Coimbra to Mealhada 14 some odd... Rough Road Walking

                    First pilgrim statue I have seen!

 John walking with Nala, a music teacher from Ireland who we ran across this morning on our walk out of Coimbra. Through a village market complete with chickens and ducks!

We thought we had arrived at Mealhada but still had quite a ways to go......

Today was heavy road walking as much of this Camino route has been.  It really wipes you out. Hard on the feet and all of your joints. We met two Americans,  Luisa from Seattle walking with Ronnie from NY who met each other on the Camino Frances two years ago. At the first coffee stop,  I asked about using the water closet (bathroom) I didn't see and they signed in their best attempt to communicate with a non Portuguese speaker,  for me to wait. Apparently there wasn't one there.  Then the lady who made our coffees took the 4 of us women down the street to her home to use her bathroom!  It was a very nice house,  tiled in the traditional Portuguese style with heavy dark wooden furniture. Very cozy and homey. What a nice lady! John sat there and wondered where the hell we had gone!  I'm sure he was relieved to see us.

A stop some miles on for a beer and no stopping or eating or removing our boots to massage our sore feet since we were walking with others.  Now, we learned this lesson on the last Camino but apparently we needed to revisit it. We seriously have to walk our own pace,  stop when we need and top off the fuel tanks!  We walked all that way with only snacks and not eating the lunch John was lugging in his pack. Wrong move.  And when we reached the town, we mistakenly thought we were close to our accommodation and John bought a 10lb bottle of wine and a ten pound bottle of water. We were nowhere close. We had at least another mile to walk to the very nice alburgue, the Hilario. We were seriously in pain and completely wiped out.  We ate our lunch and passed out for a good hour and a half.

After getting a second wind and showers we limped our way down to a very nice restaurant where we wanted to try the specialty of this region,  suckling pig. Now I apologize profusely to my vegetarian and vegan friends.  Even John didn't quite know what it was til I told him. He probably wouldn't have eaten it if I had.  Same reason we don't like lamb or veal much.
It was delicious!  Camino hungry.  We ordered "dose" which is enough for two but something was lost in translation and the dose for 15€ which would have been a good deal got doubled into 30€. Ouch.  Oh well,  write it off to a special dinner. It included two very nourishing bowls of chicken noodle soup, salad, homemade potato chips, wine and an ice cream dessert. Definitely Camino hungry.

Tomorrow is a little farther than today.  I am gauging everything by a 20 mile day. Anything less is a piece of cake right?

Day Off In Coimbra

 View of the Mondego River 

Statue of the prime minister who in 1834 shut down all the city's convents and monasteries.  They called him the "friar killer".

 John on the University grounds 

 King John III 

 Delicious break

 You must try the Ginjinha! 

Some offerings at the local super market.  Yum.

Got up to the breakfast provided by the hotel for 3€ each and took off to do Rick Steve's walking tour. I didn't feel so conspicuous as a tourist when I noticed everyone else standing around reading various guidebooks.  In the Iglesia Santa Cruz,  with the beautiful facade which has been electrified to keep the pigeons off,  we heard part of a beautiful mass. The singing from the choir, the chanting of the priests, and the sound of the massive organ were truly awe inspiring.  Neither of us could hold back the tears.  We felt so miniscule in the reverence of that holy place.

We toured and learned about the University of Coimbra,  the Oxford of Europe.  We also learned about the educated 20th century dictator,  Salazar and his rule over Portugal. We passed through the Gate to the Medina,  named by the Moors,  where soldiers used holes in the ceiling to pour through boiling oil on would be attackers below.  Nice!

Stopped and tried a wonderful refreshing sangria and a Ginjinha, a popular Portuguese liquor made of cherries.  Very sweet and delicious!   Craving something other than meat, we stopped for pizza and spaghetti bolognaise, which kinda reminds me of Cincinnati chili.  Traditional dishes always taste different in other countries. Back to the hotel for a restful nap and back out late for a dinner in a quaint narrow street where John had so so pork and I tried Coimbra's signature dish, chanfana, which is goat cooked in wine.  It was interesting,  I'll put it that way.  We chatted with a couple of Australians on vacation,  and met two Swedes walking to Santiago like us. Very nice people. Maybe we'll see them again.  Pilgrim traffic is definitely picking up the farther north we go. Off to bed and up early for an easy stage of 14.9 miles.  At least it's not 20!

Splitting the Stage Didn't Work Out 18 Miles To Coimbra

                Remnants of the ancient wall into the city

                                 Coimbra!  We made it!

Much discussion and looking over the map to hopefully decide if we can cut the 29.5k or 18 mile stage in half. If we walk to Conimbriga 10k away,  that would be an easy walk and give us a light walking day into Coimbra.  There also is the possibility of stopping a bit further on in Cernache at a college.

