Adding reviews to Camino apps

[sarahchicago]

As I walked from SJPDP to SdC in May-June this year, I added comments and reviews of routes and albergues to the app I used (wise pilgrim). I benefited from reading other reviews within the app, too. I see very few reviews and comments in the wise pilgrim app for the Camino Portugues. So, 1) would you consider adding reviews once in a while as you walk and 2) what are some other apps with more reviews/guidance for not-to-miss sights, albergues, alternate paths for the Portuguese routes?

 

[trecile]

Gronze has reviews of accommodations.

El Camino de Santiago | Gronze.com

Bienvenido a Gronze, tu Guía del Camino de Santiago: Información práctica, actualizada y participativa de los principales Caminos de Santiago.

www.gronze.com

 

[mspath]

As I walked from SJPDP to SdC in May-June this year, I added comments and reviews of routes and albergues to the app I used (wise pilgrim). I benefited from reading other reviews within the app, too. I see very few reviews and comments in the wise pilgrim app for the Camino Portugues. So, 1) would you consider adding reviews once in a while as you walk and 2) what are some other apps with more reviews/guidance for not-to-miss sights, albergues, alternate paths for the Portuguese routes?

Do check out the many posts by fellow forum member Jungleboy regarding the various Portugese routes which he has walked and studied.

 

[wisepilgrim]

Hey @sarahchicago, Michael from Wise Pilgrim here. You raise an interesting point.
Although there are nearly as many Camino Portugués app users as there are for the Francés, the rate of comments has always been much lower. I have never been able to figure out why, but I thank you for leaving comments as you go. The offerings along the way change frequently, and from time to time a new place pops up (food trucks, for example) that are great to know about in real time.

 

[jungleboy]

Do check out the many posts by fellow forum member Jungleboy regarding the various Portugese routes which he has walked and studied.

More 'walked', less 'studied'

For @sarahchicago, here are some of my posts and recommendations for the CP:

Live thread on this forum - Lisbon to Santiago
Highlights of the CP
Best Experiences on the CP

 

[sarahchicago]

More 'walked', less 'studied'

For @sarahchicago, here are some of my posts and recommendations for the CP:

Live thread on this forum - Lisbon to Santiago
Highlights of the CP
Best Experiences on the CP

Perfect, thank you!!

 

[sarahchicago]

Hey @sarahchicago, Michael from Wise Pilgrim here. You raise an interesting point.
Although there are nearly as many Camino Portugués app users as there are for the Francés, the rate of comments has always been much lower. I have never been able to figure out why, but I thank you for leaving comments as you go. The offerings along the way change frequently, and from time to time a new place pops up (food trucks, for example) that are great to know about in real time.

Welp, I’ll add my 2 cents when I walk next April- May.

 

[sarahchicago]

More 'walked', less 'studied'

For @sarahchicago, here are some of my posts and recommendations for the CP:

Live thread on this forum - Lisbon to Santiago
Highlights of the CP
Best Experiences on the CP

Advice requested: I want to start a bit slower out of Porto since I’ll be jet lagged (and have chronic shin splints) and I want to stay at casa fernanda around day 4 or 5. Can you recommend stops of 15- 20km for the first few days? I can’t really tell where to stay other than the brierley stages, which are too long for the first few days after Porto. Apps don’t show many options outside of the brierley stages and there are no recommendations for places to stay in the apps (they list places but don’t give any review of the quality)
I could spend an extra day in Porto after my flight to help with the jet lag, if my only choice is 25km to Vairao the first day of walking. I’m not planning to do any bus, train or taxi and will only transport my bag if I have an insurmountable physical problem.

 

[LavanyaLea]

Sarah, I can see you’ve caught the Camino bug!

I’m sorry I’m one of those people who haven’t left any comments on any Camino app… I used so many apps/websites/YouTube videos for preparation and then when on the Camino itself I used no apps at all

So far, booking.com has been the one that is persistent in asking for reviews, some lovely private accommodations have WhatsApped me with links to TripAdvisor, but I’m sure I have missed quite a few! Must try better next time for the benefit of others Also…… I am more inclined to write when something has been very very good, or very very bad beyond reasons. Sometimes, I have a not so good experience but I felt it was down to a particular day/situation/staff member/me and wouldn’t do it justice if I wrote unfavourable review esp in the heat of the moment. The drawback is, I ended up not writing any!

 

[jungleboy]

Advice requested: I want to start a bit slower out of Porto since I’ll be jet lagged (and have chronic shin splints) and I want to stay at casa fernanda around day 4 or 5. Can you recommend stops of 15- 20km for the first few days?

Finding 15-20km stages is a bit tricky.

For a short day on day 1 you'd be looking at Moreira da Maia (13km from Porto), as Gronze only lists one accommodation option between here and Vairão (and it's a guesthouse nearly 1km off the camino near Gião, which is itself only 2km short of Vairão anyway).

