Just a Little Further

Heading back home from camping in Cathedral Gorge, we intended to stop in Caliente for just a minute, planning to take a couple of photographs of the town’s historic railroad station. Then we met Rick Phillips, the volunteer docent at the town’s Heritage Boxcar Museum, and we ended up spending two hours.The historic train station is now the centerpiece of Nevada’s smallest incorporated city, and it’s an impressive building as you whiz past it on US-93. Caliente’s history is closely aligned with…

Marcie, in her last blog, wrote about our visit to Pioche, Nevada—a quiet little town tucked into the mountains of Lincoln County. We strolled past historic buildings, admired old mining relics, and snapped photos of the famous Million Dollar Courthouse. It’s hard to imagine that this peaceful place was once considered one of the bloodiest towns in the American West.During the silver boom of the early 1870s, Pioche exploded from a remote mining camp into a thriving boomtown. Along with miners,…

Approaching from the south on NV-321, we saw the sign welcoming us to Pioche. Our free subscription to Travel Nevada has inspired us to visit lots of towns and out-of-the-way places that we’d never have known about or visited otherwise. Many times we’ve whizzed past a town on our way to somewhere else, unaware of what there was to see there. So, on our way back from Cathedral Gorge State Park, we decided we’d stop in Pioche after having just read an article about why it might be worth a visit.…

Home again, home again! After five weeks traveling in Portugal and Spain, we were glad to be sleeping in our own bed once more, glad to have clothes to change into other than those in our backpack, glad to have a washer and dryer handy. We were not so fond, however, of the triple-digit temperatures that greeted us in Las Vegas when we arrived. After a week of catching up on piles of mail, routine medical appointments, paying bills, and unpacking, the heat was getting to us, and we were already…

On the move again, we boarded an early morning Flix bus in Lisbon headed south for a 3-1/2 hour ride to Lagos in the Algarve, the southernmost region of Portugal. Influenced over the centuries by the Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths, and Muslims, ‘Algarve’ derives from the Arabic ‘Al-Gharb’ meaning ‘the west’. The western Algarve extends from the city of Portimão to the western Atlantic coast. Dotted with small fishing villages and towns and one large city, Portimão, the coastline here is notably…

During our travels through Portugal, we encountered countless monuments, museums, and coastal landmarks dedicated to the nation’s remarkable Age of Discovery. Spanning the 15th and 16th centuries, this period of maritime exploration transformed a small European kingdom into a far-reaching global empire. It established the first all-water route to India, reshaped world trade, and marked the early stages of globalization.Driven by economic necessity, religious zeal, and geopolitical ambition,…

If you’ll remember, when we first arrived in Lisbon, Catherine and Michael met us at the airport and whisked us away to their home for de-jetlagging and outstanding hospitality. That said, we hadn’t had the opportunity to explore Portugal’s capital city at all, so we thought it was about time to check it out.Our bus from Tomar arrived on time at the Oriente Bus Station, a rather impressive bus/train station near Lisbon’s city center.

Few organizations in medieval history have inspired as much fascination as the Knights Templar. Warrior monks, crusaders, financiers, and eventually victims of political and religious persecution, the Templars have become legends far beyond their historical reality. I was fascinated by the Order long before we visited the Templar castle in Tomar. To prepare for the visit, I read Michael Haag's well-researched book, The Templars: The History and the Myth. What follows is an exploration of the…

The morning dawned dark and gray with intermittent showers and drizzle as we set out to visit the Templar Castle. During the 13th century, Tomar was one of the most powerful and influential towns in Portugal. Gualdim Pais, a nobleman, knight, and Crusader, founded Tomar and, as Grand Master of the Knights Templar, built the castle and convent between 1118-1160. His statue stands proudly in the Praça da República (Plaza of the Republic), Tomar’s large central plaza, which we passed frequently in…

We don’t really remember why Tomar came up on our radar. Maybe it was a discussion we had with Michael and Catherine when we visited with them before we started the Camino. Maybe it was a conversation with John and Pam, American ex-pats, whom we met in Ponte de Lima. Maybe it was simply the lure of the Knights Templar history, legends, and legacy. As we discussed the possibilities of where to head after Porto, Tomar made the short list and became our next destination. We booked a ‘direct’ Flix…

