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For more images of the\u00a0Portuguese Way<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 my last (2019) hiking adventure \u2013\u00a0 see\u00a0<\/em>Wikipedia<\/a>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n I\u2019m putting together a new book, and this will be the last chapter. (Chapter 14.) The book \u2013 \u201c(Some of) My Adventures in Old Age\u201d \u2013 will end with an episode from my last overseas adventure. The last chapter will be, \u201cThey sell beer at the McDonald\u2019s in Portugal!\u201d<\/p>\n Which I thought pretty noteworthy.<\/p>\n That was back in September 2019.That’s when my brother, his wife and I hiked the Portuguese Camino. So this post (chapter) continues my last post on the hike:\u00a0Here\u2019s that second post on the Portuguese Camino<\/a>. (Chapter 13 in the book.) And incidentally, the photo atop the page shows the \u201cDouro river and Dom Lu\u00eds Bridge,\u201d near sunset. (Courtesy of\u00a0Wikipedia<\/a>.) The morning we left Porto we hiked west, right under that same Dom Luis Bridge.<\/p>\n We were headed off on a 150-mile (or so) hike to Santiago, partly by way of the\u00a0Coastal Camino Route<\/a>. That\u2019s the \u201cstunning and very scenic alternative route to the classic Portuguese Camino. Starting in colorful UNESCO-listed\u00a0Porto<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>this Camino trail will take you to charming seaside towns and villages in Northern Portugal, along the superb Atlantic Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n But of course – being generally \u201ccontrary\u201d – we only went part<\/em>\u00a0way up the Coastal Route. We left Porto Monday, September 2. We hiked the Coastal Route for two days and got to Vila do Conde the afternoon of Tuesday, September 3. From there we \u201cshunted over to the main Portuguese Route and headed north from there,\u201d that is, north from\u00a0Barcelos.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n My last post \u2013 \u201cSecond Portuguese<\/a>\u201d \u2013 gave an overview of the trip, noting how we got up as far as\u00a0Ponte\u00a0de Lima<\/a>. And again, that\u2019s about a third of the way up to Santiago. For this \u201cchapter\u201d \u2013 blog post \u2013 I\u2019ll quote some Facebook posts I did on the way. (At or near the event in question.)<\/p>\n And again, I\u2019ll end this book with the dramatic discovery,\u00a0\u201cthey sell beer at the McDonald\u2019s in Portugal!\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Which is something I didn\u2019t learn until we got to the \u201cMcDonald\u2019s \u2013 Ponte de Lima.” So as in\u00a0\u201cGreetings from the Portuguese Camino<\/a>,\u201d I\u2019ll end this chapter at<\/strong> <\/em>Ponte\u00a0de Lima<\/a>.<\/p>\n Which means I\u2019ll have to write at least one sequel\u2026<\/p>\n So, to \u201cstart at the very beginning, a very good place to start<\/a>,\u201d here\u2019s a list of the days and dates in question, beginning with the day we left Porto:<\/p>\n Monday, September 2:<\/em><\/strong> First day, from Porto to Cabo do Mundo, we hiked nine miles, to Casa Velha. (10.8 miles according to Tom\u2019s calculations.) Early in the morning I wrote, \u201cToday we left Porto behind, kinda. Our first stop came 90 minutes and three and a half miles from our start at the Cathedral. [I had] OJ and a very rich, chocolatey [dessert-like] thing. I figured I earned it.\u201d<\/p>\n We hiked west along the Douro, on the Porto side, then hit the Atlantic and swung north. It\u2019s a less traveled scenic alternative to the main Camino Portuguese. \u201cLots of beachside resorts, bathing beauties, and of course some old pot-bellied guys in speedos.\u201d<\/p>\n I took a picture of the boardwalk section, winding along the shore, then posted:<\/p>\n First days hike is history. West through Porto \u2013 with shady spots and sidewalk cafes \u2013 and out to the coast. Then north. Made Cabo do Mundo, 10.8 miles. Nothing too sore. Good first hike.