La vita è bella

Religion and self-help books claim that enjoying the little things is the key to happiness. It’s easy to keep yourself busy and overlook them in pursuit of higher achievements. Have you forgotten how to enjoy the simple pleasures of life? Pack some clothes, tie your sneakers and walk – a pilgrimage will teach you!

Little miracles start happening once your physical suffering is over.

While your emotional response gets recalibrated, you celebrate the lack of pain with gratitude and continuous joy. Here comes the sun!

I woke up the next morning after a particularly painful day, and let my autopilot take over. My feet still hurt a bit, but they were well-rested, light as a breeze. Maria and I decided to have breakfast in Viana do Castelo, just across the Lima River. Crossing the bridge was an unpleasant experience. Why so? Just like any previous bridge on the coastal Camino, this one perfectly fed my fear of heights. We were walking on a narrow pavement with a strong side wind, while the bridge was shaking from the dense morning traffic. All this time we had a perfect view of the Santa Luzia church on top of the hill, but I did not dare to take a picture until we were “out of danger”. Maria almost lost her Camino shell!

Interesting trivia: this bridge was designed by the famous Eiffel himself.

Viana do Castelo has a beautiful historical old town, especially in the morning sun. We decided to enjoy it a bit longer and have our breakfast right next to the cathedral. Our bakery offered an impressive choice of desserts. I went for Torta de Viana, a local specialty – basically a fluffy sponge cake in a roll. I liked it, but not nearly as much as pastel de nata.

Since we were leaving Portugal soon, I went to a kiosk to get some post stamps for the adoptive children of my Czech friend. The children have built a very impressive collection from my travels so far. I found everything I needed – stamps, postcards and a smell of freshly printed paper. The smell was so satisfying that I had a hard time leaving the kiosk. A light bulb lit up in my head – The smell is also for take away! I rolled up a newspaper in my hand and carried it throughout the day.

Whenever I felt like it, I buried my face in the paper and enjoyed my little moment of pure happiness.

We bumped into our friend Kathy as we were leaving Viana. Diane took a taxi because of hip pain. Maria’s blisters were not healing well, but we were still hoping that they just needed time. Kathy, the blister anger, came prepared. She demonstrated to Maria how to apply medical tape to prevent future blisters and shared some of her blister patches. I didn’t have any experience with this, but the Camino always provided Maria with pilgrim nurses. After Kathy’s love and care, Maria felt motivated to continue. Kathy also pointed out that there is no shame in taking a taxi when you are in pain, or getting your luggage transported for you. Maria was strong and stubborn and chose to carry her pain and personal belongings to our next destination.

Kathy picked up her fast pace and waved goodbye while we slowly continued uphill. We were walking with the same pace as a group of three men. Maria heard them speaking Romanian and introduced herself. What a surprise to meet other Romanians on the Way! I walked behind them for a while and listened to them having fun. Maria sounded excited and cheerful; the guys talked a lot! They were three friends from Reșița near Timișoara. Marian, a Camino veteran, had walked many Caminos before. He embraces and shares the Camino spirit in books and public talks. He wrote 7 books and there is more to come! Once he did the Camino with his son, now he wanted to share the adventures with his friends. Costel is a famous Romanian poet and Firita (a difficult name to remember) is a book publisher.

The day was getting hot as we walked through small historical villages. In terms of Camino language, this translates to painful cobblestones. Luckily the villages provided at least a bit of a shade. When we reached an opening with a panoramic view of the coast, the Romanians took a mini break and started digging into their backpacks.

Maria could not believe her eyes when they pulled out Romanian beers! They brought them from Romania and carried them all the way from Porto.

Just in case, what if Portuguese beer sucked? We were both impressed by their dedication. Many people bring a piece of home on the Camino, but very few people care about its weight. I only had a sip to taste it, otherwise I would get sleepy. Maria savored this little surprise as we continued walking through a forest. 

