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Home at Last

Yesterday was a long day--up at 6:30 in Lisbon for final packing, a final European-style breakfast, a crowded metro ride to the airport, and going through at least four security checkpoints before boarding our 12:15 flight to Philadelphia.  Our flight in Philly arrived on time, but there must have been 500 people in line at TSA checkpoint and again at the passport check.  We scored a TSA Precheck pass at the former, so we went through the short line and abbreviated inspection/x-ray procedure there.  But there is a new, double-layered procedure at the customs and immigration point that must have been designed by the geniuses at the US Postal Service--it took over an hour to snake through the maze of queue ropes to get to an automated robot that took our picture and asked a few questions, then stood in another line to have our passports stamped by a real live person.

Our flight to Denver was scheduled to leave at 6:05, but was delayed nearly an hour by a tardy cleaning crew and then by a 20-minute wait in the long line on the taxiway before we took off.  We finally touched down in Denver right at 9:00 pm.  Fortunately, we had no checked luggage, so we went right to the new airport transit center and caught the A-Line train to Union Station, then Ubered home from there.  We arrived at our front door at 11:00pm, beating the pumpkin deadline by a full hour. It was our first experience with both the airport train and with Uber, and both went smoothly.  The Uber app on my phone made arranging that ride a snap.

Looking back, Jeanette's foot problem turned out to be a blessing in the end, and in spite of my grumbles about the long train rides that ensued, it gave us a few more days in Spain and in Portugal to unwind and enjoy Madrid and Lisbon in a much more leisurely manner.  We especially enjoyed Lisbon, which is much more laid back than the hustle and bustle of Madrid--and at least 15 or 20 degrees (F) cooler.

I apologize for all my spelling and other blunders on my previous blog posts--it was the first time I'd tried to do something like that on the tiny keyboard of my i-phone, and it was definitely more of a challenge than I expected.  Of course writing that late at night as the last thing before lights-out may have contributed to both my fumbling fingers and my sometimes grumpy attitude.  But it did keep me from getting too wordy, which I have a tendency to do. 

I also want to thank those of you that took the time to post comments.  Getting feedback and encouragement from you was always a special gift.  I've heard by e-mail and text from a few others who have said they had tried to post comments but were unable to do so; again I apologize for not reminding everyone that that they have to "follow" the blog by pushing the "Follow" button up on the upper right portion of the page.  Of course when you do that you also have to tell Google some of your deep, dark personal secrets, which some folks are reluctant to do.  Not to worry, I understand.  I just figure they already know more about me than I know about myself anyway. 

Since this is probably the last post in this chapter of our travel blog, I just want to say thanks to those who tagged along with us.  Until the next adventure, adios and vaya con Dios.

Sintra and Farewell to Lisbon

This was the last day of our month-long odyssey in Portugal and Spain, and we spent it well by devoting most of the day in Sintra, a well-known resort town in the foothills 45 minutes from Lisbon by commuter train. Sintra has been a royal retreat for Portugues kings and their courts since this region was recaptured from the Moors in the 1400s, and for the rest of us since the middle of the 19th century. There is archeological evidence of bronze-age settlements in the area dating back to at least 3000 BC.

We left the train station a little after 9:00am and arrived in modern Sintra some 45 minutes later. It's a pretty good walk up to the historic town center, and a major climb up the mountain to the major historic sites, so we bought a bus tour and tickets to three of the famous castles and palaces--one in the historic town center, and the other two high on the mountain overlooking the entire region. I won't go into the details other than to say it was a day well spent and one that will remain in the ol' memory bank for a long time.

 
Pena Palace panorama.

We took the return train back to Lisbon in time for a shower and short rest before going out for our final dinner at one of the many sidewalk cafes in this delightful city. After dinner, we enjoyed one last stroll down to the riverfront before coming back to our hotel to pack for the long flight home tomorrow.


A selection of whimsical pastries in a sidewalk window.