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Tuesday, September 3: <\/em><\/strong>The second day we hiked 10.2 miles to Vila do Conde, and the Hotel Brazao. I took pictures of the morning and early afternoon beachside, much of it along a boardwalk. Once we reached Vila do Conde, we left the Coastal Route and started heading east and north, over towards the main Camino Portuguese. I wrote, \u201cNear the end of the day we negotiated a closed-in foresty place, with a narrow two-lane cobblestone road with LOTS of cars whizzing by, on the way to Vila do Conde.”<\/p>\n The following morning, September 4, I posted:<\/p>\n Good morning from Vila do Conde, Portugal. Yesterday we hiked 10.2 miles, from Cabo do Mundo to Vila do Conde. The pictures show the last stretch before we got to the bridge into town. No more beachside vistas, we\u2019re on the main Camino now, not the scenic side route. Today a mere six miles, so we\u2019re pillaging a bit.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That \u201cpillaging\u201d came from the auto-correct on my tablet. The same feature that changed each \u201cdo\u201d or \u201cde\u201d \u2013 common in Portuguese \u2013 to \u201cDr.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Every stinkin\u2019 time! So it had me \u201cpillaging\u201d instead of \u201clollygagging,\u201d like I wrote. I added that tomorrow we had \u201ca 13 mile hike, then a day off Friday. My feet aren\u2019t TOO sore, and the 15 pound pack is pretty much adjusted, strap-wise. And that\u2019s \u2018lollygagging\u2019<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0a bit. No pillaging so far\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The Hotel Brazao in Vila do Conde was the last place on the Coastal Route for us. Google Maps said it was 6.6 miles to Villa d\u2019Arcos, but “we” figured 6.3.<\/p>\n Wednesday, September 4: <\/em><\/strong>This morning, as we got ready to head out again, I saw a van taking luggage for some other \u201cpilgrims\u201d ahead to their next stop. Which meant all they had to carry – hiking – was a day pack. Not the pack we carried, 10 percent of body weight. (In my case 15 pounds.) That “10%” pack held all our worldly goods, for the duration of the hike.\u00a0Tom calls the light day-packs \u201cpansy packs.\u201d (He actually used another, more earthy epithet, but I figure this book is family oriented.) And I wrote on Facebooke about \u201cwussie \u2013 boys who don\u2019t want to \u2018pack their own gear.\u2019 WIMPS! What the hell kind of pilgrimage is that?\u201d<\/p>\n You know, without the sore feet, the aching back and such?<\/p>\n Anyway, because we had some time \u2013 a mere 6.3 mile hike to Villa d\u2019Arcos \u2013 we did some touristy stuff in the morning. We visited the\u00a0Museu de Constru\u00e7\u00e3o Naval (Shipbuilding Museum)<\/a>, and also parts of the\u00a0Convent of Santa Clara<\/a><\/p>\n The Convent of Santa Clara was closed but the Cathedral next door was open. It was there Tom made a \u201cnew bestest buddy Fernando \u2013 from the cathedral,\u201d who \u201cbent his ear for a good long time, much of it in indecipherable Portuguese.\u201d I took a great picture of them as they chatted, with a view from the hilltop, with the river and ocean in the background.<\/p>\n We ended the day at Villa d\u2019Arcos. It\u2019s not a city. It’s a four-star hotel at Rua da Alegria 38. \u201cFrom there we hike to Barcelos tomorrow. Tom booked the Hotel Bagoeira for two nights.\u201d\u00a0Villa d\u2019Arcos is a shade over six miles from Vila do Conde, but as noted we got a late start. I took pictures of the aqueduct in Vila do Conde, \u201cand some narrow streets like we had to hike through today.\u201d And the Villa d\u2019 Arcos itself was a \u201cnice swanky place with a mini-bar in my room, and a local-color cafe down the road to eat. (A light snack. We had a heavy meal on the road.) So tomorrow we\u2019ll be joining up with the main Camino hereabouts.