Walking the Camino de Santiago

Aug 12-14 San Francisco to Lisbon

After being fortunate enough to travel in my awesome ‘pod ‘again this year, I arrived in Lisbon bright and early Sunday morning.

I arrived too early to check into my hotel, so I checked my bag at the counter and set out to explore the city. So many interesting similarities to Lisbon and San Francisco. Both sit on a bay neighboring the ocean, they both were hit with major earthquakes in the early 1900s and had to rebuild, they both have a cable car type transportation system that runs through the city, and both have similar suspension bridges that were designed by the same person!

What I find here is a melting pot of cultures with people visiting from all over Europe. Not very many Americans here in August. The Portuguese people seem friendly but more formal than the Spanish.

After a lovely meal at my hotel, I settled in for a much needed sleep from my trip, with an attempt to acclimate to the time change as much as possible.

August 14 – Woke up this morning, had a quick breakfast in the hotel and set off to find the Lisbon Cathedral (the start of the Camino) and see this lovely city. The weather here is a perfect 85 degrees. The 15 minute walk to the cathedral led me to the waters edge and through varying parts of the city full of shops and people enjoying their day. One thing I’ve not seen observed here (which I did in Spain) is Siesta, so no need to worry about the sidewalk being rolled up around 2pm. 😂

The oldest church in the city, it is the seat of the Patriarchate of Lisbon. Built in 1147, the cathedral has survived many earthquakes and has been modified, renovated and restored several times. It is nowadays a mix of different architectural styles. It has been classified as a National Monument since 1910. It reminds me of a smaller version of the church in Santiago de Compostela inside.

After touring this beautiful cathedral, I received my first ‘carimbo’ (stamp) in my freshly new pilgrim passport. I am officially ready to start! Now off to find the start of the trail that will lead out of Lisbon tomorrow morning.

What I did discover, in my research of this pilgrimage, is the official documented start is not at the Lisbon Cathedral, but that of the Igreja de Santiago (Church of Santiago), just up the hill, four tenths of a kilometer from the Cathedral of Lisbon. The church was originally built in the 1100’s, but rebuilt several more times after numerous earthquakes. According to legend, Christopher Columbus and his wife were married here in 1479! Since this is the official start location, I set off to locate it.

I walked down by the water and found a lovely cafe for lunch. Since seafood is abundant here, I ordered the lunch special, a beautiful piece of fish on a bed of sweet potatoes and a glass of Albariño, one of Portugals clean white wines.

I feel ready to start this journey. I was a bit apprehensive, but now finding the route, I feel better about it. This trek is a lot less travelled until you reach Porto, which is 400km into the walk, so it’s likely I may not see many (if any) other pilgrims until then. The other difference in this path is a lot less accommodations. They are spaced much further apart, so it will be a bit tricky to acquire a bed/room and may require shorter or longer days to reach them.