Portuguese Way

Hello again, it is me, Sarah. Today I will tell you, among other things, the story of how my mother and I became pilgrims. How it all began:

My mother was supposed to arrive in Porto, Portugal on Thursday 6.2.2020, so Steffi and I decided to take a shower before the big reunion. We were able to use a modern fitness center with wellness area for free because the first day is a free trial day. As a reward for already completing five days of our 100 Days Challenge, we had lunch at Burger King afterwards. Now we were ready to pick up my mother, aka Irene, at the airport.

After a short visit to the Atlantic Ocean, we drove to Valenca, right in front of the Spanish border. Here we would start our approximately 110km long pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela tomorrow. The backpacks were packed, the scallop shell mounted, the hiking socks ready. After a delicious dinner at the Indian restaurant and meeting other pilgrims, we looked forward to the next day. Filou, who was waiting in the van during dinner, managed to steal three farmer's sticks from our hiking supplies. What a little rascal! As soon as I noticed his crime upon returning, he already knew what he had done. He looked at me with big eyes and a tucked tail, as if to say "I know I shouldn't have done it, but it was so gooooood!". Well, partly our fault, we shouldn't have practically put it right in front of his nose.

On the first day of hiking, Steffi accompanied us for a while. After an hour, she turned back as she had been appointed our van transporter and hiking supporter. She prepared our breakfast with coffee and tea in the morning, took care of the laundry, moved the van from place to place, and took care of whatever else needed to be done. Deluxe pilgrim experience for us. Filou bravely continued to hike with us. The path led us across the Spanish-Portuguese border into Galicia, past a dreamy old Roman bridge, through smaller villages and forest trails. Generally, the Portuguese Way follows the old Roman road XIX. The Camino de Santiago is marked with yellow arrows and milestones. If we were to lose the way, Mama also had a great Camino hiking guide with her. After 20km, with tired feet and paws, we reached our first milestone, O’Porrino. After a few hearty tapas and a beer, my mother and I collapsed tiredly into the beds of the pilgrim hostel. Filou always stayed with Steffi in the van at night, as he is unfortunately not welcome in the hostels.

Day two was not the most beautiful hiking day in terms of landscape. The path led mostly along busy roads and through villages. However, there was a highlight. In the middle of a less frequented road in some Galician village, a huge pink, gray pig suddenly stood by the roadside, sniffing leisurely. Filou was initially very uncertain about what to do with such an animal that was about four times as voluminous as himself. With all his courage, he approached the pig and sniffed it very carefully. The pig didn't care about him and continued to trot. Filou lost interest, as there were soon two dogs with whom he could play much better. Suddenly we noticed that there was another pig further back. Amused, we passed the two free pigs.

Our next milestone was Redondela. Finding pilgrim hostels was not a problem. As soon as you enter a village, you will find advertisements for them everywhere. We mostly slept in public pilgrim hostels, where you can get a bed for as little as six euros. The facilities and sanitary facilities were always in good condition. The only thing that never worked was the Wi-Fi. In every hostel, you get a stamp in your pilgrim passport. You can also get a stamp on the way from churches, restaurants, or tourist offices. You need two stamps per day. It is supposed to be proof that you have actually walked the way.

On the third day, the paths and trails were beautiful again. Past old churches and chapels. On the old Roman road with the large cobblestones, which almost turned into a small stream due to the rain. Through pleasantly scented forests. On the entire route, you can also find beautifully restored granaries, which are known in the region. With the last strength in our legs, we reached Pontevedra. For this night, we decided to treat ourselves to a bit more comfort and booked a hotel in the old town. We also decided that it was time for a rest day, also because it was worth taking a closer look at Pontevedra. I had expected to come across more Asterix and Obelix villages in Galicia. But Pontevedra had a large, beautiful old town with large old stone buildings and churches.

On our free day, we strolled through the streets, ate, drank, and rested. Along the way, an old man approached us and asked if we were pilgrims. We replied yes and asked if he had also been on a pilgrimage. He then told us his whole life story, that he could not do it because of his heart, that his son lives in America and the other one in Germany, that he himself also lived in Texas, etc. etc. etc. Later on, we helped an old woman who had stumbled on some stairs and hit her head.

The next milestone was Caldas de Reis. It was no problem to find pilgrim hostels. As soon as you enter a village, you will find advertisements for them everywhere. We mostly slept in public pilgrim hostels, where you can get a bed for as little as six euros. The facilities and sanitary facilities were always in good condition. The only thing that never worked was the Wi-Fi. In every hostel, you get a stamp in your pilgrim passport. You can also get a stamp on the way from churches, restaurants, or tourist offices. You need two stamps per day. It is supposed to be proof that you have actually walked the way.

