this majorly overweight 20 pound backpack), I now have 3 major blisters on my feet and my hips are killing me.

    I met some French people along the way who I thought were quebequers (they were wearing a QC flag poncho after all) but turns out they were from France. Their daughter lives in Montreal so they bought the ponchos last year when they went to visit her lol. I don't know what it is but it's such a nice feeling for French people when we hear someone else speak our language. There were alot of people ou this route today. I did not like crossing so many pilgrims. The road was also terrible after the first 4k. Stone roads, damp forests and poor villages. It was also very rainy all day which maybe played on my mood!

    From the looks of it online every place was booked in the stop-over village for tonight. Luckily my savior (Marlene the French owner of my hostel yesterday) came to my rescue! She phoned her friend in this village at the Esposende guest house and hallelujah - she found me a 4-bed bedroom to myself for 16 Euro!! I couldn't of been happier. I went to the store to buy food to make a salad and a bottle of wine and am taking the evening to stay in and lay on the patio with my book. I met a Spanish gay couple at the hostel before supper who were adorable. They must be 70 and doing the camino. I was able to understand that they like Canadians and that they did the camino Frances. That's about all. My Spanish is terrible. I later met a German woman who gave me advice on which way to take for the rest of the camino for it to be less busy. And how to take care of my blisters. Apparently alot of people get them on this walk - I'm not the only one!

    Anyway, I hope tomorrow will go better for my physical self. I've decided to abandon my walking sticks in hopes of liberating some weight. They're awkward and I don't use them anyway since the landscape is literally flat. There goes 20 Euro for nothing. Let's hope this 1 pound off makes a difference for tomorrow!

    P.s. I am obsessed with this wine! I've never tasted such a thing before. It's a red wine but almost fizzy... Whatttt. My new favourite wine ever. I hope we have it at home! Mom and Mireille you would love this one!
    P.p.s. This village looks soooo cute but I literally can't walk anymore so I'll have to skip the visiting. It took me 15 minutes to walk to the grocery store when the GPS said 3. 😑    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Day 1 of Camino De Santiago!

    September 2, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    If I had one word to describe today it would be "wow". Although I barely slept in the hostel last night (shared rooms really suck), it was an awesome day. I met a polish girl at the hostel in the morning, and we ended up walking together the entire day. At first I wasn't too keen on walking with someone, but after a while I was so happy we had found each other as the day just flew by! We talked about our countries, purpose for doing the camino and travels. We had a wonderful lunch by the sea. After 25km she was quite tired so decided to stop for the night in Vila Do Conde where most pilgrims were stopping. I said I would too if they had two single rooms. She did not like the shared rooms either and wanted to sleep alone tonight. They only had one room available so I told her she could have it and I would keep going as I had the energy to do so and something was telling me to do it. We exchanged numbers, hugged and wished each other a buen camino. We hope to cross each other again.

    Little did I know continuing the walk would make me fall on this amazing town! This town has the feel of a Portuguese Quebec City it's quite strange. The owner of my hostel is from France so was so happy she could speak French to someone! She upgraded me to a big room because I was doing the camino (but I honestly think it's because I was French like her lol). She introduced me to all the guests and offered suggestions on where to eat. I toured the town and noticed a Ferris wheel next to the casino and not too far from the bull fighting arena (I know - this town has everything possible!!) So I decided to hop on. What a view! I ended the night with an amazing dinner and amazing conversations with the restaurant staff as they knew Marlene (my French hostel owner) and were very friendly!

    Back at the hostel in my private room and I think I will sleep very well tonight... 😍

    Ps. I think I should pace myself on walking for the days to come - I don't want to be done this camino in only a week! 😐 lol    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    1

    Day 3 - Pinhão, Alijo, Portugal

    September 1, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 31 °C

    So today was quite interesting! It started off with an uber trip to the train station to head to Douro valley for the day. The train ride was 3.5 hours each way which makes for a long day. The scenery however is absolutely beautiful. One of the most picturesque in Europe they say.

