[Gocamino] Camino Portugués

[Robert Spenger]

It was my impression that, like the term camino Francés,  the name  
camino Portugués refers only to the way through Spain itself. That  
part of it, from the Rio Minho to SdeC, is indeed short. It is  
interesting to hear that the route from Lisboa is now well marked.  
When I went from Lisboa to SdeC in 2001, there were no markings  
whatsoever until I got to Porto. In fact, the route itself was not  
even well defined. For many sections of it there were often 2 or more  
alternative ways to go. Even after Porto, there was a choice of going  
by way of Braga or Barcelos. I had gotten in touch with Djalma and his  
group in Porto and they favored going through Braga because of some of  
the special features in that city. In fact they had personally  
waymarked part of the route from Porto to Braga. I have read that the  
Barcelos is currently the accepted route to take, but I have not seen  
any recent guide books.

The message from Charles O'Brien does not specify his starting point,  
so I can't tell how long his walk was. In 2001, there were very few  
facilities: a youth hostel open to pilgrims in Braga, an albergue in  
Tui (which was apparently not open at the time), a marvelous, brand  
new albergue in Pontevedra, and an albergue in Padrón, which was  
unattended. I met no
Santiago-bound pilgrims at all, although I saw hundreds of pilgrims  
going the opposite way to Fátima.

Bob S.

On Apr 29, 2008, at 11:17 PM, Javier Martin wrote:

It's not so short. It's well marked from Lisbon to Santiago (about 600  
km).

Buen Camino,

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain.


On 4/29/08, Robert Spenger <rspenger at earthlink.net> wrote:
The main problem with the camino Portugués is that it is very short.
 From  Tui, or even Valença, it is just a bit over the 100 km required
for the compostela. It is hardly enough to really get the feeling of a
pilgrim experience. If you start from much further south, there will
be only a very small number of other pilgrims (if any) and the
facilities for pilgrims are almost non-existent, especially south of
Porto.

Bob S.

On Apr 29, 2008, at 6:47 AM, Charles O'Brien wrote:

If avoiding traffic is important to you, you might consider the Camino
Portuguese. Walking last October, I never shared with more than six and
three times I was alone in the albergues. Of course, it will be
different in
2010, but nothing compared to what you'll experience on the Camino
Frances
and it will have more facilities than what you'll find on the Via de la
Plata.
 >

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