Part 8: Camino Highlights: More Favorite Moments

How do you even pick favorite moments? I have so many memories, and then as I reflect on the trip, I think of even more times when we were in awe of the landscape, the people we met, the sites we saw, and the feelings we felt during the trip! The following memories are things that haven't been discussed in previous posts or will be in upcoming posts.

It would be remiss of me not to highlight the churches along the Camino de Santiago. Many people walk the Camino for spiritual reasons, even though that wasn’t our primary reason, it’s still a huge part of the Camino. Next week, I'll discuss what it was like arriving at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.

A Simple, but Magical Day

It was our 5th day of walking, and just a day or two prior, I was questioning if the Camino was for me. On this day, everything seemed to fall into place. It probably helped that we’d stayed at a nice hotel the night before, had a fabulous dinner, and woke up to breakfast with a beautiful view to start our day.

This day just seemed to encompass what I imagined the Camino to be. We walked through the town of Viana do Castelo, which was super cute. There seemed to be everything from churches, flowers, cobblestone streets, a variety of homes, etc. Then we came to a walk in the woods. It was nice and relaxing, but we were starting to get hungry and weren’t sure where the next town would be.

It felt like out in the middle of nowhere when we stumbled upon the most beautiful cafe in the woods, Cafe de Cabanas. I’d seen this spot on social media, but didn’t realize it was right in the middle of the trail. It was such a great surprise, and we spent quite a bit of time having lunch, dessert, and taking pictures. I loved it so much, I even took pictures in the bathroom!

There was a pretty steep hill just after, so it was perfect timing for food and a break. After the climb, we descended into Vila Praia de Âncora, which was a little bit larger town, but with a lot of small-town charm. We picked up groceries and headed to our accommodations. After showering, we headed down to the beach, which was less than a block from our stay. We made our sandwiches and watched the sunset. This made me so incredibly happy, these were the experiences I hoped for while on the Camino. I loved the simplicity of the day, but finding the gems that made it so special.

I had hopes of swimming in the ocean while in Portugal, but I knew it would be quite cold. Instead, I took this opportunity to walk along the water for a bit. Keith had a pretty nasty blister, so unfortunately, he didn’t go down to the water. That was the only thing that would have made it better. Overall, just a simple day that had magical elements infused and what I had imagined the Camino to be. This might have been a sort of turning point for me. Things had been hard the first few days, physically and then mentally, because I was wondering if this was actually how I wanted to spend my time. These experiences solidified my love for the Camino.

Lost Phone

As Keith and I were walking one morning, he found a cell phone that had been left on top of a stone wall. Based on where we were, it was likely to be a pilgrim or a local walking that section of the trail for exercise. He picked it up and decided to take it with us in hopes that there would be a better place to leave it, where someone would be more likely to find it. As we walked with it, it began to ring. Keith picked up. It was Lola, the owner of the phone. She said they were also pilgrims and headed in the same direction as us. So this meant she was about an hour or so ahead of us. We determined a location that we could meet at, or we’d leave the phone there for her to pick up later.

As we continued walking, we ran into a marathon that was going in the opposite direction. We felt like fish swimming upstream in a sea of runners. We needed to stay out of their way and decided to take a break where some other pilgrims were gathered. Keith and I ate some food and began checking the route when the phone began to ring. He answered it and could barely hear, so he began walking away from the crowd. As he did this, I noticed a woman nearby doing the same thing. It felt like slow motion as they each walked and talked, I scanned back and forth, and just as I determined they were on the phone with each other, they had realized this too!!  It was so funny as this spread through the group, we were the ones who had the missing phone. We’d just spent probably 30 minutes or more sitting near them.

Largest Hamburger I've Ever Ordered

We were super hungry and hitting the part of the day when many restaurants were not serving food between their meal times. It had also been raining, so we were looking to dry out a bit. We found a bar, A Xurela, with a covered patio that seemed like a good place to get food and rest. Our waitress was a bit annoyed because they were shutting down the kitchen, and we were having trouble communicating quickly between different languages. Honestly, we just wanted any food available. We were getting situated and didn’t understand the menu. Since we needed our order immediately, we got a couple of burgers and fries.

We were fairly certain we ordered something familiar. When she brought out our food, the burgers were a whole plate of a giant burger, cut into quarters! There was probably over a pound of ground beef on each plate! Our eyes were so shocked that we just died laughing. This broke the ice with the waitress, and she realized we had no idea what we ordered.

Looking back, the burger was 11 euros each, which is way more than any meal we’d ordered, much less just a burger. It was so funny, and we were thankful she helped wrap up the leftovers, which were about 75% of each plate! We had these burgers not only for this lunch, but for dinner that night and lunch the next day!

Upcoming Post

Next week will highlight completing the Camino, arriving at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, and exploring the city for a few days before heading home.

Do you have any favorite stories from a vacation or trip? What memories stick with you long after the journey is complete? Any inspiring people or comical misunderstandings? Let us know in the comments section below.👇 💬: