With the time change and the clocks falling back, we were able to get an early, for us, departure at 8:20. It hadn’t been the best night with loud, young Australians in the next room and then lots of street noise into the wee hours, and the albergue just wasn’t the best. We wondered if this would be the way of it from here on in, now that we were all on one Portuguese camino into Santiago.
But there was blue sky as we headed out and we quickly took care of one of the day’s two ascents. We had already covered six kilometres or so before we stopped in Arcade for breakfast.
The day was a lovely mix with lots of time in the woods, crossing a medieval bridge into Sampaio and then opting for the river route into Pontevedra. The river was almost overflowing its banks and the path more like a lake in some places. With the rain getting heavier after a dry morning, we opted to rejoin the paved road for the last part in.
Pontevedra is a magnificent city with a stunning historical centre and our hotel (Hotel Restaurante Rúas €65) was ideally located. Nearby was the 18th century church of the Virgen Peregrina, a circular church with a floor plan in the shape of a scallop shell. We enjoyed looking at the church and getting a beautiful stamp for our pilgrim passport.
It was a lovely city to wander around and we found some roasted chestnuts to snack on. But right on cue, the rain started and drove us back indoors where we holed up until 8. We had seen a good looking pizza place on our way into town and that made a decent dinner option—the pizza was good but the service somewhat strange and the glass of wine on the skimpy side in the land of the usually generous pours.
- < prev
- All Camino Portugués blog posts
- next >
- 11 of 14