Posts

Welcome to Our Blog on the Camino Portuguese

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Camino Portuguese Pilgrimage Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela  The Camino Portuguese, stretching from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela, is a beautiful and culturally rich pilgrimage trail that offers hikers a chance to connect with nature, history, and spirituality. This route is less crowded than the Camino Francés and takes you through charming Portuguese towns, lush landscapes, and historic sites before crossing into Spain. En route, you will have the chance to visit Fatima, Tomar, Coimbra, and Porto.  As you walk, you'll be surrounded by the peaceful rhythm of rural life and the sounds of nature, making it a perfect choice for those seeking a more tranquil journey. We walked this pilgrimage trail over the span of 32 days in April and May.  I am a naturalist and bird lover, and Sean is a landscape photographer.  Together we walked, photographed, and blogged the pilgrimage route, and it was unlike any of the pilgrimage trails we've previously experienced.  A...

Post Camino Homeward Bound : Santiago Spain to Toronto Canada

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Post Camino Homeward Bound Santiago to Canada Today involved our long return to the supposedly 'normal' or 'civilized' world.   This is always one of our hardest and least favourite days of any Camino.   Perhaps this simply means we need to work harder to keep the spirit of the Camino alive in our daily lives.   Despite our best intentions, in a world that moves so quickly, is so goal-oriented and narrowly focused, and in which people seem increasingly focused on their own needs and oblivious to each other, we still find this difficult.   We awoke at 4 AM and headed downstairs to the 24-hour buffet in the lounge to select some breakfast.   We found fruit, yogurt, toast, jam, orange juice, and coffee.   Although we weren't really too hungry yet, we ate breakfast in anticipation of the longish day ahead.   By 5 am we had checked out and were getting into the taxi the hotel had called to take us to the airport. One aspect of the Camino tha...

The Route Back : Fisterre to Santiago by Bus

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Camino Muxia and Fisterra We awoke at 6 am to find a bright sunny day outside, the sun's warmth already beginning to make itself felt. We walked a short distance down the street, and stepped into the same bar we had lunch in yesterday. Sitting on the outdoor patio amidst a group of other pilgrims, we enjoyed our coffee, orange juice, and toastada. As we sat there a very drunk local man approached the patio, intent on striking up a belligerent and slurred conversation in Spanish, but he was firmly shooed away by the proprietor. By 8:30 am we had finished our breakfast and made our way down to the marina. Colourful row boats floated in the shallow turquoise harbour, and lines of white sailboats were bobbing gently in their moorings. A group of small fish was visible in the crystal clear water. Across the bay the hills of Galicia rose and receded into the distance, and behind us the colourful buildings marched in rows up the hill. We stood at the base of a statue dedicated...