A Christmas Camino

Tui is a lovely name for a town.  It rolls off the tongue and sings, like the NZ bird of the same name, and I was expecting a pretty town.   After crossing the bridge from Valença though the impression I got was of drab greyness.  Unfortunately, this appears to be a town hit by the hard times in recent years, with many shop fronts closed, or vacant.  It is quite a long walk up the hill into the centre of Tui, the old town.   For a while it looked as if I was going to have accommodation issues again, as the Pensions seemed to be closed, but I found an albergue, new, that also had private rooms, booking 2 nights in an effort to give my foot a rest.                                                      The shopping precinct in Tui, in sun and cloud                                                                             A residential street in Tui, looking towards the Rio Coura                                                    Tui Cathedral The Cathedral dominates the town, perched on

  Well, I now back in Santiago, having walked some of the Camino Portuguese, but not as much as I intended.   I first went to Braga for a night, on my way to Barcelos, where i planned to begin walking.  Portugal has a different feel to it.  Interestingly, English is spoken much more commonly, and food was incredibly cheap, with very large serves.  I had a coffee and croissant at one place and actually queried if they were correct – a €1.76!  When I was charged similarly after that I stopped querying. Braga is a delightful city.  I was expecting it to be quite quiet because I arrived on Three Kings Day, a public holiday in Spain, and when walking to the bus station there was hardly anyone about.   Arriving in Braga, even though in torrential rain, there were plenty of people bustling about, and I discovered it wasn’t a holiday there.  I sloshed my way around the corner to my hotel and then set about exploring the town.  I managed to get a menu del dia for €7, saw numerous churches, whic

                                                                        Back again to fill in the gaps from the last post. It might have sounded like I spent a long time in Santiago, which is sort of true, but not completely, as between Christmas and Three Kings Day I managed to walk the Camino Inglés, sometimes in fine weather, but a good half of it in the pouring rain. This Camino derives its name from the fact that English pilgrims would cross by boat and latterly on a ferry, and walk, either from Ferrol, or from A Coruña. These days, to qualify for a compostela, pilgrims must walk from Ferrol – unless they have walked 25 kilometres on a recognised route in their own country, in which case they can begin a A Coruña. I began in Ferrol, but did a side trip to A Coruña also. I was fortunate to experience both these cities in fine weather, even sunny at times!                                                     Stupidly, leaving Ferrol, I missed the turn to cross the river by the road