Again we woke up to drizzle and fog. But this was not going to dampen our spirits, because today is the first day of our pilgrimage, and we were all eager to leave city traffic behind and fall unto contemplation of the Portuguese coast. But first we had to get to the coast, by following Boa Vista Avenue for a good 5 kilometers to the west to reach the seaside. Once we got there we took pictures of the small fort that protected the entry to the Duero estuary, and changed direction to the north, finally heading in the direction of Santiago de Compostela. We didn't go too far, because at a stop at the Information Bureau of the city of Matosinhos I saw a photograph of the incredible Cathedral of our Lord of Matosinhos, and turning on a dime we headed for downtown to see this jewel of religious art.
The outside of the cathedral is not very imposing, and could be described as squat and minimalist, an impression that is confirmed by a nave where the platforms used to take the saints in procession seem to be stored. Once you move under the stern looks of the saints of the church, you see a halo of light emanating from the altar and pulling you to approach what for all purposes is a grotto of pure gold. It is of course gold leaf over exquisitely carved niches, columns, sprays of leaves and flowers, and a magnificent oratory where Our Crucified Lord looks benevolently over the congregation. I have seen many beautiful works on gold leaf in the churches of Mexico, and can say that the Cathedral of Matosinhos would hold a place of honor amongst them.
Back on El Camino we went through many a beach, where school children in every imaginable uniform and age group were having their end of the year field trips. They were of course blocking the path so we slowed down and tried to attract their attention with "permiso", "disculpen", and other useless formulas, until Tita thought about saying simply "Olá!" It was the magic word. All the kids turned their heads at once, happily answered "Olá!" back, and parted like the waters of the Red Sea to let us through.
We did have our first challenge when the path we had been following was blocked off, and we had to climb a steep goat path to go around the hill. Normally it would not have been a big deal, but with bicycles that weight something like 50 kg it took a true Camino de Santiago effort to push them up, with the help of other pilgrims pushing from behind and we pulling from the front. We did it, and almost immediately struck a friendship with a mother and daughter from Denmark, also on their first day walking after starting from Porto (they must have started walking real early in the morning). Feeling full of ourselves we rolled for another couple of clicks, and stopped to have our elevenses at a tiny bar where the patrón welcomed us with open arms. Chrissy and Tita had their beloved espresso and a pastel de nata, Raimundo had a cool beer, and I had the first of many glasses of wine that I intend to mark my passage of El Camino with.
Vila do Conde and Povoa de Varzim are two beachside communities that merge with each other, very hype and very modern, and looking for a more "comfortable" restaurant we landed in a quite elegant place, where Raimund had a lamb dish, and the rest of us shared a grilled robalo (aka snook) that was very good.
After lunch I started hearing the feared "are we there yet", and since we still had 20 kilometers to go we turned on the turbo, reached Fão, crossed the Cávado River, and made our triumphal arrival at Esposende. By real good chance we arrived when the mother of our host was at the property, talking with her son, and wondering where these foreigners were. She saw the bicycles with panic and asked "where are you going to put them?" "I don't know, Do you have any suggestions?" Caught unawares she had to think fast and said "well, you could put them in my yard." Perfect! We quickly unloaded our saddle bags and bicycle batteries, took them up to our (once again) roomy apartment, and then followed her to her house where the bikes were safely inside the walled compound (which didn't stop paranoid Raimund from chaining his bike to one of the trees).
The afternoon was
delightful, with a nice walk along the estuary of the Cávado River, a visit to
the local cemetery (one of Chrissy's weird character flaws), and dinner at home
with a couple of pizzas and sliced bell pepper and tomatoes, to watch the England
vs Netherlands game. Spain and England are now heading for the final on
Sunday, when we will be in Cambados, so we are planning to make a night out of
it and hopefully help celebrate the final win by Spain. Viva España!
No comments:
Post a Comment