I can already hear anyone reading this blog, ”Is he out of material already? Snails?!!” Well it just so happens that there are lots of snails in southern Portugal for reasons unknown to me and they seem to be crossing many of the roads we are walking. I can assure you that the drivers in this country are NOT looking to avoid the snails, nor are they necessarily looking to avoid us. A wide berth in Portugal is about 5 inches. Anyway, maybe some of you nature lovers know why snails seem to congregate here.
We finished day 6 yesterday and got a day off today in the city of Tomar, known as one of the bastions of the Knights Templar. The Templar cross is everywhere in this town of 21,000. It is a beautiful, clean place and more tourists than I anticipated. There is a famous medieval castle/monastery on a hill overlooking the city. This monastery has housed cloistered monks and nuns (no, not at the same time…or not that the abbot or prioress knew about). Tomar is also close to Fatima, which is a branch of the Camino. People can walk the Camino to Fatima, which is about 6 days from Lisbon. It is a Catholic shrine that receives thousands of visitors every year.
The terrain has become more hilly and the roads more rocky. We are in the heart of Portugal’s agricultural region. We need to stock up in the morning because there aren’t many options for eating and drinking along the way—Steak and Shake has some opportunity over here. The next major stop is Coimbra, which is a major city in Portugal and about four days away. Thanks for the well wishes and Buen Camino.
slowoldnstupid 