Cut Inland Portuguese Coast to the Central Route
They say that everyone makes it their own Camino. Each Camino is unique. We decided to spend the first two days on the Portuguese coast, following the Senda Litoral, then move inland to complete the central route. This is the day that we cut inland from the Portuguese coast to the central route.
The Camino Ninja app did not have an option to connect the two routes, so we relied on Google Maps to show the route. This generally worked, but we did not see the yellow arrow way markers for much of the way, and we had to follow the Google route.
One time, a car passed us, stopped, then the driver backed up. He asked us if we were on the Camino and where we were headed. He was checking in on us, fearful that we might have been lost. It took a bit of talking before he realized that we were on the right path because I was pronouncing Rates like an American, rhyming with gates (1 syllable). The real way to pronounce it in Portuguese is “rah-tess” (2 syllables). We joked that if we played dumber, perhaps he would have given us a ride.
Some of the roads were sketchy to be walking. Busy streets, but what made us more worried were the thin medieval roads with walls instead of shoulders or sidewalks. Sometimes a car would be coming down these pretty quickly, and we had to hug the wall for it to get by. After that first car, we learned to stick to the outside bend of the road.
Google Maps Tip to Minimize Mobile Data
The mobile data plan for Europe was expensive, so, I was concerned with saving as much bandwidth as possible. This method helped to minimize the usage.
While at the hotel, when we generally have a wifi connection, I open Google Maps, plan our route, and start to navigate. Then, I turn on airplane mode. The airplane mode setting will prevent the phone from using mobile data, so I’m not using any more data.
Google Maps will still show the route on the map and the blue dot that indicates the current position. The position is kept up to date by the GPS, which is not affected by airplane mode. The only time data is necessary for navigation is if we get way off course and need to re-route. That didn’t happen when we were on foot, I just checked that we were still on the route every now and then, especially after crossing an intersection or approaching an expected turn.
Return of the Camino signs
Approaching Sao Miguel de Arcos brought us back to the official Camino, the central route for Camino Portuguese. We were so happy to see the yellow arrow way markers again and a pickup in the number of pilgrims.
Joys of Fresh Orange Juice
As we approached Sao Miguel de Arcos, we spied Cafe Barbosa, which was right on the Camino. As we sat down, a young pilgrim ignored us when we said “Good Morning” in English. She was reading an English language guidebook, so we are pretty sure she understood but probably wasn’t in a social mood.
The teenage bartender, with long hair wearing a trucker’s hat, asked if we wanted the orange juice canned or natural. Natural seemed to be the natural answer. He then said something in Portuguese to the older man, who went into the back room to squeeze the oranges. Shortly thereafter, the bartender came out with my beer and Laura’s wonderful, freshly squeezed, orange juice. What a pleasant surprise.
Later on, we saw that many bars and cafes throughout Portugal and Spain offer fresh orange juice for just a couple of Euros. One of the many joys of visiting these beautiful countries.
Macedo’s Bar
In the 1950s, Portuguese chef Daniel Silva created a sandwich called the Francesinha. Bread, meat, and cheese were not enough, these things have several types of meat (beef, ham, sausage), along with a fried egg and spicy sauce. We saw several reviews of the Francesinha during our pre-Camino research, and at least one of us was intrigued. (that was John)
Once in Sao Pedro de Rates, we had dinner at Macedo’s Bar. We sat outside in the warm Portuguese sun and enjoyed a pitcher of Sangria while deciding on our food choice. It was finally time for the Francesinha. We had been in Portugal for a week, warming up for this obscene sandwich.
The Francesinha was delicious, even though I could only eat half of it. The spicy sauce pulled the whole thing together and is definitely in my future for bringing back to the US.
Sharing a House with Pilgrims
There was no room for us at the Rates albergue, but we found an available room in the Casa da Vila Guest House. The guest house had 2 bedrooms, we had one room and the other was rented to a Canadian couple, Joe & Kay. The common areas were shared between us, including the kitchen, bathroom, and back patio. The patio has clotheslines to dry our laundry, which is always a welcome feature on the Camino.
Joe & Kay were a lovely couple and shared some of their port wine while we were chatting in the kitchen. I hoped that we helped lighten Joe’s backpack load just a little bit by drinking his wine. We ran into them a couple more times down the road, it was nice to see a familiar face.
Laura’s Log
–This morning went to a convent (or monastery) of Santa Clara (St. Clare) with an adjoining church and aqueduct, all overlooking the Ave River. The aqueduct had palm trees all around as well as growing on it. The Camino followed the aqueduct for a bit, taking us by a huge and gorgeous cemetery.
–Stopped at a beautiful but simple small church and entered to find elaborate filigree altars.
–Saw farmland, vineyards and impossibly tall trees. Admired prayer niches in stone walls lining roads.
Saw white hydrangeas and sheep along the path. Coffee at rather nondescript Café Torrie. Lunch included freshly-squeezed orange juice to accompany my cheese sandwich, and a beer for Mr. Wonderful and his steak sandwich — at Café Barbara.
–Arrived at Rates, met José, our innkeeper, who let us in. Sharing two-bedroom house with Joe (an affable Malaysian) and Kay (his more serious and also lovely wife) who came to walk the Camino from Calgary, Canada.
–Dinner at Macedos Bar with Patricia for our waitress, a sweet earnest young woman. She took our picture for a Facebook post. Her father, owner of the bar, gave us Porto wine after the meal. John (finally!) ate the infamous Francesinha, which is a crazy-large meat-forward sandwich, not to be confused with a heart attack on a plate. I had a passable pasta with mushrooms. A wee dog ate with us. Oh, and we shared a deceptively mild-tasting strawberry sangria…a pitcher.
–Came back to our house and chatted with Joe and Kay around the kitchen table about everything including politics, the Pope and abortion. Joe shared some port wine.
–Continued beautiful weather, 65 and sunny. Can’t wait for tomorrow! Deo gratias!
Prayer Requests
Do you have a prayer request? Please let us know and we will pray for you on our next pilgrimage.