Lisbon - Monday and Tuesday

We're loving Lisbon. After two days in the excessive high-90s to 100 degree heat in Madrid and a long overnight train ride that felt like a trans-continental fight through continuous turbulence in an old prop-driven DC-6 with at least one stop in every state along the way, the cooler weather and laid-back atmosphere of Lisbon feels like a slice of heaven. What a wonderful city!

We arrived Sunday morning -- too early to check into our hotel, but they let us store our backpacks while we went out to do an initial exploration of the nearby neighborhood. We're staying in a studio apartment/hostel in the Baixa (pronounced "Bye-sha") area of Lisbon, a great location within easy walking distance of many of the popular attractions.

We spent Monday on a tram tour so Jeanette was able to limit walking. After a complete circuit on the hop-on/hop-off trolley, our first stop was at the Porto del Sol, a plaza on the back side of one of the city's major hills which overlooks the Rio Teja. After lunch at the plaza, it was a short walk down through the narrow streets to the Cathedral. The first yellow arrow for those starting the Camino Portugues from Lisbon is painted on the corner of this ancient and historic church.


View from the Puerto do Sol.

We then hopped back on the tram for a quick ride back across town to the Igreja de Estella, another historic church atop one of the many hills of Lisbon. We climbed 112 steps up a winding spiral stair to the roof of the church for a spectacular view of the city stretching in all directions below.

Leaving the church, we crossed the street and strolled through a beautiful park that felt almost like a botanical garden. Afterward, a short tram ride bought us back to the Baixa neighborhood, where we stopped for gelato before returning to our apartment for a shower and nap before dinner.


City view from roof of Igreja de Estrella.

This morning we were up early and made our way up to the castle of St George, an imposing medieval stone fortress that overlooks the city from the steep eastern hill. To reach the castle, we wandered through the narrow streets and a couple of public elevators. After a couple of hours of exploring the castle ramparts and photographing the cityscape in the morning light, we made our way down to the dock on the Rio Teja for a river tour that took us down the river to the Belem district, where we spent the better part of the afternoon wandering around the Monesterio Sao Jeronimo. All that made for a long and tiring day, so we decided to pick up a pizza and dine in tonight.


Castle of St George.

Tomorrow is our last day in Portugal, and we'll spend it in the nearby town of Sintra, a "must see" on everyone's list of things to do while here.

Madrid to Lisbon

We slept amazingly well, given the loud street noise all night--but then we were really tired. Nature called about 3:00am and the party was still going strong in the street below. (Note to self: never get a room facing the street on a weekend night in Spain.)

The high point of our last day in Madrid was a visit to the Prado Museum, a world-class art museum that ranks right up there with the Louvre and the Guegenheim. At first we (at least I) hesitated, given the length of the line, but Jeanette convinced me, and the line went amazingly fast. The museum's permanent collection is mainly old masters, with an emphasis on Spanish masters like Goya and El Greco--not my favorite art genre, but nevertheless well worth the visit.

Later, it was time to head to the train station to catch the so-called night train to Lisbon. You'd think the once-daily train between two major European capitols would at least be one of those modern, 200-mph rockets, but no, this was the 1940's milk run, with no less than 14 interim stops along the way. But we made it. And for the next four nights we're staying in a cool little studio apartment in the heart of the Baixo district in the old town area of Lisbon. It's a mix of neo-60's modern/hipster and Andy Warhol meets Ikea design-wise. We're looking forward to these few days of R&R before flying home on Thursday.

A protest march in the street outside the Prado.

Overview of Lisbon from an observation tower.

Catching Up - Moritinos > Sahagun > Madrid

I mentioned in my previous post that James was driving us into the railroad station at Sahagun, which he did. We arrived about 9:15 and bought tickets on the afternoon train to Madrid, which included a transfer in Palencia from the local slow train to the fast express into Madrid. We spent the rest of the day bumming around Sahagun, a town that's listed as having a population of 70,000, but I'd be surprised if it's half that. [Edit: My population figure came from a well-known Camino guidebook. I knew it was way off, but after checking the internet when I got home, I discovered it was waaaay off--Wikipedia lists the 2009 population as 2837.]

