Portuguese Camino 2011 - Lisbon to Porto

[Covey]

Having decided to walk from Lisbon to Santiago, I bought the Brierley's Guide (2011) in April and put it in my pack to await my start date on 2nd Sept 2011.

On reflection, I should have read it earlier!!

Having arrived in Lisbon on the Friday afternoon, I set off on Saturday morning to get my Portuguese Pilgrim Passport at the Church of the Martyrs. Easier said than done!!! Finding the Church was no problem, but finding anyone that might be able to issue a Pilgrim Passport was a problem. Even a priest wandering around the Church looked vague and shook his head at my request. Eventually after 30 minutes of asking anyone who was around , an old lady beckoned to me and led me off to an office and gave me a Spanish Credential from Santiago!!

At this point a very nice guy from Prague turned up and wanted a stamp in his Credential issued by the Church authorities in Prague. Radic was told "no stamp"!! as his Credential was not Spanish. We both tried to persuade a non English speaking lady that the Czech Credential would probably be OK but after 30 minutes she agreed to stamp his Credential.

At this point Radic and I retired to a local retailer of strong drink to contemplate the life of a modern day Pilgrim.!!

You might wonder about getting a Credential at the Cathedral. I tried and was told they did not do them and that the Church of the Martyrs was all there there was.

There appears to be some kind of disagreement/misunderstanding between Lisbon and Santiago regarding Credentials. Volunteers at the Rates Albergue said that Santiago would not consider Portuguese Credentials, which is why I was issued with a Spanish one in Lisbon!!

In Portugal they speak Portuguese and that is about it. Occasionally you might find someone who speaks a little English (the very helpful boss of the fire station at Alverca) but in hotels, and bars, nobody speaks any English, which means you need to be able to speak some Portuguese. Those who have walked the Camino Frances get used to the multi lingual abilities of Albergue staff and waiters in the Cafés. Trying to find accommodation in small Portuguese towns without being able to speak any Portuguese ain't easy!!

Had I read my Brierley's Guide I might have noticed that the first 9 days out of Lisbon were all 30+km days. Very long days and no albergues.

In fact, accommodation is a major problem. You cannot shorten the 30km days because there is NO accommodation between the major towns. On one stretch, it was 21kms without a bar/café and almost no shade and it was up to 34c in the afternoons.

On Day1 we walked to Alverca which was 31kms. We missed the bridge just before Alverca which Brierley's said to walk over to get to where there was some accommodation. The Alverca Fire Station told us the bridge had been removed 6 years ago!! The accommodation mentioned was all closed because it was Sunday. We did have a decent meal at the local hypermarket which was open until 10pm ON A SUNDAY!! and half of Portugal was eating at the store café!!

Next day took us to Azambuja. The morning consisted of walking up the N10 highway and then a very nice riverside walk to Vilafranca and then back to the N3 for a 9km death defying walk up the hard shoulder of the main highway, seemingly populated by Kamikaze truck drivers all conversing on their mobile phones (has nobody in Portugal heard of "hands free"!!!) A very unpleasant and frankly dangerous couple of hours!!

Fortunately we survived dicing with death on the highway and spent the night in a hotel in Azambuja.

Accommodation on the Lisbon to Porto stage is whatever you can find. Whatever it is, it will cost around €30/person per night, and the quality is not much better than an Albergue.

Almost nobody has heard of the Camino de Santiago, and frankly, nobody really cares. The Portuguese have Fatima, although the Camino to Fatima is usually only walked in May of each year.

Portuguese industrial estates are clones of the Spanish ones and on the Portuguese Camino, you seem to visit them all.

The next day took us to Santarem. The local Tourist Office said they had seen 8 Pilgrims to Santiago in August. Another very long day, little shade, very few places to buy food and temperatures in the mid 30's. And a grotty hotel which I would not keep my dog in.

At this point I concluded that the Lisbon to Porto route was not really suitable for the majority of Caminoists. If you are very fit, and well used to long distance solo hikes, you might enjoy it.

The vast majority who have walked the Camino Frances will hate Lisbon to Porto, but will love Porto to Santiago.

