Our Walk Along the Camino Portuguese

Thermal Hot Springs and Wild Birds Camino Portuguese Pilgrimage Today was another beautiful walk through what we are coming to realize is typical Galician countryside. There were gently rolling hills covered in forests, small vineyards, and fields filled with yellow and white wildflowers. For much of the day, tall, steep, forested hills topped with wind turbines provided a peaceful backdrop to the landscape. We also passed several flocks of sheep, some goats, and two very friendly donkeys. As beautiful as the landscape was, and as easy as the walking was, today seemed more like a day of internal reflection than one of appreciating external things. We now have less than 50 km of trail left before Santiago. At this point, it feels like there have been three relatively distinct parts to this walk, and of them all, this last is the most difficult for us. In the section between Lisbon and Porto, the walking was hard, and the path was still under development, meaning w...

Shells, Arrows, and Pilgrims Camino Portuguese Pilgrimage The window of our room was directly above the Camino, and we awoke around 4 AM to the sounds of hiking poles clicking past outside, accompanied by excited voices.  Within a few minutes, the other pilgrims in the dorm began packing their belongings and heading out, but we chose to remain in our warm, dry bunks a little longer, avoiding the rain outside.  We headed downstairs to the bar around 6:30 AM to find the owner just opening the establishment, still dressed in her night clothes.  She looked exhausted, but very kindly served us coffee and warm croissants with a tired smile while serving her family breakfast in the kitchen.  It was a humbling reminder of just how hard albergue owners work, especially when they also act as local barkeeps. We headed out down a very steep asphalt road that took us between lush green fields set amid rolling, mist-shrouded, forested hills.  The peaceful landscape, ...