Pilgrim Passport

(Friday, October 4) - We began our day back at the Mercado for a breakfast of heavenly almond croissant and coffee. From there we headed toward the river. 

Leave it to me to fail to pack the one thing necessary to commemorate the end of this journey - my Pilgrim Passport. This little booklet is to be stamped throughout the walk to prove you made passage by foot to the end of the Camino in Santiago de Compestela. Presenting it at the cathedral in Santiago rewards you with a certified document stating such. I left my passport in Iowa. 

Thus a walk downhill to the Catedral do Porto to get another one. The gentlemen there couldn’t have been more helpful in providing advice for the journey. 

This evening we walked back to the riverfront for dinner at Ode. . I love the small, quaint restaurants where the service is spectacular. I had the day’s market fish - grouper - which was blackened with a side of turnip leaf and cornmeal. I could have done without the cornmeal which was a little like mush with some tiny chunks of fish in it. Eva ordered salted cod with chickpea stew. Don’t let the entree name fool you. Sounds drab, but it was delicious. Cod is very popular here. Somewhere along my way, I plan to try cod cheeks and cod tongue.

Why is it that Google Maps gives you one route to get someplace and then another to get you back to where you started? And the return is twice as far. It did that twice today. It must know that I’m still in training for a very long walk. We walked almost 9 km. 

Although our days on the Camino will be longer than 9 km, I believe I am ready. But am I ready for the rain? The forecast calls for rain every day for the next ten days. Yikes.  

  

 

El Camino - One step closer

(Thursday, Oct.3 - Porto, Portugal) Eva and I arrived in Porto, Portugal this morning. Amazingly, all three flights, DSM to Chicago to Newark to Porto were fairly on time, give or take a half hour  

After navigating to our accommodation in Porto, which was no small feat, we stored our luggage a half mile away until check in time (no early check-ins here. I envied Eva’s foresight to not bring a roller bag; Porto is covered in cobblestone streets and sidewalks). 

So to kill time we headed for this lovely Mercado with the most incredible array of fresh produce, cheeses, fish, pastries. 

Dinner, at La Ricotta just around the corner, was divine. Squid Ink Linguini with prawns, mussels and oysters and tiramisu for dessert  

The wine here is fantastic and oh so inexpensive. The most generous pours for only 3 Euros. I love this city. 

   

El Camino

 The Countdown.

 One week from today I leave for Porto, Portugal to meet up with my daughter, Greta, and my sister, Eva, and embark on our “epic pilgrimage” – 150+ miles on el Camino de Santiago. 

If you are unfamiliar with the Camino, it is an ancient route walked over the centuries by pilgrims beginning in France and ending in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. In more recent times, newer routes have been established and we will take the path from Porto, Portugal, 150 miles north along the Atlantic coastline over 13 days. (I picked the Portuguese Coastal Route due to its lower elevation climbs. Call me chicken.) 

 

I became enamored with this undertaking in the late 90’s when I read The Camino, by Shirley MacLaine. At the age of 60, she walked 500 miles from St. Jean Pied de Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Ever since, I have been determined to make this trek. Finally, turning 70 this summer, I will fulfil my dream. 

 

As I approach our October 6 start, I realize this journey actually began more than a year ago when Eva and I sat down in Montana with her husband, Steve, to lay out our plan. I have to say his first reaction was not “Hey, okay. Good for you. You go girls!” I guess he would like to have had a couple of decades to wrap his arms around the concept, like I did. I can’t really blame him. 

 

Over this past year I have worked with a personal trainer twice a week. I have walked and walked and walked. I have fallen down in training and broken my front teeth. I have experimented with different shoes and finally settled and broken in a pair of Brooks (I guess you could say I am now broken in from top to bottom - teeth to feet). I am ready! 

 

In the planning process, I set what I call my “princess parameters.” We will stay in AirBnBs or hotels – no hostels. I will carry a day pack during the dat and transport one larger backpack with necessities (I refuse to be a beast of burden). No sleeping bags. No singing around the campfire. No bedbugs.

For Shirley, el Camino was more of a spiritual journey. For me, it will be a test of my true and Sweet grit, both spiritually and physically.

Stay tuned for blogs (which I will keep brief but try to capture the essence of el Camino) and wish us luck. Buen camino!