Cutest mini car I have ever seen:

Rainy weather affecting all, even an indoor cow statue:

Workers moving metal board planks from top to bottom. They do it by lining themselves up in a vertical row one on top of each other and handing the items from bottom to the top:

Tile art on a building in Porto:

Porto- Inside the Sao Bento Train Station:

Porto- Girl in window preparing Cod Fish Cakes for frying:

Porto- Cans of sardines where customers can choose one with their year of birth:

Interesting Graffiti Art along the way:

An interesting fact – New Eucalyptus trees are now illegal to plant in Portugal. This is due to the fact that they are very flammable and was the cause of a recent big emergency crisis fire in Portugal. Too bad as the scent of Eucalyptus trees was a wonderful bonus on our walk. Here’s a picture of the trees’ berries:

Pictures of the pilgrims that may not have been uploaded on the daily blog:

Karen’s posing by Pilgrims Art:

Stop Sign:

An amazing vegetarian restaurant in Porto called DaTerra for only €7.50 per person. What a deal! Please go there if you get to visit Porto:

Breakfast buffet at the Parador de Santiago:

March 14 – We woke up at 8 am and Maria our hostess at the Albergue was right in her concern for us. The rain was pelting down hard. We had agreed the night before that she would drive us to the bus station to take a bus to Santiago.

After our breakfast at the Albergue Camino Do Sar, we gratefully rode in Maria’s car to the only one bus station in Padron.

After the drop off, the rain came down harder and I took a video recording from the bus stop window. I cannot see anyone walking in this weather but having met a few tough walkers, I am sure there will some hardcore pilgrims risking it and walking it anyways.

The bus arrived at 10:15 am and our fare was €2.20 per person. The ride to Santiago took only 30 mins.

We arrived at a bus stop that is situated right on the path of the Camino. How perfect! We get to walk from the bus stop to our final stop, the Santiago Cathedral. The rain had also let up a bit so we could do it.

Here are our pictures of this last stretch of our Camino walking to our final destination:

After following our last few arrows, we finally made it to the Cathedral in spite of the wet cold windy walking conditions.

We were like two little Hobbits making our way to Mordor to drop a magical ring at Mount Doom (LOL 😂🤣). However, instead of getting rid of a ring, we were in search of two Compostelas (Certificates for having walked the Camino) 😉 at Santiago.

We arrived at the Cathedral and also arrived at the Parador Hotel which is just adjacent to the Cathedral.

There was not much to do at the moment of arrival due to the somewhat harsh weather. We just checked in at hotel and had to wait until the rain dissipated before we can go searching for the office to get our Compostelas. Kinda anti-climatic but this was the reality of our quest at that moment.

Yes the rain did ‘go away’ at around noon so we were able to make it to the Pilgrims Mass at the Cathedral. At the end of the mass service the famous Botafeimero swung above us to bless the church attendees. It is very heavy and required a minimum of 5 men to swing it. This incense censer is the best known symbol of the Santiago Cathedral and usually used for special masses such as EASTER, Christmas, Pilgrims Blessings, etc.

We also visited St.James tomb and lighted candles with our prayers.

Later we found the the Compostela office, declared the details of our walk and obtained our certificates.

Here are the pics of our certificates:

Though we did not walk on the Camino this day, we did do a lot of walking around Santiago and inside our Hotel bearing its official name -Parador de Santiago – Hostal Reis Catolicos.

Here are some pics in Santiago:

The most impressive part of this day was exploring this old hotel as it is a museum inside and only guests get to view the antiques and the gardens. A breathtaking castle that used to be a hospital before a famous Spanish Royal family took it over and converted it.

Here’s the Wikipedia explanation: The hotel was constructed as a religious work in 1486, by Ferdinand and Isabel, the Catholic Monarchs. It is widely considered the oldest continuously operating hotel in the world, and has also been called the “most beautiful hotel in Europe”.

Here are our pics:

Here are the some pictures of the grounds, corridors and whatever nooks and crannies that we walked through in the hotel:

After a whole afternoon of exploration we were to go to Entre Pedras for dinner. It was reputed to be the best vegetarian restaurant in Santiago.

Who would have thunk? LOL. We got lost trying to find it and ended up taking our dinner at the Parador instead.

What a fantastic way to end our Camino officially!!

I could not have designed this any better myself. Divinity definitely had a hand in this.

For my next few posts, I will reflect further on this trip and will provide Karen’s input (good or bad) so that I may learn what lessons the Camino taught me.