After finishing a long trek, one of the first things we do is sit down and compile the statistics from our walk and reflect a bit on the trip. The NumbersThe official length of the Camino Portuguese from Porto to Santiago de Compostela is approximately 150 miles (240 km). As usual, however, we managed to find a few extra miles along the way. Between exploring towns, locating lodging, wandering off to see interesting sights, and occasionally taking the scenic route by accident, our total came to…

We pondered whether or not to return to Porto. With just under two weeks left to explore Portugal, our list of possibilities was long. Whittling down the list was a nighttime discussion for several days. There was so much to see, but quite honestly, we were becoming a bit travel-weary. One can only absorb so much during a short period of time before everything blends and blurs. Rather than trying to see everything, we decided we’d confine our Portugal explorations to 3-4 places for 2-3 days…

It’s Finisterre in Spanish, in Galician it’s called Fisterra. It is that mystical place with sea-monster-infested waters that the Romans called the end of the world. We could have walked; it’s an extension of the Camino. We booked a 9-hour bus tour to Finisterre instead. The tour described seven major stopping points and ticked all the boxes for highlights of the area. We don’t mind riding buses, but bus tours are notably not our favorite way to visit an area. The guides generally talk too fast…

The "Compostela" is the official pilgrim's certificate awarded by the Catholic Church in Santiago de Compostela upon completion of the Camino de Santiago. It is more than just a certificate, however. The Compostela is a centuries-old symbol of perseverance, faith, exhaustion, blisters, shared meals, wrong turns, and the quiet determination that carries pilgrims all the way to Santiago de Compostela. Written entirely in Latin, the document officially recognizes that a pilgrim has completed the…

In the morning, we retraced our steps from Casa de Cruceiro back to the Camino and walked the last few miles of the Camino Portugues to Santiago de Compostela. We ascended a hill along the highway, wended our way through a wooded park, and finally caught a view of misty Santiago in the distance. Santiago in the distance We followed the last of the yellow arrows and scallop shell markers to the Cathedral, then threaded our way through crowds of pilgrims who had plopped down on the ground in the…

Rather than rushing the last couple of days on the Camino, we opted to split the usual two stages into three. We wanted to savor the last couple of days of walking and enjoy the anticipation of arriving in Santiago de Compostela.Our plan worked out well because our colds were blossoming. Our pockets were full of soggy and soon-to-be-blown-upon tissues (read that toilet paper because we haven’t seen a tissue in weeks), our noses were red and chafed, and we alternated taking turns coughing and…

It rained hard during the night and it was damp and raw as we left Pontevedra headed for Caldas de Reis in the early morning. Colorful murals bid us adieu as we walked out of town. The streets were wet and the cobblestones a bit slippery as we wended our way through the city streets. We weren’t alone. The closer we get to Santiago, the more crowded the path has become.

Whether you’re a minimalist pilgrim with a backpack held together by rope and duct tape, or someone who believes hiking is best rewarded with Egyptian cotton sheets and a hot shower, the Camino offers a lodging option for every style and budget. Over the years, we’ve stayed everywhere from crowded hostel bunk rooms with symphonies of snoring (and other bodily sounds) to elegant suites in charming villas. On the Camino, we’ve leaned toward a little comfort—namely private rooms with en-suite…

This was a tough day. It was cold, damp and overcast when we set out just after 0700. Rain threatened all day so we trudged along expectantly, our rain gear at ready, though we only felt a few drops throughout the day. It was the combination of very steep ascents and descents in the towns as well as over rocky, heavily rooted terrain that tired us out. It also ended up being our longest walking day of 16.5 miles.Beyond Camino sights, there are always things that catch our attention. Leaving our…

Galicia surprised us before we even had the chance to appreciate its rugged coastline, green hills, and Celtic mystique. As we crossed the border from Portugal into Spain, I expected at least one thing to become easier: understanding the language.Marcie is the linguist of the family and somehow manages to communicate almost anywhere we travel. I, on the other hand, have spent years enthusiastically butchering foreign languages across multiple continents. Even after nearly five years of living…

We were on the Camino by 0730 just as the day was lightening up. It didn’t take long to reclaim the path. We walked through a tunnel painted with a pilgrim mural, regained our Camino rhythm and began our 12-mile day. A kilometer marker indicated we were under 100 km (~60 miles) from Santiago.

