Poll Lisboa - Porto: Where are albergues missing/ Which part has too little frequency or closed albergues?

[phagocyte]

Dear pilgrim friends,

since a few years I have the wish to open a welcoming albergue between Lisboa and Porto. When I walked the Camino quite some years back, I had the feeling some parts feel like a stretch and I would have appreciated an open door with a lovely place to stay. Do you agree or did the albergue situation change meanwhile?

Because such a project should be considerably thought through, I need your help:
Which parts do you think are missing some albergues? Did you experience a bigger gap somewhere (or maybe closed/not existing albergues) between Lisbon and Porto?

Please let me know! Below a poll and also comments are very welcomed!

My favorite places where I consider to start an albergue are:
- Carregado
- Vila Nova da Rainha
- Sao Joao da Madeira

Appreciate your help and input!
Bon Camino!

äly

 

[phagocyte]

@peregrina2000
@Friend from Barquinha
@camino.ninja
@dougfitz
@Albertinho

In case you would like to vote or comment )

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

I don't know any of the places very well. I've spent one afternoon in Sao Joao da Madeira; it's quite a big place. The property prices might be higher; that's the industrial heartland of northern Portugal and there's probably more local demand for housing.

My thoughts on the other two, strategically, Carregado might be better because closer to Vila Franca da Xira. VFdX has already built a nice walk along the Tejo south of the town. I don't know if they have, northward, so far, but being a bigger city with higher budget, they might do so, and so Carregado might have potential as the next location north of there. (Though you do cut inland from VFdX.)

On the other hand Vila Nova da Rainha is a very much smaller place than Carregado, and it seems as if it previously had a hostel, so it might have more potential.

(Edit: just used StreetView through Google maps on VNdR). It looks the sort of town that might have quite a bit of potential. A good first taste for pilgrims of small-town central Portugal. Best of luck!)

My apologies if these comments don't help very much, Aly!

 

[jungleboy]

Stage-wise, Vila Franca de Xira makes the most sense to me, as it’s an obvious day 2 stop between Alpriate and Azambuja. There is currently no albergue there but there is a budget hotel that serves pilgrims so maybe there isn’t quite the ‘need’ for an albergue:

In VFX we’re staying at the Vila Tejo (near the train station, possibly marked as Pensão Ribatejo on Google Maps). The owner Mariano is very friendly and is knowledgable about pilgrim matters such as the trail outlook and up-to-date accommodation options in the coming days. Pilgrims receive a discount - we paid €15/p - and free clothes washing (in the style of Bodenaya on the Primitivo!).

Carregado and VNdR are between stages so I’m not sure how useful an albergue in either place would be. Quinta da Burra was a great place to break up the long stage between Azambuja and Santarém, but with Paula’s recent passing, there could be an option to either take this over or build a new albergue nearby.

There is already an albergue in São João da Madeira, but it was closed when we walked in Sep 2020.

 

[peregrina2000]

I found @Rodrigo Cerqueira’s thread about the boardwalk/riverwalk that might change some of the route out of Lisbon. I don’t know what the status is, but that could make a big difference in the early stages out of Lisbon. It cuts 7 km off the route and avoids Alpriate. But as I said, I have no updated news on the possibility that it will happen.

Carregado is off route, so unless there is some movement to get the caminho re-routed to go through, I always think you are more likely to be successful if you are in a town that is on the caminho.

I think that as the numbers of pilgrims increase, the stages become less important. But you can be sure that if they are in the Brierley guide, many English-speaking pilgrims will stick with them, so @jungleboy’s comments are relevant. That said, the current stages are based on current availability of accommodation, so it is kind of circular.

I think picking a place that’s about 25 km from a place where ”everyone” is likely to stop might be a good strategy. Tomar to Alvaiázere is 31, which is higher than many like to walk, Cortiça would be 25.

Sao Joao seems well served by accommodation, especially since there is now an albergue there (wasn’t when I walked), as @jungleboy points out.

Good luck with this project!

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

I found @Rodrigo Cerqueira’s thread about the boardwalk/riverwalk that might change some of the route out of Lisbon. I don’t know what the status is, but that could make a big difference in the early stages out of Lisbon. It cuts 7 km off the route and avoids Alpriate. But as I said, I have no updated news on the possibility that it will happen.

My observation now, after 5 years part-time in small-town middle Portugal, is that once a trend is set, everyone else piles on. I think this is very much the way with "riverwalks."

Ribatejo and Mediatejo smaller-town districts (Central Portugal, along the Tagus) have observed the success of the tourist industry in the Algarve, and more recently in Lisbon and Porto. They acknowledge that they don't have as many high-profile tourist attractions (beach, beautiful old cities, urban "buzz") and are casting around for ways they can make themselves more attractive to international tourists.

Nature walks, and particularly walks along the rivers, have become a good option for the smaller towns that have nice river edges. The national government has been supporting their initiatives with a good percentage of the funding for creating these. As well, there is EU money for bootstrapping the southern European countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece) to pull their incomes up to the EU standard, so funding comes from that source as well.

Our municipality (Vila Nova da Barquinha) has just opened a 10+ km walk along the Tejo from one end of the municipality--VNdB on the west--to the other--Praia da Ribatejo on the east. The opening-day hike along the route happened just a few weeks ago, and everybody locally is quite excited about it. \

More recently, I read a story in one of the local Portuguese news sources that another municipality, about 50 km east of us, has just done the same thing. I think we're going to see more and more of these. Eventually, I suspect there will be a riverside walk, all the way from Lisbon to the "turn of the Tejo," here in Barquinha, and easterly beyond, though that will be less interesting to caminho walkers who are heading north.

Mind you, it could mean that walkers would be able to combine the southern part of the Nascente caminho with the "north of the Tejo" section of the Central from Barquinha north, linking the two with a walk west along the Tejo. That would make an interesting route!