Peter Hayes (our great compadre) Gerry Corey and El Lobo Grande
Lisbon, Sentra, Coimbra, Porto,Barcelos, Balugales, Ponto de Lima, Parades de Coura, Tui, Burgos, Santiago de Silos, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Puertgaletes, Madrid
Twenty eight days of “bizitza” (basque for life)…….Northern Portugal and Spain. Gerry has been to Spain four times, myself 3, Peter…several times also.
This was a complex, high energy adventure requiring a bit of tenacity, careful detailed, planning, coordination, and perfect execution.
We stayed in 13 boutique hotels. All of them excellent. We hiked (walked) 120 kilometers of the Portuguese Camino de Santiago. We did not finish at Santiago de Compostela but opted to take a train across half of Spain to Burgos. Gerry had already completed the Spanish portion of the trail from Saria, six years ago and earned her certificate of completion.
We opted for the inland route in lieu of the coastal because we wanted to see the countryside and small villages along the way. This is a pilgrimage and it was heaven, if not spiritual along the way. It was perfect weather…mid 60s to low 70s.
The Portuguese portion was not populated with many pilgrims, but the few we met from around the world were fun adventurous people. Several had done multiple Caminos. The inland Spanish portion was reported to have a Tsunami of people starting in France. People breaking free of the COVID restrictions and fulfilling their dreams of the Camino.
The cities of Coimbra and Porto were gorgeous. We had an extraordinary local wine education experience in Porto at the home of a wine producer and then dinner, a restaurant overlooking producer, and then
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