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Covey,
I am sorry that you didn't enjoy the Lisbon to Porto segment of the Caminho. I have also walked from Lisbon and would like to offer a different perspective. I walked in the spring of 2009, when the weather was sunny and mild. I never met another peregrino, got lost several times but was never more than a km or two from civilization, and enjoyed myself very much. I would say that it’s comparable to many other less-traveled caminos, such as the Camino de Madrid and Camino de Invierno (and others I’ve only read about – the Levante; the Sureste; the Camino del Sur; the Mozárabe). On all of these mainly "undiscovered" caminos there are long distances between stages and a non-existent or spotty albergue structure; longer sections of asphalt walking because the waymarkings have only recently been installed; private accommodations where single rooms run around 20-25 euros a night, a bit more in big cities; lack of community awareness that a camino runs through the town. These things change as pilgrim traffic increases. By all accounts, this is what the Via de la Plata was like as few as ten years ago, but when I walked in 2010 it was quite a different story. Though I completely agree that the Caminho Português, especially in its current stage of development, is not for everyone, I also think that there are many positives.

I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities to visit the small towns of Golegã (nice small museum in a beautiful 19th century mansion, and a beautiful church walled with blue tiles), Tomar (with its incredible monastery up on the hill, ancient synagogue, nice riverside), Rabaçal (and its Roman villa a few kms outside of town with some stunning mosaics, with transportation provided by the staff), and Coimbra (oldest university in Portugal, romanesque fortress cathedral, medieval historical center, and a real city). I saw Nobel prizewinner Jose Saramago's humble birthplace in Azinhaga, spent a few pleasant hours in a park filled with painted pig statues in Agueda, and enjoyed poking around the ruins of the castle/palace/fortress in Cardiga. A few culinary highlights include spending a night in the home of Portugal’s roast suckling pig (I’m not much of a meat eater, but there are at least 20 restaurants in the small town of Mealhada serving what by all accounts is a delicious chunk of meat), an incredible variety of local pastries, and a chance to sample the famous cheese from Rabaçal in its less mass-produced versions (one of the bars there serves cheese made by small home producers). Getting off the beaten path is one of the main reasons pilgrims leave the Francés in search of other options, and this stretch doesn’t disappoint in that regard.

The downside for me was the asphalt, I agree with you that it is both unpleasant and potentially dangerous. The vast majority of asphalt is on quiet country roads or sidewalks, though, with a few stretches along major highways. My memory also is that the parts next to the highway tended to have very wide shoulders, because I never felt that same terror I remember from years ago when either walking into León or between Villafranca and O'Cebreiro. But the main point I wanted to make is that the Via Lusitana, a Lisbon Friends of the Caminho group, is working with municipalities between Lisbon and Porto to re-route the highway portions and replace them with off-road alternatives. I am pretty sure that as the numbers increase, this problem will decrease.

To get a credencial in Lisbon, the office in the Igreja dos Martires has regular hours, 9-7 on weekdays, and 10-8 on weekends. The office is located down the left aisle about halfway up to the altar if memory serves. It closes during masses and undoubtedly during other times that the solitary worker has to tend to other things. It is an office that serves the parish and not just the pilgrims, and I’m not sure exactly why the credenciales are there in the first place. You can also arrange a pick-up with members of another Jacobean association by writing aej.lisboa@gmail.com . This is the email for the Associação Espaços Jacobeus: 931 602 448. If you use this option, I believe you will pick up the Credencial at St. Eugenio church in the Bairro do Encarnaçao, which is between the airport and Oriente Station. I suspect that until now, no Portuguese organization has even toyed with the idea of introducing its own credencial, not that anyone thought that they couldn’t. I assume that this is just another reflection of the fact that the numbers of people walking from Lisbon are still very small. In fact, I was told by the man who gave me my credencial in Lisbon that most of the credenciales they issue are given to Portuguese pilgrims who begin their Caminho in Spain, France, or elsewhere.

