Vilafranca de Xira to Azambuja May 8

"Keep calm, say three Hail Marys and an Act of Contrition, and keep on keeping on."

 

A pilgrimage is an opportunity to simplify your life, your needs and your wants; a time to indulge in a moving meditation seeking to find clarity and peace, uniting mind, body and heart; a time for spiritual growth. Unfortunately, the only meditation I was indulging in as I walked kilometre after kilometre along the busy highway with a constant fury of trucks whizzing by, was how would anyone transport my body back home for a memorial service and wishing I could remember the Act of Contrition so I could cleanse my soul before being smacked to smithereens.

Our hotel last night was very nice but the large group of Fatima pilgrims pretty well demanded all the attention of the hotel staff. It was impossible to get a place to sit for breakfast and, not wanting to wait for 50 Portuguese ladies to finish their morning coffee and chatter, Dayton and I just put on our packs and started out. This was supposed to almost a semi-rest day with under 20kms to cover; however, the camino markers failed us and we ended up adding over four extra kilometres all before 9:30am. At least the extra mileage was along a country dirt road which was the only part of the day we were not playing dodge 'em on busy highways. Despite the extra kilometres, we found our hotel (a confusing walk back and forth through town adding even more distance to our day) and we are now settled into our little hotel room, showered and ready to seek out some restaurants.

Our hotel concierge speaks not a word of English and, as I have said before I only know three words of Portuguese and, other than thank you, none of them are helpful. I thought that, knowing a bit of Spanish, I would be able to understand a bit of Portuguese but they do not sound the least bit similar. There seems to be a lot of 'ish' and 'ch' sounds so it seems almost Russian or Slavic sounding to me. This complete lack of understanding made me think back two years ago to when Dayton and I were getting off the plane in Arles in France and he said with a touch of dismay, "So now it begins". When I asked him what 'what begins', he said, "Forty-nine days with no one to converse with but you." Now we are in the same boat; no one else to talk to for the next five weeks.......and that's okay.

Dinner was in another mystery experience. Dayton had a wonderful unidentifiable fish, equally mysterious side dish, bread, salad and wine while the servers accommodated me with salad and potatoes. Of course it came with a jug of wine......all for €17.

Tomorrow promises to be a long day, well over 30kms without allowing for missed markers and we could be in trouble. The bottom of Dayton's one foot is a solid blister from a rubbing sock and this is on top of our usual daily aches and pains. Let's hope padding it with mefix tape will help. When walking the Camino Frances de Santiago, you are always walking west so the sun is always on your back. The Camino Portuguese heads north so the sun is always in the east. This means I have a serious sunburn on one arm. However, I am not about to start complaining (yet?) about sunshine or warmth as we were cold, wet and muddied most of our last Camino and would have paid for a sunny day.

 

 

 

 

 

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Lisboa to Vilafranca de Xira May 7

What were we thinking! Lisboa to Vilafranca de Xira - 33 kms.

At about kilometre 28 today as Dayton and I were desperately quenching our thirst with a couple of Ginger Ales and lemonades, Dayton bemoaning sore Achilles and aching knees, me equally feeling my age with aching hips and tender feet, we looked at one another and started laughing. What were we thinking to head out on another Camino without a single day of training with or without backpacks? There is no fool like an old fool I guess.

However, all in all, it was a good day; not an easy day, but a good day. By 6:45am this morning we had 'mefixed' up our toes, packed our packs, had the hotel concierge take our photo and we headed out through the quiet boulevards of Lisbon towards the Catedral Sé to start following the yellow and blue arrows of the Camino. Like any early walk worthy of the Camino name, the road went uphill for the first hour and by uphill think incline tread set somewhere between breathtaking and coronary arrest, then add cobblestone roads and a 30lb backpack (although mine might have been a wee bit lighter). Whew! On the outskirts of Lisbon we started to follow a beautiful river walk along the River Tejo sharing the path with all the early morning walkers and joggers. We thought we might see more pilgrims because, when we tried to get Portuguese Pilgrim Passports at the cathedral, we had been told they had had so many pilgrims setting out that they were back ordered on passports. We only saw four other pilgrims today, a couple of Italian men who were lying on the sidewalk in a little patch of shade, heads resting on their packs and bare feet cooling in the breeze and another couple of men from Malta. The guys from Malta had small day packs and huge cameras. They had arrived late last night and decided to pay $20.00 each to send their packs ahead. We were suitably impressed when they stated they were planning to walk 40kms today but they said they were pretty good walkers and apparently they are because they marched out ahead of us and we're out of sight never to be seen again. We will happily settle for filling up our Canadian Pilgrim passports.

