We both slept pretty well last night. We got up and joined Maxine and Joan for : ambreakfast in the hotel restaurant when it opened at 7:00 am. We then finished out packing and met the tour group at 9:00 am in the hotel lobby. Our tour guides include Nick, Chris and Keith. There are 15 guests in the group. After introductions, we loaded our luggage on a van and headed off for Capela Senhora de Lurdes in Vitorin dos Piaes, about an hour's drive. On the way, Nick gave us some introductory information.
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| Nick |
Each day, we will be provided with an itinerary including the route options.
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| Today's Itinerary |
He also provided a map showing "some" of the Camino de Santiago and where our overnight stays and a list of our fellow travelers which shows Laura as being from Asheville, NC and I am from "Not Available".
When we arrived at the Capela Senhora de Lurdes, we were given a safety lecture, provided with a trail mix and walking sticks. I took one stick and Laura took two. I ended up not using mine at all and Laura turned one of hers in about half way through the day.
Today the walk was based on four phases, the first was for all who wanted to walk at all and was about 3.5 miles with a 350 foot rise in elevation, with lunch at Casa das Torres manor house. The second phase, for those interested, was an additional 2.9 miles, with little net elevation change (~50 feet), terminating at Campo do Santissimo. The third phase, for those still walking, was another 2.1 miles, again with little elevation change (~50 feet), to Ponte de Lima, the oldest city in Portugal. The fourth, and final phase, was another five miles, ending at the hotel we will be using for tonight and tomorrow night, Carmo's Boutique Hotel in Ponte de Lima.
Our plan was to walk a phase and then decide whether to continue to the next or take the shuttle to the next phase. We ended up walking the first three phases. My Apple watch recorded 9.2 miles with an 846 foot elevation change over an elapsed time of 4 hours and 10 minutes for an average pace of 2.20 mph. The elevation gain is significantly higher than what the itinerary said to expect. Laura's iWatch showed results similar to mine. We both expect the difference is due to hiking up the hill to the Casa das Torres for lunch. That was a short, but exhausting hike up the side of a mountain. We decided not to walk the final five miles to the hotel. Both our feet were sore and we would be getting to the hotel less than an hour before our scheduled "welcome dinner".
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| Laura and Joan |
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| Brugmansia |
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| Chris and Laura |
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| LOTS of grape vines |
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| Casa das Torres |
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| Casa das Torres |
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| Lunch on the lawn of Casa das Torres |
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| Our lunch wine |
After lunch, we were given a tour of the manor house (circa 1751) by the count. While a warm day outside, it was remarkably cool inside. The walls of the house, both exterior and interior, are 3 foot thick granite.
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| Count of the manor house and Maxine |
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| Ponte de Lima |
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| Mother's Day parade |
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| Ponte de Lima |
This evening, we attended the "welcome" dinner which started with wine and cheese at the hotel (they make their own wine) and then shifted to the Petiscas restaurant, a local favorite, where we had a wide assortment of dishes including cheese, crab, beef, goat, monk fish, rice, salad and finishing with a wonderful flan. I bought a nice bottle of Portuguese white wine. I share it with the table and Laura. She liked it enough that she took a picture of the label. This was good since I had forgotten my wallet so she had to pay for it.
Tomorrow, we rendezvous at 7:30 am for breakfast before hitting the road at 8:45 am. They said tomorrow will be roughly the same distance as today, but with greater elevation gain.