There’s a phrase you hear often on the Camino: “Everyone walks their own Camino.” It’s repeated so frequently it risks becoming a cliché—but out here on the path, it proves true again and again.Some pilgrims plan every detail months in advance, reserving each night’s accommodation before they even lace up their boots. Others embrace uncertainty, walking until they’re ready to stop and trusting that something will work out when they arrive. Some carry everything they need on their backs, feeling…

Up an hill, down a hill… ups and downs seem to dictate our walking experience at the moment as the path follows the rolling hill terrain of Galicia. Based on our reading, this will continue as we near Santiago. We’re having a bit of a problem with the loss of an hour in the time change crossing into Spain. Since we’re in the extreme western part of Spain, the sun doesn’t rise till 0730 and it sets at 2130. The late sunset is great, but it’s really dark in the mornings at 0630 when we’re getting…

As we walk the Camino, there are moments when the modern world quietly slips away. A yellow arrow points down a cobbled lane, church bells echo in the distance, and beneath our feet lies something far older than the pilgrimage itself — the stones of an ancient Roman road.Again and again, we are reminded that much of the Camino Portugues follows the route of the Via XIX, one of the great Roman roads built in the first century AD. This road connected Bracara Augusta — modern-day Braga — with…

With a good Portuguese-style breakfast under our belts, we set out on yet another sunny morning. Note that other than a few showers at night, we have not had a rainy day since arriving in Portugal. Very fortuitous! Fingers crossed that our sunny day luck holds.Though our route today was not as difficult as the climb to Rubiães from Ponte de Lima, it still presented its challenges. There were significant hills, steep ups and downs… not quite as a steep, but tiring just the same. David had…

One of the first things we noticed while walking the Camino Portugues was the ground beneath our feet. Mile after mile, the path rolls across Portugal’s famous cobblestones — the iconic calçada portuguesa. They are beautiful, historic, and unmistakably Portuguese. They are also exhausting to walk on.The stones appear everywhere along the route. They line village streets, city sidewalks, church plazas, and rural lanes between vineyards and forests. It sometimes feels as though the entire country…

We scheduled our layday in Ponte de Lima partly because we knew what was coming next. The path is neither harder nor easier than we imagined. It is what it is. Some parts are magic and some parts are downright misery. Today, however, was the hardest, most challenging day we’ve experienced thus far… misery climbing, magic once we reached the top. We left our cozy apartment and rejoined the Camino once again. We passed by Manuel’s shop and he cheerfully stamped our passports, then reminded David…

One of the interesting things about walking the Camino de Santiago is discovering how many different names exist for the same pilgrimage route. Depending on who you speak with, it may be called the Camino de Santiago, the Way of Saint James, the Jacobean Way, the Xacobean Route, or even the Norse Jakobsland. Each name reflects a different layer of the history and traditions surrounding the pilgrimage and understanding why requires a little background. According to tradition, the apostle James…

Technically, this is our 8th day on the Camino, but we’re not walking towards Santiago today. Nope… we’re taking a day off to explore Portugal’s oldest chartered town (vilar), Ponte de Lima.First things first… we slept in. No alarm at 0630. No rushing to pack the duffel that needs to be lugged downstairs and ready for porter service pick-up by 0800. No ace-bandaging my knee, or wearing two pairs of socks, or donning our hiking shoes and backpacks. Nope, we lounged till nearly 0830, read the…

Ponte de Lima, which translates to Bridge of Lima, is a beautiful town that sits astride the Lima River. The Lima River is peaceful—quietly passing vineyards, ancient bridges, and quiet streets. Kayaks and canoes paddle alongside cafes and restaurants. To the Roman soldiers marching through the Iberian Peninsula, however, the Lima was no ordinary river. They believed it to be the mythical Lethe—the River of Forgetfulness from classical mythology. According to ancient tales, anyone who crossed…