I spent the night at a fairly forgettable cheap hotel, which provided all I needed – a bed to sleep in. And the next morning I did not start walking at crack of dawn- in fact I didn’t start till 9am. (From Porto, there are two choices for the Camino – the traditional inland route or the coastal route. My pilgrim band from before Porto had taken the coastal route and advised me to take it too – so I did.) I was concerned about the heat, having started so late – but it turned out there was quite a stiff breeze, which was an incredible relief after the previous two weeks of stifling heat. The Camino followed the coast, along boardwalks for the first few miles. At one point the yellow arrows directed me inland and then back to the coast, which, actually was an unnecessary diversion. I was chastising myself for first starting so late and then being diverted. At that point I passed a beach cafe and decided to lift my spirits with a cup of coffee. I had just sat down with my coffee when who should appear but my second band of merry pilgrims! – in the form of four young Italians (The happiest,most good-natured and effervescent group you could hope to meet) and Martin, a Slovakian who had met them in the Porto albergue. It turned out that they had taken the metro this morning to start from Povoa Varzim – and because I started late and got diverted, we had all arrived at the cafe at the same time.
Before meeting the group, I had just expected to get a stamp for my credenciale at the hostel where I stayed the night and occasionally at a cafe along the way – but the Italians knew more about this than I did – and they would dart into every church with an open door and find a stamp pad to stamp their credenciales, and then sit in one of the pews for a time of quiet reflection. My Camino was definitely being expanded. The top photos are of the church in Apulia – where I first discovered the phenomena of getting a stamp for my credenciale inside a church. (Before Porto, with less pilgrims, the churches were often closed) The bottom photos show the interior of the church in Fao with a close up of a carving of St. James, with the pilgrim stamp on a table underneath.
By this time it was about 2:30 and everyone was hungry. By good fortune, as we were walking through the village of Fao, we passed a cafe. The owner came out and offered to stamp our credenciales. We happily acquiesced and when we inquired about food, he asked if we would like the pilgrim meal – bread, olives, soup and main dish for 6 euros. Perfect! He told us about some of the pilgrims who had passed through and we really connected with him.
Somehow an hour and a half passed without us noticing it. We set off again as we still had quite a few kilometers ahead and, in fact, didn’t reach the albergue till 7pm
As there were 34 beds, we were not concerned about finding space there. But to our dismay, we discovered there was only one bed left – which was very kindly given to me! In the end, two mattresses were found – one for Martin and one for 2 of the Italians. The other 2 Italians had sleeping mats which they put down in the dining area next to the mattresses. After us, an older German man arrived – he was given the couch. And then Cristina – also from Italy (who had been in the same albergue in Porto as our group) arrived – and was given a spare sleeping mat by someone. It was definitely crowded and several of the showers were not working but everyone was just happy to have a place to sleep.
Fatijah's Camino Portugués 2016 