My journal entry for May 24, 2008:
This has been the most amazing day of my life! I got up at 5:30 a.m., not fun, dragged around a bit but was ready to go when breakfast was to be served at 7 a.m. Breakfast was included with the room and was typical Euro breakfast fare. I had my usual lunchmeat, bread, fruit, cheese and lots of coffee!
We then caught a cab to the train station and got there in just enough time to catch the 7:55 train to Valenca.
What crazy weather! Pouring rain and cold then sunny and warm. This went on all day long.
More fantastic scenery viewed from the train. Mountains, villages, farms and even the Atlantic Ocean - first time I ever saw it from this side!
The train station in Valenca was very old and quite lovely. We had some discussion on the train about our route. Karin was still hoping to start in Rubais and walk to Tui, which would be one full leg. It was already late morning and we would need to catch a bus once we got off the train, then backtrack to Rubais. It just made no sense. Who knows what time we would get to Tui? Reason prevailed. We would start in Valenca.
With extra time, we decided to spend the day sightseeing in Valenca. It is an old historic town. We explored the ruins of an old fort. It is located on a hill and you can see the town of Tui across the river. That will be our first stop in Spain!
The scenery was just beautiful. It was completely awesome walking across the bridge to enter into a new country. We arrived in Tui in the afternoon and found the refugio. Showered, dressed, did laundry by hand and by then, it was raining - again. So, I rigged up my handy rope as a clothesline and hung up my things in the dorm area. Then we headed off to sighsee.
Tui is a lovely little city. We stopped at a supermercado to pick up things for breakfast and lunch since we knew everything is closed on Sunday. We were planning to have dinner at a restaurant but had some time to kill until the restaurant opened at 8 p.m. So, we stopped in a church at what we thought was 7:30 p.m. for mass. Turns out, Spain is an hour later than Portugal. So our mass was really at 8:30 and the refugio closes at 9:30. Thank God Joe, who opted to skip mass, stopped by the church to warn us! If you are not in the refugio by 9:30, you are locked out! The hostess warned us not to open the door for anyone, no matter how much they knock. We left the church as soon as Ray and Karin took communion - it was 9:15 p.m! We ran back to the refugio with our groceries in hand.
Seems San Tiago was looking out for us though. I bought way too much food for the next day. We ate at the refugio with "the guys from Brazil." The younger guy was a lawyer and he was accompanied by his dad and uncle.
Joe was able to grab pizza while we were in church. Of my spare groceries, and some of Karin and Ray's purchases, we had a loaf of bread, olives, almonds, tomatos, cheese and sausage. Ray bought a 95 Euro cent box of wine at the grocery and it tasted great. We had quite a feast!
The refugio was very clean and has separate men's and woman's bathrooms. And nice hot water!
Eating in the refugio with the Brazilian guys was such a Camino experience. People from all over the world are the same. We all just want a good meal, a warm bed and some good companionship!
The refugio cost 3 Euro bucks. Unbelievable!
The refugio woman made me take down my clothesline - no hanging laundry indoors! I rehung it but am not hopeful it will dry by morning.
I did get to experience a classic Spanish dish at lunchtime, even though I ate it across the river in Portugal. I had grilled fresh sardines. I have always wanted to try them. They were delicious!
Now, I'm off to get on the internet then to sleep! Want to give Jon an update.
Additional Thoughts:
The hotel people in Porto told us we could catch a cab to the train station but we could also take the bus for next to nothing compared to the cost of a cab. I'm a little fuzzy on this (it was too early and I hadn't had coffee yet) but what I remember was that taking the bus would mean skipping breakfast or grabbing stuff to eat enroute. Which would mean still more coffee deprivation!
On the train to Valenca, there was also some discussion about our first full day's walking. The official first leg, from Tui to Redondela, is 20 miles. However, there is a refugio in Porrino at the 10 mile mark. I cannot remember if it was Joe or Karin who wanted to go the full 20 miles, I just remember convincing the crew that it was too far to walk, especially on our first day. I guess the big selling point was that if we did walk the full 20 miles, we would get to Santiago a day early meaning we would have to spend an extra day in Santiago. We already had a hotel booked for two nights so we would either have to spend for another night in a hotel or stay at one of the refugios in town. My point was why break our backs to get to Redondela just to have an extra day to kill in Santiago?
Beginning to get a vibe that what I envisioned as My Camino might not be the same Camino my companions had in mind.
I never got on the internet that night. Apparently, the refugio lady had to activate it or something.
Though somewhat expected, having hot water and separate bathroom facilities was still a real treat. This is not the case in some refugios on the Camino Frances so we didn't quite know what to expect on the Portuguese route. I had no problem with the shared facilities, I have a more European attitude toward nudity than is the norm in this country but there was NO WAY NO HOW I was going to take a cold shower! If I had to I would wash what needed to be washed at the sink but just won't do wet, cold and naked!
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