On the third day, the paths and trails were beautiful again. Past old churches and chapels. On the old Roman road with the large cobblestones, which almost turned into a small stream due to the rain. Through pleasantly scented forests. On the entire route, you can also find beautifully restored granaries, which are known in the region. With the last strength in our legs, we reached Pontevedra. For this night, we decided to treat ourselves to a bit more comfort and booked a hotel in the old town. We also decided that it was time for a rest day, also because it was worth taking a closer look at Pontevedra. I had expected to come across more Asterix and Obelix villages in Galicia. But Pontevedra had a large, beautiful old town with large old stone buildings and churches.

On our free day, we strolled through the streets, ate, drank, and rested. Along the way, an old man approached us and asked if we were pilgrims. We replied yes and asked if he had also been on a pilgrimage. He then told us his whole life story, that he could not do it because of his heart, that his son lives in America and the other one in Germany, that he himself also lived in Texas, etc. etc. etc. Later on, we helped an old woman who had stumbled on some stairs and hit her head.

The next milestone was Caldas de Reis. In the middle of the way, we met Steffi and she cooked us a nice lunch in the van. While hiking, we kept meeting other pilgrims. We usually exchanged a few words and then wished each other a happy "Bon Camino". Occasionally, local residents also called out to us. For a snack, we stopped at a small pub where it seemed like the old men from the village were complaining about their wives. That night, I once again slept with Steffi and Filou in the van, and Mama in the pilgrim hostel. Spontaneously, she was invited by other pilgrims to have a glass of champagne, as one of the pilgrims was celebrating his birthday. That was definitely a nice evening with interesting conversations for her.

As soon as I took a few steps in my hiking shoes the next day, I suddenly felt incredibly nauseous and had to vomit several times, including diarrhea. I suspected food poisoning. Luckily, Mama was still there, her flight back home didn't leave until the evening. She took care of me, just like in the good old days. Drinking tea, eating dry bread. It's a pity that this had to happen on her last day with us! Nevertheless, she spent a few nice hours alone in the city. Buying souvenirs, drinking tea, and reading. After saying goodbye to Mama, Steffi and I decided to extend our hotel stay for two more nights so that I could rest. Because being sick is even less fun in the van. Besides, Steffi was jealous of the comfortable big hotel bed.

After I recovered, we continued driving along the Galician coast to a parking space. First, I cleaned the van for almost three hours. In the night, Steffi suddenly didn't feel well anymore. Now she had her 24-hour nausea and such. I made tea and broth for her. Luckily, the toilet at the parking space was not too far away. We were considering booking a hotel again, but she was already feeling a bit better. The next day, she was completely fit again. We went on a little bike tour with the bikes that the parking space owner proudly recommended. Well... the bikes had definitely seen better days, but they were okay.

After two more days of driving along the coast, we are now somewhere in France. Adios España, Bonjour France.
On today's route, we had a terrible experience on the highway.

I was driving on the highway, about 120 km/h. To overtake a truck in front of me, I looked, as always, in the side mirror twice. The road was free, a few cars further back. Easy. I signaled to switch lanes to the left. I took another look and then moved onto the left lane. When I looked in the side mirror again, I suddenly saw a motorcyclist behind me on the left lane. I was a bit confused, was he already there before? Apparently, he had to brake because of me - but he was also going pretty fast. He then overtook us on the RIGHT side through the very tight gap between our van on the passing lane and the truck I was about to overtake, and showed us the middle finger. Then he suddenly braked a few meters in front of us, so I had to hit the brakes at 120 km/h!! I was shocked by his dangerous action and honked at him. He showed us the middle finger again, accelerated to what felt like 200 km/h, and raced through the other cars at the next exit, still gesturing wildly. One or two minutes later, we were still completely shocked, he suddenly reappeared out of nowhere to our right and punched our right side mirror with his fist. He hit it so hard that our dead angle mirror flew onto the road and our side mirror turned away. Then he drove in front of us again, showed us the middle finger again, and then raced away with about 200 km/h (by the way, the speed limit is 130) through the cars in front of us and soon disappeared from sight. We were completely shocked! Did this guy actually go back on the highway just to get revenge on us?! Luckily, I was able to keep the van on the road and nothing else happened. This guy is a psycho! Who does something like that?! Racing at 200 km/h on the highway, overtaking cars on the right and left, feeling like he's the king of the world, and then undertaking such dangerous, idiotic actions??? What a reckless mo*******! Ugh, I'm getting worked up again now! The terror is still deep within me. I hope something like this never happens to us again.

Let's end on something that makes us all happy: DISNEYLAND! We're going to Disneyland in a few days! We're really excited! And in two weeks, we'll already be in Holland with my grandparents 😊

P.S. Also on the agenda: editing a video of the pilgrimage, photo shoot with Steffi (I noticed that we hardly had any photos of her in this blog xD Poor thing!)