On day 2 the best option in terms of accommodation would be São Pedro de Rates, but that's 23.5km from Moreira da Maia. São Miguel de Arcos is about 3.5km shorter but without budget accommodation, so if you're willing to spend more, this is the best choice in terms of the distances you're looking at. The very short option with accommodation is Villarinho, but that's only a 12km day.

From Rates/Arcos, it would be 16km/19.5km to Barcelos on day 3.

 

[sarahchicago]

Finding 15-20km stages is a bit tricky.

For a short day on day 1 you'd be looking at Moreira da Maia (13km from Porto), as Gronze only lists one accommodation option between here and Vairão (and it's a guesthouse nearly 1km off the camino near Gião, which is itself only 2km short of Vairão anyway).

On day 2 the best option in terms of accommodation would be São Pedro de Rates, but that's 23.5km from Moreira da Maia. São Miguel de Arcos is about 3.5km shorter but without budget accommodation, so if you're willing to spend more, this is the best choice in terms of the distances you're looking at. The very short option with accommodation is Villarinho, but that's only a 12km day.

From Rates/Arcos, it would be 16km/19.5km to Barcelos on day 3.

Thanks! I forgot to check gronze. I’m probably being overly cautious since We just walked sjpdp to SdC in 31 days including Samos, so averaging over 25km/ day but i think I would have enjoyed it more if we had gone slower. Do you recommend any particular guidebooks? I want to read the history of the towns along the way. (And I’m starting to learn some Portuguese via duolingo )

 

[Wendy Werneth]

Thanks! I forgot to check gronze. I’m probably being overly cautious since We just walked sjpdp to SdC in 31 days including Samos, so averaging over 25km/ day but i think I would have enjoyed it more if we had gone slower. Do you recommend any particular guidebooks? I want to read the history of the towns along the way. (And I’m starting to learn some Portuguese via duolingo )

I'll let @jungleboy reply to the guidebook question, but I just wanted to point out that the Portuguese taught by Duolingo is Brazilian Portuguese, which is beautiful but VERY different from the Portuguese spoken in Portugal. Basic words like breakfast, bathroom and train are completely different, and even the words that are the same are pronounced very differently. I recommend the Practice Portuguese website for learning European Portuguese, and I believe they just released an app as well.

 

[sarahchicago]

I'll let @jungleboy reply to the guidebook question, but I just wanted to point out that the Portuguese taught by Duolingo is Brazilian Portuguese, which is beautiful but VERY different from the Portuguese spoken in Portugal. Basic words like breakfast, bathroom and train are completely different, and even the words that are the same are pronounced very differently. I recommend the Practice Portuguese website for learning European Portuguese, and I believe they just released an app as well.

That is really helpful to know! I’ll check that out

 

[lt56ny]

I'll let @jungleboy reply to the guidebook question, but I just wanted to point out that the Portuguese taught by Duolingo is Brazilian Portuguese, which is beautiful but VERY different from the Portuguese spoken in Portugal. Basic words like breakfast, bathroom and train are completely different, and even the words that are the same are pronounced very differently. I recommend the Practice Portuguese website for learning European Portuguese, and I believe they just released an app as well.

This comment is so interesting to me. Off the topic of course, but I used to teach English in companies after I retired and moved to Mexico. I was in very high demand over my counterparts from Britain, Ireland and Australia because the businessmen/women wanted to learn American English and as importantly wanted to know about business etiquette and practices in the United States as most of their dealings and often who they worked for were American companies. In fact I used to teach a few lessons focusing on the different words Americans and Brits used for the same things spellings of words.

 

[Yoyo]

Advice requested: I want to start a bit slower out of Porto since I’ll be jet lagged (and have chronic shin splints) and I want to stay at casa fernanda around day 4 or 5. Can you recommend stops of 15- 20km for the first few days? I can’t really tell where to stay other than the brierley stages, which are too long for the first few days after Porto. Apps don’t show many options outside of the brierley stages and there are no recommendations for places to stay in the apps (they list places but don’t give any review of the quality)
I could spend an extra day in Porto after my flight to help with the jet lag, if my only choice is 25km to Vairao the first day of walking. I’m not planning to do any bus, train or taxi and will only transport my bag if I have an insurmountable physical problem.

Hello @sarahchicago
I will be walking the Camino Portugués from Porto starting September 1st. Like you, I want to avoid overly long stages, as I have an old ankle injury that tends to give me trouble. I am happy to share my planned stages in the screen shot below.
This time I decided to book my accommodations in advance, where possible and came up with the following plan:
On day 1 I will go to Porto Cathedral to get my first stamp and then take the Metro to Vilar Pinheiro, just north of the airport, and start my walk from there. That makes for a very manageable first day. As I have been to Porto before as a tourist, I have walked the stretch along the river to the beach as well as many inner-city-kms in Porto, so I don't feel bad about skipping the suburb part.
I found reasonable stages for most of the days, except for day 13, but that day is preceded by two very short days and followed by the boat trip and another short walk, so it should be okay.



Happy planning and Bom caminho!