I could not communicate with the Romanians, but I felt great in their company. Maria occasionally translated something for me and kilometers passed by while we were having fun. We took another break in a typical Camino bar, greeting fellow pilgrims all the time. The Scottish couple Glenn and Jane appeared again, and Glenn was still limping. I refueled my walking engine with a daily dose of pastéis de nata and fresh orange juice. When Maria was talking to the Romanians, I tried reading my newspaper, not just smelling it. Written Portuguese was quite easy to understand, and it was fun challenging my brain a little. Since Romanians were still finishing their beer, I decided to use the spare time to brush my hair in the breeze. Pure joy! Romanians responded with pure village humor. “You are so beautiful that you could be Romanian!” “Do you have a boyfriend? I know a guy for you, he has 100 goats!” 🤣

Later in the afternoon we had lunch together in a hipster café against a backdrop of a cute church. The Romanians shared their stories from this Camino. Sometimes they slept under the stars when they could not find accommodation. They discovered a beautiful lake and they could watch the stars at night. Maria found an albergue in Caminha for them (wow, there was still something available?) and then we looked at the options for the next day. Since there were no albergues available, we decided to share a big country house together. Even though we just met 3-4 hours ago, Maria and I trusted them immediately. They accepted us as a part of the group, and we took care of each other on the path. This is how we acquired a Romanian family.

Together we reached the coast in Vila Praia de Âncora. A little church on the main square seemed like a nice place to rest and get a stamp into the pilgrim passport. I did not expect much from it, that’s why the wow effect was strong. Now imagine – the interior was full of carriages overflowing with metallic decoration. It looked like something many people would put on their shoulders during Easter procession. We admired the detailed artworks in peace and awe. An old local woman was praying to the Madonna from one of the carriages and I watched her, fascinated.

Maria and I split from the group and enjoyed the coast at our pace. We found a swing, a very pink car and encouraging signs to keep walking.  The Romanians caught up, and we kept meeting and splitting at different places. It was a late afternoon and we had to hurry. Our albergue offered us a communal dinner at 7 pm, and we were determined to make it on time. No more chilling until the end, long way to go.

The coastal landscape had switched from sand dunes to rocks. A strong wind picked up as we were approaching the last kilometers of Portugal. Spain was clearly visible in front of us, and it had a shape of an old volcano called Santa Tecla. The last bit of the road was challenging because we were very tired. That’s why I ate a müsli bar for the last sugar kick and we marched as fast we could towards Caminha. Again, nice music did the trick for us. I, I follow, I follow you, deep sea baby… What a long day. 30 km for real.

We made it! Just in time for dinner. The employees of the albergue were concerned and called to ask us if we were coming.

The albergue Bom Caminha was cozy, clean and it had the true Camino atmosphere. My favorite albergue from the entire Camino Portugues, what a gorgeous place!

I only wished we could enjoy it longer. We felt at home, at ease. I immediately rushed to do laundry and arrived a bit late for dinner. I was still too hyped to just sit and talk, so doing laundry helped to calm me down. At some point we just gave up on doing laundry every day. The priorities were clear: good sleep + food > good smell.

Speaking of good smells, a super tasty dinner of two courses followed, in a nice company of 14 pilgrims.  Kathy and Diane were with us as well ❤️ In the beginning everyone shortly introduced themselves (name and nationality). That’s how I discovered two Slovaks sitting in front of me. They were a couple of high school sweethearts, trying to find a way to settle down together. I knew that it was hard for young people in Slovakia, but it was still sad to hear about their experience. I feel disconnected from Slovakia and I am not planning to do anything about it. Slovakia for me is like a family that I need to keep at distance, otherwise it would negatively influence my mental health. Maria was happy for me because I met someone from my country too, and we had a nice chat. The couple walked faster than us, 25-30 km a day, so we wouldn’t see them again. There was also Olivier, a friendly young Dane living in Berlin, who cheered for us yesterday. He was really struggling with blisters, so I advised him to try Altra shoes for the next Camino. The next day he continued inland towards the Central Camino Portugués.

Maria and I meditated in our dorm room, but I still felt too excited to sleep. So many paths crossed at this table, joy was shared like bottles of red wine. As my dear Italians say: ”Ogni vino fa allegria se si beve in compagnia (Every wine makes you happy if you drink it with company)”. Homemade salad and pasta with veggies earned a round of applause for our cook. Reaching Santiago de Compostela is not the goal; it’s days like this. La vita è bella!