Pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in Spain
It's pretty cool how quickly the trains run in Portugal. We caught an IC (Inter-City) train from Porto and arrived just some 3 hours later in the capital - Lisbon. The train station here is rather photogenic. While we arrived at the top level, there are about 4 more below us. But, one of the …
Stepping off the bus, we found that we were on the outskirts of Portó. So, a quick subway ride into the center of town brought us to our hotel and into the heart of the beautiful city. This is a view of the colorful skyline taken from across the river in the town of Vila …
Yep, you guessed it - this is a whole post dedicated to food and drink found at the end of the Way. Regardless of which path a pilgrim takes, he ends up here and gets to try some amazing dishes. Part reward and part exploration of Spanish and Galician gastronomy, Santiago is a food and …
Continue reading "Santiago de Compostela: The Food & Beverage Edition"
Having made it to Santiago, we settled in for a few days of rest and relaxation. Naturally, this included time at the cathedral. Let's face it, if we're going to trek 1172km to Santiago, its kind of a given that we'd spend a little time with Saint James and his huge church. Again, the weather …
Continue reading "Santiago de Compostela: A Tourist Once Again"
Since we scored a private room for our last night on the Camino, there was no rustling of backpacks to wake us up early. Ergo, we slept until a little after 7 am and finally made our way down for coffee a shortly after 8. Today's walk to Santiago was a mere 21km, so we …
Continue reading "Camino Day 39: Ponte Ulla to Santiago de Compostela"
We had the option today of taking one of two paths. Practically equal in distance, one led through two towns to our destination while the other climbed up a mountain and had no stops en route to refill on water or food. Given our double day yesterday (and still sore feet), we decided to opt …
Continue reading "Camino Day 21: Fuenterroble de Salvatierra to Morille"
Housekeeping note: Last year, Mikey used the word "fin" to preface all posts following his and Frank's arrival in Santiago. It was intended to reference the Spanish/Latin word for end. T.S. Eliot aside ("...to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from"), there is still more to come. …
Grouping these days together as they were kind of two of the same. Since we stayed on the outskirts of Gijon last night, we arrived very early in the morning. Much like San Sebastian, Gijon has a wonderfully inclosed beach in a sort of clamshell shape. High tide covers all of the sand in …
After a peaceful night's rest at Father Ernesto's, Mikey enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of coffee, local fruit from the estate, and fresh-baked bread with homemade jams (also from fruit grown on the property.) We reluctantly bid adiós to the British couple and headed off for an easy day of coastal hiking. Yep, this was …
Mikey on The Way 