Our Walk Along the Camino Portuguese

Why Trek the Camino Portuguese? Each time we trek out the door onto another pathway or decide to undertake a Camino the same questions arise.   Why?   Why hike the Camino?   Why hike another Camino?   So here is my best shot at an answer.    In, for our first Camino – the Camino Frances – we undertook the pilgrimage for a number of reasons.   We both needed a change from the routine of our lives, whether from having spent too much time at our desks, having submitted too many school reports or because things just didn’t seem to be going as planned.    Call it a midlife crisis (though I’m not sure it was that extreme), but we both – for different reasons – were at a point in our lives where we felt that things were not what we had hoped, that life was rushing past faster and faster, that we were still young enough to enjoy the world and see new cultures and experience new things, and that there was no time like the prese...

Sleeping, Eating and Waymarking on the Camino Portuguese Camino Portuguese Information Aside from knowing what the Camino is, what its history is, what St. James is all about, and the importance of Credentials, Compostela, and shells there are a few other essentials that most people ask about prior to trekking out onto their first Camino.   Common concerns naturally include: Where do I sleep?   Where do I eat?   How easy or hard is it to find my way along any of the Routes? Each of these are great question and one which we all ask.   They also reflect the natural concerns about trekking on the Camino given that it is neither your typical holiday nor a traditional thru-hike experience.   Sleeping on the Camino Portuguese Throughout France, Spain and Portugal (as well as the other nations along The Way), there are a variety of pilgrim accommodations which can be engaged.   In Spain along the Camino Frances , pilgrims can stay in Albergues , in Fran...

Camino Portuguese Information Lisbon to Porto to Santiago de Compostela The Camino Portuguese , or Camino Portuguese or Portuguese Way is the general name given to the numerous routes and variations for the trek from Lisbon to Porto and later Valencia in Portugal through to Santiago de Compostela Spain.   As with Camino associated with St. James, the pilgrimage concludes at the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela where tradition maintains that he is buried. The Portuguese Way follows the North-South route – generally proceeding along the Roman Via Lusitania established in the 12 th century - along the length of Portugal into Galacia Spain.   It begins in Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal, though many pilgrims start in the northern town of Porto instead owing to the industrial nature of the region around Lisbon and the smaller number of pilgrim facilities available between Lisbon and Porto.   In Portugal, the Camino is not primarily a single pathway but in...