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Portugal 2022
December 2024 · 3 minute read
In May 2022, I had the opportunity to spend a week in Portugal walking
"O Caminho Português da Costa" (The Portuguese Coastal Way) with my
parents. Later that year, I produced a photo book of the trip for them
as a Christmas gift; this series is a modified recreation of that
photo book.
7-14 May 2022
Bob, Susan, and Rob Hiking "O Caminho Português da Costa" (The
Portuguese Coastal Way)
cover photo
The photo above of my parents was taken on the third day of our hike,
as we were approaching the town of Esposende. More about Esposende to
follow; it wasn't the most exciting of towns! However, I love this
photo of Mom and Dad enjoying a quick break just before entering town.
My Mom has dealt with some significant health issues the last few
years, so it was great to see her looking so well and enjoying this
time.
Our trip was planned by Portugal Green Walks [1], who did an
absolutely fantastic job planning a route, arranging for our stays,
and making sure we safely got from Póvoa de Varzim [2] to Caminha [3].
Basically, they did the following for us:
- Pre-planned a route, with reasonable daily walking distances (10-20
km per day).
- Booked nightly stays for us at unique hotels in each town, with a
hot breakfast in the morning.
- Picked us up at the airport in Porto [4], and dropped us off at the
hotel for our first night.
- Picked up our luggage at the hotel each morning, and dropped it off
at the hotel in the next town, so our bags were waiting for us when
we arrived.
- Provided us with a detailed packet of maps for each day, which
provided extremely detailed directions (probably down to tens of
yards accuracy).
- Provided us with a preprogrammed GPS to help guide us to the
location for each day.
- Provided recommendations for dining and activities in each town
along the way.
The picture below shows an overview of our route, pulled from the
packet that they provided us (the image was scanned from a brochure
(C) Portugal Green Walks, and is posted in very small part here to
depict their planned route).
overall route map
This trip easily one of the most memorable I've ever experienced. My
parents aren't getting any younger (neither am I, of course). When I
was a kid, we took amazing trips every year, scouring a good chunk of
the United States and having wonderful adventures. Once I left the
house, they kept at it, gallivanting around the planet ("Where in the
world are Bob and Susan?" my wife would ask), visiting exotic places,
seeing new birds (my dad's been an avid birdwatcher for many decades),
experiencing new cultures and cuisines. In many ways, I saw this trip
as a last chance to recapture some of that adventure with my parents,
as I didn't think there would be many more trips like this (and
indeed, they have had to slow it down quite a bit in the last couple
of years).
This was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime event...
References:
[1] Portugal Green Walks
[2] Póvoa de Varzim
[3] Caminha
[4] Porto
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