Portuguese Coastal Camino 2019

It was not a great night’s sleep for either of us. Apparently the Frosh Week festivities at Porto University carry on well into the night and early morning. It’s a block away. We intended to rise early and begin walking the 30km north to Povoa de Varzim.
During one of our awakenings, it occurred to us that we’d missed visiting the Anglican Church of St James here in Porto but that it also held a Thursday morning Eucharist.
So we went to Plan B, which turned out to be quite inspiring. We rose much later, packed up our things and walked to the church, after finding a wonderful breakfast spot on the way.
The church is the only one named after St James in northern Portugal. A beautiful cemetery outside as well as a lovely wood and plaster interior greeted us, along with a small group of faithful parishioners who were very welcoming. As the parish is named after St James, and is only a short distance from the Camino, they have a Pilgrim’s lounge and shop. Father Philip included us in special prayers for Pilgrims at the end of the service, and we stayed for coffee and fellowship. We even got our Credencials stamped and were given Pilgrim Spirits, little bottles of Port wine!
The morning was now past, and with 30km of walking ahead of us, we had a second awakening. We realized that a Metro line went all the way to Povoa de Varzim, 45 minutes north to the town where tonight’s accommodation was booked. I suppose we will start our Camino tomorrow.En savoir plus