Our flight was scheduled to depart Lisbon, Humberto Delgado, International Airport at 9.15pm and we received a text notification our shuttle would pick us up at the hotel at 6.15pm. Barbara was concerned all day that the pick-up was too late as we were supposed to a be at the airport three hours before scheduled departure. As it happened the shuttle turned up at 5.50 and had us at Terminal 1 at 6.10pm. Although we had already done online check-in, Lisbon International didn’t have kiosk check-in or printing of boarding passes, luggage tags etc so we had to join a long line to go to the check-in desks. It was quite quick although they only had three desks operating for all the Emirates economy class flights leaving Lisbon that night.

Just as when we arrived in Lisbon, our plane was parked miles away from the terminal and we had to transfer from the gate to the plane by a fleet of buses. This made boarding slow and we were half an hour late by the time everyone was seated. Then a lady in our row, but at the window, had some sort of medical event. At first she was taken to the staff area at the rear of the plane and then was taken off the plane back into the terminal. This meant her cabin luggage and then checked in luggage had to be unloaded. After an hour the pilot informed us there was now a take-off direction change and that they would also take on more fuel so they could fly to Dubai faster to make up time. So all this meant we actually took off two and a half hours late. Our lay over time in Dubai was only two hours ten minutes so we thought this was all getting very interesting. We did make up some time during the flight and as we disembarked the plane there was a staff member with a sign of our Sydney Flight number, who rounded us up and marched us quickly through the huge Dubai Terminal to a security check point. The quickest security check we have ever done and then more quick marching and just got onto the tail end of the passengers boarding the flight to Sydney. At this stage we don’t know if our bags made the transfer. I think our layover in Dubai was 15 minutes at the most.

The two flights, Lisbon to Dubai and Dubai to Sydney were not too bad. Coming home the flights seem to pass more quickly than when going. We are now in Sydney, with a three hour layover waiting for the last leg.

Update: Our bags did not arrive at Wellington Airport, so we are assuming the short layover in Dubai was too short for the baggage handlers. Fortunately we had all the chits with the bar codes so they can track them on the worldwide computer tracing system and hopefully we will get them in a few days.

Further update: we arrived home Friday afternoon, Barbara’s bag was delivered by courier on Sunday night and mine on Monday night. So all is well.

Filling in time in Lisbon

Our flight tonight is at 9.15pm am and a shuttle is picking us up at 6.15 so we had a day to fill in in Lisbon. Had an “American Buffet” for breakfast at the Ramada (€12.50 each) which was exactly what you would imagine an American breakfast to be. We then got the metro down to the waterfront and wandered about. Checked out the Time Out Food Market, Pink Street (very quiet in the morning but very lively at night), sand and stone sculptures at the river’s edge, Coffee at Rossio train station (to get out of the heat and humidity), had a ride on a funicular (Lavra Funicular, opened in 1884) and walked through some of the Moorish Quarter (the old part of Lisbon that survived the earthquake). Then back to the hotel to wait for the shuttle and a long, long journey home, which we are dreading.

Santiago de Compostela to Lisboa

This was one of those necessary but not very enjoyable days. A transfer day

Our hotel Alameda Rooms in Santiago is one of a group of eight hotels. Breakfast is not in our hotel but about 250 metres away in a sister hotel. It was steady rain on our way down to breakfast but had paused on our way back. We had about a twenty minute walk to the intercity bus station and made it before the rain began to fall again.

Our bus was scheduled to leave at 9.30 but we didn’t get away until 9.55. It was large and comfortable, sixty seats, very quiet and smooth, On board wifi and a small entertainment screen on the back of the seat in front. Movies etc and you could track the progress of the bus. There was an onboard toilet but a €1 charge to use it. Only one person on the whole journey made use of it. The buses yesterday and today had seat belts and it is compulsary in Spain and Portugal to use them. We saw very few people using them. The bus was almost full. We met a lady from New Plymouth on our bus. She had just finished walking part of the Camino Frances and was going to Lisbon for a week and it nice talking to a fellow Kiwi for a change.