It was a sunny hot day and we should have put on sunscreen but the sunscreen was tucked away safely in Dayton's pack so it would not get lost and apparently so it would not be used.

For those new to the Camino concept, pilgrims carry a special passport which gets stamped at the end of each of their walking stages. The passport verifies that they are indeed pilgrims, allows them to stay at the pilgrim albergues and, once reaching Santiago qualifies them for a Compostella, the certificate stating they had completed the Camino.

The first few stages of this route are shared by the Camino Fatima and the Camino Portuguese de Santiago. May 13 marks the date when in 1917 the vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three young shepherd children so it is expected that the trail will be very busy over the coming days. Later in the afternoon we saw a large group of pilgrims heading to Fatima, mainly women and not that young, all wearing yellow safety vests finishing lunch at the side of the road. Their leader was using a megaphone to encourage them to finish up and get going. It was like herding cats. It turns out that all these fifty pilgrims are staying at our lovely little Hostel DP. They are a very chatty group and even though we were offered the opportunity to have dinner with them at our hotel, we have opted to head out to eat. Before dinner we sat at a little cafe and shared three glasses of wine and an order of Portuguese bread...€2.45! And the wine glass is filled to the brim. BTW I made Dayton pass on the snails.

I only know three words in Portuguese, obrigada which means thank you, carimba which means stamp and I forget the third word. Our lack of fluency means everything is a surprise, especially meals. Tonight we learned that no restaurants served dinner before 7:00pm so after a couple of glasses of vino branca at a little restaurant we went to dinner at a 'hamburger joint'. Earlier in the evening we had met the owner and cook of this hamburger place and he asked us to come back for dinner. When we did he could not do enough for us to make this dinner special. Dayton had a surprise (because we didn't understand a word of the menu or of the owner) starter which was an elegant dish of pineapple, strawberries, prosciutto, smoked salmon and garlic tzatiki and then we both had amazing burgers; mine, a tofu burger with sautéed mushrooms and spinach and Dayton's was a humoungous burger with jambon & Gorgonzola sauce and the fries came with a garlic aioli sauce. Oh, and with this elegant hamburger meal came a full bottle of crisp white wine...all for €33.00!!! Dinner kind of negated our 33 km hot walk today but it was so worth it. Best vegetarian meal I have had in Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

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Lisboa - Camino Training Day May 6

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It is about learning to dance in the rain."

While the above is a wonderful philosophy to embrace, equally wonderful is not having to worry about the storm or the rain and just embracing a warm sunny day - in Lisboa. With only one full day in Lisbon, Dayton and I set out fairly early to explore and enjoy. We headed straight to the Catedral Sé to get our first Camino Portuguese carimba (stamp) in our Pilgrim's Passport. From the cathedral we meandered through the warren of cobblestones streets to the ancient Castelo São Jorge. The line up to get in was enough to deter us so we bought a pint of fresh strawberries from the vendors outside the castle and continued on the walking tour that Dayton had found posted on the Pilgrim's Forum by Laurie (Peregrina 2000). The Metro took us higher up to the Rato area and we walked our way back down towards the old city stopping, as we tend to do, for late lunch at the restaurant suggested by Laurie. The restaurant Adega de São Rogue was a Portuguese dining gem. After being seated, a huge basket of rustic bread with butter, goat cheese and sardine pate was delivered. We might have misunderstood the interpretation of 'starters' on the menu as the two little 'starters' Dayton ordered, one of sardines and one of cod fritters each turned out to be a full entree. Undaunted Dayton rose to the culinary occasion. Portuguese sardines are a wee bit bigger than the canned ones Dayton is used to so, after the first choking bite, he realized it might be a good idea to take the bones out. For me rising to the culinary occasion was to enjoy the rustic bread, some shredded lettuce and wine. Word to the wise, if you are vegetarian in Portugal, you better not be gluten intolerant or a tea-totaller.

