Saturday October 7 2017 I set out for Madrid catching a flight at Copenhagen Airport at mid-day. I checked in at a nice guest house (hostal) right next to Puerta del Sol in the heart of Madrid and spent the evening celebrating the 400th anniversary of the construction of Plaza Mayor together with thousands of spaniards and tourists.
October 8 Early Sunday morning I caught my pre-booked Flixbus with destination Lisbon from the bus station Estación de Autobuses Sur. Got off at the Oriente railway-station in Lisbon. My brother was staying in Lisbon for a couple of days and offered me a space in his double room. We spent a nice evening eating and drinking in the center of Lisbon.
October 9 at eight o’clock I left the hotel walking past the cathedral and on to the Vasco da Gama bridge leaving the muddy delta of the mighty river Tejo behind me. The river Tejo that was going to be my faithful companion for several days to come, all the way to Golegã. I spent a couple of hours trudging through a vast wetland ending up in the evening in Alverca where I found a single room with shared bathroom for 17:50 €.
October 10 I moved 30 kilometers to Azambuja. Long, straight , boring stretches through uninteresting industrial areas.
October 11 Azambuja to Santarém on Wednesday. 32 km. Hosteleria Tagus 35 € breakfast included. I first checked in at a shelter managed by the church (5 €) but there was no way to lock the door to my room and no towels so I slid on to a café and asked for lodging. The café owner made a call and ten minutes later I was introduced to Carlo’s five-room apartment on the sixth floor (with no elevator), with a kitchen and two bathrooms, that he had made into a boarding house.
October 12 Santarém to Golegã via Azinhaga which is known as the birth place of José de Sousa Saramago, Nobel prize laureate in literature in 1998. Huge plantations of pepper, corn, and vine.
October 13 Golegã to Tomar on Friday. Overcast before lunch and nice temperature for walking but in the afternoon the sun made it really hot again. Found a room at the cathedral in the center of Tomar, a nice village with a river with a waterfall right in the middle of it all that attracts birds and creates movement.
October 14 Saturday from Tomar to Alvaiázere. A notice urging the pilgrim not to continue on the signposted path because of the risk of being abused left me a bit bewildered for a moment but I decided to carry on as planned. Empty bottles and deserted buildings indicated that, at times any way, the notice was probably well motivated. The day turned out to be very hot but luckily it came with a lot of clouds. Checked in at a shelter in a room that bore the name of the author of my guide-book. The man in his seventies apparently shows up every now and then and thus has been made a part of the marketing plan of the shelter.
October 15 2017. Alvaiázere to Rabaçal via Ancião. Thirty-three degrees centigrade at seven PM. Forest fires are raging againg in hundreds of places in the north of Portugal. Last year dozens of people died trapped in their cars in the midst of a fire on a forest lane. Very sad. Very unnecessary. Spent the night at a shelter with a restaurant in the company of happy Portuguese people, eating and drinking really well.
October 16 Rabaçal to Coimbra on Monday. Coimbra is an old Roman stronghold with the river Mondego parting the university city in two.
October 17 Forest fires in my route and heavy rainfall and thunder storms coming in from the Atlantic ocean made me decide to bring my walk to an end for the time being. I caught a train to Porto where I spent a pleasant afternoon and in the evening I continued by bus to Vigo and Hotel Naútico.
October 18 Train from Vigo to Madrid Chamartín on Wednesday. Madrid has caught on as a popular tourist attraction lately which at times can make it very hard to find lodging (and that goes for Barcelona and Porto as well by the way). I found a guest house not far from the Barajas airport and caught a city train to the airport, the subway to the suburb of Barajas, and the bus to Paracuellos de Jarama where my guest house, that had a similar name, was located. The hotel turned out to be a complete dump but because of it’s proximity to the airport it came at a price of 120 € for a dark, miserable room with a toilet seat squeezed in against the edge of the bathtub in such a way that even I with my pretty short legs couldn’t sit down but had to half stand carrying out my needs 🙂 At last I got hold of a Vueling flight to Copenhagen the next day, via Barcelona, for 250 €. Not cheap, but half the price of what was offered by Norwegian.
October 19 I ended my stay in the Iberian peninsula for the time being and went home.
