Well we explored a bit of Tomar and started to get an idea of why it is most revered. First it must be noted that Portugal has a very large catholic population dedicated to the church and its loyal protectors. These professional soldiers, known as the Knights Templars were made up of an elite fighting force (around 10%) with their support staff, admin team etc. making up the other 90%. The Knights Templars were most [...]
We are catching up with our English/Australian friends today so our walk will be a 4 km walk to the station to catch a train to Tomar, a medieval town, so crucial in the Portuguese story which I will tell you more about after tomorrow’s exploration with our friends. In the meantime, we walked through parts of this ancient city, chatting about old times, and potential new times for us, family and the globe. With [...]
We’ve just left the best bathroom in the world. A huge shower room with a huge shower head that tries to drown you, a loo with the same space, you could dance in the ‘cleaning teeth room’ and then no door at all into the ‘getting ready for bed room’. We leave this one hundred horse town, where they breed, train and sell the famous Lusitano horse. They are a beautiful, strong chested horse used [...]
Today our host arranged a visit to Golega’s Natural Reserve with Fernando who is in charge. The area is about 5kms square and we spent the morning walking through mostly ‘untouched by human hands country’. While our trail walking is often filled with bird sounds, there is little that is so highly concentrated on nature as this Reserve. Walking initially between two small creeks, through long wet grass (where my non-waterproof shoes don’t work so [...]
So, a bus back to Santarem and it was off walking again as we headed back to familiar camino territory. Through copious vineyards with ‘just planted vines’ to still young ones, planted so methodically, divided by yellow daisies. Every one hundred metres or so we would see a small brick hut in the middle of the vines that could be a workers rest place or storage for grape things. Many puddles were the evidence of [...]
A steep hill to the bus station provided our morning fast walk as we walked from our hotel to the bus station way up in the village of Santarem. It was curious knowing the place we were travelling to was partly about visions of the sun dancing or moving at least. I was quick to allow my imagination some rare freedom when Corrie called to me to come and look at the faint rainbow. I’m [...]
There wasn’t a distance I could confidently complete - ie. ending up in a village with lodgings or a train station - so we decided on a ‘two village walk’. We looked in on a 16th century church with its tiled walls of the same era in this ancient settlement dating back to Roman times. The station of Azambuja continued the blue tile theme, as did many of the shops and residences. The same white [...]
Another short day as my legs are finding different things to entertain themselves with. Firstly a small ache in the left before it jerks a little and then tentatively reaches out. The right one tries to role model what a good leg should do but the left seems unable to be taught. The first 7 kms are okay but after that both legs slow down, so I try to do sharp bursts and yes that [...]
We are having a stopover in Vilafranca-de-Xira. Early for us, but our situation has made it so. This town is so pretty and our accomodation so delightful, it was not such a difficult decision and more lessons were learnt. At breakfast, Corrie asked for a ‘cafe con leche’. The response was quick and harsh: “Why do you ask for it in Spanish”. Corrie taken aback said: “I speak Spanish and I’d like a coffee with [...]
It was back to where we would have been after the second day, to continue our walk. A bit embarrassing but it’s done now and quite relaxing having a train ride before our days walk. We were welcomed at the station by a lot of grey sky and a little rain but not enough to dampen our start. The cafe owner pointed us in the broad direction but language differences smothered the finer details. It [...]
