We are hiking for five days along Portugal’s coastal pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. We are taking the easy approach of getting our bags picked up and delivered to each night’s accommodation, and not feeling obligated to complete every stage. Nor will we ever reach Santiago de Compostela. We are hiking from Labruge, just north of Porto, to Castelo do Viana. None of the four of us are Catholic, although the other couple we are hiking with were at least raised Catholic. 
The start of our Caminho experience, in Labruge
First though, we celebrated Jim and Linda’s arrival with dinner at Flow in Porto, a very elegant restaurant (more elegant than we had anticipated!) with a huge covered patio. Flavored butters (including coffee flavored) accompanied breads. Salads included one with duck prosciutto. The tomato ceviche came with gazpacho poured around a pile of perfectly ripe tomatoes. Then there was an excellent butternut squash risotto and other pastas and risottos.
The route the Camino takes has been quite interesting and varied. A taxi took us from Porto to the beach at Labruge, our starting point. It was a very foggy day, so we could barely see the edge of the ocean. There’s a nice boardwalk most of the way with a detour on the landward side of the dunes for a few kilometers through scrubland while part of the boardwalk is being replaced. We saw lots of other “pilgrims”. We chatted briefly with a few people as we passed from the US, England, Ireland,, Australia, Canada and Denmark. Most people are in small groups or traveling singly. Some are carrying large packs with all their gear, but many are like us just carrying day packs. Most people you pass say hi or Bon Caminho. The paths are signed with the scallop shell symbol or yellow arrows.
When we got to Arvore around lunch time we had two choices of eating establishments and chose the Special Park Restaurant and Lounge because it seemed like it had a more diverse menu. We walked inland a few blocks and discovered that the restaurant is in a huge trailer park community. I handed over my passport in order to get 4 passes to get to the restaurant. There were a lot of people eating there and service was pretty slow. Jake and Jim opted for one of the specials, beef with rice and black beans, and I opted for another, moelhas. I had, unfortunately, confused moelhas with mexilhoes (mussels) and moelhas turned out to be chicken gizzards! They were served in a sort of tomato sauce and really weren’t bad, just not what I was expecting.
We got to our hotel, the Santana, just on the other side of the river from Vila do Conde around 3:30pm. It was a nice, modern, place but it seemed a little odd that there was no way to avoid carrying suitcases up flights of stairs and no offers of assistance. We are traveling pretty light, but I had strained my knee and resented the stairs.
We walked across the river and found a nice Italian restaurant, Mezza Luna, for dinner near the river. Linda and I split a goat cheese, honey and walnut pizza. We slept soundly and went downstairs to a splendid breakfast buffet to prepare for the second leg of our hike.
Vila do Conde 
Sunset over the river
Day 2
Before really getting underway, we stopped to see several sights in Vila do Condo. There is a huge monastery turned 5 star hotel at the top of a hill overlooking the river, and several kilometer long stone pillared aqueduct that used to bring water to the monastery from a spring the next town over. Online it seemed like the hotel had maintained some sort of museum about the monastery, but that turned out not to be the case. On top of the building is a large sculpture of Saint Clara and an elephant. According to the front desk, the elephant depicts a symbol of power. We also stopped near the riverfront to see a replica of a traditional ship. Vila do Condo was a ship building port, building many of the ships that the Portuguese empire sent out to colonize new lands.
Monastery turned hotel 
Aqueduct
We resumed the Camino through town, passing along some charming stone paved streets. The trail doesn’t return to the beach for about 4km. It gradually passes through more modern neighborhoods and then through Povoa de Varzim. We stopped for lunch in the main plaza at a sandwich place with some outdoor tables. I tried the ubiquitous Francesinha, a toasted sandwich of cheese, ham and a hot-dog like sausage split in half and served with a tomato based sauce. Jake and Jim got hamburgers and their entire burger was drowned in the special sauce.
On reaching the waterfront we discovered lots more oceanfront restaurants and a lot of people out and about. The beachfront was very foggy once again. We admired the red and green colors of the invasive ice plant on the dunes. We also passed an area where a lot of seaweed had been collected in large piles and was drying under plastic tarps. In one yard, someone was turning the seaweed by hand. I think it is used for fertilizer. The walk alternated between paved sidewalks and some boardwalks. 
Seaweed harvesting 
Horned poppy along the boardwalk 
One of several decorated carts in Povoa de Varzim
At about 7 miles, we voted on whether to walk the remaining 4 miles or call an Uber. It was a tie vote, but calling an Uber won. Within 4 minutes our driver arrived and 15 minutes later we were in Apulia at Sisu Guest House. The driver was very lively and so enthusiastic when he found out I spoke some Portuguese and had studied in Brazil. He had lived in Santarem, Brazil working for a Portuguese company for almost 20 years. He had also worked in Germany a long time and spoke good German.
After checking in and resting, Jake and I took a short stroll down the beach to see more windmills. Apparently there used to be many more along the coast and I think they were used for grinding grains. Just inland are many small farms and greenhouses growing all sorts of vegetables and corn.
