We stayed at a home stay last night, and were the only pilgrims staying there. It was a large house that had been saved by the now owner, as it had fallen down. The owner is an ex Architect that has rebuilt the place from the ground up. It’s very rustic, situated in the middle of farming country.
Breakfast
Home made beds – note the legs
Our accommodation
We walked onto Santarem today, not a long walk about 15km. The last 1.5km was all uphill along a road with nowhere to move off when cars where coming.
At the foot of the hill into town we found a little cafe/restaurant tucked away, no signs or anything that indicated what it was but the woman that ran the place come out and beckoned us in. It was a surprising place, not fancy but it contained a lot of bullfighting memorabilia including a stuffed bulls head on the wall. The woman indicated that she was the mother of a bullfighter in one of the photos. Not a flattering photo as he was being tossed into the air by the bull. The bulls head on the wall looked a lot like the bull in the photo. We briefly met her son as he was going through the cafe.
We have arrived in Santarem, and made visit to their cathedral. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption also called Santarém Cathedral formerly known as Church of Our Lady of Conception.
The ceiling of the cathedral
Saint Sebastian, he turns up wherever we go.
Catholics know how to scare the living daylights out of you!
After the cathedral, we walked to Porta da Sol. Gin and Tonic time! The Portuguese know how to pour a G & T 😋
Russ and Jan's Camino 