You are right that many people in the small out of the way towns on the Caminho are unlikely to speak English. This is something that will change as more people walk the route – for instance, a German expat has opened an albergue near Golegã. But it’s not surprising that people in rural, untouristed parts of Portugal are less likely to be polyglots than people who work in towns where tens of thousands of foreigners pass through every year.

Even in places where no one speaks English, I don’t believe that finding accommodations should be a problem. The Confraternity of St. James has on-line guides for a number of routes, including Lisbon-Porto and Porto-Santiago. In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I am the author of one, and I have supplemented it over the years as pilgrims report back to me with news of new places. http://www.csj.org.uk/guides.htm These documents list all (or nearly all) of the private accommodation options, which makes finding the place to stay much easier if you arrive in a town with no English speakers. Simply showing someone the name of the place will be enough to get you there. As the 2011 update notes, since 2009, four pilgrim-specific places have opened south of Porto. That’s actually kind of remarkable given the still very small numbers starting out in Lisbon. I assume that the Brierley guide also has a complete list of lodging options, but I have not seen it. And in a pinch, there is an SOS peregrino phone number that operates 24/7 throughout Portugal: 351 915-595-213. This phone is always on, staffed by the multi-lingual volunteers of the Via Lusitana.

Not to get too nit-picky here, but the bridge that I took over the RR tracks that got me on the path into Alverca is actually in Alpiarte, three kilometers south of Alverca. It was clearly marked with arrows. From there the walk goes along the river and is also well marked. I don’t know what bridge the Brierley guide was referring to.

You are right that there are some long stages, but for many Camino repeat offenders, 30-33 kms on totally flat terrain is manageable. In the online guide, I suggest ways to break up some of those longer days, but there are two or three where 32-33 kms are the only way to go (Tomar – Alvaiazere and Alvaiazere – Rabacal are two where I haven’t found a way to divide things up into shorter stages).

And finally, I would just have to say without meaning to sound snarky that the reason that very few people living along the Lisbon-Porto segment have ever heard of the Caminho is because it hasn’t been publicized or traveled much until very recently. Things are changing dramatically with the activities of the Via Lusitana, the Lisbon-based group I have referred to several times. They are truly working miracles in terms of getting permanent signage, encouraging the establishment of albergues, and getting off-road options. You should check out their website at www.vialusitana.org, and even if you don’t speak Portuguese you will see that they are helping to raise the profile and improve the amenities available along this part of the Caminho.

So, in closing this extremely long post, I just want to stress that I am only trying to open up the spectrum of opinions on the walk from Lisbon to Porto. For some this may not be the right route; for others, it can be a very enjoyable way to combine long stretches of peaceful solitude (the goal for many of us) with a caminho that takes you through many very pleasant parts of rural Portugal.

Bom caminho, Laurie

[HuskyNerd]

Thanks both to Covey and Laurie for the great posts about this caminho. You have both really stirred my interest now as I choose between the Camino del Norte and the Camino Portugues for my 2012 walk. Thanks especially, Laurie, for info about your online guide. I will definitely check that out. BTW it was great to meet you in Leon last June and I shall not pass up another serendipitous opportunity to walk a camino with you!

[Precious1]

Enjoyed reading this, Covey. Porto to Santiago is definitely on the calendar, somewhere. :]

[Covey]

Peregrina2000........ Different perspectives are what this Forum is all about!

My comments on the Lisbon to Porto stage are based on how I think the majority of Camino Frances pilgrims would view the Camino Portuguese. I am sure that walking the route in the warmth (hopefully!) of spring would be a lot easier than the heat of summer and as I started on 4th September from Lisbon, I was surprised to be walking in temperatures in the mid 30's each day.

I used the Brierley's Guide which was published in February 2011 and was alleged to be up to date.

When I asked in an Albergue in Portugal who had walked a Camino before, 18 out of 19 pilgrims had previously walked the Camino Frances. The general consensus was that walking the Porto to Santiago Camino was little different than walking the Camino Frances with the exception that there were fewer Albergue options in Portugal.

The Camino Frances has a very high "support" level in that there is generally an Albergue of some sort every 10km's or so, and a multitude of bars/cafés offering food and drink along the way who are usually open when Pilgrims walk by.