Ours was an express bus so only stops at Vigo, Braga and Porto Airport before arriving in Porto City for a lunch break of 45 minutes. Porto is roughly halfway to Lisbon and it had rained all the way. When we crossed the border at the Minho river we had to put our watches back an hour. After the stop in Porto the bus was practically empty, only about 10 passengers. The only stop between Porto and Lisbon was at Fatima.

We got into Lisbon at 5.05pm so a time of 8 hours plus, allowing for the one hour time difference between Spain and Portugal. In the 8 hours it took to bus to 608km to Lisbon we could have walked 30 kilometres on the Camino, or flown from Lisbon to Dubai. Our preference by far would be to do the walking.

At Lisbon bus station, Sende Rios, we bought a 24 hour Metro/bus/ferry pass. You can’t buy these using a money card at a machine so we joined a long line of people at a ticket office. This was painfully slow and took nearly an hour as most of those in the line were students wanting a student metro pass which involved pages of documentation and providing a photograph to be adhered to their card. When we finally got to the front of this queue we were directed to another desk and had our cards in a few minutes. Fortunately we know the metro well and it was a breeze to get to the hotel. We are back at the Ramada for one night.

We also had a comedy of errors at check-in at the hotel. We were given a room on the fourth floor and told it was also an accessible room, which was okay by us, even though it was out the back looking into a light well. When we got to the room it hadn’t been serviced (now after 7pm) and the room, bed and bathroom were an absolute mess. Back at reception they gave us another room on the sixteenth floor, looking out to the river. When we went into this room it already had another guest’s bag and shoes in it. Back to reception and another room, now on the sixth floor. Third time lucky and this one also has a nice outlook toward the river. We felt a bit sorry for the very nice young man on reception. He spoke beautiful English and was very friendly and helpful.

We are now feeling quite worn out, even though we have basically just sat on our butts all day. Tomorrow we will just be filling in time before our shuttle takes us to the airport at 6.15pm.

Bus tour from Santiago de Compostela

Today was just being a tourist. We had prebooked a bus tour out to the coast from Santiago de Compostela. The coach left from a park very close to our hotel at 9.00am and we didn’t get back until 6.30pm, so a long day. Unfortunately it was a foggy and slightly drizzly day. The coach sat 60 and it was full, and we had a driver and and Ivana an English speaking guide. Ivana made quite a few announcements and commentary during the day and they were in four languages, Spanish, French, Italian and English. As you can imagine each announcement took quite a long time. She also varied which language was spoken first. The main highlights of the trip were:

The Muros estuary with many beautiful beaches and it would have looked great on a nice day. We stopped at a fishing village with time for coffee.

The Horreo de Carnota at Carnota. This is the second largest horreo in Galicia and was the result of two parishes competing to be the most important.

The Erazo Waterfall. This is located in a fiord and is a little unique because it falls into the sea. Dozens of these in Milford Sound when it rains.

Finisterre, the end of the earth. It was very foggy here and we could hardly see the lighthouse. Traditionally pilgrims walked from Santiago to Finisterre where they burned their clothes and shoes and bathed in the sea. Burning is now banned. We did see the steel boot and the 0.000km marker.

Then down to the fishing village of Fisterra where we could go to a restaurant for lunch. They allowed one and a half hours for lunch!

We went to Finisterre and Fisterra eight years ago and the weather was exactly the same, foggy and drizzly.

Muxia also on the coast which has a lighthouse, a charming Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Barca. There is a new monument there to the hundreds of pilgrims who came to help clean up the coast after a tanker accident. In 2002 the Prestige Tanker spilled 70,000 gallons of oil into the Atlantic Ocean. The biggest industry in Galicia is fishing so this was a disaster for the province and it was five years before fishing could restart.

The final stop was the village of Pontemaceira, considered one of the most beautiful villages in Galicia. It has a wonderful medieval bridge and of course a few legends relating to the bridge. Pilgrims who carry on walking from Santiago to Finisterre cross over this bridge and stay in the village.

The highlights were Muxia and Pontemaceira. It was a sleepy sort of day. At least this is how we feel when we are in a coach for a long time. We got chatting with two America guys who had also walked from Porto to Santiago. The older one was 84 and his young mate 79. They didn’t look very sturdy on their feet and took ages getting on and off the coach. One had a steel knee and the other a replacement hip. I thought they were an inspiration. Barbara thought they just didn’t know when to call it quits.

