Today is our first day walking the Camino Portuguese. It was a long day (16 miles) – yet a very beautiful day and an easy walk.
We began with a bus ride from Porto to Matosinhos on the outskirts of town, which reduced the day’s stage by 3-4 miles. Our “sweet spot” for walking is about 11-12 miles. We can do more, but prefer not to. The bus ride took us right along the Camino route along the river, so we could enjoy it from that perspective.
Most of the day we walked along a boardwalk next to the Atlantic Ocean. Every once in a while, we would walk through the edge of a quaint little town. The camino signs weren’t always easy to spot, so we relied on our GPS when we were uncertain. Although we kept the ocean on our left and walked on the boardwalk almost all day, it’s still nice to see that Camino arrow for reassurance. We had to retrace our steps once only for just a few meters.
The infrastructure in place along the ocean and the beaches is really impressive. In many spots the boardwalks were being replaced with newer wood, so we detoured onto sidewalks near the road. These boardwalks go for miles and miles. I’d love to know how many miles of boardwalk like this are on the Portugal coastline. I’ll have to google that. We saw families on bicycles and couples walking the boardwalk throughout the day. Unlike the Dingle Way in Ireland, there were plenty of places to stop and have coffee, beer or a meal. We had a wonderful lunch and then stopped an hour later for cappuccino and a mango custard. All were delicious.
As we walked, we saw a number of other pilgrims (peregrinos). They’re easy to spot. Usually with a backpack and often hiking poles. We walked a few miles with one man (Calle Johnston) from Sweden. He had been “gifted” the pilgrim walk by his company for 20 years of service. I thought that was interesting that the gift was a “pilgrim walk” voucher. He could choose the walk he wanted to take. He chose the Camino Portuguese.
It was wonderful to hear the local people greet us as they passed with a “Bom Caminho” in recognition of our pilgrimage to Santiago.
We arrived in Vila do Conde around 5pm, 8 hours after leaving Porto. It was a long day. We prefer to arrive in a town mid-afternoon so we have time to explore where we’ve landed. We check in our room and then head out for something to drink and eat. We discovered this lovely little place along the river called “Naval.” As we walked into town, I told Evan that I wanted sangria, so that sign out front promoting “Sangria” spoke directly to me. We often talk about what we want to drink when we are close to the end of our day’s walk. This was some of the BEST Sangria I’ve ever had! And we had a big pitcher of it to finish. The owner of the little restaurant talked to us a bit, telling us how wonderful Vila do Conde is. He and his wife quit their corporate jobs and came to Vila do Conde and purchased the restaurant during Covid. He loves his life here.
Evan and I walked around town looking for a Multi-Banco (an ATM) and loved the town also! We walked a block or two with an older Portuguese man (he might have been our age) and we tried to tell him how much we loved his city while he tried to tell us about it. Neither of us understood the other. But we tried! I think Vila do Conde is a place we could come back to. This is what we love about “slow travel.” We get to see places and smaller towns that aren’t always on the tourist trail. This little town is on the river and on the ocean. What could be better?
Tomorrow we leave the Coastal Route of the Camino and head inland to the Central Route. We are so happy that we took this stage along the ocean today. The forecast is for rain tomorrow morning. Perhaps we will be lucky and only get rained on a little.
