The long Easter break of April seemed like a good time to set off on a pilgrimage in Spain. The Camino de Santiago was calling to us. Since this was going to an adventure for the whole family (11 and 12 year olds included) we didn't want to tackle the entire Camino, so we settled for the minimum distance that qualifies for a pilgrimage: 100km. We heard Ourense was a good place to start for this distance, its just over 100km from Santiago de Compostela. We had hotels lined up and we were well-outfitted thanks to Cotswold Outdoor store in London. We acquired our pilgrim passports in London and were ready to get them stamped! We decided to fly into Porto, Portugal since we had not seen any of Portugal yet. We had a beautiful evening to explore Porto before our train and taxi ride to Ourense the next day.
Famous Bookstore in Porto, Livraria Lello. You actually need to buy a ticket to get into this bookstore! It is pretty amazing inside.
pastéis de nata - a yummy Portuguese tart. These can be found everywhere and are a delicious snack!
Loved our family suite! Tons of space. Discovered there are 2 Spot hotels in Porto, we started at the wrong one before realizing this.
On to Ourense...
Train from Ourense to Valenca, Portugal...
...then taxi from Valenca to Ourense (pricey but definitely the most direct route).
Arrived at Hotel Miño in Ourense in time to explore the city a little bit and find some tapas for dinner. Our hotel was just "meh" but the location was good, an easy walk to the River Minho and onto the Camino.
Fueling up the night before our pilgrimage!
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