After lunch we headed back to the cathedral to meet the lady who had prepared and posted this walking tour, Peregrina 2000 aka Laurie Reynolds from Illinois. While I have spent the last few months spending most of my time teaching Yoga and Pilates classes, Dayton has been researching the Camino Portuguese and has made some really helpful contacts, Laurie being one of them. Laurie had used the Pilgrim's Forum to post an invite to any pilgrims who happened to be in Lisbon this day to meet at the cathedral at 3:30pm. We ended up meeting not only Laurie but also a couple from Mississauga who are also starting their Camino Portuguese tomorrow as well as two gentlemen from Lisbon. Aurelio, one of the Portuguese gentlemen, walked us up to the Igreja de Santiago, a little church recognizing the Camino Santiago. From there we settled down at an outdoor cafe for drinks and chatting. These are the Camino moments to savour and remember.

Today has been such a great day that we just didn't want it to end so, after saying farewell to our new pilgrim friends, Dayton and I enjoyed a snack and drinks at another outdoor restaurant (I just love these cities where the climate is such that you can sit outdoors with a glass of vino and watch the world go by) before heading back to ready our backpacks for tomorrow and, by readying our packs, I mean putting as much stuff as possible into Dayton's pack and leaving mine as light as possible. I know. I have no shame.

Continuing the 'no shame' and 'not letting this day end' theme, we are now back in our hotel lobby bar indulging in one last nightcap...or two. Let us just hope that the euphoria of this perfect day extends into the thirty seven plus kilometres we are intending to cover tomorrow.

Our pilgrim route may vary but my pilgrim mantra has not....pay attention and don't whine. Tune in tomorrow to see if I live up to this.

 

 

 

 

 

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"And that has made all the difference".

Can you recall a single instant or comment which, if it had not happened, the direction of your life would be totally different? What one moment of serendipity, synchronicity or happenstance resulted in a paradigm shift in your life?

As I have been collecting my gear, preparing to pack my backpack, that same backpack that two years ago I vowed I would never ever carry again, my thoughts have been circling around how all these pilgrim walks came to be such a predominate part of my life; how several years ago a chance glimpse at a flyer of 'Las Pereginas - the women who walk' grabbed my attention and changed my life in such a significant way. There was something about the shadowy images of the three female backpackers that captured my interest and eventually my heart and soul. Within 48 hours of attending the advertised presentation and enthusiastically sharing the idea with Dayton, we were pilgrim wannabes. Thinking of this made me realize how one chance moment or happening can cause such a dramatic shift in the direction and focus of one's life. What if I had not noticed that flyer? What if I had given in to my usual lazy nature and decided it was too cold and wet to leave my warm fireplace to go out on a freezing Sunday afternoon? What wonderful experiences we would have missed!

For the last eight years 'the Camino' has been a satisfying dominant factor (obsession our friends and family might say) in our lives. What started out as a 'once in a lifetime' pilgrimage across Spain became another and another pilgrim experience. After completing that initial pilgrimage, the Camino Frances, from St. Jean Pied de Port at the base of the Pyrenees in France walking 792 kms across the North of Spain to Santiago, we have returned to walk the Chemin Le Puy and again for the Chemin d'Arles, the Camino Aragones and the routes from Santiago to Finisterre and to Muxia as well as undertaking a seventeen day stint as hospitaleros at the Albergue San Miguel in Estella in Spain.

What if I had not noticed that flyer? But I did - and that has made all the difference.

One glimpse of a poster turned out to be a pivotal moment in my life, changing it forever and now, reflecting on it, has brought me to consider a couple of other pivotal instances that caused a seismic shift in my life. I think back to when I was a young teacher, new to London, with nothing to occupy my time except lesson planning and university courses. I needed something else in my life, some extracurricular pursuit. I wanted to dance. A chance comment to my student teacher bemoaning the lack of adult dance classes in the city resulted in discovering a completely new focus for my life and career. My student teacher said she danced with the university modern dance company. I went with her to the very next class and, while she stayed with the company until she graduated, I stayed for over twenty years, dancing with the company, taking curricular and extra-curricular courses in dance and eventually taking an educational improvement leave to study dance at the University of California at Irvine. I returned to my school board to develop and implement courses in dance which directed and enhanced the last twenty years of my teaching career.

What if my student teacher had not enlightened me about Dance at Western University? But she did and that has made all the difference.

That study leave in California led to the absolute most important single moment in my life. Easily settling into my year of California Dreaming, I was enjoying the Newport Beach sunshine and the pool at my new apartment complex when the superintendent stopped by and asked me if I had met 'the Virginian'? I hadn't but thanks to George the Super, I did. I met the Virginian, married the Virginian and have been sharing love and family with him ever since.

