Portugal Day 7

After yesterday's heat, we hoped for a cooler day today. We were lucky as the forecast was for 30C but it turned out to be cooler with a nice wind all day. For the first half of the day we walked through more farm land and we changed to walking through eucalyptus groves on rolling hills. We stopped for coffee around 1pm in Asseiceira  in a small bar. We were treated to more Portuguese friendliness as one of the customers started telling me about his friends who were working in Montreal and what we should see in Tomar. Then he brought in another fellow who was 94 and attributed his longevity to milk and honey. We walked into a hotel at 3:30 and had time for showers, laundry and a rest before heading out to see the sights and finding dinner.

Portugal Day 6

Today we left one of our nicest hosts in Carlos, who did everything possible to make our stay pleasant. He brought fresh warm bread to go along with everything else. We started walking around 7:35am, which was our earliest start yet. Others started much earlier because the temperature forecast was for 30C. That was accurate as it was almost as hot as 2 days ago;  the difference today was a nice breeze.
About mid-afternoon we made contact with Celia who had invited us to stay with her in Golega. We sat and had drinks at the Café Central and saw Frank & Dagmar walking into town. Celia toured us around Golega, is all about horses; they claim to be the horse capital of Portugal and the world. She showed us around her condominium home and had to leave for Alhandra where she works. Unbelievably she left two strangers with the keys to her home and had to leave.

Portugal Day 5

Today was a different day as we decided to take a side trip to Fatima by bus rather than by foot. We awoke to cool weather and an overcast sky. the highest it got today was 24C.  Fatima is a really interesting place as its main purpose is to serve the shrine and all the people who visit it. We managed to see the various churches and the sites where the children saw the apparitions. The new cathedral is amazing; we were told that it holds almost 10000 people; I mentioned to Susie that it was large enough to hold 4 ice surfaces. We also got to attend a mass in English so I was able to pray for all my hockey sinners. We also burned nice long candles for our non-hockey folks.

Portugal Day 4

We have experienced going from winter into summer directly as the temperatures have been 24 to 29 every day. That made today quite a challenge as we had little shade to protect us from the sun. After arriving in Santarem we decided to take a side trip to Fatima by bus tomorrow. When I tried to pay by my  Scotiabank credit card, it was rejected; then it happened again at a restaurant. We just finished a long long-distance call trying to get this resolved. We will find out the next time we try to make a purchase.
Our walk today featured a lot of crop fields with the majority being devoted to tomatoes. The other main crop was grapes.

Portugal Day 3

We had a good sleep and got up after 7. The walk today was a mixture of road and off road walking. When we stopped for coffee around 10 am, we were helped by a local lady who joined us for coffee. Later she invited us to stay with her in Golega. We will try to see her there. Eventually we made our way into Azambuja and stopped at the hotel Flor da Primavera and found no one home. Luckily the couple that we met yesterday were staying there and called on our behalf so that we were able to have a room. We had dinner with them later. This is the nice part of the Camino, meeting nice people. Tomorrow we plan to be in Santarem.

Portugal Day 2

We slept very well and started to stir after 7. We really felt that we were on the Camino when we saw some Camino markers and 3 perigrinos in the Vasco da Gama area. We walked with a couple from Holland and Germany today. We didn't find a place to eat until noon so we had brunch just off the Camino in Alpriate. The path leaving Lisbon was a great walkway along an estuary and then they did a good job of keeping us off the roads. We booked ahead at the Silvina Maria Ferreira in Verdelha. It is very nice and clean with plenty of room and an en suite.

This has to be the most economical day in Europe; brunch was €6, our room was  €30  and dinner was €10.63.  The latter included fish for me, steak for Susie and wine for both of us. We came upon this cafeteria in a supermercado. 

Portugal Day 1

Our flight to Lisbon was great as  we used the airport lounge and sat in spacious seating. Everything was very smooth to start, getting Euro and data for the cell phone. Then we walked to our hotel. We arrived to be told that they didn't have the right license and we were being booked downtown.  When we got to the second place there was no reservation; that was the  bad. Then came the good; the owner called a friend who rented us a room. After that we walked to the Cathedral and then to a second church where we got our credentiales for the Camino. Downtown Lisbon was busy, busy, busy. The locals have been so nice as they keep asking us if we need help.