Started off early and right away ran into Ellen from the night before.  After walking awhile we came upon a nice looking café at some Roman ruins where John was really looking forward to a cerveja since we anticipated a short day.  It was closed like a mirage in the desert.  Ellen joked that St. John did not want pilgrim John to have a beer that early or at all. Oh well. But alas! Around the next corner was an amazing bar/café that actually had an ice cold Estrella and also some other  types of dark beer we hadn't seen yet. Jackpot! Just when you think all is lost, keep the faith, have patience because something BETTER could be awaiting you! Thank you St. John!  I had a coffee and Ellen enjoyed a lemonade. Walking with Ellen made for good time and before you know it we were in Conimbriga. It was only around 11:00. Feeling good, we both decided to push on to the next place taking the chance on the accommodation.  Mistake.  The college was closed. No choice now. Onward to the third largest city in Portugal and it's old capital before Lisbon, Coimbra. We planned to take a couple of days here. We can do this.

Our bodies are starting to get used to this punishment as we made it without too much pain. We secured hotel Domus, an adequate clean one star,  in a city full of tourists.  John wandered around and found a couple of good bottles of Duro Tinto since we will stay for two nights here.  Had dinner at a recommended grill place where John had some of the best grilled chicken! My steak was so so. The square was vibrant and we were treated to a great folkloric show with lots of music and dancing!  Looking forward to using Rick Steve's 10lb book I've been lugging around tomorrow.

18k to Rabacal

              Tiny Portuguese hamlets

Nice little park. Did you bring the picnic? 

Nice walking 

Once again the grapes are ripe!

Some observations. There is so much fruit just dripping off the vines and hanging heavily from the trees.  They have gardens filled with fat pumpkins, squashes and gourds.  Apple trees,  lemon and lime, figs and raspberry bushes.  It brings back memories of childhood before everyone just didn't want to deal with rotting fruit in their yards and subsequently cutting them and our way of living down.

I love the church bells ringing in every town.  Sometimes they even play what sounds surely to be a hymn! There are roosters crowing around every corner at all hours and yes, dogs barking.

Old men sitting in doorways swatting flies.  Families in cafés speaking in their loud and demonstrative ways. The smells are indescribable. ..in a good way.

Today we took a round about way to get into the small town of Rabacal.  We went through a pretty little village called Alvorge, which has a cafe,  bank,  mini Mercado and a brand new albergue for any future Portuguese walkers who may be interested in alternative accomodation.  The Camino path does not seem to take the most direct route.  I learned this as I sought to cheat and check my GPS to see how much further.  2 miles or 48 minutes?  Ok, that's doable even though my feet hurt like hell. An hour and a half later after winding around fields of grapes and whatnot, cursing under my breath at John Brierley and the Camino,  we arrive at a cafe!  Awesome! We could have walked along the main road and gotten in an hour earlier.  Two large Sagres for one euro twenty made us forget all that. We stumble down the street and find 3 other pilgrims waiting outside the Casa de Turisimo.   A German couple and Ellen from Belgium who stayed at the same hotel as us the night before in Ansaio. We didn't have to wait long for the person to arrive who would check us in. We got a nice private room with a bathroom.  Lovely!  So far on this Camino,  we have not needed to use our sleeping bags at all.  Even the alburgue beds have sheets and blankets! I've not had to use my camping towel either!  Cardboard towels at every stop. Better than my small square from REI. Sweet!

The room was sunny so drying laundry was a snap. Showers and a stop at the Mercado across the street for a bottle of good Duro Tinto for a couple of euro, some supplies for tomorrow's lunch and we were set.

Met Ellen and walked to the corner café. Soup, delicious ham and cheese omelet and wine served in Terra Cota jugs and cups ended our day. Tomorrow we will try to split another stage in half.

Only 15k to Pretty Little Ansião

          Our signs.....

                     John on the 'hobblestones '.

 Big beautiful snails.  Are these the kind they eat?

Our post walking happy hour. 

Today's walk was much shorter but still painful.  I think our bodies are still getting used to being subjected to the daily walking distance. 

Great trails and paths and quiet country roads 

today. 

When we got to the little town of Ansaio we notice that there are lots of children here.  School must have let out and they are all walking together in their little clicks laughing and doing the same as kids everywhere. Oh! Except they are not all staring into their phones.  They are actually engaging each other!  All very clean cut, cute  and seemingly happy. 

We secured a room at the Residencial Adega Tipica for 30 euro for a king size room with private bathroom with tub! Which I used.  All places seem to have the typical cardboard towels. Oh well we deal with it. They offer a good pilgrims menu, soup, main dish, wine dessert and with coffee included.  Good thing I took a nap this afternoon.  It was all so good and the owners are so nice.  I highly recommend this place to any other peregrinos. 

. 

Nothing Between Here and There Tomar to Alviazere 35k

                                   Wooded paths.

