Let’s Be Clear . . .

 . . . we are not staying in dumpy hostels.

Yeah, we’re not exactly suffering in the area of accomodations—especially last night, today and tomorrow. This evening we are in our second restored 16th century manor turned hotel. Limestone walls 2 feet thick, huge lovely really comfortable beds (the carved cormorant headboard above was interesting to sleep with) and amazing Portuguese breakfasts with super great, uber-strong coffee.

But, alas. Being the pilgrims we are, we must walk on every morning. Yesterday, we decided we were done walking on the beaches and deviated from our original route to go inland, where we have been very happy to walk up and down hills, on narrow cobbled roads through small towns, and even through some patches of forest. Above, I am standing with our good friend Sao Tiago, also known as San Tiago, the patron saint of the pilgrimage. Yesterday we traversed the region of Esposende, which, we are told, has always been grooved by ancient paths, used by travelers of very diverse origins: Roman roads, ancient links between the coastal towns and the interior and also those of pilgrims on their way to pay homage in Spain.

Today, high on a hill outside of Castelo do Neive, (where we stayed last night) is a tiny church that has the oldest known inscription of consecration dedicated to Santiago, dated from the year 862.This has the distinction of being the oldest consecration to the apostle ever found outside of Spain. The inscription is now embedded in the wall.

We were definitely on the trail of Sao Tiago today, as we came to the town of Anha to find an old restored church from 1560 that had modernized its stained glass windows. The front door of the church was a magnificent stained glass rendition of the scallop shell. The scallop shell is the most recognized symbol of the Camino de Santiago and it has been used since the time of the Codus Calixtenis, the original instructions on how to follow the way to Santiago (we’re talking the 1st century, here) and a scallop shell was given to all pilgrims by the priests upon their arrival in Santiago. Most modern pilgrims carry a scallop shell to signify they are walking to Santiago de Compostela.

As I said, we’ve been walking a more inland route the last couple days, and the way has been full of twists and turns, back alleys and country roads. You really have to pay attention to catch all the way markers, as getting off track can cause quite a bit of back-tracking and wandering, or asking other peregrines for consultation—perhaps you suspect Bryn and I might have some first hand experience with this? Sometimes the way is marked obviously, sometimes not:

Yesterday, we passed a way mark that had become a kind of memorial to those for whom—or causes for which—individual peregrinos were walking. 

Photos of fallen soldiers, sports teams, favorite pets, grandparents, lost faith, found faith—every imaginable human reason. There was even a large stone, upon which was written in black Sharpie: “May sex work be brought to light and accepted as the sacred office that it really is.”

Coming into the city of Viano do Castelo, our destination for tonight and tomorrow (we have a day off tomorrow!) we crossed a very long bridge over the estuary of the Lima River. Yet another bridge in Portugal designed by Gustav Eiffel’s company. Tomorrow we plan to explore the old city center. 

Today was definitely our hottest day of walking, it was humid, too. We arrived on the other side of the bridge and took a brief respite at a roadside cafe for a cold drink, but still, by the time we arrived at our very nice 16th century manor, we were both literally dripping with sweat. It was sort of embarrassing, but hey! We are peregrinos!

Ciao for now!