Greg's Wanderings

Tag: Camino Portugues

  • Day 30 – Travel Day

    Day 30 – Travel Day

    Oct 10

    I’ve reached the apex of my trip and now start heading back to my starting point in Lisbon.  

    Today could set up to be the most boring of my trip.  I’m starting this morning from my alberge in Finnesterre – which I need to vacate by 10 am.  I then have a 2.5 hour bus ride to Santiago at 11:45, followed by a 3 hour layover before a second 3+ hour bus to Porto. 

    The alberge was comfortable and quiet last night and I got a great night’s sleep after a dinner of paelle, Padron peppers and wine. 

    While waiting for my bus, a man was wearing an Oregon Ducks t-shirt passed me.  I stopped him and asked if he was from Oregon.  He laughed and said he was from Australia.  His son’s girlfriend had given the shirt to him and he had no idea what the Duck image represented – until he started meeting people from Oregon. “And they are all the nicest people.”

    Our massive, double decker bus was more than 15 minutes late arriving and by the time they off-boarded and then got all the backpacks and people on, we were over 30 minutes behind schedule.  All the through-passengers to Santiago were put the upper level, which gave us a nice view.  

    The bus was so large and the streets so narrow that we had to drive down to the commercial fishing docks to have enough room to negotiate a Y-turn.  Those sitting in the front row up top got a straight down look into the water as the driver pulled forward as possible. 

    The second leg of the trip was surreal heading down the highway at 120kph.  What had taken me two weeks to walk passed by in a couple of hours + stop times in Vigo and Braga.  

    I arrived at my hostel after dark and for the first time in 30 days, I was assigned an upper bunk.  That’s what I get for getting here late!  Hopefully tomorrow I can switch to a lower bunk when others move on.  

    Finisterre this morning. The hill in the background was what I climbed yesterday
    Same spot looking the other way
    View of the city from the fishermen’s wharf.
  • Day 29 – on to Finisterre

    Day 29 – on to Finisterre

    Oct 9

    I slept poorly last night.  Chalk that up to consuming caffeinated beverages too late in the day.  This eating meals much later is hard to adjust to.

    After my four-night stint in a hotel room with a private bath, it’s time to get back to communal living.  

    I repacked my belongings and walked down the road to the intermodal station.  A beautiful new complex designed to move lots of people into and out of the city by train & bus.  

    I arrived early and enjoyed a tarte de almande (almond cake) and a coffee in one of the two cafeterias in the complex.  The platform for my bus to Finisterre has just been posted, so I’ll relinquish my seat and power port.  

    Our comfortable motor coach pulled out of the station at 10:01.  As we went over the first hill, I realized the illusion of just hanging out in the historic quarter of a city. Santiago is a bustling city.  

    We headed out of the city and through various towns and villages. We took some corners that you had to feel were included in the calculations for how long the buses could be.  Any longer and they would have not been able to negotiate.  

    While most of riders were pilgrims like me, the bus also serves as a commuter bus with locals hopping on and off every few kilometers.  

    I first spotted the coast near Muros and the last 30 minutes of the ride followed the coastline first to Cee and then along the peninsula that includes Finisterre.  

    The bus pulled into Finisterre and right across the street was a place called the Hippy Bar.  I ventured in just as two German ladies at the adjacent table had a beautiful, huge salad delivered.  I’ve been starved for vegetables, so that’s what I ordered.  

    When I finished lunch, there were still about 15 minutes to kill before the alberge opened at 2.  I decided to go get in line so as to improve my chances of not getting an upper bunk.  

    I was the fifth person to arrive.  We started introducing ourselves and I learned that one woman was from the Czech Republic, one guy was from The Netherlands and the other two young women were from Seattle and Portland!

    This is a nice alberge with bunks for 32.  I’m in a pod of 4 bunks and currently only the bottom four beds are occupied.  

    Maddie, the girl from Seattle, stopped by and said she was going to hike out to the lighthouse and asked if I wanted to come along.  We took a trail along the Atlantic side of the peninsula and it ended up going to the top of a 740 foot hill.   From the top, we could see the lighthouse below another few hundred meters.  

    We went down the hill to the lighthouse, had a drink, took photos at the 0.00 kilometer Camino marker and then I threw my stone into the sea.  

    Fishing boats near Cee
    Our bus pulling away
    I have been craving vegetables. This salad helped.
    At its narrowest point, the peninsula is only a couple hundred meters across. See the water beyond the hill.
    Lighthouse from the summit of the hill
    Mile marker 0.00
    Lighthouse up close
    Shirley’s stone before I tossed it off the cliff
    I think somebody was done with their boots
    Statue in the local chapel. Mary and Jesus looking out for the fishermen
  • Day 28 – Santiago

    Day 28 – Santiago

    Oct 8

    I started my morning by finalizing the remainder of my time on the Iberian Peninsula.  I had previously scheduled an overnight trip to Finistere starting tomorrow and then back to Porto on Friday.  

    My parents generously gifted me a day trip up the Douro Valley, so I booked that for Saturday along with another night in the hostel in Porto. 

