Does anyone here have anything good or bad to report about specific rain jackets / windbreakers available at Decathlon?
I'm wondering how their better ones stand up next to the name brands.
In particular, the Quechua MH500 and MH900 rain jackets caught my eye because Decathlon's own comparison...
Well, this makes me sad: my favorite camino guidebook series, the "Village to Village" guides by Dintaman & Landis and collaborators, will not have printed updates for the 2024 season.
That's according to email I received from David Landis in December. His words: "We are planning digital-only...
This is weird: I'm living in Portugal and trying to find a copy of the 2023 edition of the Dintaman & Landis guide to the Camino Francés.
Local stores don't carry it. Ivar's Camino Store doesn't list it. Amazon.com has it but I need a source in the EU. Amazon.es doesn't have it. Amazon.de has...
This is why I still haven't made it to Santiago but I've been to Pamplona and Logroño I don't know how many times.
https://www.theonion.com/dog-takes-pilgrimage-to-holy-site-where-it-once-found-r-1838909375
Live from the Caminho Português: We spent last night in the lovely Albergue de Peregrinos do Mosteiro de Vairão. As of April 17 it was far from full (only 11 pilgrims at dinner) and no need to book ahead. Private rooms were available for 30€. Great pilgrim meal with veg and non-veg options.
The Porto to Braga trail on Flannery's excellent map runs near my apartment in the Constituição/Paranhos area of Porto. It's shown in burgundy on the map. It branches off of the Central in the Cedofeita neighborhood and runs by Lapa church, then northeast through the Porto suburbs.
However...
We have moved to Porto (hooray!) and are looking forward to our first Caminho Português in the spring. Meanwhile we'd like to get started with some one-day walks accessible at both ends from Porto (preferably by transit but we could do a transit + Uber combo).
Are there any nice segments of the...
This has been asked in the past but it's been a few years, so:
Is there anything resembling a "camino store" in Porto?
My immediate wish is to browse the current selection of Caminho Português guides, and the local bookstores I've checked are spotty on that front. But I'm curious if there's a...
I'm looking for news and tips from people walking the beach/waterfront route out of Porto. (We'll leave on May 9th and I'll start posting here myself then.)
The reports of record arrivals in Santiago particularly have me wondering about accommodations. Are there lots of pilgrims? Any shortage...
I'm ultralight-curious and clicked on a Facebook ad for this company's line of ultralight backpacks. Has anyone tried them?
https://matadorup.com/collections/ultralight-bags
The Freerain32 particularly caught my eye because 32 liters is my preferred size. I love my Deuter ACT Trail 32 (now...
If you saw this street art on the Camino in the historic center of Pamplona, perhaps you're wondering what it means.
Helena Maleno is a Spanish human rights activist focusing on the rights of migrants. She is the CEO of the non-governmental organization Caminando Fronteras and is credited with...
Which rideshare services operate along the Camino Francés?
I've heard that Uber and Lyft operate in Madrid (or have when they're not in legal hot water), and I've heard of other services in Spain like Cabify, Free Now, and BlaBlaCar.
But my question is which of these services operate along the...
The forums are abuzz with people making plans, but I don't see much news live from the Camino. Are there any pilgrims yet? Open albergues? Are things completely shut in the small towns, or can you still count on finding a slice of tortilla and something to drink when you walk into a village...
This tickled my language-nerd dark-humor funny bone.
Werner Herzog's answer to how many languages he can speak turns dark
https://boingboing.net/2020/10/07/werner-herzogs-answer-to-how-many-languages-he-can-speak-turns-dark.html
Does anyone know of high quality books, websites or other resources about moving to or retiring in Spain or Portugal?
Many of the websites I’ve seen seem pretty questionable, at least amateurish if not downright scammy.
So far the books I’ve found aren’t much better. For example, I was just...
I know that this is a perennial topic, but technology changes and some of the threads of the past no longer have current information.
My question: Is there a reasonably priced way to do a "virtual Camino" where I record pedometer steps from my walks at home and can see my Camino progress on...
The nerdiest language app ever, Fluent Forever, has just added Castilian Spanish to their language list.
Has anyone tried it? I read the book and fooled with their method years ago before they had an app (I was learning a different language, Hindi) and I thought their approach made a lot of...
Today I learned that medieval pilgrims wore pilgrim badges, not unlike the souvenir pins worn by pilgrims today. “They were cheap, mass-produced, items, and they could have been used as presents from someone on his or her return from a pilgrimage, or ways of signalling one’s political...
Anyone have a favorite hotel or hostal in Barajas to spend a final night before the flight home?
We’ve stayed at the Hostal Aeropuerto and eaten at the closest bar around the corner. They were acceptable, nothing special.
Also, today I learned from this post that you can walk from the historic...
We’ve resumed our slow multi-year camino where we left off in Burgos. Things seem pretty busy on the trail. I can’t say what it’s like in the albergue bunkrooms, but we’ve been calling ahead to book a private room and having to try 2-3 places before we find a vacancy.
Today a desk clerk in...
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