Spain & Portugal – After Camino

Well, after we arrived in Santiago de Compostela at the Cathedral and absorbed a bit of main square activities we headed down to the Pilgrims Office to hand in our Pilgrims Credentials Passport. You are required to get 2 stamps per day in your Pilgrims Credentials to prove that you have met the requirements of completion of our Camino hike and the obligations of being a Pilgrim. After the authorities had audited our credentials we were recorded as hiking 124km on our pilgrimage.

The Pilgrims Office is near the Cathedral and as we got close to the entrance we saw two familiar faces from Kamloops. Ken and Judy (our friends from Kamloops) had just arrived in Santiago de Compostela from doing the Primitavo Camino. They were the couple that talked us in to doing a Camino and were so inspirational with their encouragement, support and planning. So, we talked for a few minutes and they gave us some directions to help speed up the process and we made tentative plans to meet for dinner later that evening.

After completing all the necessary paperwork and purchasing a few Camino momento’s we headed off to our hotel Costa Vella for the next 4 nights. We then emailed Ken & Judy and planned to meet for a traditional Pilgrim’s dinner; they had a restaurant that they highly recommended from previous visits.
We went for dinner at 7:00 pm which is early for the Spanish and we were the second couple in , but it filled up quite quickly. The Pilgrim’s dinner included a salad, a main dish, desert and a bottle of wine shared between each couple and it was cheap, we think we remember it was about 17EU per person.
What a fun evening we had.

The rest of our stay in Santiago de Compostela was taken up exploring the area and enjoying the culture and celebrations in the City.
One event we went to was the Noon Mass at the Cathedral to see the burning of the incense and the Botafumeiro Celebration. The Botafumeiro is 5 ft tall incense burner that is used as part of the Catholic Christian Mass. The 5ft tall incense burner is attached to ropes and swings freely above the altar and at a certain point in the ceremony 5-6 helpers pull the ropes which causes the burner to rise up and then it is given a push to swing. The helpers then time the pulling of the rope with the swinging of the Botafumeiro and it really gets swinging; you’ll see that easily the arc of the swing is 100 ft.
The whole service and celebration was amazing, something we never expected to see. Enjoy the video.

While in Santiago de Compostela we also took a chartered day trip tour to Finisterre and Muxia? Many pilgrims take an additional 8 days (there and back) and walk this route to complete their pilgrimage. Finisterre rough translation is “the end of the world” and the next stop across the Atlantic Ocean is North America. Unfortunately the day we visited there was a lot of fog so we could only see about 500 yards out, but I guess when you think about it all that is beyond there is more water.
Also while we were in Santiago de Compostela they had a big celebration for All Saints Month, so there were various groups going around singing and then on large street party with entertainment, kids games, dancing, etc

After 4 days it was time to leave Santiago de Compostela and to head to Porto in Portugal. Dean found us an Uber type ride and we were picked up right on time and about 3 hrs later we were dropped off right at the front door of our rental unit Santa Caterina Suites. These suites were outstanding, very modern, very clean with lots of little extras, a great breakfast and right in the middle of Porto, so handy to everything. The only thing to watch for were the stairs to the suite level; they were steep and you easily went up 3 standard floors.

One tourist site we had to check out was the bookstore called Livraria Lello in downtown Porto. It is the only bookstore I know of that you have to make an online reservation to get entry to go book shopping. After you make your reservation you arrive at the bookstore and outside the store is a line up area with time markers. Once you find your time marker you get in line and they get you inside within 1/2 hr of your reservation time or sooner. Why the line up? Well “Livaria Lello” is a very old book store, it is 2 levels and has lots of oak and mahogany flooring, paneling, etc but the main feature is the really ornate winding staircase. The bookstore was the inspiration for Harry Potter author JK Rollings and Hogwarts; so no wonder the tourist interest and need for a reservation system.

Porto is a really nice City. It’s very old and lots of confusing streets and traffic and history and it’s right on the Douro River? Porto is also well known for its Port Wine Houses. Thankfully Judy and Dean were with us and convinced us to attend a Port Wine tasting session at Churchill Port House. Now my pallet for wine tasting is pretty much non existent, but even I could taste some of the differences between the ages. Judy on the other hand has an amazing tasting pallet and can pick up all the subtle characteristics. Since we ended up having our own private Port tasting session our Sommelier was even impressed with Judy’s ability and after we had sampled the standard stuff/swill and a couple higher end Ports the Sommelier went into the back and brought out some of the really good stuff; 30 years old or more.

It was a fun afternoon, a way to remember Porto and it was a good walk to get there and a cable car ride on the way back. One final attraction in Porto is the central market area, it was amazing, every type of meat, cheese, bread, chocolate, wine, port, plants, you name it.
We would definitely come back to Porto and do more exploring.

After 2 days we headed by train back to Lisbon and then caught a taxi to Costa De Caparica for our final 4 days. Costa De Caparica is a small seaside town about 45 minutes outside of Lisbon.
Not a lot going on but we stayed at a resort style property right on the ocean, went for some long walks, had some great dinners and just chilled out.

So, that’s about it for our Spain and Portugal adventure.