Viana do Castelo, Viana do Castelo District, Portugal
Marinhas to Viana do Castelo 13.1 Miles
Again, we were the last to leave the B&B (still confused about that label). With the black-out blind down, it was after 8:30 when we got up. Grabbed our pizza from the fridge and we’re out on the busy highway a little after 9:00.
When we got to the center of town, near the church, we were spinning in circles looking for a yellow arrow. A local gentleman gave us a yell and told us to follow the cobblestone street for 400 meters and we would find the Camino.
We walked about half that and saw two young pilgrims having breakfast. They showed us the maps on their app and it showed two routes. One would be more inland the other more along the beach. One of our downloads said the beach had sections, literally having us walk on the beach; we wanted nothing to do with that and continued on the “high road”.
The walk getting us out of town was through really nice neighborhoods. The streets were all cobblestone, and many places had very elaborate flower gardens. In one of the most unique, there were two woman butchering and cleaning chickens.
Our coffee stop was in Belinho, at a cute sidewalk cafe that served breakfast, lunch and Happy Hour! Very friendly place and the coffee was top notch.
It turned very rural, and agricultural. The narrow stone roads had stone walls on either side, some of which seemed ancient. From the farm fields, we suddenly dropped into deep forest with very rocky and rooted trail. It almost felt like we were in the rainforest of Costa Rica with ferns, moss and old forest.
We descended the trail along a creek that leveled into a beautiful reflective pool. Just beyond that was a waterfall and a stone bridge crossing the creek. Definitely, the prettiest spot thus far.
Climbing up from the creek through more small farm-type landscape, always with the walls, we got to an area covered with thick ferns. Suddenly, in front of us was a beautiful church at the top of the hill. This would be the highest elevation of the day. We had probably gained about a 1,000 feet.
From here we would start our descent down to Viana do Castelo. We passed several pretty little and large churches and saw our first cow, actually smelled before seeing him. You guessed it, he was behind a tall stone wall.
We could see the port city of Viana do Castelo from several miles above. As we descended and got closer, we could see the half-mile bridge over the Lima River, that we would have to cross to enter the city.
The bridge was a little scary! The walkway was only wide enough for one person and the car traffic was flying by at breakneck speed which seemed only inches away. We were both relieved to get our feet on solid ground.
Our overnight would be at the Pousadas de Juventude. It was less than a quarter mile from the foot of the bridge and there was great signage leading us there. We had a private room, twin beds, and a balcony overlooking the Lima River.
We took advantage of the private shower and did a load of clothes in the FREE washer and dryer.
With that taken care of, we headed for necessities, a glass of wine and a beer at Beira Rio, right at the river’s edge. What a bargain at 2.5 euro each!
After checking on laundry we headed out to check out the historic city center and plaza for dinner options. Sue had her mind set on shrimp. A highly rated place said that after a really busy weekend, they were shrimped out! Wandering around, we found the “umbrella” street (literally a street with umbrellas over the street for several blocks). Restaurante Os Castrejos’ sandwich board showed shrimp, but did they also have our Caipirinha cocktail? The server apologized, but told us that the Liz bar would, he even gave us directions on how to get there. We thanked him and told him we would be back for his shrimp.
At the Liz we sat at an inside window table and had excellent Caipirinhas. They were 4.5 euros compared to last night at 4 euros. After our cocktails, we walked back to Os Castrejos for dinner, they remembered us. Sue got her shrimp and Dave grilled sea bass. Sue’s came with a salad and fries the sea bass with roasted potatoes and cooked cabbage. Both were excellent. Our total bill, with a bottle of wine was 37 euros - half the wine went back to the room with us.
We know we are bad because we went back to Liz for a second Caipirinha- we did walk more than 13 miles! Back at the Posada we sat on the balcony and talked of a great day, planned for tomorrow and hit the sack.
2025-02-06