The train arrived late, which left us sweating the connection in Palencia. However, the fast train was having mechanical problems, so we ended up waiting for over an hour before we got underway to Madrid. So by the time we finally got to bed it was after 11:00pm.

We stayed at a hostel near the airport, thinking we'd be able to get a cheap airlines flight to Lisbon, but cheap flights on the same day are a myth, so we ended up heading back into the train station in Madrid and bought tickets for the once-a-day train to Lisbon. Today's train was sold out, so we'll leave here tomorrow. It's an overnight train, which means we'll arrive in Lisbon on Sunday morning.
We're staying tonight in a basic hostel-type small hotel just off the Plaza del Sol in the heart of old Madrid. As I write this from our mini-balcony at 10:15pm, the street below is teeming with people...I hope we'll be able to sleep tonight with all the noise.


The meseta near Ledigos.


The Roman bridge in Sahagun.


Ruins of an ancient church in Sahagun.


The street at 10:00pm beneath our balcony.

Meseta Days 2 & 3 - Calzadilla > Moratinos > Sahagun

Day 2 (8 miles) was another glorious, cloud-free day of brilliant blue skies. It started off cool in the morning as we left Calzadillo de la Cueda, but unlike the day before, there was no breeze and by 10:00am it was getting really warm. The eight miles into Moratinos would normally have taken about 2-1/2 hours, but with the slower pace we have been walking due to Jeanette's tendonitis, it took us almost four hours.
When we reached the oasis known as the Peaceable Kingdom, Rebekah and Paddy were off on errand to Palencia, the regional capitol, but we were greeted by James, friend who was staying with them. The three of us sat in the shaded patio and enjoyed a light lunch of bread, cheese, sliced tomatoes, and a cold cerveza. Then it was time for a shower and nap.
Rebekah and Paddy arrived just as we were waking from our nap, and we spent the rest of the afternoon getting acquainted with them. Rebekah then prepared a delicious dinner consisting of a Lebanese brown rice and lentil concoction accompanied by Spanish sausage and vino tinto.
In the morning (this morning), we decided to pull the plug on this portion of our journey. Not only does Jeanette need to get off her foot, I've realized that my "need" to complete every kilometer of the Camino Frances is not as strong as I thought. We've now seen the best of the meseta, from Burgos to Sahagun, and rest of the 50 km or so into Leon is just more of same. So after breakfast, James drove us the short six miles into Sahagun where we bought tickets on the afternoon train to Madrid. Tomorrow we'll fly to Lisbon, and if we can change our flight, we'll come home a few days early. Otherwise, we'll hang around Lisbon and return on the 1st as originally scheduled.

Meseta Day 1 - Carrion de los Condes to Calzadilla de la Cueza

10.6 miles. A short, but beautiful day walking under clear blue skies across a broad landscape of fresh green wheat fields. Most of the day's walk was along a 2000-year old Roman road, straight as an arrow through the farmland. The road is occasionally bordered by rows of cottonwood trees which provide patches of shade--welcome relief even on temperate days like today, but surely tiny bits of heaven in the scorching days of late summer.

Jeanette's ankle is better after two days' rest, but we had her backpack transported today to ease her load. Plus we picked up a pair of trekking poles from the left behind box at one of the albergues in Santiago before we left there, using them takes a bit of additional stress off her gait.

Typical scene from today's walk.

Oasis on the meseta: cerveza, bebidas, bocadillos -- all the necessities of life on the Camino.

Tomorrow is another short day, only eight miles to the village of Moratinos and a stay at the Peaceable Kingdom of Rebekah Scott, a well-known Camino figure, and her husband Patrick.

Santiago to Carrrion de los Condes

Today was almost entirely spent on a long bus ride, the first and longest part being from Santiago to Leon (6+ hours), then an hour layover in Leon, and finally 2 more hours on a milk run bus into Carrion. It was interesting to watch the terrain roll by, much of which was familiar from our 2013 walk on the Camino Frances route, but obviously from a different perspective.

