Thomas journals

  I had a fu n serendipitous occasion   yesterday -- I chanced to buy a different newspaper on Monday, and in that paper a small article caught my eye: "European Championship of Sushi tomorrow at Quinta do Jordão" ... I had never heard of either, but I looked up the Quinta, and just see a simple webpage advertising a wedding venue.  hmm. I was free yesterday afternoon and not far from the Quinta, so I took a couple of bus rides and a 10-minute google-maps-directed walk to find a small dirt road with a small sign to the Quinta (it's in the middle of the city!).  No human being in sight.  I walk several minutes down this narrow dirt road which then opens up to a rough garden area, then a large dirt parking lot filled with cars.  Still no people in sight.  I walk through the parking lot, up into a manicured garden, down an allée, finally see a large tent with some guys hanging out at the entrance.  Nobody pays attention to me.  I walk in to find...

 Every few days I download the podcast from Radio France International, their daily news in Français facile ...easier in that they speak more slowly and clearly.  It's my way of keeping some ability in the language, and keeping in touch with that world.  Indeed.  Today as I walked home from the nearby Reservatório Museum (closed--they're on strike!), I heard the RFI report about the newly-released book of Astérix & Obélix, the famous comic-book characters of ancient Gaul.  The new book is titled Astérix en Lusitanie -- the Roman name for Portugal!   And, my walk home would pass by our neighborhood French bookstore, Ma Petite Librairie (really geared to children's books).  And indeed they had the new book prominently displayed, so I had to go in and purchase it, and then read it, cover-to-cover.  Great practice, and great fun as it plays with the language and the stereotypical Portuguese -- and French, and Roman -- characteristics, using th...

  Monday the 6th of October: we all gathered in the lobby of the B&B Hotel Milladoiro for our final 7km walk to the Cathedral.  Down hill through a beautiful woodland, then along asphalt side roads under and over highways, through the suburbs – when faced with an alternate (more level, less built–up) route, we chose the shorter route through the city streets.  Father Colin split off at one point because his lodging was booked nearby and he wanted to drop off his backpack there.  The remaining five of us soldiered on, occasionally wondering about this turn or that turn; but by this time the cathedral was generally in sight.  We chose less-trafficked streets, along old colonnaded market roads, to the grand plaza of the cathedral where we posed for the requisite celebratory selfie photos; then we sought the Pilgrim Office.  Wandering around trying to follow obscure GPS directions, we finally found it and waited in the blessedly-short queues to get our off...

  October 5th we met at 9am, walked an hour for breakfast at Hotel Ascot, along the road.  Then a long varied hike, beautiful sunny weather with birdsong, heavy dew, many pilgrims on foot and on bicycles.  Really varied trail, with many forks in the road. We stopped at Casa dos Amigos for coffee and croissant, but they had no wi-fi!   The remainder of the walk seemed even longer, as our destination was now in sight!  We scheduled a stay at a nice hotel in the suburbs purposely, as the downtown lodging is full, and we wanted to arrive at Santiago in the morning, in good time for the daily noon pilgrim mass.  B&BHotel Milladoiro is very nice.   Barb joined us, having taken the train from Porto!  But again, we were in suburbs with few nearby dining options on a Sunday.   We caught a burger across the street at La Central , then walked a ways to La Trastienda del 7 for a group dinner in a crowded restaurant. 

  October 4th we are walking along the final portion of all the southern camino routes, so there's a constant stream of pilgrims.  There is also a variety of pathways, mostly well-flattened and cared for, with few services along the way, quite out of normal highways.  In the photo I am pointing out the sign indicating that this route follows the old Roman road-- Via Romana XIX. We often passed, or were passed by, the same sets of pilgrims.  The few cafés along the way were crowded, especially because it rained lightly the entire day.  But we did find respite with some typical Spanish egg&potato torta . We walked through Pontecesures, the Roman port at the uppermost navigable portion of the river, where the body of St.James reportedly arrived by boat.  One alternate "spiritual” route for the Camino involves a boatride up the river to retrace those hallowed ways.   We walked into Padrón with its chemical factories, and several old abandoned factory ...

  October 3rd up at 7:30, breakfast at the hotel, met the group at 9.  We walked through Pontevedra along with many pilgrims from many countries.  Several hills up and over train tracks and highways, through forests, with a long long stretch between cafés!  Finally stopped at Café Don Pulpo.  It was a long walk on a surprisingly sunny day to Caldas de Reis; the hike moves inland, though occasionally along woodland trails and streams.  We are meeting several other groups of pilgrims along the way several times, as we all stop at different resting points:  Polish, Canadian, American, German, Swedish, and mostly Spanish pilgrims were obvious.  Caldas=hot-spring.  Why had I not booked at a spa? But Albergue Agarimo was a pleasant surprise: an albergue where I had a single room, others were in multi-bed rooms with a shared kitchen. The staff was terribly pleasant and helpful.  I took advantage of the (pay) washers and dryers to give my clothe...

