Summer of Jubilee: Day 8
Ruiabeas to Valença
Actually one of the best nights of sleep I’ve had. I figured I would wake up in the middle of the night and get to watch the NBA finals, but I actually slept through the night for the first time. Highlights will have to do for me. Go thunder.
For breakfast, I went to the same café that I was at last night and once again saw my friend Franz. We sat and had breakfast and then Mark and Madeline joined in as well. Franz had to pack his bag still so we left, and he was a little behind. This day was not gonna be long so we weren’t going out a very fast pace. We crossed over an We crossed over a bridge that they called the Roman Bridge because it dated back to Roman times it was actually built in the 12th century. Barely worth noting. We learned that most of our path followed Roman Road XIX. So well, things have obviously been updated (to various decrees) it feels very cool to be walking along the path thousands if not millions have walked over over the past 2000+ years.
Soon we passed by a café where some fresh squeezed orange juice (and the bathroom) called my name. I stopped in while the other two went ahead. Shortly after I ran into Stephen again, he was tending to some blisters that he had complained about last night. And I ended up walking with him for a while. There was a girl sitting by a creek playing guitar and asking for donations so she could help pay for college. She was playing Mozart and was really very good so we stopped and listened for a while and gave her a few euros.
We then came across another café, it was hot so we grabbed some lemonades and chatted. So many people that I had met along the trail were there and that was really fun. Stephen told me that after thinking about what I said last night about how much I appreciated my extended family, he was now planning to reach out to his cousin that he hadn’t seen in several years when he got back. He said they were really close growing up and he hadn’t realized how much he had missed that. It was hard not to cry in that moment you’ll never know the impact you have on people, and it was really nice to hear that what I had said, affected him in that way.
We each headed out at different times, I came across a food truck with an extremely pushy owner. So I came across a food truck with an extremely pushy owner. So I ended up overpaying for a little pierogi. But it was pretty good. I continued on mostly through towns. The towns are starting to have more and more Camino de Santiago, murals and statues.
With about 5K left in my day Franz caught up to me at a church and we walked the rest of the day together. This day could either end in Valença or Tui, Valença being on the Portugal side and Tui on the Spain side. There was a fort in Valença that I wanted to explore in so I planned to stay there, Franz had already booked accommodations in Tui but walked around with me for a bit “because it’s you” - my heart can’t take these all kind words today.
When coming up to the fort, I was amazed by how grand it was to which Franz replied “this is a just a small fort”… humble my little American heart. I apparently didn’t take any photos from the outside (sorry about that) but on the inside, there were shops and cafes, and lots of people going about. There was also a church and a chapel inside.
I stopped off at the Albergue to shower and get a bed, then went back into the town. When I got back, around 3:30, there was no one still in town. The siesta makes its was over the boarder. I window shopped for a bit, almost half of the stores had bedding and towels.
A ‘vino verde’ was recommended to me - it was a very crisp white wine, definitely great for a hot summer day. I planned to write some more on the blog but then two women called me over asking if I was also a pilgrim. One woman was from Germany and the other Iceland.
Neither woman spoke great English, but the woman from Iceland was telling us about how the sun never goes down in the summertime and so she’ll just fish until four or five in the morning sometimes. And how she has no desire to be in the city more than a day at a time.
After dinner, I headed back to the Albergue and sat in the courtyard area, once again intending to write more blog. But just as I sat down an Italian man who lives in Belgium as a English professor came and talk to me for a while - he was biking the Camino with his 11-year-old son and his son was not a fan of it. He really wanted to know some good book recommendations from American authors so he could learn the language better, and he had already read everything I suggested. He was better read in English than I am.
They went to get dinner and I did actually get some writing done, but then two more people came up and we started talking and then they invited me to join as they ate. Some people go to the supermarket and cook for themselves every night. I’m always very impressed and I think if I were not in a new country, trying to try all these new foods I might do the same. This was a very nice group though, they had all met on the Camino and become very close. A woman from Italy, a woman from Thailand, and a man from Germany. Each of their days journeys had lasted much longer than mine because they love to take breaks and drink coffees and beers along the way. Not a bad trade off. But there was also one other guy from Portugal, who this was his third Camino, his first he had done on a regular road bike that definitely was not prepared for this type of journey that he had a friend who had a leg injury and couldn’t walk it and so he and his friends all biked it with him. This time around, he doesn’t have as much time as most of us and so he was putting in 20+ mile days, every day. And even with that he suggested walking over biking - you can’t get as much appreciation for the environment around you when you’re racing by on a bike. - I think about how much I miss while in my car.
Step count: 33,831
Church count: 3 spotted, 1 entered
Meals:
Breakfast - omelette and a cafe con leche
Lunch - pierogi
Dinner - steak sandwich and vino verde
Prayer intention: my pregnant friends and their babies - Kylee, Jessica, Francis, & Megan
QOTD: Ephesians : 5 : 15 - And so, brothers, see to it that you walk cautiously, not like the foolish
More Photos:
