I got up early and was on the Way by 6:30 AM. It is starting to get warm here so it is nice to walk in the cool of the morning.
The walking surface on this Camino is rough. Many of the farm roads that are part of this Camino are strewn with baseball sized rocks. It is hard and very time consuming to walk on this surface without twisting an ankle or tripping and falling. It was slow going this morning.
After a couple of hours it was time to stop and eat breakfast. Unfortunately the cafe where I stopped was sold out of everything but orange juice and one lonely pastel de nata.
While I was sitting on the patio of the cafe Danny walked by and joined me for a cup of coffee
Danny told me all about his job and how his job differs from firefighters in the USA. He works four shifts. Each shift lasts 12 hours and then gets three days off. He used to work one 24 hour day on and then would get two days off but the European Union nixed that. I think Danny gets a lot of vacation time as he and his wife have taken a number of long vacations all over the world.
Every firefighter in Germany is a fully trained and certified paramedic. Once he works for 20 years, when he is 45, he gets a full retirement. Not a bad deal.
As I passed by Quintao I decided to stop for lunch. It was already 1:00 and was getting hot and I had at least 10 kilometers to go to get to Barcelos, my final destination. I ordered the special pilgrim meal, soup, salad, bacalao, which is codfish, and new potatoes and rice and a drink for 7 euros. What a deal.
After I paid the check I walked outside and realized there was a beautiful church right across the street.
So I went back to the restaurant and asked my waiter to call me a cab. While I waited for the cab to arrive the front patio of the restaurant filled up with about 30 guys playing cards.
My waiter must have told the cab driver that I enjoyed my bacalao because all she could talk about during the 20 minutes it took her to drive me to Barcelos was bacalao this and bacalao that. I am sure it was very interesting but I didn’t understand a word she said other than bacalao.
At 2:00 PM, as I was checking into my hotel, the Casa da Ana Boutique Guesthouse and Spa, I noticed that one of the spa services they offer is a Pilgrim massage. I told the guy that checked me in that I would kill for a massage. He said that would not be necessary and that he would schedule a massage for me later on in the afternoon. He carried my backpack up to my room just as the cleaning lady finished spiffing it up. Apparently the cleaning lady is also the massage therapist and she said she would come by my room in 30 minutes for my massage.
Now this is all looking a little sketchy but I hopped in the shower, got cleaned up and put on a pair of gym trunks and a tee shirt and waited for her knock on the door.
Olga didn’t speak a lick of English and I don’t speak a lick of Ukrainian but she used Google translate to give me instructions. She set up her massage table and had me lay down on it for my massage.
It wound up being a two hour professional massage, most of which I slept through. What a great massage for 50 euros.
Tomorrow I am going to take a 30 minute bus ride to tour the town of Braga. It will be nice to take a rest day and I have heard that Braga is beautiful.
I had dinner at a place a few doors down from the hotel called Babettes.
That’s it from Barcelos, Portugal. I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are.
Steps walked – 26,278
Kilometers walked – 20.9
Flights of stairs climbed – 7
AbeAndMarkontheCamino 