October 2nd: I gallantly offered to join Lisa in her Uber from Redondela.  We waited thirty minutes for the car (a very nice Mercedes EV), then another 40-minute drive to Pontevedra, the pleasant touristic city that has set aside a substantial portion of old-town to pedestrian streets.  The others stayed at Hotel Virgem Del Camino, while I booked at Hotel Madrid.   I dropped off my backpack, then returned to lunch with Lisa at the Hotel Virgem Del Camino–surprisingly big fish lunch.    Pontevedra is worth a tourist visit; I took advantage of my early arrival (before the hotel room was available) to visit the municipal museum – very big building beautifully exhibiting hundreds of local paintings and a reasonable discussion of the area history.  Again, evidence of Spain's wealth in such a lavish free museum, sparsely attended.  The central plaza's church is dedicated to pilgrims, so I got a "sello” there of course.  Then I checking in to Hotel ...

 First of October:   The hike out of Vigo had a brutal uphill stretch – about 500feet sudden elevation along a narrow asphalt roadway.  The views from the height were spectacular, but that climb was most memorably unpleasant, as it was also amid suburban housing blocks.  Further on we had a pleasant lunch at a rural municipal café.  A long hike then to Redondela, where I was booked at Pilgrim Rooms, a hotel-like albergue with private rooms – I had to search for wi-fi to confirm the address and instructions!  There were few restaurants open in Redondela, and those were full of pilgrims; we eventually found Celtic Luada, an Irish-style pub with no Guinness.  But the evening was beautiful, with a quaint town square, kids with soccer balls, adults at outdoor cafés, a folk choir practicing songs, beautiful late summer evening. And did I note that the timezone changed, in Spain, one hour later -- so the sun set at 9pm!

Tuesday the 30th,  we all walked to Muffins Café for a quiet breakfast, then on the trail at 9:20 along city roads with small sidewalks for an hour or more before descending to the coast by Coruxo, along the corniche of the bay.  Then again up a long hill into Vigo.  At the outskirts of town Lisa's feet were hurting badly, so I found wi-fi and called an Uber to take the two of us the remaining three miles to Hotel Atlantico, the best hotel of the trip.  I sought out a barber for a shave, and Lisa went to a doctor to diagnose her blisters–the doctor bandaged both feet, prescribed antibiotics and gave her a stop-hiking order!  She decided, sadly, to remain on the camino, but to Uber between our remaining hotels, then possibly walk our last 10km in to Santiago.  Unfortunately, this disqualifies her from the official compostela awarded to pilgrims who walk the last 100km to the church.   That night I ate dinner on my own at Ramen Shifu – unpleasant...

 Monday September 29:  I met up with the others, walking along a highway with occasional bypass to local paths.  Then up the old Roman Road for beautiful views of the coast and headlands along the woodland path that showed the ruts of generations of cartwheels and sledges.  Then downhill sharply, through suburban houses to the wealthy town of Baiona.    By this time Lisa was increasingly suffering from blisters, stopping hourly to nurse them.  My feet were also feeling the strain, with a few calluses threatening to blisterize, and a sensitive achilles tendon in my right foot along with sensitive metatarsal bones there – but as long as I simply walked simply, not running or jumping, it went okay.   September 29th, Monday noon, the Baiona Tourist Office was closed, but I found the post office and mailed the card to Porto (it arrived two days later!).  Lunch at Cafeteria Monterrey, for excellent mussels and a Fanta Limón.  We walk...

Sunday September 28:  w e walked up the coast through very pleasant trails with coastal views.   At a particularly beautiful seashore lavadouro, Fr.Colin officiated an informal morning prayer service for this Sunday morning.   On up the coast, to a rest stop near the Monastery of Oia, Church of San Salvador, where they were celebrating the festival of Virxe de Libertamento, with a procession passing us along the corniche!   We noticed the town's finest walking over to the fancy seaside restaurant, while the normal folks hung out along the corniche.  We hiked on to Viladesuso, where I stayed separately at Hotel Costa Verde.  We met for dinner, where I finally tried the famous local scallops, Zamborinhas , and Pimentos Padrón .

September 27th, Saturday: a lighter walking day as we hiked a few kilometers up to Caminha along the coast.  We walked through the beachtown of Praia da Ancora, to the boardwalk.  We see clouds gathering, the wind coming up–rain is on the way.  We walked through a long straight flat woodland trail to the Caminha shoreline and corniche.  Seeking a post office, I realized that they are closed on the weekend!  We passed up the first touts offering a boat ride across the river, as Father Colin pointed out that they landed at the beach on the Spanish side, far from the pathway, so we walked on and found a roadside salesperson – Popeye the Sailor Man – with a carimbo and 6-euro tickets to ride across the river to the quay at A Pasaxe, Spain!  We sped across the river, over choppy water, rain spritzing, life jackets on, in 5 minutes.  He let us off at the concrete quay, and we hiked up the hill another 45 minutes in to the port town of A Guarda, known in Span...