\u201d<\/p>\n Not much of a hike, mile-wise, but a \u201cdearth of Camino signs. Plus lots of narrow walled-in streets, roads, lanes, alleys, whatever to negotiate. But we ended up in a Happy Place, with a beautiful sun setting in the west\u2026 And the morning and the evening were the third day,\u201d of hiking that is. (See Genesis 1:13<\/a>.) “Tomorrow 13 miles\u2026”<\/p>\n Thursday, September 5:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>We stopped for lunch in Pedra Furada, \u201cafter a LOOONG stretch of nary a place to stop, in between here and Villa d\u2019Arcos where we started.\u201d We’d hiked about eight of the day\u2019s total 13 miles before finding a place to stop for lunch. (We\u2019d gotten up and started early.) During lunch I posted this on Facebook, with a picture I took of a fellow pilgrim:<\/p>\n Good 12:30 noonish from Pedra Furada, Portugal. We\u2019re headed to Barcelos and a day off tomorrow, after a 13-mile hike today. Only one Super Bock for lunch, plus a cheese and tomato sandwich. I followed up the cerveza with a Lipton Pessego iced tea. [Thirsty.] Outside the front door a fellow Caminista spritzes his bald head with sunscreen, fixin\u2019 to head north.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Friday, September 6: <\/em><\/strong>To clarify, we checked in for our first day off on Thursday, September 5. Friday, September 6 was that day off, and we enjoyed the sites of Barcelos and nearby Braga. Braga is home of the \u201cBom Jesus do Monte\u201d church. (\u201cGood Jesus of the Mount.\u201d) It was quite a sight from the top of that mountain. Then we hit the road again Saturday, September 7.<\/p>\n That pretty much became the pattern. Four days hiking, increasing the number of miles hiked per day, with the fourth day ending after a long<\/em><\/strong> day\u2019s hike. So we hiked 13 miles on September 5 and reached Hotel Bagoeira in Barcelos for our first day off. On September 6 we did some sightseeing, including a bus trip to Braga. A beautiful city, especially in the center\u00a0square. Lots of marigolds and churches. But in the middle of that bus trip I had some business to attend to.<\/p>\n I originally booked a train back from Santiago \u2013 once the hike was over \u2013 to spend two nights in Lisbon before leaving for home. Then I changed my mind and figured it’d be better to spend one of those nights in Porto. So after the 45-minute bus trip to Braga, we split up and went our separate ways. I went to change my Comboios (train) ticket, back from Porto to Lisbon, and in the process had a 1:00 lunch of Portuguese lasagna. \u201cVery cheesy, filled with hunks of ham, and VERY good.\u201d Once I\u2019d changed the tickets I posted this on Facebook:<\/p>\n Quite the \u201cMission Accomplished!\u201d this morning. For various reasons I wanted to change my return trip plans to spend one more night in Porto and not two nights in Lisbon. But the 9\/23 ticket was already paid for. Long story short, I had my was of Euros read to pay the 56.50, but the nice clerk said, \u201cNo no, same price, you already paid!\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That wasn\u2019t supposed to be \u201cwas<\/em><\/strong> of Euros.\u201d It was another example of my tablet\u2019s \u201cstupid autocorrect.\u201d What I meant to say was \u201cwad <\/em><\/strong>of Euros.\u201d<\/p>\n Which brings up a good point. Both here and in Israel (back in May) I was often in the situation of not knowing the right rate of exchange, and so could have been easily cheated. But in general both store clerks and public officials were very attentive, and honest. Like the guy who exchanged my ticket and saw my \u201cwad of Euros.\u201d He could have said to himself, \u201cI’ve got a dumb American sucker on my hands!\u201d And charged me the 56.50 Euros, then pocketed it. Much like the guy I bought that \u201cTapazino\u201d from on my first morning in Jerusalem. I was pleasantly surprised by all this, but of course wouldn\u2019t want to make a habit of it\u2026<\/p>\n After changing train tickets I had had some time before meeting up with the others, so I figured the \u201cMission Accomplished\u201d warranted a celebratory cerveza. I stopped at a cafe around the corner from the Comboios station. I posted two pictures, one a selfie of me in a state of happy bliss, and one of the passing scene I was looking at.<\/p>\n Later we met up and took another bus ride, up to the top of a nearby mountain to see that \u201cBom Jesus do Monte.\u201d Quite a site. I took quite a few pictures. After that we stopped at a sidewalk caf\u00e9 in the Braga’s city center, with lots of beautiful fountains. Then took the 45 minute bus ride back to Barcelos. It felt good to be sitting instead of hiking. I ended the day posting, \u201cTomorrow we get back to hiking, a ‘mere’ ten miles, not the 13 that did a job on my feet.\u201d<\/p>\n Saturday, September 7: <\/em><\/strong>This day we ended up at\u00a0Casas da Quinta da Cancela<\/a>. (Expedia says it’s in Barcelos, but it\u2019s actually Balugaes.) If you check on Google Maps, you\u2019ll see a large complex surrounded by a high stone wall. With no sign – on the N308 part of the Camino\u00a0– to indicate how to get in. Carol wrote this later, once we got back, to accompany some photos:<\/p>\n After you walked ten plus miles for the day, then comes the fun (and most times agonizing) job of searching for the hotel. I am uncertain of how much land the villa had but it was surrounded by this rock wall in its entirety. On the opposite end of this wall (guessing three or four acres) was the Camino we came in on. There is a gate in the rock wall that went to the villa, but no sign to indicating such. We walked up and down the Camino [N308] numerous times looking for it. Finally [she and I] parked ourselves on a corner while Tom went down a couple of blocks. He ran into group of men and one offered to give him (backpack and all) a ride on his motorcycle to it. Tom declined and another man walked us to it. Many times, you rely on the kindness of strangers during your journey.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Which is true. The entrance is on the other side of the complex, away from the N308.<\/p>\n And as to finding<\/em><\/strong> the entrance to what turned out to be a lovely Quinta da Cancela<\/a>, with separate small villas for rent, here’s what I wrote: “That’s where we had a hell of a time finding the entrance. It’s a big walled-in space with the entrance on the other side of the N308 that runs through – actually is – the Camino in that stretch.”\u00a0I too noted “Tom had to walk down to the intersection with the N204 and ask directions. There was only one restaurant in that one intersection town (Balugaes), the\u00a0Cantinho dos Sabores.”<\/p>\n That’s where we ate once we got checked in and “refreshed.” I added, “The food was pretty good, but as I remember the service was pretty slow. But there was<\/em><\/strong> beer…”<\/p>\n In fact the service was so slow that by the time we got back it was way after dark, and the gate by the N308 was locked. We had to climb over a chest-high stone wall. Tom climbed over first and tried to unlock the gate from the inside. No luck. So I had to “assist” Carol over the wall, then climb over myself. (“And no one to take a video!”)<\/p>\n Sunday, September 8: <\/em><\/strong>Today we reached\u00a0Casa L\u00edmia in Ponte de Lima<\/a>, a third of the way on\u00a0our hike, but where this book will end. (I\u2019ll be writing a sequel.) One thing I noted on Facebook:<\/p>\n Greetings from Ponte de Lima, Portugal. Sorry about the lapse, but the Wi-Fi yesterday evening sucked. This morning at 10:10 I was hiking along listening to my iPod Shuffle, and a very old sermon by Father Paul came on.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cFather Paul\u201d used to be the priest at our Episcopal church. I\u2019m not sure how his sermon got on my iPod Shuffle, but likely it was from the time I volunteered three mornings a week. I did quite a bit of work on the church Office Mac, and had an account to download music. Father Paul also persuaded me to update the parish newsletter and website, after I mentioned I had a Master\u2019s Degree in Journalism. And working the parish website is what gave me the experience and impetus to get into blogging. Which is how I came to write this book\u2026<\/p>\n So anyway, in his sermon he talked about the lousy winter weather on that long-ago Sunday, and about dreaming of days at the beach, and about one time having a casting net. From there he went to some fisherman-Apostles \u201cdropping their nets,\u201d then getting on with REAL life. It made sense listening to the sermon, but it\u2019s hard to translate all that into a short blurb in this chapter. But I did note that \u201cI got a few chuckles hiking along the dry dusty Camino.