Thank you so much for following our walk and I hope that it may have inspired you to do your own.

Much love and wishing all of you an abundance of blessings,

Hilda 💕💕💕

March 13 – We got up at 7am this morning and feeling hungry, Karen made us Chinese instant noddles. She microwaved hot water and poured it over the noodles in the camping pot.

Yes, we had brought a couple pairs of throw away chopsticks from Calgary in anticipation of a time where we can use them due to limited kitchen facilities. This morning was that time. LOL. Instant noodles are from Spain though.

After breakfast, we had a little trouble trying to get out of Caldas Da Reis. We got lost looking for the arrows and ended up doing the tourist thing looking at points of interest. We got pictures of the hot spring soaker and hot public bath used for feet that Caldas Da Reis is famous for.

Finally, after about an hour of going around this town and asking a few locals, we found our first yellow arrow at the Roman Bridge.

“Walk on walk on” was our motto for today. Our destination is Padron which is our last stop before Santiago. We are very close now.

During this walk we reunited with Sarah and Tina on one of our breaks. They are the girls who are camping their way to Santiago.

We also met Jose Iglesias Castro whom we took a picture with on Karen’s camera. Nice Spanish farmer. He asked if we could mail him his photo. Karen agreed to do so and she took his mailing address details. Remember that Karen has this ability to genuinely connect with the people we meet. LOL.

We stopped for brunch at a nice cafe and ordered a couple of breakfast specials.

After breakfast we continued our walk. Here are the pics.

On this walk I came across a couple of happy trees in the forest. Karen didn’t notice them at all and I remembered that we both perceive things differently. We get to enjoy our different perspectives at the end of each day when there are any.

The walk was very nice with intermittent sunny moments. Then we had 4 Pilgrims pass by us. They were praying on their rosaries aloud. So glad we were able to witness serious pilgrims on this trip.

We finally made it to the milestone marker indicating that there were only under 30 kms to go to reach Santiago.

Strange turnabout of events unfolded after this marker. We lost sight of the arrows again and got lost. LOL.

Given the time of day, Karen flagged down a taxi and we rode in to Padrón to our Albergue Camino Do Sar. We were the only pilgrims at this Albergue for today and thus had the whole Albergue to ourselves.

Our hostess warned us that there is a big storm warning for tomorrow and schools will be closed in the area. She wanted us to know so that we are aware of the conditions for walking. As we had made plans long ago to take it easy on the last leg from Padron to Santiago, it won’t be a problem. We had planned to take a train ride to Santiago but our hostess recommended a bus instead.

On this night we cooked as this Albergue has a full functioning kitchen. Here’s our supper.

We checked our back packs after supper to see what we can leave behind. Tomorrow we will be staying in Spain’s oldest hotel, the Parador Santiago. I am looking forward to it.

We will also be visiting Santiago’s interred remains and praying to him for the people who had asked us to. I will also be sure to mention that I carry your prayers to him for those who had done so. Happy to oblige this intercession for all!

Last but not least we will get our Certificate for having completed the minimum of 100kms walk to Santiago.

With today’s walk clocking in at 13kms, we have now walked the length of this Camino a total of 151 kms.

That’s it for now folks. I shall be seeing all of you in a few days when I am back in Calgary.

Keep well! Enviando todo mi amor desde España! Hasta Luego!

Hasta Luego Calgary!

I am truly blessed on this Camino. On this post I am counting all my blessings and grateful there are no accounts to bless.

1) Karen is a BIG blessing on this trip and the following are the reasons why:

– Originally I was to walk this Camino alone like most people do for personal reflection and contemplation. I have to admit that having Karen on this Camino has been a tremendous blessing. She is a very sociable person and has this ability for genuine connections with many pilgrims we encounter

– We pool our money together and we get way better accommodations. Instead of just paying for two bunk beds, we would combine our funds, add a few more Euros and then we are able to get private rooms.

– She can cook or when I cook, she is a great sidekick as sous chef

– She offers a different perspective on the events on our Camino so I get to see some things from a different angle which I did not even consider

– She has an invisible Camino Angel whom she calls upon when we are lost and someone appears at the right moment to help us along

2) Camino Portuguese 2018 is definitely more spiritual for me than my first Camino in 2013. On this Camino, I have been approached by people to pray for them when I reach Santiago. I have a small list going to St. James.