When we got back from the tour we found a nice bakery and bought two pieces of cake to celebrate Barbara’s big O birthday. A sort of apple crumble cake. It was scrumdiddlyumptious.

It was probably not too bright doing the coach tour today as we are back on a bus tomorrow. Leaving Santiago de Compostela at 9.30am and getting back to Lisbon at 5.45pm  – a distance of 608 kilometres.

Teo to Santiago de Compostela 12kms
Total distance 270kms
Climb 80m
Total climb 3790m

We were hoping for an early departure so we would get to Santiago as soon as possible but breakfast didn’t start until 8.00am so we were a bit thwarted there. The path was nice at first, through some woodland and over a bit of a climb up to 260 metres. From this hill, far in the distance we could see the spires of the cathedral. As we got closer we started going through more and more built up areas with housing blocks, motorways, traffic lights, viaducts and all the usual stuff on entering a city. We did stop for coffee and a cake, mainly to use the bathroom.

The last half kilometre or so is through the narrow winding streets of the old town and the cathedral towers above you. The Camino Portuguese approaches the Cathedral and the square in front of it, Praza de Obradoira, from the south. Our previous approach on the Camino Frances is from the north and is more dramatic. There you go through about 2 kilometres of the old town and then down steps into a narrow arched tunnel where there is always a Galician bag piper playing. From this small dark space you burst out into the bright daylight of the plaza and the mighty cathedral.

We threaded our way through the narrow streets which were packed with people. It was a Sunday and a fun run was being held with the finish nearby. The plaza was also thronged with pilgrims and tourists and we could hear the wail of the bagpipes. The pilgrims, and us, have all the emotions, joy, excitement, relief, thankfulness, sadness (that the journey has ended and that you will part from your new friends), and even disappointment –  because it was the journey that is important not the arrival at the destination.

In the plaza we had the obligatory photo taken, checked out the long, long queue to get into the cathedral, checked out where we were going to get lunch, checked out the Pilgrim Office where you get your Compostela, and checked out where our accommodation was located. It was all a bit overwhelming so we decided to sit down and have lunch and let everything slowly sink in. In a little side street off the plaza we went back to Restaurante Tarara where we had a few meals back in 2016. For €13 each an excellent pilgrim meal of bread, ham and cheese croquettes and veal lasagne for me, lentil and chorizo soup and roast chicken with salad for Barbara, followed by Santiago cake (made with ground almonds), and a bottle of vino tinto. We slowly ate outside under the umbrellas and just watched the world go by.

We felt a bit flat actually. In 2016 it was all much more exciting. We had walked for over 30 days on a much harder path and on reaching Santiago we had a great meal with over a dozen of our Camino friends and everyone was on a high. And we had our fresh tattoos. This time we knew absolutely no one in the thousands filling the town. Everyone else seemed to be having a great time and we felt it would have been better to also celebrate with friends.

We had not been sure about going to the Pilgrim’s Office, showing our passports full of stamps and getting a non-religious Compostela and Certificate of Distance, as we had done all this back in 2016. What convinced us was the fact that the only official count of the numbers walking Caminos is the number of Compostelas issued in Santiago. We wanted to be counted so went and got our Compostelas and certificates. It was about 2.30pm and over 1,100 had been issued so far that day. Late September is getting toward the end of the Camino season (April to Oct for the vast majority) and up to 300,000 certificates are issued each year.

We then went to our hotel and checked in. Our bags hadn’t arrived so we hung around until they showed up and then had a shower. Barbara rested up in the hotel and I went for a walk about in the old town. The queue at the cathedral wasn’t too long so I joined and got in after about 15 minutes. There is a security check and you are admitted in groups to control the number of people inside. You proceed up a little stair to behind the high altar where the tradition is to hug and give thanks to the large statue of St James. Then you proceed down to the crypt and reliquary chapel under the altar to view the silver casket alleged to contain the relics of St James. From there you are free to wander around all the cathedral. For a fee you can go up the towers and walk over the roof of the cathedral.