 

[Wendy Werneth]

This comment is so interesting to me. Off the topic of course, but I used to teach English in companies after I retired and moved to Mexico. I was in very high demand over my counterparts from Britain, Ireland and Australia because the businessmen/women wanted to learn American English and as importantly wanted to know about business etiquette and practices in the United States as most of their dealings and often who they worked for were American companies. In fact I used to teach a few lessons focusing on the different words Americans and Brits used for the same things spellings of words.

I can definitely see how that would be important for someone learning English for business purposes, and in the case of Brazilian/European Portuguese, I'd say the differences are much greater compared with the differences among varieties of English. Even the word for "you" that's most commonly used to address people in Brazil can be offensive in many situations in Portugal.

 

[sarahchicago]

Hello @sarahchicago
I will be walking the Camino Portugués from Porto starting September 1st. Like you, I want to avoid overly long stages, as I have an old ankle injury that tends to give me trouble. I am happy to share my planned stages in the screen shot below.
This time I decided to book my accommodations in advance, where possible and came up with the following plan:
On day 1 I will go to Porto Cathedral to get my first stamp and then take the Metro to Vilar Pinheiro, just north of the airport, and start my walk from there. That makes for a very manageable first day. As I have been to Porto before as a tourist, I have walked the stretch along the river to the beach as well as many inner-city-kms in Porto, so I don't feel bad about skipping the suburb part.
I found reasonable stages for most of the days, except for day 13, but that day is preceded by two very short days and followed by the boat trip and another short walk, so it should be okay.

View attachment 130290

Happy planning and Bom caminho!

Thanks, Yoyo! Your distances look very manageable. I want to walk from the cathedral but one thing I could do is to walk some distance from the cathedral along the Camino on the day I arrive, (maybe 7-8 kms) then metro or taxi/ Uber back to the hotel that evening and metro/taxi/Uber back to that spot the next morning and start walking from there. This is similar to what many folks do from sjpdp to orisson or la virgen on the napoleon route. That would let me get to Vairao but with a relatively short day of 16-17 kms.

 

[lt56ny]

I can definitely see how that would be important for someone learning English for business purposes, and in the case of Brazilian/European Portuguese, I'd say the differences are much greater compared with the differences among varieties of English. Even the word for "you" that's most commonly used to address people in Brazil can be offensive in many situations in Portugal.

Again off topic but pertaining to what you said. I have been in Brazil 4 times. I have extended family and friends there. I got the impression from some of my friends that they believe that the people in Portugal think the Brazilians speak a horrible Portugues. I live in Mexico now and there is a hierarchy of Spanish spoken in different Latin countries. Interestingly most of my wife and in laws and friends think the best Spanish is spoken in Colombia. Some of the worst in Puerto Rico. But the Spanish they hate to listen to (not grammatically but the sound) is Spanish spoken in Argentina (They generally do not like the Argentinians because they feel that they identify as Europeans and not Latins), and from our adopted Camino country of Spain. Ha Ha Do not yell at me about this. My wife and her family are working class people and all my Mexican friends are too. My mother's first language is Spanish and I have a large family on my mother's side living in Mexico also. They have expressed the same opinion also. Personally I can't tell the difference between Spanish spoken in Mexico or Colombia or anywhere in Latin America. Except I can almost always tell if a person is from Argentina or Spain.

 

[Wendy Werneth]

Again off topic but pertaining to what you said. I have been in Brazil 4 times. I have extended family and friends there. I got the impression from some of my friends that they believe that the people in Portugal think the Brazilians speak a horrible Portugues. I live in Mexico now and there is a hierarchy of Spanish spoken in different Latin countries. Interestingly most of my wife and in laws and friends think the best Spanish is spoken in Colombia. Some of the worst in Puerto Rico. But the Spanish they hate to listen to (not grammatically but the sound) is Spanish spoken in Argentina (They generally do not like the Argentinians because they feel that they identify as Europeans and not Latins), and from our adopted Camino country of Spain. Ha Ha Do not yell at me about this. My wife and her family are working class people and all my Mexican friends are too. My mother's first language is Spanish and I have a large family on my mother's side living in Mexico also. They have expressed the same opinion also. Personally I can't tell the difference between Spanish spoken in Mexico or Colombia or anywhere in Latin America. Except I can almost always tell if a person is from Argentina or Spain.

There is certainly prejudice against Brazilians in Portugal, and I'm sure language is one aspect of that. Personally I find Brazilian Portuguese much more pleasant to listen to, and also easier to understand, even after 5.5 years of living in Portugal. But Brazilian is what I learned first, so it's all about what sounds famiar and "normal" to each individual.

There is certainly a difference in the ways Spanish are spoken, especially the difference between the Spanish of Spain and of Latin America as a whole, but it's not as pronounced as with Portuguese. I used to dislike the accent of Spain too, and especially the lisp, but eventually I adopted it, and now it feels weird to speak Spanish any other way. Still struggling to make peace with the Portuguese accent though.