The Camino Portugués

Day 0 - Signhtseeing in Oporto
Porto - Fountain on the way to the Cathedral	The railway station
Steps to the Cathedral	View from the Cathedral
Cathedral square Main door (right)
View of Porto from the cathedral sqaure	Azulejos (traditional Portuguese blue-and-white tiles)
The cathedral from the roof of the cloisters Detail of the ancient sundial - now much eroded (right) Detail of another azulejo panel (below left) Chapter House interior (below right)

Ceiling detail	Chapter house staircase
Two bridges over the Douro	Port cellars on the far bank of the Douro
The modern Me tro View from my bedroom at dawn (right)
Day 1 - Oporto to Vilar do Pinheiro
The first yellow arrow at the start of the Camino Portugués	Patterns in the cobble stones
Distant view of the River Douro over the rooftops	Ipomea
Rua dos Caldeireinos Torre dos Clérigos, 18th century tower 75m. high (right)
Rua de Cedofeita, the Camino combined with a pedestrian shopping street	Different times, different customs - an ancient tiled wall with additional modern graffiti
	Igreja do Cedofeita, one of the oldest . religious buildings in Europe, partly dating back to the 6th century. (left) Igreja de Maia (below) The Metro will take you out to the Forum do Maia, thus avoiding walking through all the suburbs of Porto - it is then a walk of some 400 m. to this church to pick up the yellow arrows of the Camino
A street in Maia	Beginnings of the country
The fuente de Godim, reputed to have particularly invigorating water, very useful for the many kilometres ahead	Mostly cobbled streets in this section
Opçao	Wisteria
	Lemon trees dropping their fruit
Tree lined avenue leading to the church in Vilar	Portuguese flags much in evidence everywhere
Day 2 - Vilar do Pinheiro to Rates


Large and long wall of Quinta de Alferes (with agricultural museum off to the right)
This route is very well waymarked, with yellow arrows on telegraph poles, stone walls, etc, etc.	The shaded public park at Vilarinho. The Restaurant Castelo serves very good meals.
	The Castelo, a fairly modern structure (left) The road out of Vilarinho (below)
Yellow arrow added to road sign	The recently restored bridge over the rio Ave. Unfortunately, part of the resotration has been demaged by floods, and a fence has been put across the far side to divert you to the modern road bridge further on.
View from the bridge	Barrier fence and old mill buildings in the river
The village of Ponte do Ave	Cobbled path
Capella de Nuestra Senroa do Ayuda
Section on the N-306. While there are not too many of these sections on roads with small (or no) verges, they are not too pleasant! It helps to be clearly visible - I found a Portuguese flag on my stick kept traffic a few more feet out from the side	Ancient door on a barn
	About to pass under the new A-7 motorway
First view of Arcos	A stony track
but fortunately quite short
Gateway to the Quinta Sao Miguel (tel: 919372 202) - a very nice place to stay	and have a swim after a long hot day
Bedroom	View from the bedroom balcony
Arcos church in the early dawn


	The church in Rates
Tiny chapel and wayside cross in the large main square
Idiosyncratic design of a house wall	Albergue de San Pedro de Rates - the first albergue on the route
Day 3 - Rates to Barcelos
Village street decorated for the feast of St. Anthony (above) Hollyhocks just coming out to brighten the path
	Combined Santiago and GR signs around Barcelos



Some ruined houses on the way
	Parish church of Pedra Furada with the perforated stone (or which this place is named) on the left
Restaurant Punta Furada in Rua Nove	More main road
Capella de Senhora da Guia, complete with drinking fountain
Stooks
Traditional painted ceramic panel on the balcony of this house and a modern lounging lovely over the garage!
Ruined house with an ancient shield	A barrowful of flowers wheeled by a friendly lady

Capela da Santa Cruz
Bridge into Barcelos	Rio calvado
Ruins of the 15th century palace of the Counts of Barcelos	View of the bridge from above
The medieval Pilgrim's Hostel, now renovated as the offices of the local council	Pedestriqanised street in Barcelos
The medieval Torre de Porto Nova, originally a gateway to the city	Templo de S. Bom Jesus da Cruz
Preparations for the annual Feast of the Crosses
Day 4 - Barcels to Ponte de Lima
	Chapel at Vial Boa with nice shady porch
	Lavadero in active use
	Wayside cross
	Santiago Pilgrim's street with the red-and-white GR sign below
Chapel near Vila Boa(above) The first of the official European Camino de Santiago signs
	Shaded woodland parth (above) Decorating the Capela de Santa Cruz for the feast day (left)
	Wayside fountain
	Many fields in this area have an arcade of vines all the way round them - this one also had stooks of hay

Detour to Quintaes	Fountain
Casa dos Asentos, Quintaes - the main hall They offer accommodation	Frontage - the house dates back to the 16th century
but has a very welcoming swimming pool	Stone is so plentiful here that fences are made from it
	Back on the main route at the Ponte de Tabuas, literally the Bridge of Boards, referring to an earlier wooden brindge
On top of the bridge. There is a little sandy beach for a swim below the bridge
Some of the road sections have no pavements - I tied a Portuguese flag to my stick to give advance warning to motorists	Capela de San Sebastião
Walls with built-in stone pillars



	Wayside cross and church of Vitorino dos Piâes
Another wayside cross


	Recently killed snake in the road
	Chapel with shade for travellers

Cafe in Bouca	Stooks of maize
The ruined chapel of Santiago in Bouca - this is the only church decdicated to Santiago on the Camino in Portugal	The statue of the saint is kept in a nearby house for safety
	Detail of the statue (left) Medieval Ponte de Barros over the Rio Trovela (above)
Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows with wayside cross (and bandstand off to the left!)	The last strectch walking along the level plain of the Lima valley

	The new motorway bridge across the Lima river
An amazing avenue of very tall plane trees at the entrance to Ponte de Lima	Torre de Cadena, built as a prison in the 13th century and now housing a library with Internet connections
	Street scenes in Ponte de Lima, a very pleasant little town


Footballers in the fountain!	The medieval bridge
A street market being prepared in the early morning	Dawn shadows on the bridge
Day 5 - Ponte de Lima to San Pedro de Rubiaes
View from the bridge	Coat-of-arms in stone
Looking back towards Ponte de Lima

Quinta de Sabadão	Quient coutnry lane with the A-7 motorway
	The country lanes are a welcome feature of this section

	The Camino twists beside the motorway
	and passes over a makeshift bridge (left) Rio Labruja (above)
One of the very few other pilgrims on the Camino in Portugal	Heather
	Revolta with chapel to Our Lady of the Snows and a good cafe, plus a man with a well-loaded whellbarrow on the road

Distant view of the church in the village of Labruja


A steady climb through the forest
The Cruz dos Franceses commemorating some French soldiers ambushed during the Peninsular wars
Starting the descent from Portela (304 m)
	A strange fountain the middle of the forest
Moinhos de Cabanas - a line of old watermills

	Pensão San Roque on the N-201
The nerefugioat San Pedro de Rubiaes opened in May 2006	Well-equipped dormitories
Courtyard with drying facilities and bicycle storage	Common room
The refugio was converted from a redundant primary school
Day 6 - San Pedro de Rubiaes to Tui






























Day 7 - Tui to Redondela

















Day 8 - Redondela to Pontevedra

Camino Portugués from Porto to Santiago de Compostela

Camino Portugués
from Porto
to Santiago de Compostela