Fatima +

A quick report, My Portuguese experience was one of beauty, of wonderful smell-all of Portugal in the spring smells of citrus fruits, of colorful flowers, and great fear! I possess a somewhat deviant personality and thus left the Camino at Tomar (a town and convent not to be missed) turning West but not finding the arrows to Fatima decided to hoof it on the highway to the shrine - mistake number one. From Fatima, I continued on the road to Batalha, mistake number two. Batalha turning north to Leira, Pombal, and eventually rejoining the Camino in Coimbra. Lovely scenery and views, charming villages, warm welcome from lovely people but all those kilometers tramped along a roadbed which often has little or no shoulder, sometimes walking in a Vee shaped rain culvert, often feeling endangered since the Portuguese drivers are somewhat – well – let us say - irresponsible, and while the roads are not overly busy, walking a week on pavement with the fumes and the constant real danger of being run over is not recommended for those with palpitations of the heart or the spirit. Fatima? Too well designed to overwhelm the visitor, too well organized and established, too spiritless for us deviants who often prefer our own way. Batalha, Leiria, even Pombal were much more to my liking.