We Arrive (Very Wet!) in Portimarin

Today we left Sarria and walked to Portomarin. We didn’t take as many pictures today because it was pouring almost all day!

Sarria is the beginning spot for the last 100 km of the Camino. To earn a compostela, you have to walk at least 100 km or ride at least 200 km. So a lot of people begin their walk here. So we saw a lot of be people and heard a lot of new stories. We saw a child and a dog in a raincoat out there today!

Here in Galicia there are a tons of cows and many rural houses have these little structures called horreros. They are grain storage buildings that are elevated to keep rodents out, but they looks like little crypts. Or luxury dog houses. Or…well when you’re walking you get to exercise your imagination making up what you think horreros look like they could be used for!

We saw long horned cows today and a few goats.

We have been seeing “our purple friends” all over Spain in more mountainous places. They’re these purple bulb flowers like little tulips. We can go for quite a while without seeing them and then they’re back! Like Camino friends who we don’t see for days or even weeks and then there they are in a
church or at a bar drinking coffee!

When we got all the way to Portomarin, we crossed a long bridge over the river and then encountered a steep staircase. It wasn’t as bad as it looked but it was not a welcome sight. I read before we came that Portomarin used to be right on the river but when a dam was built downstream creating a reservoir, the residents disassembled the old town rock by rock and reassembled all the buildings up the hill. They must have decided that all the new buildings would be white because even from a distance you can see that Portomarin is an all white town!

We crossed the official 100 km to go marker today too. Pretty cool! Some Australian Camino friends walked up just then and we took turns taking pictures with the marker!Read more