                                       A santiago!

Dinner at the BBQ chicken place. 

We had no choice but to just walk as far as we possibly could today which means the next town 20 some odd miles away, since we didn't bring a tent. There was a café early on, where we stopped to top off water and have a couple of coffees and meet two other pilgrims who've been trailing us for a while.  Frank from Oslo Norway and Rolf from Hamburg Germany.  Two older gentleman, Rolf in his 70's!

Today's walking was more what we expected and love with wooded paths through eucalyptus forests which smelled so good!  Many tiny little villages and quiet hamlets sure beats dusty farm track and hot asphalt with speeding cars. We did have to walk some road but it was minimal.  As is typical on these long stages, it's at the end when you just want to get there and it never happens like you want. Like today being met with lots of hard on your feet cobblestones or as John has dubbed them, "hobblestones " and more than our fair share of snarling dogs behind fences....so glad we have hiking sticks. 

We would stop to rest and take off our boots about once an hour.  Everything hurt so bad. My hip is still hurting but it is the new normal.  It's not stopping me. I'm doing the stretches Diane showed me a few days ago. I wonder where we can get a hold of some of the doping drugs that the Olympic athletes use?  That would really help a lot. 

Made it into town about 6pm after stopping for a beer on the outskirts.  Oddly Rolf and Frank were at the local bar all showered and drinking wine and beer. They never passed us after we first met them, how are they here now?  Taxi perhaps? Found the only alburgue in town and the owner informed us that he was completely booked with about 25 bikers  (the lycra type, not leather ). I was thinking we'd just have to  taxi somewhere else. As he took us upstairs to stamp our passports rather elaborately with wax and matches and such, and give us some glasses of port as we wondered what we were going to do,  he said we could just stay in his family home.  What? Then he took us next door,  showed us the bathroom and our room which had two twin beds and looked to be the kids room. We met Neil from Australia who was staying in the master with his wife.  I think the owner was prepared for this as all the linens were clean and ready. Very nice guy. 

The recommended dinner in the local take out chicken place was very filling and fulfilling. Tomorrow we will cut the stage in half and only walk about 9 miles or 15k or so, and stop in Asaio. Sounds good to me. 

. 

3 Lovely Nights in Lovely Tomar Portugal

Finally got to take a break and a break I was going to take!!!! My hip is still giving me a bit of pain so I will take some time off to hopefully ward off any tendonitis from all of this road walking. What better place to do so than the amazing Templar town of Tomar. Now this is what I'm talking about. 

 Since our first pilgrimage on the Camino Frances in Spain three years ago,  John and I have been really interested in the Knights Templar who were protectors of the medieval pilgrims, fighting the Moors (Muslims) prevalent in the times. They seem like such heroes and who doesn't love a hero?  Tomar welcomes the modern pilgrims just as it has for the ancient ones in whose footsteps we follow.  The beautiful castle and Convento de Christo, Convent of the Knights of the Order of Christ are the cradle of this historic and wonderful sight.  We really want to take the time to experience this.

Dinner of stuffed pork with sausage, salad,  rice and chips and wine.

 We met up with Sebastian once again and shared a couple bottles of wine with him in the town square.  People party and eat and socialize very late here. No one is in any hurry.  Very refreshing compared to our culture.

                                 Being goofy.

 Spent our first night in the two star Sinagaga Hotel which was adequate  but then switched for two nights to the lovely four star hotel Dos Templarios.  She-she luxury for the equivalent of about  $100 a night.  Easily would be over $300 a night in the US. Robes, slippers and a full breakfast included!  What a treat!

 Toured the castle and convent.  Was spectacular!  We sat and had a beer and talked about what monastic life must have been like back in the day.

Okay,  the next stage will be another 20 miler. Hoping that there after we will be able to split up the long days depicted in John Brierley ' s guidebook,  who speaking of, we met once again!  He obviously likes to update his guides in the fall since we also met him on our Camino in 2013. Apparently Sebastian had stayed with him at Elena's place in Azinhaga the night before us, and talked about how distracted she was and how there was no dinner since she was taking him to a bbq or some such thing. He must be such a celebrity on the Camino.  I will say that I am glad to see him promoting and updating the guidebook of this Camino,  since even though it is the second most popular route,  it is not as well supported as the Frances.  He expressed to us that there is the dilemma of, if they make more places for pilgrims,  the more will come,  while the Portuguese people say,  if more start coming then we will build more support and places.  It really is in its resurgence now. And we pay with long stages for now.  Hopefully there will be more people like Elena who can foresee the opportunities to be had.

The Portuguese people are so nice and accommodating as evidenced by the fact that John could not open our bottle of wine tonight since the cork failed and the guy at the bar didn't blink an eye and just explained how some corks are just bad even though the best cork in the world comes from Portugal.

Another very long day awaits. Wonder what else it will hold?