The only disappointment was arriving at 6:00pm in Carrion and finding the Santa Maria albergue full, plus being too late to hear the famous singing nuns. So we got a room at the hostal (small hotel) across the street. The upside was meeting a couple at dinner who are full-time RVers. During the course of conversation, it turned out that they are Mike and Terri Church, the authors of perhaps the best guidebook of camping and campgrounds along the Alaska Highway and our veritable bible for our Alaska journey a few years ago. Small world indeed!

Tomorrow we start our five-day trek across the meseta, filling in the gap in our previous Camino which I've regretted missing ever since. 

No photos today -- the inside of a bus is nothing worth preserving in pixels to show the folks back home.

Photos from Last Two Days

Our last walk through a wooded area.

The Cathedral of Santiago. The main entry is undergoing renovation.

With Johnny Walker.

Santiago - Meeting Johnny Walker

No, it's not that Johnny Walker. This Johnny Walker is a delightful Scotsman living in Santiago who splits his time between overseeing a pilgrims' support organization and playing the organ at St Augustine church. His real name is John Rafferty, but JohnnyWalker is his pseudonym on the Camino Internet forums, blogs, and as the author of several guidebooks for various Camino routes. It was special for us to meet him because it was he and one of his volunteers from the Amigos del Camino that found our backpacks that were stolen at the end of our 2013 Camino. Many of you may remember that incident from our blog entries at that time, so I won't repeat the story again, but it's still in the blog archives for anyone who's interested.

John arranged a lunch with us, Stephen, who actually found the backpacks, a couple of their friends from Canada, and a visiting American professor who's researching and writing a book about some of the sociological aspects of the Camino--an interesting group to be sure, with quite a stimulating conversation around the table. Much our discussion, of course, was about the backpack incident, from both our experience and theirs. They were, for us, camino angels extraordinaire. I will try to post a photo or two, but am still limited by the weak signal in this ancient stone building.

In closing, one edit from last night: it was late and I got my miles and kilometers mixed up. We walked 260 kilometers on the Camino Portugues, which is approximately 160 miles.

Day 14 - A Esclivatiude to Santiago

11.9 miles. Well, once more we made to Santiago almost unscathed. The last time it was my foot--this time it was Jeanette's. But the main thing is, we walked the entire 160 miles/260 km--not quite as far as we did in 2013 on the Camino Frances, but what can I say: we're getting old.
We left at a little after 7:00 this morning and arrived at the Cathedral Plaza at about 1:30; not a great average, but that included stops for breakfast and lunch along the way. About half was on country lanes and forest trails, and the other half was a long trudge through the suburbs and inner city of Santiago. Coming into Santiago from this direction was not nearly as pleasant as coming in from the French route. But here we are, and tomorrow we meet our super camino angel from 2013, but that's a story for tomorrow's post.
I don't have a good connection, so I'll let Jeanette's photo suffice for now and try to get a couple posted tomorrow.

We made it!

Hooray! We arrived at Santiago today at about 1o'clock. 

Day 13 - Caldas de Reis to A Esclavitude

Approximately 16 miles. This was the longest day of our Camino. Most people stop in the town of Padron at the end of this stage, which would mean a long day of 16 miles into Santiago tomorrow, but on the recommendation of our friend Kris, we elected to walk another 4 miles today and make tomorrow's walk into Santiago only 12 miles. But adding the extra miles was tough on Jeanette, whose tendonitis made it a slow, limping challenge. I know what it  was like, though, having gone through the same thing with my plantar fasciitis on the Camino Frances four years ago.
It was a mostly pleasant stroll on quiet woodland pathways until Padron, then the trudge along hot urban streets through the city. Leaving Padron the trail followed a winding maze of narrow alleyways though a couple of ancient villages before finally arriving here at A Esclavitude. In order to pamper ourselves with a good night's sleep and to rest Jeanette's foot, we booked a room in a small hotel.

The vineyards here in this part of Galicia are above ground, on trellis-like structures. Sometimes the Camino paths walks beneath the vines.


The roses in front of the ancient stone wall made a pretty picture.