    I now have train tickets back to Lisbon and a hostel in the historic city center for Sunday & Monday nights.  I’ll then move to an airport-adjacent hotel Tuesday in preparation for my early Wednesday flight home. 

    Santiago is by far the most expensive place on this trip.  It’s fairly easy to blow 70-80 Euro a day on meals and drinks.  I was getting beer or wine in the countryside for €2. It’s €5.50 here. Dinner entrees that are under 10 elsewhere are closer to 20 and more.  

    Since I’m on my own today, I’m going to try and go frugal.  I’m starting my day at Cafe Paradiso, which was listed in Trip Advisor as one of the best cheap places to eat.  That said, my Spanish tortilla was still €8.  But it was hearty and tasty and will hold me for many hours.  

    After breakfast, I decided to walk over to the Pilgrim Office and see about getting a Compostela.  I had heard that rules changed this year and any 100km segment of a Camino qualified you for the certificate.  

    When my number was called, a volunteer from the UK greeted me.  She asked when and where I started, and I told her Lisbon on September 11.  She said, “oh, you walked 630 kilometers.”   Had I kept my mouth shut I would have been issued the certificate, but I said, “no, I injured myself and stopped walking at Redondela.”   It was her first day working, so she summoned a supervisor who asked me if I had walked into Santiago.  When I said “from the train station,” she shook her head and said that didn’t qualify.  

    I was issued a certificate showing that I had visited Santiago and the cathedral.  No worries, for me the most important document is my Pilgrim Passport with all the places I’ve visited on this journey. 

    I learned that Ruth & Thea, the mother/daughter duo from Vancouver BC were still in town and we got together for one final dinner.  Ruth found a really authentic place with a pilgrim menu (starter, entree, bread, dessert & wine or beer) for a fixed price of €14.  They had several options for each course, so we decided to each order something different and then eat family still.  Our feast included roasted Padron peppers, muscles, green salad, paella, grilled squid, an omelette, almond cake, flan & rice pudding.  

    A tortilla in Spain is like an omelette with chunks of potatoes added to make it hardy
    Back side of my pilgrim credential with stamps from various places visited
    Front side.
    My certificate of visitation
    I spotted this very interesting looking building on a hill. Turns out to be the City of Culture of Galicia. Their website says nearly every window is a different shape. 
    My leg injury has put a damper on my daily steps. Apple Health was nagging me this morning
  • Day 27 – Santiago, part 2

    Day 27 – Santiago, part 2

    Oct 7

    After our marathon session at the tattoo parlor (four clients, one artist) Ana, Ruth and I headed to a cafe.  We shared a plate of grilled Padron peppers.  Most of which are very mild, but occasionally one will bite you.  

    When we finished, Ruth headed back to her hotel to catch up with her daughter Thea who was hiking in. Ana and I decided to go see the cathedral museum.  

    Ana is a professional tour guide back in Croatia and really was absorbed by some of the exhibits in the museum. While it was inside the cathedral, most of the things on display were giant tapestries, along with a few chambers full of religious relics.

    While we were at the museum, we were joined by Nick, a guy from Vancouver, Washington. He was part of the group that Ana had met two days prior. 

    The Casa de Fernanda Camino family planned to get together for dinner that evening. We had staked out at a restaurant that sounded good but when we got there when it opened at 8 PM, there was a line out the door and we discovered that we had needed reservations. Fortunately, there was an intriguing place right across the street and so we tucked in there. There ended up being 12 of us for dinner.  I had been craving vegetables which seemed to be in short supply in this country so I had a green salad to go with my octopus.

    Ana, Nick, Nuom, and Inga had attended the pilgrims mass at the cathedral. The Botafumeiro  which normally is only used on five religious holidays was actually used today. We believe this was because  they’re filming the sequel to the movie “The Way” right now and it was probably done and paid for by the movie company.

    As the meal was wrapping up, we came to the realization that our Camino family was going to be breaking up. Dave, Tory, Frank and Hailey were flying out in the morning for Boston. Nuom was catching a train to Madrid and Ana was catching a bus back to Porto and flying home to Croatia from there.  Ruth and Thea we’re heading for Finistere after getting their tattoos in the morning. Only Brenda, who had just arrived that evening and I were still going to be around come Thursday.

    We all said our goodbyes and hugged everyone and promised to keep in touch. Although I’ve only known these people for two weeks, they’ve become dear friends, and I do hope to see them whether they visit me Portland or I visit them in Boston or Vancouver or Croatia or Germany or Israel. 

    If you leave a few crumbs on the table, they are quickly consumed by vigilant pigeons.
    Alter inside the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
    Royal tombs from the 12th century
    The Botofumeiro. In olden times, this was filled with incense and swung in the sanctuary-to mask the stench of the pilgrims
    My daughter has a King Charles Spaniel, so I had to send her this shot of King Charles’ spaniel on a tapestry
    The museum gives you access to the balcony overlooking the square where all the pilgrims arrive
    Many of the tapestries showed typical scenes from centuries ago.
    This tomb cover seemed to be missing a tomb
    Galician Octopus (pulpo). It was really yummy
    Our last group meal. From left: Ruth, Thea, Ana, Nick, Tory, Dave, Frank, Hailey, Nuom, Inga, me, Brenda