Eleventh Stage of the Camino Portugues from Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis

This morning I had breakfast for the first time outside the hotel. They had offered it for a small fee, but I wanted to try a cafe around the corner.

There, I initially ordered a coffee. The waitress brought me a coffee with a half chocolate croissant and two sweet little pastries. I just said, uh, I didn't order those! Ah, everyone who orders a hot drink gets them. If I had eaten those, I wouldn't have needed to have breakfast anymore. I had them packed up and ordered a delicious baguette. Very satisfied with my breakfast, I then set off.

Help, what was THAT? When I was walking on the Camino, I've never seen so many pilgrims. I was appalled. They were marching in unison like a large anthill. Since cars were also driving through the narrow streets of the old town, it was really difficult to overtake people. At a construction site, I sensed my opportunity and seized it :-).

We still went through a small part of the old town in Pontevedra and then through a suburb with no particular charm.

There came a fork where pilgrims had to decide whether to take the Camino Portugues or the Camino Espiritual. Since I had booked my hotels from Vigo onward, I had to walk the Camino Portugues.

A nice couple caught up with me, and we hiked together to Caldas de Reis. That was very pleasant.

The stage was also predominantly rural and featured some beautiful forest sections. We even walked under grapevines and could sneak a few grapes. They were very delicious. We were all very satisfied.

It was just difficult with the breaks; all the bars and cafes along the route were crowded with pilgrims. In a charming little bar, we then got lucky. They had set up a buffet where you could take whatever you wanted and, of course, pay for it afterward. We ordered the typical sausage on a skewer. This skewer rests on a clay dish filled with alcohol. This is lit, and you grill your sausage at the table. I found that fantastic. Some pilgrims came to us and asked how it worked and if the sausage was good. What can I say, it was delicious :-)! Really great.

After this fantastic refreshment, we continued; we still had 10 km ahead of us, which passed by in a flash. Along the way, there was a large police car. The policemen provided the pilgrims with a stamp in their pilgrim passport. I thought that was great, and one policeman started a conversation with me in Spanish, and I just kept saying yes, yes, yes.... Urs and Susi simultaneously said, we had no idea you spoke Spanish. Yes, I don’t really, I didn't understand anything... We had to laugh and proudly continued on with our police stamp.

On the last kilometer before Caldas de Reis, more and more locals came up handing out flyers for their restaurants. Hmm, do they really need that with the crowd of people?

I said goodbye to my nice companion in Caldas de Reis and walked back to the hotel. It's so cute; I feel very comfortable there. After a shower, I went out again and wandered around the town.

After a refreshment in a small tapas bar, I am now sitting on my little balcony and blogging. Today's stage was 23 km long and was once again breathtakingly beautiful!