I went back to the hotel, roused Barbara and we went into the old town to revisit some of the places we remembered from 2016. Then we had some pizza, ice cream and coke for a truly decadent dinner.

Padron to Teo 13kms
Total distance 258kms
Climb 260m
Total climb 3710m

We didn’t hear any trains last night so either there weren’t any or we were so tired we slept through them. Breakfast was super efficient this morning. No buffet, everything you were getting was on your table except for the juice and coffee. Not the most lavish breakfast, a yoghurt, piece of bread, ham, cheese, a croissant, butter and jam.

It is now 25kms to Santiago de Compostela and a lot of people do this in one day. We know our limitations so we are doing it in two days of 13km and 12 km respectively.  Some people at breakfast clubbed together and ordered a taxi to take them the first 6 or 7 km to reduce the distance.

We had another leisurely start and walked back into Padron to look at the convent and its fountain. It was quite a varied day of walking. Natural pathways in the shade through oak, pine and eucalyptus woodland, the inevitable stretches of main road, quiet farm roads and little villages, and plenty of places to stop for food and drink. In two places there were musicians on the path which was nice. One of the sounds that is so cool each day is the church bells ringing out the hour and half hour. Even when not near a church the sound carries along the valleys. It is not always ‘live’ bells, you often see large speakers up in the church steeples and the bells look as though they haven’t moved in centuries.

Since Vigo, where the number of pilgrims probably increased ten fold, we have spoken to fewer people. This might seem odd but initially the majority of walkers were from outside Portugal and Spain; North Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Australians, Koreans, South Americans, etc. We were all aliens and there was a sort of bond between us as we navigated our way through this new culture. Now the vast majority of walkers are Spanish, in their homeland, and we foreigners are in the minority. Previously most had some form of English and communication wasn’t difficult. Now it is not so easy to recognise the non-Spanish speakers. We each have a small NZ flag on the back of our packs so people do come up to us and ask about NZ or talk about when they travelled there.

Our accommodation tonight is only the second time we have been in a house out in the country rather than a multi-storied hotel in a town or city. The other was 7 Uvas in Nigran. There is no lift of course and we are on the upper floor. We are in a lovely setting surrounded by trees and gardens. It is actually two buildings and the Camino Way runs between them. In one building is the accommodation and in the other is the restaurant. It is so quiet and peaceful and it is a warm sunny afternoon. When we arrived there were two musicians playing and singing and that just added to the atmosphere, but they have packed up and gone now.

Tomorrow is our last day on The Camino Portuguese. Not really sure how we feel about it. In 2016 when we finished the Camino Frances after 800km and a month of walking there was a huge sense of accomplishment and thankfulness that our bodies had held together pretty well. This time is different. The distance is much shorter and the walking has been a lot easier, and it is never quite the same when you do something the second time around.

Caldas de Reis to Padron 22kms
Total distance 245kms
Climb 260m
Total climb 3450m

Another wonderful day of walking. We are getting a little blase over these. This morning we left Caldas de Reis crossing a beautiful little three arch rebuilt Roman bridge, Ponte Romana do Rio Bermana, over the Rio Bermana. It also had an old drinking fountain. This afternoon we entered Padron crossing a thirteen arch medieval bridge, Ponte de Padron, over the Rio Ulla, This bridge is built over a bridge of Roman origin built about 25AD and is sometimes called Ponte Romana. Once in Padron we also saw the Ponte de Santiago, a stone bridge of 1852, built over the Rio Sar.

Most of today was on natural pathways through urban areas, woodland, farms and vineyards. The route took us along two river valleys, firstly the Bermana and then the Valga. There was a gentle climb up to about 160 metres between them. The morning was crisp but clear so it was ideal walking conditions. It wasn’t all perfect. We had to cross busy roads a few times and walk alongside them for short periods. Not far out of Caldas de Reis we walked under a high concrete viaduct carrying a motorway. The train wasn’t too far away either and entering Padron we had to wait at a crossing for the intercity renfe train to pass.