  The breakfast-included in the morning helped us fuel up for the walk through town uphill, then through forest trails, with lots of side roads of vacation homes and quintas, evidence of money from outside (emigrés).  We stopped for lunch at a food-truck, Rolete do Vitor!  Then on to Âncora, and Vivenda Atlantico, a three-bedroom home in a compound with other dwellings, again a bit of a walk to grocery store–as we had a kitchen, PJ and Lisa and I walked to the store for dinner items.  At the (French) Intermarché supermarket, I found a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau! (generic, tastes like good homemade wine) And I purchased a card to send to Barb, planning to find a post office the next morning. I collected some of our photos in a google-photo-album 2025CaminoDeSantiago.  For reference sake, here's a link to the previous year's 2024Camino album.  We took the same basic route both times.

Today  was perhaps the longest scheduled hike, up to Viana do Castelo.  The final mile or so was a drudge, along a straight busy highway then narrow highway bridge (cough cough).  But Hotel Jardim do Viana was fine.  We all noted the wear and tear on our feet by this time.  I knew the shopping mall in Viana, so I went up there, pleaded with two different phone shops to no avail – they'd never seen such an error message, they can't do anything about it, I will need to reset my phone completely.   I updated the phone to iOS26, but the eSIMs still did not work.  I dared not do anything more radical on the road, as other functions (maps and email and whatsapp) worked fine on wi-fi.  This increased my reliance on the others, as I could not use google-maps while hiking!  An enforced detox from our always-connected life! We ate dinner at Felipe Pizza near the hotel.  I collected some of our photos in a google-photo-album 2025CaminoDeSantiago....

  This morning I took the metro; we met at the northern extent of the metro–Póvoa do Varzim.  We waited for the tourist office to open, to avail of their carimbo .  Then we walked through some busy streets west to the coast, then north along the beach, north through some small villages and seaside vacation apartments, to Esposende's outskirts where we booked into Grandma's Place, a strangely-renovated old house with individual lodging rooms and kitchens, actually nice and clean, but far far removed from any restaurants or shops.  We walked twenty minutes along a busy highway, past two closed restaurants, to arrive at Bem Estar2 Restaurant, which turned out to be quite good.  After attempting in vain to find an Uber, we walked back on country roads, quite pleasant.  This day I realized that my iPhone no longer functioned as a "phone”-- the eSIM files no longer worked!  So I had no cell-data; only wi-fi.  I decided that I would ask for help at the p...

  This is my second time to walk the Portuguese Coastal Route of the Camino , though this time will be more complete, as last year I skipped a few days due to Barb's illness and our suddenly-required visa appointment.  A fine pilgrimage, led by Fr. Colin Jones , a very experienced pilgrim and longtime member of the Confraternity of St.James .  He leads loosely, in that he advertised and held several informational meetings beforehand, and sent us his list of locations and lodgings that he had reserved – thus marking the dates and stages that we would walk.  On the route, he usually led the way, particularly in uncertain locales or when he knew of shortcuts or alternate preferable paths – that is, one or two percent of the time we did not follow the officially-designated Camino route.  He knew generally of availability of coffee shops along the way, and preferred certain stops.  He was intent on photographing all the chapels, churches and wayside crosses alon...

[in an attempt to create something nice for my Facebook page -- where I rarely post anything -- I submitted the following]   Porto is a city of culture, something that I appreciate particularly during the recent PortoPianoFest , twelve days of piano concerts in various locations around the city and suburbs.  I managed to attend six of the twenty or so recitals; all were refreshing to hear such displays of musicianship unaided by electronics.  Mea Culpa : a Scriabin sonata was so powerful, I wrote a comment accusing the Festival of amplifying the sound; they very politely responded that they would never amplify a solo piano!   It is also encouraging to see young musicians performing so well.  The programs were predominantly well-known classical pieces – several of which I know and/or have played – plus a number of newer and varied selections to expand our horizons.  The outdoor concert in the Crystal Palace Gardens was such a delightful setting on a sum...

 My previous post was a screed against amplification of a solo piano recital.  My spouse cautioned me against such an accusative tone.  She was right -- mea culpa . I sent the note (deepl-translated into Portuguese...I think they figured that out) to the organizers on the comment window of their webpage .  They responded ever so nicely to me, assuring me that any electronic devices on their piano were simply for recording purposes, that none of their solo piano performances are amplified.  So that's it.  My ears deceived me.  The first pianist truly did play so loudly that it buzzed my Apple Watch warning;  and the second pianist's performance included a loudspeaker setup that is permanently in that room, unused by this particular piano performance, so my perception was colored by my luddite attitude.  Indeed.  

  06Aug25:  I am an amateur pianist.  This is the week of Porto Pianofest !  I attended a solo piano recital yesterday and the day before, both at the University of Porto's Reitoria administration building, in the Salão Nobre and the Sala Comum.  The pianists were wonderfully skilled; they played an interesting and varied repertoire, and wrote helpful comments in the program introduction.  In each case the appreciative audience numbered around one hundred people.  I was however sorely disappointed by the fact that both performances were electronically amplified.  The first case was rather subtle, noticeable in that the beautiful Yamaha grand piano was obviously connected to electric devices, and in that the pianist's powerful Ravel and Scriabin chords were exceptionally loud (my Apple watch warned me of loud noise exposure) and rough – obviously the system could not handle the volume.  Yesterday in the Sala Comum I sat further back and notice...