19/09/2015
Today we are not waiting for the smell of pizza. We are leaving Portugal, to spend our last night in what I believe should be a very special place in Spain.
The original plan was to drive directly to our destination, and whilst we did not know a great deal around the area we were going to, we figured that there must be something worth exploring. But plans are not always worth adhering to. At Ponte de Lima we decided to turn off, and head for the Parque Nacional Da Peneda-Gerês, a national park situated in the Peneda and Gerês mountains in the northern part of Portugal. Originally, I planned on us spending a night here, but somehow that got outvoted by other things we rather wanted to see / do.
The Minho region is the greenest region in Portugal, and continued to wow us around every corner of the winding mountainous road. Many small farms handed over from generation to generation, are dotted alongside the road. The Lima river runs through this area, and with its crystal clear water, provide images fit for any jigsaw puzzle.
Soajo, a small town high up in these mountains, was the real place we wanted to see. Here, several espigueiros (granaries) are perched up on the highest point in the town. These espigueiros have their origins in the 18th century. A tomb-like structure with slatted sides used to store maize and grain. They are raised on columns, to ensure that hens and rodents don’t get to the maize, and designed to keep the content at the correct humidity. The ornamental crosses make them look like small churches, and I suspect with them housing such precious food supplies in such remote areas, they were considered fairly sacred.
The balance of the road to Santiago de Compostela was equally beautiful. Like the Portuguese, the Spanish have equally good roads, and finding our way to our accommodation was fairly effortless.
For a while now, I have considered walking the Camino de Santiago, and seeing that our flight back to South Africa started off in Vigo, just south of Santiago, I grabbed the chance to at least just experience the atmosphere in the final destination of the Camino. In some weird way, I was hoping for the experience to not be as special as I imagined it to be, so I could put an end to the fascination I have about the Camino.
In 2014, over 230 000 people walked the Camino. That means an average of over 600 per day. Add to that all the tourists (regrettably, like us) who come to observe those brave ones that actually do it, and you get a very busy city. We walked around for a while, just quietly taking in the atmosphere. In an alleyway, a woman was singing ‘O mio babbino caro’. It stopped me in my tracks. The bell of the cathedral announced the hour. It has an almost hollow, foreboding sound, unlike any other bell I had heard.
It is very difficult to explain why, but Santiago de Compostela touched me deeply. Yes, I would love to arrive here on foot one day.