Our hotel, the Rosalia, is about a kilometre out of Padron in a semi industrial and rural area and is directly opposite the Padron railway station. There seems to be a train about every 30 minutes and they all pick or drop off passengers at this station. The trains are very sleek and modern looking and are diesel-electric I think, so are a bit noisy. They make the most pathetic little toot sound as they go over a crossing. What you might expect on a toy train, not a loud blast you imagine from a high speed intercity train. We are hoping the trains don’t run all night although our hotel room seems to have good quality acoustic double glazing.

There were few eating places to stop at today and we didn’t have much food with us. Our first stop was Cafe-Bar Esperon in O Cruceiro, for a coffee and muffin. Because there are so many pilgrims these last few days, these cafes are packed with long lines getting food and drink and using the toilets. The staff are under a lot of pressure but are almost always good natured trying to take orders in at least a dozen different languages. In Portugal and Spain we generally order a cafe americano, or cafe longo, which is near enough to a long black we would get at home. The young guy at Esperon must have mis-heard or misunderstood our order as he made two coffees with leche, milk. We said we don’t want milk and we got a bit of a dirty look and exclamation, but he did put those two coffees aside and make us two new ones.

Later we stopped at Buen Camino Bar in San Miguel where Barbara had galician soup (ham hocks, lima beans, potato, cabbage, kale) and I had gazpacho (tomato, olive oil, vinegar, onion, spices, served cold). This was in a nice setting above the road overlooking the Church and Cemetery of San Miguel de Valga.

Today we got a stamp in our Credencial from The Guardia Civil (the Civil Guard). This is one of two national law enforcement agencies. As a national gendarmerie, it is a military force and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence. We had seen them a couple of days ago but didn’t realise what they were doing. This was basically a public relations exercise. They had a van and a couple of soldiers and had their own stamp and were just chatting with pilgrims.

Padron has a long history and is supposed to be the starting point of where St James preached the Gospel in Spain, and also the point where his remains returned to Spain after his martyrdom in Jerusalem. So there are many sacred churches, convents, fountains, altar stones etc, in the town.

We arrived at our hotel at 2.30 and dinner is not until 8.00. There is not much to see in this area so we have had a lazy afternoon just relaxing and filling in time train spotting.

Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis 22kms
Total distance 223kms
Climb 160m
Total climb 3190m

What a great day of walking. It rained all night (100mm) and was raining when we woke up this morning but by the time we had finished breakfast it had stopped. We put our rain jackets on when we departed as we thought there might be some showers hanging about. At one stage Barbara put on her poncho but a brief light shower came to nothing and we had a dry day. It was warm, a bit muggy and we had a nice little tail breeze for much of the day.

Leaving Pontevedra we passed the Fountain of the Children which has water spouts that come up out of the pavement. It wasn’t playing this morning but there were two cute little statues of children. From there we called into the Convent of San Francisco hoping to get a stamp for our passport, but although the church was open we had no joy, maybe we just weren’t pious enough. We passed through a couple of the lovely historic squares in the Old Town. The Lena Square which gets its name from the sale of firewood.  It dates from the 15th century and is surrounded by typical houses and the Provincial Museum. In the centre of the square is a stone transept. Two buildings of the museum are linked by a graceful bridge. The second was the Verdura Square, the Vegetable Square, which gets its name from the products sold there, vegetables, chestnuts and fruit. The arcades of the buildings house old typical taverns. It dates from the 1330s and a market was held here every day except Sundays and public holidays until 1990.
From there we crossed the Ponte O Burgo medieval bridge we saw yesterday.

Although Pontevedra is a sizeable city (pop 80,000) and a university city, we were quickly out of town and into the countryside on natural pathways through woodland offering shade along gentle river valleys. We shared the day with a railway line which was sometimes at ground level and other times on a viaduct spanning small valleys. We saw several fast passenger trains and one freight train over the course of the day.

We are now in an endless stream of pilgrims, all on the same mission. There seems to be a lot more Spanish pilgrims now, doing their 100km to Santiago. Most of today’s walk was through countryside with only two villages that had cafes. The numbers mean the cafes and their conveniences are packed as almost everyone wants to stop for a break. We have learnt not to stop at the first cafe you come across, but to go further into a village where you often find a quieter and cheaper one. The second half of the day was through vineyards.  Many of the vines had ripe grapes ready for picking. The soil is good here and the rain in Galicia is regular.

