elcaminoportugal: Day 12, May 9, 2017, Pontecesures to Picarana

Vehicular Traffic on Ponte Cesures

A closed hotel restaurant meant that we had to find another restaurant of café for breakfast. That suited us just fine after enduring a very mediocre dinner the night before. We were only a half-hour walk from the larger centre of Padron where St. James’s body is said to have arrived by boat before its eventual transfer to Santiago de Compostela. He is also thought to have come early to preach from a local hill.

Park that lines the Rio Sar

We cross the Ponte Cesures, a medieval bridge that also supports vehicular traffic. Padron has an industrial side that we walk through before arriving in the picturesque medieval city centre. Beside the Rio Sar is long, gravelled walkway.

Huge cork trees line both sides with branches that extend across the wide expense between like a very long, very wide tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, we see the Mundo café decorated with images and sculptures representing different areas of the world, very modern and hip. We sit at a table by the window and order coffees and croissants.

After breakfast, we cross the square to the famous Iglesia de Santiago, a beautiful imposing church we enter from the side. In front of us, a middle-aged woman beckons. We do as we are told, cross the church to the lady at the centre who tells us that “O Pedron” is under the floor behind the altar. Oh, I think, not at first understanding what she's saying. Then, I remember. (Or Nicola reminds me.)

“O Pedron” is said to be the mooring post where the boat St. James tied

Altar with El Padron beneath

up when he arrived and first preached the gospel message from the hill on the other side of the river. On a wall to the right of the altar hangs a recently restored 18^th painting of St. James’ body being carried across the sea by his disciples.

We cross the bridge to the river depicted in the painting where replica of the mooring stone can be found. We think about climbing to the convent on the hill where St. James preached but instead, we search for a pharmacy where Nicola can get bandages for her blisters. We wander through the narrow lanes and finally discover one that is open on a Sunday. Nicola is delighted to find blister bandages like the ones she first came across in Portugal with great adhesion and ointment included to sooth the pain. Like many things in life, it's the little stuff that can make a big difference.

Not far out of town an elderly guy approaches. He asks where we're from and then proceeds to tell us about a visit he made to Montreal. He knows almost no English and, of course, we understand very little Spanish and can speak almost none. We do glean that he went on a cruise and visited relatives.

Our destination today is Picarana, only 12 kilometres up the road which made for the most uneventful

El Padron

walk of the trek. The walk to our final destination, Santiago de Compostela, would be 26 kilometres, definitely doable but our hotel wasn’t booked until the next day so why rush?

Before arriving in Picarna, we walk by farmers’ fields and through ancient, narrow maze-like alleys with high stone walls that provide no view of where we're going or what's next to us. These villages must be centuries old with the inhabitants of small stone houses with a connection to life generations their predecessors.

Nicola booked a room at a hostel located on the highway which causes us some concern about noise when we first see it. We are met by a middle-aged, frumpy woman who constantly drops her glasses. To our great relief, she shows us to a room at the back of the hotel, away from the noise with view of vivid green fields beyond. We note the two double beds and a large blank wall on which we could project movies.

Hungry, we make the treacherous walk along the highway to a café we’d seen in the distance. We

St. Peter's body being transported

enter an ancient, stone building filled with men standing at the bar and sitting at three tables lined in front of two large windows. Nicola settles at the only available table and I order a couple of lagers from the bar. The corpulent barkeep pours an excellent draft leaving just the perfect level of head at the top. To our delight, our beers come with a small plate of tapas of the substantive rather than tiny, delicious morsel variety. Perfect for our needs

With little else to do, we walk to another café down the highway in the opposite direction from our hostel. It's like an inversion of the pervious establishment. Instead of old, cosy and rustic, this is modern with a large interior space, all metal and glass with 15 empty tables from which to choose. We sit at one in front of the floor to ceiling windows. At the bar ordering coffee, I notice fresh donuts and am about to order one when she places two halves on a plate to go with our coffee. Fantastic! We don't need to buy lunch. This trip has turned out to be very inexpensive.

We did more hanging around then went for dinner in the restaurant area of the same café. What a disappointment. Spain is filled with many culinary delights but also a few duds. If we had to do it again, we would have given Pincarana a miss.