Windmills in Apulia
We had dinner at one of the restaurants along the beach, but sat inside because of the cold fog. Berbigao Apulia served very good seafood. Jake and I shared the seafood and rice for two with little clams, shrimp, mussels, giant shrimp, and half of a small lobster. It had a nice tomato-based herby broth. The staff were mostly Brazilians and very nice. Jim and Linda had fried calamari and grilled shrimp skewers.
Day 3
The sun was visible today! The anticipated rain only materialized briefly overnight and we look forward to a nice hike inland from Apulia to Esposende. The hike was pretty short, a little over 4 miles. It passed by small farms growing a wide variety of vegetables both outdoors and in hoop houses. There was a short section of woods with a mix of pines, oaks, and Eucalyptus just before reaching Fao. That section had some interesting Camino-related informal art installations
Sunset in Esposende 
A cemetery along the Caminho 
Part of the route to Esposende
Fao is known for a pastry called the Clarinha. It looks like a small fried empanada with very crispy pastry crust coated in powdered sugar and is filled with a sweet filling made from spaghetti squash. We stopped at a lovely little cafe that specializes in clarinhas. From Fao you walk on a long bridge over the Cavado River into Esposende. We walked to the north end of town to our hotel, the Suave Mar.
The Suave Mar is a large hotel just across the street from the river. We had a late lunch at the bar by the pool. The passion fruit lemonade was excellent! In the afternoon we walked into more of the downtown area to do laundry. Once we figured out how to get the washer going we walked around town looking for postcards, an increasingly scarce item! No stamps were available, so I’ll have to look for some in another town. Dinner was fairly forgettable at a riverfront restaurant, although we were introduced to lupines or lupins, lupine beans, a common Portuguese bar snack. Wild lupine seeds are poisonous, but apparently these are either a species or cultivar called sweet lupines that contain few alkaloids and are in fact quite nutritious.
Day 4
In a light rain, we walked a short way up the coast past a 16th century stone fort and then turned inland for the rest of the 6+ mile hike from Esposende to Castelo do Neiva. Today’s hike started mostly on stone roads through small towns. The towns are on a hillside above the sea with an escarpment to the east. It was fun to peak into gardens and see the mix of old and modern architecture. Around 11:30 we saw a sign for pastry at Gato Galoso (Cat with a sweet tooth) and had to stop. They had excellent pastries and coffee and we missed the biggest downpour of the day. Before reaching the river Neiva, there’s a stretch of forest, one of the only trail sections not on a road! It has a mix of native and non-native species. 
Crossing the river Neiva 
A little art/shrine along the path 
Sao Tiago
Tonight we are in the little town of Castelo do Neiva at one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever stayed at, Quinta do Monteverde. The property has been owned by the same family since the 1500s. The current owner converted it to a hotel in 2000. It is surrounded by little orchards of olives, fruit trees, walnuts, and arbors of grapes and kiwis. The main house is filled with antiques. We were asked to put little booties over our hiking shoes before walking into the house given the rain. Fortunately the rain stopped a little earlier and we enjoyed exploring the grounds.
Grape arbor in front of the breakfast building 
The main house
Day 5
Breakfast wasn’t served until 9am, but was delicious with homemade jams and an apple tart. As it was raining, we didn’t mind heading out a little late. We walked back uphill to rejoin the Camino. From Castelo do Nieve it heads through a patchwork of small towns and bits of forest. We stopped for coffee at one small town cafe and on the way out met three 20 something Italian men who decided we looked friendly and up for a chat. We chatted with the three of them all the way to the next little town. They had been friends since a young age and met in Scouts. They all live in Rome and are studying or are hoping to study at University. Apparently university spots are hard to obtain. One is studying law, one hopes to study medicine, and a third topic. They had lots of questions about how people think in the US about politics, guns, etc. We hope we set them straight on some common misconceptions. This was their first Camino and they had been a little disappointed that more people wouldn’t chat with them I think.
Building in Viana do Castelo 
A bit of woods 
Wet trail
Before reaching Viana do Castelo the trail leads through a half cleared industrial zone. We were happy to finally see a restaurant offering a pilgrim menu. As it was around 2pm by then all they had left was the menu of Cozida Portuguesa, a slow cooked dish of meats, beans and greens served with rice. It was delicious despite rather odd looking bits of meat. It fortified us for the walk across the Eiffel bridge over the Limia River estuary, a long and very windy walk on a narrow sidewalk right next to the cars. We found Hotel Laranjeira right off the main square, a basic but clean hotel.
Jake and I took a late afternoon stroll around the still windy and wet town to find a razor for Jake and postcards and stamps for me. After trying 2 other places that turned out to be closed, we had a nice dinner at Viana do Mar restaurant with pureed vegetable soup and grilled squid. It took some back and forth with the staff to discover that, Estilo Viana do Mar on the menu just meant, grilled with a side of fries!
Celebrating the end of our Caminho hike
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