Caldas de Reis is famous for its thermal baths. Its history is inextricably linked to its thermal waters that have gushed from its ground source at a constant 40° for millennia. Already inhabited by people such as the Cyclenes and the Celts, it became a major spa with the arrival of the Romans and was on the Via Romana XIX. Today we passed several markers showing the route of Via Romana XIX. This was a Roman road from the time of Augustus (63BC -AD14) linking the towns of Braga, Pontevedra, Calaz de Reis, Santiago, Lugo and Astorga in northern Spain.

We arrived at our hotel at 2.30 just as the Tuitrans van turned up with our bags, so good timing. In the lobby we met the first Kiwi we have come across. A young lady from Martinborough. She said she was finding the walking and hills very easy as she was a tramper and spent a lot of time in the Tararuas.

A day in Pontevadra

This is the last of our rest days and a very casual one it was. With no particular plan we wandered around the historic area of Pontevedra.

Pontevedra (pop 85,000) is best known for the charm of its old town. It is the second most important historic town in Galicia after Santiago de Compostela. A city of art and history it is known as “The Good City”. It has a historic group of medieval squares and many monumental religious buildings and noble houses. Best of all it is a walkable city with all of the old town pedestrianised.

The following are some of the places and things we saw.

The Church of the Pilgrim Virgin is a scallop-shaped Roman Catholic chapel located on the route of the Camino Portuguese. Consecrated in 1794. It is one of the most symbolic and important buildings in the city of Pontevedra. It is dedicated to the Virgin who, according to tradition, guided pilgrims from Bayona in the south-west of the province of Pontevedra to Santiago de Compostela. The shape of its floor plan is inspired by a scallop shell, the quintessential symbol of pilgrims, ending in a Christian cross.

The Pontevedra Municipal Market, a covered market , where you find stalls selling fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, cheese, bread, flowers, chestnuts, and with restaurants and cafes. It is a large granite two-storey rectangular structure with columns, arches and arcades. It is home to the Pontevedra fish market and this is the overwhelming smell in the hall. If you don’t like the smell of fish you won’t last long wandering around this market. We didn’t last long.

The ruins of Santo Domingo, a 12th century Dominican Convent. This was a fine Gothic church and construction and enlargement carried on throughout the 15th century. In 1719, during the English attack on Pontevedra, troops burned down the convent and church. There isn’t a lot of this convent left, just the entrance portico and five small chapels. It is part of the Museum of Pontevedra and has a permanent exhibition of stone pieces and tombs relating to the history of the city.

Burgo Bridge, a medieval bridge that crosses the Lerez River. This is another bridge that replaced a previous bridge of Roman origin. It is located on the route of the Camino Portuguese and between its arches on top of pillars are sculpted the pilgrim shells. The pedestrian only bridge you see today is vastly different from the narrow bridge built in the 12th century having been repaired and rebuilt and had constant modifications over eight centuries. Part of the original Roman bridge has been excavated on the Pontevedra side of the bridge.

Not far from this bridge is a very elegant modern asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge crossing the same river. It has a high inclined concrete tower with 17 pairs of steel cables, the front ones holding the concrete bridge deck and the rear ones tied to two underground concrete bases acting as counterweights. It was very calm today but apparently when there is wind the cables make a characteristic and spectacular noise.

At the hotel reception we had our bus tickets (bilettes) from Santiago back to Lisboa printed off. We had booked these online a few days ago and had them as a QR code on our phones, but we are old fashioned and a bit paranoid and like to have paper copies of everything. I guess your phone could be lost or stolen, just die or get water-logged in the rain. I had transferred them to a USB stick and the helpful man at reception had them printed in a minute. We could also have sent them to the hotel web site and had them printed a bit more indirectly that way.

It was forecast to be a very wet day today but it wasn’t bad this morning. A few showers and we made use of the cafe umbrellas for a coffee and churros during the heaviest of them. Also managed to be in the Market for another shower. Steady rain in the afternoon so retreated to the hotel. Fortunately dinner tonight is in the dining room in the hotel so we don’t have to venture outside.