Most of the pilgrims who chose the coastal Portuguese Way start in Porto, Tui, or Vigo and walk for 10-12 days. It is the second most popular of the Camino routes.

I wanted to more fully embrace the experience and chose the longer route from Santarem.

That decision is why it took Bill awhile to decide to join me. Walking up to eight hours a day for 10 versus 26 - definitely need to be all in or simply not go. (I’m glad he’s here, for oh, so many reasons.)

Pretty quickly, we learned that this choice means having two distinct experiences. The first segment, from Lisbon to Porto, what I’ve come to call Before Porto (BP), is significantly less popular, with fewer pilgrims and fewer services.

You’ve seen how empty the path has been - we’ve gone all day without seeing another pilgrim - easily ID’d by the heavy pack on their back.

Ironic that we’ve had to stay in hotels off the path and take taxis to and from the trail because of the influx of people going to Fatima for the May 13 (today) Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. That has kept us from meeting more pilgrims, though I’d have expected to see them on the trail during the day.

No matter - we appreciated the time by ourselves and our new friend, Toby, who also had trouble finding accommodations.

Although we’ve spent plenty of time on cobblestone roads with or without sidewalks, avoiding potholes and cars, we’ve also walked past well-tended, productive farms, a windmill, shrines to Mary, village fountains, the remains of a Roman fort, noisy creeks, and eucalyptus forests, on paths wide enough to support four people walking astride and sometimes narrow enough to make the hiking poles unusable.

Anyway, we’ve walked, marveled, talked, thought, prayed, walked more, and slowed ourselves down to the pace of our breath. BP has been a welcome cocoon, as I expected it would be, yet somehow much more as well.

After Porto (AP) starts tomorrow. We’re taking the coastal route and will likely have a bit of rain the first few days.

We’ve been told we’ll meet lots of people, that it will be social, sometimes boisterous, punctuated with the opportunity for quiet reflection. We’re looking forward to all of it.

In the meantime….

PORTO!

Is there a more picturesque, historic, bustling, hearty city?

We immediately understood why it’s a world’s favorite for so many people. We’re in love.