3) The trails on Camino Portuguese are often through beautiful woodlands. I hear the birds singing and bubbling sounds of nearby brooks and rivers. The smell of pine and eucalyptus trees are strong adding to my enjoyment on this trip. I encounter many animals including an interesting cross breed of a farm fowl looking like a cross between a turkey, chicken and a duck. A possible life Turducken.

4) The Portuguese and Spanish people are definitely much friendlier as compared to Camino Frances. They give us fruit from their trees, a car ride when we needed it, friendly smiles and advice. I recommend Camino Portugal for your first one as it is a great gentle introduction to the Camino De Santiago.

5) Food has been delicious and inexpensive including the microwave items we gather to make simple dinners at night

6) I have not had any problems being vegetarian. Though we have had some meals at restaurants but most of the time we are cooking or having microwave dinners. Lots of vegetarian choices.

That’s all for now. I may have more before we leave Spain.

Good night!!

Hilda 💕

March 12 – We left Pontevedra at around 9am. It was a late start but we wanted to have breakfast with Gertrude. We chatted about our plans today.

There was only a slight drizzle when we began our walk. After that, it was light breeze with sunny skies all day. What a beautiful day!

Here are our pics:

After the rain, we had a great time walking. Blue skies throughout.

Our lunch and snack pictures:

We reached Caldas Da Reis at around 5pm. Just walking. No alternative transportation. We clocked in at 22kms today. Our best thus far for this trip.

Simple dinner tonight;

We have now walked 138 kms. We must traverse 43 kms to go to reach Santiago.

I will keep you posted on how we will fare tomorrow. Thanks for following our Camino. Two more days to go!

Stay with us a little longer. Buen Camino Calgary to those who have been walking with us in spirit. Say a prayer tomorrow and ask that I carry it to Santiago for you. I have a mini list going for the Portuguese and Spanish people who have met us on this Camino.

Good night Calgary!

March 11 – We left the Albergue Alfonso XII at around 8:15 am. Here’s the picture of the sky from the Albergue window just before we left.

I was determined to walk this day and I trusted the day will unfold beautifully for us in spite of looming dark clouds. After all I did have a back up plan. We can always use a taxi if the weather gets truly bad.

Here are the pics from our walk to Arcade, a town on the path of the stage to Pontevedra. It rained, hailed and the wind was incredibly strong but the weather let up when we reached Arcade.

We came upon two German girls Sarah and Tina who had been camping outdoors since they began their Camino. They carried everything on them, tent gear, tarp and all. Brave young ladies. I cannot imagine camping out in this weather at any time.

This is us at the shells too.

The sky offered a light hail after we walked away from the shells.It was a beautiful walk but frigid cold until we reached the town of Arcade. The wind made it cold. Karen was exhausted but not from walking. Her hands felt cold and her body wanted to rest after experiencing a moderate pelting from the hail.

I came upon this interesting piece of art showing the opposite directions for the Camino De Santiago and Fatima.

Here’s another pilgrim art.

We reached the town of Arcade at 11 am and took refuge in a restaurant for a mini food and coffee break.

Feeling much better, Karen was struck with the idea of emailing Gertrude our food pictures and to inform her where the restaurant was. We know that she is not far behind. Believe it or not, guess who walks into the restaurant just as we were preparing the email? Yes, glad we did not call for the devil then. LOL. 😂🤣

As we were sitting in the restaurant we discussed how bad the weather was and if we should exercise our backup plan to Pontevedra. Our storm phenomenon has a name. It is called storm Félix in Spain.

We decided that splitting the cost of a taxi between the three of us was not a bad idea. So I asked the waiter, “Puedes llamarnos un taxi por favor”.

As I tried to explain where we wanted to go, a gentleman customer at the bar overheard us and explained in English how many kms it was to Pontevedra from where we are. He then said he could drive us there, no need to take a taxi. Taken by surprise at his kind offer, we knew that we could not turn it down as the weather is not the best for walking today. I quickly jumped on the kind offer and all of us hopped into his car.

His name is Torres Jose Fernandez. He was born in Norway but has lived in this part of Spain for a long time. He speaks nine languages. He has worked in the US and Canada for about 4 years. He has travelled many places. I offered to pay him for the ride but he would not accept anything. Instead he accepted our offer to pray to Santiago for him when we reach Santiago De Compostela. What a kind man! He saved three damsels from walking in terrible weather on this day. He drove us straight up to the entrance of the city of Pontevedra. From there we walked to our place of accommodation for this night.

