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Tomar to Coimbra over Easter Weekend

Jenine

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
C Frances Sep '18
C Norte Sep '21
C Portugues '22
We are leaving from Tomar on Thurs April 9th, Alvaiazere Fri April 10th, Rabacal Sat April 11th and arriving in Coimbra on Sun April 12th (Easter Sunday).
Our accomodations are booked however I am concerned about restaurant closures. Should I be?
Anyone have Camino experience over Easter time?
Thanks in advance
 
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No Camino experience but small-town Portugal Pascoa (Easter) experience--I would guess that Tomar and Coimbra shouldn't be a problem because they're large and more secular, and Saturday in Rabacal isn't a holiday--but Good Friday in Alvaiazere might be since Good Friday Mass is likely to be a fairly important town activity, plus Good Friday is a Portuguese statutory holiday and that likely means the front- and back-of-restaurant staff will get paid time off. So the owners may just decide to close, particularly if they think there isn't going to be much business.


If you have access to, and use, Facebook--most of the small Portuguese businesses use Facebook as their primary way of advertising. So in advance, you could use GoogleMaps to locate restaurants/cafes/shops in Alvaiazere, and then Facebook to try and find out details about whether they'll be open or not on Good Friday. For example, you could check out Quintinha, Dutchy's Snack-Bar, O Bras, and probably more if you enlarged the Google map more:



Wherever you stay is likely to have some hints for you, I'd hope.

Bom caminho!

P.S. I see, and had forgotten, that April 25 is also a national holiday--Liberty Day. This marks the 1974 day when the Salazar dictatorship was overthrown in the Carnation Revolution. It is a really fun day--everyone celebrates--but things are likely to be closed then, as well, if you're still on the caminho.


P.P.S. Watch out--whoever wrote this Wikipedia entry was really into modern Portuguese history and politics--this is a long Wikipedia entry!
 
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You wiil be able to get a meal in Alvaizere if you sleep at albergue Pinhero with Carlos
 
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