Day 24/13 Vila Nova de Cerveira to Tui

Since leaving Lisbon, not once have we pilgrims left for our day's travels wearing less than two layers of clothing on our upper bodies. Until today.

As we departed Vila Nova de Cerveira at 8:30 a.m. the temperature was already 19 degrees with a forecast high of 32 by early afternoon. Definitely t-shirt weather.

Fortunately, the path today took us only 19.45 kms into our first stop in Spain, Tui.

There was very little of interest on the path that runs alongside the Minho river, the border between Spain and Portugal. But as we arrived in Sao Pedro da Torre at the 9.9 km mark for our morning coffee break, that all changed. Approaching the town we were greeted by ancient fortifications and, in fact, the entire town was filled with ancient, well-preserved buildings.

Since the cafe in Sao Pedro had no Pastels de Nata, we decided on a second stop in Valença for our last ones before crossing into Spain. As it turns out, Valença is contained within an extensive ancient fortified wall complete with battlements. We could have easily spent the rest of the day exploring this fascinating town, but with our destination for the day less than three kms away, we decided to push on.

It was a good decision as the temperature was rapidly rising and the sun was beating down relentlessly. We crossed the bridge into Spain and immediately lost an hour of our day. We not only crossed an international border, we also entered a new time zone.

Tui turned out to be equally as fascinating a city as Valença with a spectacular cathedral, well preserved historic buildings and a lively and thriving main drag.

We had our first glasses of Cava in the main town square and had a dinner of tapas in a restaurant recommended by one of the locals.

We wrapped up this Friday evening seated among the locals and enjoying some cool libations.

Life is truly grand.Read more