Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn’t mean to take.
– Angela N. Blount
Santiago July 2 and 3, 2023
E: Gary wanted to ride a train and we had not yet done so the entire 7 weeks we have been here…so…we took the train from Santiago to Pontevedra, Spain, a 30 minute ride south. The city of roughly 80,000 is on the Camino Portuguese. Another Camino route that ends up in Santiago as well. We walked on the Camino, which was 100 feet from the depot, to the center of town. We saw pilgrims, tourists, families and people heading to work in this vibrant city that dates back to the Roman days. We had a snack at a sidewalk café and watched the world walk by. We viewed two churches and took pictures for other pilgrims capturing their own moments in time. We walked over a Medieval bridge that stands in the same place as it was originally built for pilgrims pre-tenth century! Today’s pilgrims use this remodeled bridge heading north on their 60 km/40 mile walk from Pontevedra to the cathedral in Santiago.
E’s Camino arrows now pointing her home from Spain 
Now that’s a eucalyptus! Saying good bye to Santiago de Compostela 
Gary got his train ride! Off to Pontevedra, Spain for the day 
30 minutes south of Santiago by train, on the Camino Portuguese 
Our last shell directional… for this year : ) 
A fountain on the Camino Portuguese in Pontevedra 
E trying to be Mary Poppins 
Iglesia da Virxe Peregrina, Gilician for, The church of the Virgin Pilgrim, in Pontevedra, Spain 
Does the glass chandelier really fit this motif?
Ponte do Burgo, on the Camino Portuguese in Pontevedra, Spain. Dates back to Roman times…restored of course 
G heading to the Santa Maria church in Pontevedra 
Iglesia da Santa Maria la Mayor, Pontevedra 
Kids in Pontevedra 
Padron, Spain! Taken from the train. 
Santiago’s cathedral, and gorgeous flowers, from a side street. 
Students celebrating arriving in Santiago from the Camino Portuguese!! 
Thai dish with chicken and veggies : ) 
Couscous, oranges, almonds, figs, dates and grilled goat cheese with a balsamic glaze!! 
Nope, we are still not losing weight! 
A Portuguese tart…custard in a pastry shell with a chocolate glaze 
Chocolate and coffee tart in a cornmeal shell…with café con leche…of course! 
E’s last Pimienta Padrons!! : ( Sweet green peppers from Padron, Spain, roasted and covered in sea salt. 
E’s hot muscles, for lunch with her Padron peppers.
E: We returned from Pontevedra and took a rest in the afternoon. We watched TV for the first time in almost 7 weeks! We chose a Netflix show on G’s small laptop… “Muster Dogs”, about Australian Kelpies, which are stock herding dogs. Our son, Cooper, who is caring for Rangeley, our 3 year old Silver Lab, sent us an update that Rangeley is getting good at herding/mustering Cooper’s goats on the farm!
We spent our last evening in Santiago walking around in the Plaza del Obradoiro, in front to the main cathedral. The sun doesn’t set until well after 10PM so the pics of me in a navy dress were taken at 9:30 at night with the sun still shining and blue skies!
Elizabeth on our 4th floor balcony in Santiago. 
This picture was taken at 9:30pm as the sun was getting low. Sunset was 10:19.E in navy dress. 
Amazing details high up on the cathedral 
This carving is on top of the building across the square from the cathedral 
A pilgrim mass at Iglesia San Francisco, very near the cathedral. This photo was taken at 9:55pm. 
Full moon out our window, our last night in Santiago. 
A travel bug we found near the Madrid airport. It’s goal is to travel to Mexico, so we will bring it to Arizona and leave it there for someone else to find and move.
July 4th – Happy Independence Day in the USA!
E: We took a mid morning flight from Santiago to Madrid. We stayed at the Ibis Hotel near the airport.
Gary and I enjoy geocaching and we found one less than a mile from the hotel. The cleverly hidden container in a fence post, with loads of Travel Bugs in it, was a cool find. Travel Bugs are items that are placed in a geocaching container to be removed, logged into your online account and then placed into another geocache elsewhere. After reading that this Travel Spider, a key chain of a skeleton’s head in Mexican Day of the Dead colors, wanted to go to Mexico, we felt it was our duty to fly it to Phoenix with us in the morning. We will place it into a geocache in Phoenix soon. Unfortunately, we needed to add a note to other geocachers to be careful of bees/wasps/hornets near the cache…I was stung on the eyebrow and leg. All good now, but we kinda had to laugh…I’ve been outside, all day, for almost 7 weeks straight, in the woods, at the beach and more and no bites or issues….I come to the city of Madrid and was bitten three times in one afternoon! A spider bite on my arm not long after the bee stings! Nothing a little ice and time won’t fix…and a shared pint of Ben and Jerrys, Cookie Dough ice cream!
I took pictures of all the contents of my backpack, if anyone doing a Camino is interested. Let me know. I can email it to you. My complete packing list is also in the 2019 journals at the beginning and end.
Our Madrid flight will bring us through Dallas to Phoenix. We plan on adjusting to the 110+ temps (although it is over 90 in Madrid today!); adjust to the 9 hour time change; do laundry; wash and air out the packs and rest. We will then head 3 hours north to Prescott Valley, AZ to get Rangeley. Looking forward to seeing Cooper and Chelsea, our daughter-in-law too, of course. And soon after connecting with our other son Tucker. I miss them all!
“Life is about the adventures you take and the memories you make. So travel often and live life with open eyes and an open heart.”
— Katie Grissom
This is the end of this journey and the start of our next adventure!
– Elizabeth : )
Not all those who wander are lost.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
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Gary and Elizabeth's Adventures 