We fueled up with another delicious breakfast (including some dessert- guess we won’t be losing any weight on this trip!), then were shuttled to the start of our Camino. The other pilgrims on our shuttle were from New Zealand and Australia- what a small world!
We started in a suburb of Porto called Vilar de Pinheiro, avoiding the busy, noisy streets heading out of town. A beautiful walk past corn fields on cobblestone streets. We stopped to check out the weekly market in Mosteiro, where they sold everything from fruit and veggies to fish and beef, hardware supplies to toys, dresses to bras and undies!
Our route took us mainly on back streets, though you wouldn’t know it by how fast some of the cars drove! We saw many beautiful churches, including one, the Chapel of Santo Ovideo with views of the ocean and a swing, that was sadly not able to be used. We saw several other pairs of pilgrims walking.
We stopped to check out the stunning cemetery at the Vairao Monastery, now a pilgrim albergue. There was a sign that advertised a ‘Smack Box’, lol.
We got off the cobblestones briefly to walk on tree lined dirt track, before coming to Vilarinho, our lunch spot, where we both picked up sandwiches for 1.60 euros each! They were filling and it was good to rest our legs and feet for a bit.
After lunch we continued on cobblestone streets and dirt paths until we came to the Dom Zameiro bridge. This bridge was built in the 12th century to replace one built by the Romans. It was a beautiful spot. Soon we could see our destination, Arcos, in the distance! Another medieval bridge with a lovely Camino sunburst motif on either end brought us to our home for the night. We were ready to rest and take a dip in the pool!
We are staying in a lovely ‘rural’ inn. You can definitely smell the cows! It’s a beautiful place with 2 pools, vines growing everywhere (there are dozens of kiwi fruit hanging over our heads just outside the door! We cooled off with a refreshing dip in the pool, chatting with the Aussie couple we shuttled with this morning. Later we checked out the church next door, saw sheep napping in the shade and wandered down the road. Looking forward to dinner at the hotel tonight, one less thing to have to figure out.
Tomorrow is a 12.5 mile day. Today was only supposed to be 10.5 miles but we both recorded over 14 miles. Maybe we got lost and didn’t realize it?! Anyway, it’s sure to be another fantastic day.