What if the superintendent had not bothered to ask me, "Have you met the Virginian"? But he did - and oh my, that has made all the difference.

And now I will refer to one of my favourite quotes from Winnie the Pooh: "Whenever you see someone pulling on big boots, you cam be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen". Monday Dayton and I will be pulling on our big boots and starting our Portuguese Camino adventure. This is going to be good!

 

 

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Monday, June 3 - Madrid

Now the sun is out, the weather is hot and dry and so it was a perfect day to walk around this beautiful city of Madrid. Our only goal was to find again the tapas marketplace we had visited four years ago. We had confidence that it would not be hard to find because we knew it was near the Playa Mayor...and it was exactly where we left it four years ago. Tapas, wine and this time there were even a couple of vegetarian options!

Madrid - a little busier than the Camino.

Tapas Market

Yogurt Shooters!

 

Central Madrid is a beautiful vibrant city that mixes busy high traffic avenues and wide tree lined boulevards with all these twisty turny narrow streets which every few blocks open out into a lovely welcoming square and the squares are usually rimmed with lots open patio restaurants and cafés. So a day of touring Madrid is a day of drifting from one café to another and we do that very well.

 

In another Camino coincidence as we were walking along one small boulevard we ran into Fransisco and Jeanette, the two American hospitalero volunteers we had recently met in Santiago at the Pilgrims' Office. Now what are the chances of being tourists, foreigners in fact, in one of the largest cities of the world and meeting someone you know? Serendipity!

 

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Sunday, June 1 - Santiago to Madrid - by train

One last morning strolling through the streets of Santiago. It was a perfect walking day; sunny, dry and quite cool but the only hiking we had to do was a fifteen minute walk to the train station to catch the train to Madrid, the first stage of our trip home. Of course we arrived at the train station three hours too early but you know that old adage, 'if you aren't at work 15 minutes early, you are late'. Well with us and travelling, 'if you aren't three hours early you are late'.

 

The train ride was so easy and comfortable and we had booked 'preferente' so there was lots of room, movies and a cafeteria for snacks. Preference didn't mean on time however; we arrived 45 minutes late and I was worried about checking in to our hotel at 11:30pm but in Madrid that was no problem and not even a problem going out to eat a late night snack at midnight.

 

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Saturday, June1 - Santiago

What a crazy day and a crazy way to relax. A perfect example of carpes diem or just seize the opportunity to eat, drink and be merry. Dayton and I followed up a breakfast of fresh hot churros and tea with a visit to the pilgrims' museum and a tour of the rooftops of the cathedral. So far that was not the crazy fun part of the day. The rooftop tour was in Spanish and as boring as it was cold. Seriously the tour guide did not take a breath for one hour and all I got was a few 'nosotros' 'más o menos' and 'romanticos' and not one idea of what he was going on about. So much for my Spanish lessons.

 

 

Afterward we met up with Paige and Janice. Paige took us to a local market, that she discovered tucked away in the labyrinth of streets in the old town and there they all had a most unique culinary experience. This market had a myriad of stalls of fruits, vegetables, meat and seafood surrounded and mixed in with lots of patio style tables and 'eating perches' and cocinas (kitchens).You order your seafood from the market stalls and then have the cocinas cook it and serve it to you. The waiters bring you back your cooked food with their bread and wine. There is a minimal service charge for preparing and serving, maybe 3€ a person and of course you have to pay for your wine. Dayton, Janice and Paige enjoyed, in order, octopus, barnacles, razor clams, raw oysters and then langoustines while I ate my weight in fresh rustico bread. There were a few glasses of vino tinto consumed and the sun was not over the yard arm yet. This will go down as a wonderful Camino memory.

 

 

Another interesting Camino moment was later in the afternoon as Dayton and I were wandering the streets and shops. We were walking and heard someone call out, "Hey you, from London, Ontario"! We responded appropriately, "Yes, that will be us", and this couple introduced themselves and mentioned that they had remembered us from the Sunday afternoon talk at Novak's outdoor store that we had done in March the year before. They had come to learn more about the Camino and here they were in Santiago having just finished their Camino Frances. Interestingly enough this is how we first met Janice as well and all three were in Santiago at the same time as us.

 

 

 

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