Summer of Jubilee: Day 5

Vila Do Conde to Barcelos - June 19

Jun 22, 2025

Slept in this morning to give myself come much needed sleep, but headed out quickly. I wasn’t planning to go too far today to be kind to my body so I stopped in at the church (St. John the Baptist), another breathtaking Romanesque Gothic church. Every town has at least one stunning church, ancient church, its wild. The Eucharist was exposed so I stayed in to pray for a bit.

I walked back out through town and spotted an old monastery and old Roman aqueducts - truly wild to just see those out and about.

I was determined not to get lost today so I kept my book at hand and consulted it often. The beginning stretch of the route was just through the edge of town so it wasn’t an exciting start but there were more trees than I had seen yesterday. I walked for a little while and then came across two other pilgrims, Madeline and Mark. They had both done several Caminos and had actually met on each of their first trips on the Camino Frances and stayed friends since. I was so relieved to finally have some people to walk with again. They shared stories of previous trips and friends made along the way. This part of the journey was also very nice as we walked through the countryside with beautiful houses and wooded areas.

It was so nice to have people to walk with that I blew right past my planned stop to continue on with them, another long day but felt much easier with company. We also came across some points of interest with a Camino drop spot, people left all kinds of things, some personal, some not. There were lots of strings and ribbons as well as everything from journals, photos, work badges, to shoes, hotel key cards, sun screen, and even a pregnancy test. Everyone has a different reason for walking the Camino.

Our stop for lunch was great - cute little cafe in a cute little town, took some time to relax and recover and then trekked back out. Passed by several more locked churches, but one had a stone that legend says was atop a saints grave to symbolize forgiveness of sins and being raised to heaven. I had to crawl though it.

we found this little restaurant that happened to be Camino royalty. The walls were covered with news articles about the place and pictures of the owner with people who had come through. He was extremely kind and excited to have us in.

To finish out the day, we headed to the next town for a place to stay. As we were getting into town it looked like they were preparing for a festival as well, the streets were decorated and the place we were planning to stay was right on the street of the fair. The Albergue was right behind the main stage. When we arrived at the door, it was locked and there was no one inside. We were all so tired at this point. The idea of trying to find a new place at this hour (8 PM) was a lot as most places stop accepting new pilgrims at 9 or 10. Luckily, just as we were about to give up hope and head out, the owner came back, said he was at the fair, and let us in.

This was definitely the most primitive stay I’ve had so far. Just a dozen bunk beds and a communal bathroom with barely a kitchen. I did not appreciate last night’s relative luxury. But a bed is a bed. We were told there wasn’t a curfew so we went out to party.

I stopped at a vendor to get some sweet treats (mostly variations of pastries with custard and chocolate, all very good) then the parade came through, there was a “plastic band” that was about 20 old men with instruments adapted to have plastic parts. There were also groups of parents and kids who did folk dances. I hope these go on for another 500 years.

After the parade people stuck around for the concert of Miguel & Mikael - I modern / folk duo with a DJ - it was all pretty wild but I would follow on Spotify. Listened for a bit and then headed back to the Albergue for the night. I could still hear the music but it was manageable… for a while. At midnight, I can only assume the DJ took over and played honestly a really good set and I thought about going back out but I was just so tired so I stayed - wasn’t worth it. The bass drops rattled the windows and woke me up every few minutes. The show finally ended around 3 AM and I got a few good hours before being woken up by the roosters outside… the duality of Barcelos.

Meals:

Breakfast at the hotel - oatmeal
Second breakfast at a cafe - pastries and coffee
Lunch - Meal of the day - vegetable soup, chicken fried steak, fries, salad, beer, and coffee (8 €)
Dinner - Meal of the day at Restaurante Pedra Furada (highly, highly recommend) - vegetable soup, salad, roast veal and potatoes, and a few radlers.
Additional - some pastries at the street fair.

Step count: 47,751

Church count: 7 spotted, 2 visited, 2 chapels, plus lots of mini shrines

Prayer intention: for those suffering from chronic pain

QOTD: there is no path to happiness, happiness is the path

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