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Camino de Santiago

August 2018 - April 2024
Portuguese Coastal way Read more
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  • TravelerCamino de Santiago
    Day 8

    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

  • TravelerCamino de Santiago
    Day 8

    Day 3 more pictures

    September 5, 2018 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
  • TravelerCamino de Santiago
    Day 8

    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

  • TravelerCamino de Santiago
    2
    Day 8

    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. 🤔🤔🤔

  • TravelerCamino de Santiago
    2
    Day 9

    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

  • TravelerCamino de Santiago
    Day 9

    Day 5 more pictures

    September 6, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
  • TravelerCamino de Santiago
    Day 10

    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

  • TravelerCamino de Santiago
    Day 12

    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

  • TravelerCamino de Santiago
    Day 13

    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

  • TravelerCamino de Santiago
    Day 13

    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

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