    So the winery I wanted to go visit Quinta de Bomfim was in a little village named Pinhao. I some how missed that and ended up in Pocinhos, 1 hour away. Apparently I wasn't the only one going to the wrong place; these two Romanian girls had also missed their stop. After realizing the next train back to Pinhao wasn't passing until 2.5 hours we decided to try to hitch hike and ask locals for a ride. Not enough that we all had language barriers but locals were looking at us like we were crazy. Apparently no one from that village goes to Pinhao. Ever. Oh well. A few hours went by with absolutely nothing to do and we were back on the train 2.5 hours later. To my surprise my missing my train turned into quite a nice encounter. This man noticed my shell on my bag and said oh you're walking the camino! One thing led to another we ended up talking the entire way back to my stop in Pinaha. He gave me tips about what to do, what not to do on the trail and the most beautiful life advice. " You do not come to Portugal with Canada in mind, or else youre not truly travellig. You don't shed a tear from the past or plan for the future - you only live in the present moment".

    Needless to say missing my winery tour and running into this wise man was probably meant to happen. We said goodbye and he drew a cross on my forehead and wished me a buen camino. I assume that was some sort of act of blessing.

    In Pinaho finally! I get to visit my winery! I missed the tour but get to enjoy the beautiful terrace with a glass of red wine and a glass of port (I have to taste both of their selections, right? 😂). These two Italian boys sitting next to me start asking me if I'm travelling alone. I tell them I am. They asked me why and I responded that I needed to do this at this point in my life. Their reaction surprised me. They said that I was very courageous for doing that and that they wished they had the guts to do that. Coming from a 25 year old guy who moved from Italy to live in Portugal for a year! Ide say that was quite the compliment! They gave me tips about where to visit next, we talked travels and countries and I headed off to catch my train back to Porto for tonight.

    First night spent in a hostel - please no one snore! Please.

    Camino day 1 starts tomorrow! I'm excited! And also found out there is bag carrying service from town to town should I get tired of hauling this 20 pound backpack around. Now that's good news! Let's see if I'll need to use it.    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Old Porto day 2 - more pictures

    August 31, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    The famous train station of Sao Bento, the cathedral of Se from afar (where I went to get my pilgrim certification to start the camino), a nice little church along the way, the university of Porto, the famous library and a cute little Portuguese Chihuahua. I miss misty. 😭😭😭Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Old Porto day 2

    August 31, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    After getting up at 11:30 (oops. But it is techically 6:30 Ottawa time), I visited the town of old Porto since it is my last day here and I head to Douro valley tomorrow. It was absolutely beautiful! The boat cruise took us under the Don Louis bridge and 5 more. This was followed by a walk to Gaia where I had the most spectacular views of old Porto. I then visited the tower of Clerigo which offers 360 degree views of the city. This was gorgeous but definitely do not recommend for anyone who is claustrophobic or impatient in crowds as we were stuck between narrow walls going up most of the time! The day ended with the visit of the world's most beautiful library - Livraria Lello. Oh and you can't forget the great food! Best mussels and olives I've ever tasted!

    Side notes:
    - I brought my hair straightener for nothing - it does not even fit in my universal plug. 😭 Now I'm stuck hauling it on the camino.
    - I think the hardest part about backpacking is not being able to buy any shoes or clothes or souvenirs. I'm sorry friends and family.😑😣😣😣😣
    - I will come back to Portugal with an empty suitcase to buy things.    Read more

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    22

    Old porto

    August 30, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Beautiful city. Managed to get around by pointing at street signs. And looking confused. Why is the wine so cheap here? This is unreal. I think I'll be walking my Camino abit crooked. 🙄

  • Sofie LacroixCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Porto, Portugal

    August 30, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Porto 😍 ! I like you already. Finally here... Cannot wait to explore this beautiful city for the next few days before starting the Camino. Better get some rest before putting these boots to the test.

    Little minor ick to start Porto. Our metro broke down and we had to get off in the middle of no where to wait for another one. Hahaha. Oh well. At least Im on vacation. 😑😆    Read more

  • Trip start
    August 29, 2018
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