Caminha to A Guarda
Last night I got up and tried to use my button night light. It wouldn’t work. The button wasn’t pressing. Could be because I grabbed my pill box instead.
9:30 ferry to Spain after a big breakfast at the hostel. Joana and I took the scenic route down to the water (I’d say ferry dock but it wasn’t really a ferry and the dock was part of the cement walkway). We went thru the old town against Google maps hardest attempt to get us to do otherwise. Andre dropped Tina and Cynthia with the van. Xacobeo Transfer is the recommended ferry service so we booked online with them. On arrival at the Google map location we found the small open Popeye boat. Mrs Popeye said Xacobeo isn’t a ferry company. It’s just a booking agency. So they booked us with Popeye. Was not expecting that but they were very nice and the boat was fine considering the length of the trip and the good weather. They did give us life preservers. Luckily there was no need to make use of him. It seemed like the crossing of the Rio Minho between Portugal and Spain only took a few minutes. It was no more than 10.
We followed the very rocky and beautiful shoreline to A Guarda. Sometimes I opted to go through the forest other times along the coast. When everyone went left, I opted for right to follow the Litoral path thru the forest, joined by Antonio from Italy. He also was in no hurry to finish which still means days faster than us. At the end where the river pretty much ends and the ocean starts, there’s trees painted with petroglyphs, but only a part on each tree. If you stand on the white circles marked around the walkway and look at the trees, the patterns from different trees line up to make a complete picture. About 3 trees per pattern. Pretty ingenious. The Celtic petroglyphs are copies of those from Santa Tegra mountain above A Guarda. There is a significant Celtic archaeological site there. Pass more salt pans. The whole walk now is along the ocean where I had a wonderful view of the waves crashing. Towards the end of the walk I saw a
Eurasian Curlew down on the rocks. Best bird find so far.
There was a traffic light along the route which reminded me of Blazing Saddles toll booth scene. Ok,ok it wasn’t for the pilgrims but it did hit me as hysterical. It was for the very narrow road only allowing traffic in one direction at a time.
Soon I entered town and found our hotel immediately ahead. This is the best yet, Monumento Convento San Benedito, an old convent. Like a museum. I think they changed out some doors to make them higher into guest rooms but there are still many low ones, probably from the nuns cells. Since check-in wasn’t until 3:00 I had an hour for my favorite past time, eating. Just around the bend on the backside of the convent was a restaurant with outdoor tables overlooking the water and a pilgrim’s menu. I had garlic shrimp, fried eggs, potatoes and salad. Strange combination but ok with me. At 15 euros it was a deal. I bonded with my waitress over similar nail polish. After a quick visit to the attached church and a passport stamp, rooms were ready.
After checking in at 3 we were given a carafe of Porto wine to drink in the relaxation room. No idea what else to call it. Nice touch. I ended up with a room that the elevator reached after the three flights of steps yesterday.
There’s a jetted shower and Jacuzzi tub. Maybe I’ll try them later. I spent the next few hours on my balcony relaxing. About 4.5 to 5 miles today. I guess I can’t count the boat ride. 9:15 departure Portuguese time. 1:30 arrival but that was Spanish time so 12:30 Portuguese time so only 3 hours and 15 minutes door to door? Relaxed the rest of the day. I wasn’t going to join them for dinner cuz I just wanted to go to the corner restaurant and get soup. So I walked out with them to head over and it turned out to be where they were going and they had no soup! It was a no soup for you day. So I had spaghetti Bolognese second choice for comfort food. When we returned, Evany showed us all the museum stuff in our hotel. Thirteenth century icons from the convent. Best of all I poured salts into the Jacuzzi and soaked in the bubbles. Then into the shower which had jets all over the place. Hopefully it makes a difference to my aching knees.
Good night.