- Yesterday felt like breaking through a barrier! Today was a 16 mile day through woods and olive groves, with lots of seemingly never ending uphill stretches. But even so, the journey seemed much easier than yesterday. Our merry band of pilgrims stayed together for one more day. Everyone’s mutual encouragement – and jokes – definitely helped on the uphill climbs.
We walked into the little village of Alvorge mid afternoon and as we walked past the cafe we were greeted by Victor, the cafe proprietor (and evidently the keeper of the pilgrim hostel)asking if we wanted to stay at the hostel. We definitely did. He handed us the key, drew us a map of how to get there (next to the church below the community center) and we happily let ourselves in – showered, washed our clothes and fell onto the bunk beds to recover. The hostel is basically one large room with bunk beds and adjacent toilets and showers – built by the village as a service for pilgrims as there is no other lodging for miles. (Payment is by donation – they suggest 5 euros). We then went back up to the cafe to see if we could find something for dinner. And lo and behold, the cafe proprietor/keeper of the hostel whipped us up a wonderful meal – omelette, potatoes, salad (the olive oil was from his own olives), with melon and jello for dessert – and again the price was 5 euros. Then he insisted on showing us a shortcut which would save us a few kilometers on the Camino – he piled us into his car and drove us so he could point out the shortcut. What kindness!
Fatijah's Camino Portugués 2016 