Portuguese Way - Day 11 Hiking

Day 11 Caldas de Reis - Hebron Monastery 21.8km 

Well today someone in the group, I think it was Sissi, spontaneously decided that we could take a small detour to a monastery instead of staying in Padron. Although this meant that we would have to walk almost 30km the next day, everyone seemed to be okay with it. I think they call this denial... So we walked to the Franciscan Monastery of Hebron. I must say it was a very positive decision in the end. For the first time in a long time, I decided to walk with Sissi, Andreas and Roland. Normally, I always run ahead, but it was the penultimate day of the trip and our community after all! 

So we walked up and down the hills to brass band music and took many breaks. Too many. 

Just before the monastery, we had to cross a river. It was beautiful and I would have loved to jump in if I liked cold water... 

When we arrived at the monastery, there was already a queue. So we stood in front of the monastery walls and waited for the gates to be opened. The realization was sobering. It's not really exciting in a monastery. However, we made the best of it and had fun. It was an experience to see behind the scenes and to see how monks and missionaries actually lived... We were given a tour and had very delicious food. And with this different kind of peace and contentment, we went to sleep in our little rooms!