5/14/22 Azinhaga to Vila Nova da Barquinha

Had a good night sleep in private home stay in Azinhaga. Today was a short 17.6 K walk to river town Vila Nova da Barquinha.

First cafe stop was in Golega. More pasteis da nata with a chocolate eclair chaser. A Macy look-a-like was resting on the cobbles nearby.

We met a friendly local who was walking with his son. He said after Tomar it will be hilly and to watch out for snakes. I said if you make noise don’t the snakes just slither away. His son said “sometimes”. Ugh.

We stopped on a bench in front of a closed albergue in Sao Caetano to air out our feet and have an apple. The albergue owner was cleaning up inside and then came out and asked if we needed to use the restroom and opened the door for us. Nice.

We came off the Camino for about a mile to stay at the Riverhouse Hotel since accommodations are not great on these stages. Feeling spoiled but that will change soon.

For lunch we had a great meal at Reiberinho restaurant. We both had a delicious seafood lunch. We had a traditional Portuguese bread soup type of side dish called Acorda. Not bad.

Decided to visit a Templar castle (Almourol) on the river. Originally built in 1200s.

Tomorrow the heat wave ends and it’s supposed to rain. Big day heading to Tomar and our first rest day.