\u201d And I thought it appropriate to hear this reprise sermon on a Sunday; I\u2019d been routinely listening to my music on the hike and hadn\u2019t heard it before. (“A message from God?”)<\/p>\n I posted on Facebook that we\u2019d made 11 [plus] miles, \u201ccomplete with an iPod Shuffle sermon from Father Paul, from a few winters ago. And had a helluva time finding this rental place. (Which seemed to happen quite a lot.)\u201d For the second day in a row we had a tough time finding the night’s lodging; in this case, the one in Ponte de Lima. But there was<\/em><\/strong> a reward to come…<\/p>\n I added that \u201cwe busted ass today. And my sore feet can prove it!\u201d<\/p>\n So about 8:00 p.m. we were on our way out to dinner at the nearby McDonald\u2019s, \u201csore feet and all \u2013 and got invited to a \u2018porch\u2019 party.\u201d There were two other couples in the three-story Casa, as I recall. They all spoke limited English, but were nice enough to share some of their libations. We accepted, then went off to the McDonald\u2019s. It was there \u2013 at the fancy-schmancy kiosk \u2013 that I saw that they did indeed sell beer, along with Big Macs, etc. Later I posted:<\/p>\n We had dinner at McDonald\u2019s, with a couple cervezas for me. Then a nightcap \u2013 or so we thought \u2013 at a bar up the street. Then ran into the party-goers from earlier, staying at the same complex. They FORCED us to have some dessert and \u201cgrava\u201d on the way in. I suppose there\u2019s a lesson there: Bust your ass and get rewarded \u2013 in some indirect way. BUEN CAMINO! Or, \u201cthe Camino provides!\u201d I suppose there\u2019s a lesson there somewhere \u2026<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words the party-goers we\u2019d met on the way out were still there partying on the porch when we got back. “AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY All!”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n So Ponte de Lima is now known – to me anyway – as where I found out that “they sell beer at the McDonald\u2019s in Portugal.\u201d And where we got invited to a \u201cporch party.\u201d And for those who may be interested, that McDonald\u2019s is at “Rua Salvato Feijo 17,” in Ponte de Lima.<\/p>\n Monday, September 9: <\/em><\/strong>That\u2019s the day we headed off to Rubi\u00e3es<\/a>, but that and the rest of the hike’s adventures will be the subject for my upcoming Sequel\u2026<\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n The upper image is courtesy of the\u00a0Portuguese Way<\/a>\u00a0article in\u00a0Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n The lower image is courtesy of\u00a0Rubiaes Camino\u00a0<\/b>– Image Results<\/a>. It’s accompanied by an article,\u00a0The Journey from Within<\/a>, which included an interesting experiment that pilgrim noted, on being oblivious in everyday life. The experiment involved\u00a0a “fiddler” at a major-city metro station, who played the violin while reporters observed and recorded by-passer response: <\/em><\/p>\n In the 45 minutes that the fiddler played, more than 1,100 people walked by, but only seven (!) stopped for at least a minute to enjoy the performance. When asked upon exiting the station, many people didn\u2019t even recall their path crossed a musician, only a few feet away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It turned out the man, “in jeans and t-shirt, was Joshua Bell, one of the best violinists in the world.” His normal rate of pay? “$1,000 a minute. That day at the metro, playing an incredibly difficult piece on one of the most valuable violins ever made bought Bell a total of $32.17 in donations.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/h1>\n
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