Day 12 - Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis

13 .8 miles. It was  good day today, and would have been a great day had not Jeanette's foot started to bother her. It appears that she's started to develop a bit of tendonitis, but we're hoping we can manage it with ibuprofen since it's only two more days to Santiago.
The day started off mostly clear and cool, and pleasently cool all day. At least half the day was on gravel or natural surfaced trails, which made for easy walking. There was only one significant height to cross, and that ascent was so gradual it was hardly noticeable.
We reached Caldas de Reis about 3pm and checked into our albergue for the night, the Albergue Cruciero, where we're staying in a 6-bed room with our friends Andreas from Germany, Tom from Belgiam, and two young ladies from Germany.

Crossing a small stream in the forest.

Day 11 - Redondela to Pontevedra

+/- 13 miles. All and all a good day. It started out as a typical Galician morning--overcast and misty, with an occasional drip of rain, but not enough to get out the rain gear (other than the backpack covers--gotta be sure to have dry clothes available). There were a couple of significant hills to climb, but they were tempered by the fact that most of the way up and down was on quiet forest paths. In fact,  probably half of today's walk was off-pavement.
We reached Pontevedra about 2pm and checked our hotel--we decided to book ahead these last 3 or 4 days to avoid the bed rush. After a luxurious warm shower and a short rest, it was off to explore this beautiful city of approximately 80,000 people. Pontevedra is the regional capitol of this division of Galicia, and it's thoroughly modern in all aspects. It's just a short walk from our hotel to the thriving, old medieval town center. There's some sort of festival going on tonight in the old town, and it's bustling with families, and pilgrims as well. It's definitely a candidate to put on the bucket list of places to visit in the future.

A quiet forest lane outside Redondela.


The Camino climbs through an ancient village.


Medieval town center of Pontevedra.

Day 10 - Porrino to Redondela

Short day today, only 9.6 miles, but first 2/3 was a long, nearly continuous climb, 90% on paved roads. The last third was of course downhill, at times pretty steep. There were only two short sections off-pavement and thru the woods, which made for a pretty uninspiring walk.
There's something of a bed race going on since Tui since it's the last 100 km. The organized tour groups have reserved most of the private beds, and most walkers have only light day packs. It's only going to get worse.

Not much to photograph, just a manhole cover with a Camino shell.


The municipal albergue in Redondela. We got some of the last beds.

Day 9 - Tui to Porrino

Nice easy 12.6-mile walk today. Weather was mostly sunny, but hot and humid. We're very close to the Atlantic, so everything is lush and green.

Not much road walking today, mostly on forest paths and backcountry roads thru a few villages. As the Camino nears Porrino, it formerly went right up the highway for several miles through a busy industrial area, but it has been recently re-routed through the adjacent countryside, which makes for a much more pleasant walk.

Tonight we're staying in an unusual accommodation, a small, 4-bed albergue located high on a mountain outside Porrino. The owner picked us up in town and drove us up, and will drive us back down in the morning. He's a wiry but muscular little guy who has summited Mt Everest, and leads treks to Nepal and Patagonia when he and his wife are not hosting pilgrims. What an interesting trip this has been--so far we've met an Australian senator, an Italian general, and now an Everest summiter.

A group of pilgrims taking a break along the trail.

Horses snacking on the lush green grass as we pass.

More photos from Day 8

Last night's albuergue.

Waterfalls 

Mid-morning break time.

Day 8 - Rubiaes to Tui

12.3 miles. The day turned quite nice, with no rain. A typical walk along cobblestone country lanes, with a few dirt and loose rock cow paths, plus a bit of pavement and sidewalks as we passed through a handful of villages. There was bit of mud and running water along the trails, but for the most part less than an inch deep. Best of all, there was only one substantial hill to climb and descend.

As from the start, the wildflowers were beautiful, as were the many flowering trees. Many of the small streams along the way were still running out of their banks from yesterday's rain, with small waterfalls and cascades gurgling beside the trail. Sunday morning church bells rang all around, mixed with tinkling cowbells in the bright green pastures. Hopefully I can get a couple of photos to post tonight.

We're now in Spain, and able to communicate better with the locals.