We reached the Praza de Peregrino and saw a few of the other pilgrims who had crossed our paths since we began our walk.

The following picture features Sebastian who had saved us when we had crossed the flooded road in our sandals. He gave us the great advice on how to cross the deep waters and made sure we were ok before we parted ways. What a great guy! Karen says she may name her child after him if she has one. LOL

When we were looking for Casa Maruja, a gale force wind started. Just so you know how strong it was, I took a picture of a dog who stood very still facing the wind. Its ears are blown by the force of the wind. It did not bend or move its ears in any way. I had to take a picture. LOL.

After we left our packs at Casa Maruja, we walked around Pontevedra.

It has been a very interesting day indeed. I celebrated with a beer ‘sin alcohol’. Not the same as real beer but it was refreshing.

Karen’s coffee and our tapas.

After walking some more, we returned to our room. I am so glad that Karen brought her immersion coil heater and camping pot. We have been able to make tea on this trip where there were no kitchens. It is a must for any future CAMINOs.

Now, we must account for our distance travelled.

Total kms travelled from Porto = 177 kms

Total kms we walked from Porto = 116 kms

Therefore total kms via alternate transport by bus or taxi = 61 kms

Total kms left to reach Santiago De Compostela = 64 kms

Tomorrow’s weather calls for rain.☔️☔️☔️. In spite of intermittent rain and some cold weather adversity, I am loving how my Camino has unfolded for me. Karen says she likes it too despite some minor suffering.

What are we going to do? You will have to find out in my next post.

Much love from Galicia Spain!!

March 10 – After our adventure yesterday, we decided to take a break from walking today. The forecast was heavy rainfalls and storm for Portugal and Galicia Spain. We are now in Galicia so the prudent course of action was not to walk in case there is a repeat of yesterday’s events.

Karen wanted to take the bus to our next stop on our Camino Portugal which is the town of Redondela. Funny thing though. Finding a bus to Redondela was an adventure in itself. We finally obtained information that we should take a bus to Vigo and then take a bus from Vigo to Redondela. I was not convinced this was a good decision but as we were not walking today I was open to a new experience.

€3 for the both of us to Vigo and another €3 from Vigo to Redondela. When we arrived in Vigo, we had to wait an hour for the bus to Redondela. While waiting we were treated to a wonderful spectacle of stunt roller blading practice. Yes, the kids set up a practice court right in the bus station itself. They must have obtained permission to do so.

Here’s Karen waiting for bus.

On our way to Redondela we felt like tourists on the Hop on Hop off tourist bus as the bus rode on a coastal vista road. Here are the pics.

We reached the town of Redondela by 1pm. There we found our Albergue where we are staying for the night.

Right after we checked in and unloaded our backpacks we headed out to the Samoa Restaurant for lunch. It was highly recommended by the Albergue owners. No cooking for this day. We played your regular tourists with the sightseeing and continued with the roles of splurging at a restaurant. So glad we did as the food was incredible. I enjoyed the vegetarian lasagna so much that I would have ordered another if I did not have to eat the rest the dishes we had ordered with it.

Patata Bravas, Spanish Tortilla and Lasagna Vegetal. Hey Miki, yum yum in my tum tum!LOL.

Right after lunch, we had a brilliant idea to walk off the food by looking for the Camino Arrows at the entrance to town and walking the way back to our Albergue. I felt that this would remove some feelings of guilt for not walking the scheduled full stage on the Camino today.

Here’s what happened. We were retracing the arrows backwards and Karen saw Gertrude at the entrance of another Albergue. Remember Gertrude? She is the 68 years old German lady who is walking the Camino alone. We are reunited.

This is the magic of the Camino. You meet people and then they walk on or you do. Then after a day or so you get to see them again if God permits. We were so happy to see our Camino friend again. She was hungry so we took her to the restaurant that we had just been to for lunch. Though we were stuffed, we took the opportunity to order Churros and Chocolatte for dessert just so we could accompany Gertrude as she ate her lunch.

Karen also ate her first Churros. She has never had it before.

So the above spells out our Camino adventure for today. Though we did not actually walk the roads today, I still felt we were on the Camino De Santiago. We were only having a different experience that suited us better. Remember that everyone walks the Camino in their own way. I am loving how my Camino is unfolding for me.

Hasta Luego Calgary! Tomorrow we will walk the roads from Redondela to Pontevedra unless God says otherwise. I am ready. LOL.