30 May 16 km
We have a bus to catch in Sines today. I like to do the whole Fishermen’s path to Sao Torpes. As this part was just about 10 km, I had the idea to do an extra day with the part to Sines. All information said that it was not a beautiful part, and that it is a walk on the road. This is why a lot of people start in Porto Covo. In Sao Torpes we didn’t see places to stay. This could also be a reason not to start at Sao Torpes. We will walk to Sines and then we take the bus to Lisbon.
Last Day to Busstation in Sines
Easy to Average Walk
The walk to Sao Torpes was nice in the dunes, just like all the other days. It is tough but also short. The heat makes it tough too. We walked on the sand, that was nothing new anymore. When we reached Sao Torpes, we sit and rest on the nice and empty terrace of a beach cafe, which was closed. We see the industrial city of Sines. We saw it at the start of the day already. That will be the end of our trail. Walking further also a part on the hard sand of the beach, we pass a campervan place. This on is on asphalt and from here it is an asphalt walk.
Suddenly we notice that the trail has stopped, the beautiful path changes in a path next to the road. We follow the quickest way to Sines, and the yellow Santiago arrows are visible this whole day.
Why would anyone be interested to walk this part of the caminho? Sao Torpes to Sines, is nothing more than walking next to the highway and on it. There is a whole lane for us walkers or bikers, so it is not that dangerous as I thought. But because it is not interesting at all, Willeke is complaining.
I replied: “You knew it was going to be a lot of road walking, right?”
and she answered: “Yes”, “but I wouldn’t think it would be ALL the time on the street”.
Well, welcome to Portugal. There are unbelievable beautiful nature paths, but if you go straight from city to city, unfortunately you walk on the road, no footpath, or dirt road nearby. We laugh and just continue. I am used to the ugly road walking, I remember the stretch to Santiago the Compostea after Coimbra towards Porto. I cannot remember the cities, just the asphalt roads.
I just speed up and that is the good thing; you go fast, at least faster than on the sand!
Willeke is training for the 4-days March in Nijmegen, where she need to do asphalt walking 4 days in a row every day 30 km. This is a perfect exercise, asphalt walking in the Portuguese sun.
Adding this asphalt route to the last part of the Fishermen’s trail and doing this the last day in the Portuguese sun, makes it an easy to average day.
Sines with Beach and Museum!
We enter the town. It looks nice, it is perfect to end at a nice town after our boring road walk. We also see a beach. This time we don’t go into the water.
We drink and eat something on the terrace next to the street, they have smoothies and some nice snacks. Willeke orders a cake, full of peanuts on top, it was a ‘mistake’ because we thought the word amendoim is almond but it is peanut. It turns out that she has a huge piece of a home made snicker. We love it and together we could finish it. In the meantime we see some other pilgrims drinking there too, they passed us so quickly, asked if the cafe was open, and went, when we rested on the empty terrace in Sao Torpes. So they were so fast as we thought. Always good to see, observe, talk and draw conclusions at the end of the walk!
We continue up to the town and we like to see the view within the city walls. It turns out there is a small museum. I go in, I like to see some culture and history on this trail! Willeke stays outside enjoying the view and the sea breeze. The museum is small and even has an elevator. After a quick visit I go out again, and we look for the busstation, it is just a bus stop where we see some others with suitcases. And two people with backpacks, they may be fresh Fishermen’s trail walkers!
We made it! We can wash the sand out and we will head to Lisbon and rest in the big city before returning to our homes tomorrow. I feel relieved and in the bus and I fall asleep.
Roma Area With Campo Pequena
I booked a stay in the Roma area in 4U Guesthouse. It is on one of the upper floors of a large building and above a Pet shop. Luckily the man of the reception is smoking outside so he takes us with him to the hostel, otherwise we would not know that it was above the Pet shop. It is a good hostel with a reception and a kitchen too, with shared bathrooms.
I like this Roma neighborhood. It is close to the airport and it has a Campo Pequena. Don’t know why they call it little field because it is a huge circular building and an even larger square surrounding it. Looks like it is sponsored by Sagres, with a lot of cafes and restaurants. I ate here a few months ago with my parents in a seafood restaurant.
They are building a stage and we see a fair and lots of food trucks. I ask someone what and when the event is, and tonight the fair opens with music until late. We will try the Fartura’s later, the typical Portuguese snack on fairs, looks like a churro, but bigger with sugar and cinnamon. The terrace it is full of young people, right after school it is crowded with students. We drink and snack something and Willeke observes: “There are only Portuguese people here. It is not the tourist part of Lisbon.”
That is exactly why I like this place.
Dinner @ ??
We walk back to see if the Sichuan restaurant where we like to eat is already open. No of course not: We are welcome at 19:00. We walk back to our hostel to wait and rest, but then we see a big paderia across the street. In Portugal you can also eat warm in some paderia’s. Here they have a menu with fish on it. We decide to sit here and eat. We are surrounded by old people. They are coming here, to drink warm milk and the cookie they got with it goes into the warm milk.
We eat our dinner. Afterwards, we regret that we went to this simple dinner, while being in Lisbon where they have really high standard foods. We go back to the fair to eat the fartura and we have a walk here. It became crowded. Friday night! When the fartura is finished we go back. We will not wait until the music starts. We walk all the way back again and go to sleep.