Lisbon to Porto has basically no support level for these walking the Camino to Santiago. The Brierley's Guide shows 9 consecutive 30+km days which are required because there is no accommodation available inside the 30km leg, unless you are camping!

Some parts of Lisbon to Porto are very beautiful and pleasant to walk, especially by the river, but Portuguese (or Spanish for that matter)industrial estates are the dreariest places on earth, and we seem to spend a lot of time walking through them.

I am sure many ardent Caminoists will enjoy the delights of Lisbon to Porto, but the majority who have enjoyed their time on the Camino Frances will find Lisbon to Porto a very challenging route.

Many who walk the Camino Frances could not keep up 30kms a day for a week and rely on the fact that if they become tired, then there will usually be somewhere to stay. On the Lisbon to Porto stage there is basically no accommodation available between your start and finish point for the day, so you just have to keep going.

Many of our members are retired and are enjoying their "recycled teenager" status, but whereas you can walk the Camino Frances doing 40kms a day or just 10kms a day from albergue to albergue, this is not an option on Lisbon to Porto, which is why I stick to my feeling that if you are very fit and used to long distance solo walking, then you MIGHT enjoy Lisbon to Porto, but if you are not so fit, then avoid it.

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Covey,

I don't want to beat this to death, but I do want to react to your comments, because I think we are saying the same things, just a little differently. If the Camino Frances is the standard against which the Caminho Portugues is measured, then Porto-Santiago is similar, and Lisbon-Porto is in an embryonic (or should we say "underdeveloped") stage.

But in my experience, of the many caminos to Santiago in Spain, the only other ones I have walked that replicate the pilgrim feeling of the Frances are parts of the Norte, maybe the Primitivo, and the Via de la Plata. Lisbon-Porto falls into a different group of caminos, like the Invierno, Madrid, Salvador, Sureste, Levante, Mozarabe, Vadiniense, etc. where the marking is of a fairly consistently high standard, the stages are longer (at least till the numbers of walkers provide a market incentive for albergues), albergues are few, and companions are in the single digits if that. I think peregrinos know which category they prefer and all I can say is that if you've enjoyed the Camino de Invierno, Salvador or Madrid, you are likely to enjoy the Lisbon-Porto part of the Caminho Portugues.

Bom caminho to everyone, Laurie

And p.s. to Sandy, Given our camino addictions, it's likely we'll run into each other somewhere sometime!

[Covey]

I am not sure the Camino Frances (CF) should be "the standard" by which Camino's are judged, but the sheer numbers would indicate that the CF route is the most popular in terms of numbers and probably "places of significance" which Pilgrims enjoy visiting.

Certainly, the consensus of advice to those inquiring which Camino route would be best for a first Camino seems to be to walk the CF first, and when the feet get itchy again, try one of the others.

My rudimentary poll indicated that most walking Porto to Santiago had previously walked the CF route and were thoroughly enjoying their trip up through Portugal from Porto and in to Spain.

My worry however, is that the Lisbon to Porto stage is so "underdeveloped" that it barely exists other than the signs pointing the way, and as such, is not really suitable for the majority of Pilgrims who walk the CF route.

The Brierley's Guide shows an alternative route north out of Porto which basically involves taking the Metro to just north of Porto, and then walking up the beach for 20kms. It was a very pleasant walk and the Portuguese have built a wooden broad walk virtually all the way, but I am not sure the Pilgrims of ancient times would have walked 20kms up a beach where there was little or no fresh water. The "traditional" route going north looks more plausible up to Rates, but who really knows.

If you talk to the cyclists on the CF, almost all of them say they prefer to cycle the walkers route because they think it is the authentic route. Most Baggage Mule Pilgrims I have spoken to say part of their enjoyment is the feeling that they are treading where Pilgrims throughout the ages have walked.

Lisbon to Porto struck me as an exercise in re-establishing a route which took in the nice river walks and when they ran out of the nice bits, then send the pilgrims up the hard shoulder of the main highway for 9kms. I don't think the current Lisbon to Porto route has much to do with the footsteps of ancient pilgrims!