Lamego

Coming back, it was time for my pilgrimage. I talked about it before in this blog. It's something that i have to do alone. I started yesterday and arrived in Lamego by dinner time. I only found one suitable hotel and it was full, so i had to pay for more expensive room. It wasn't in my plans, but that's better than to sleep in the car or in some dubious place.

Before i was in Amarante, stopped there to see the cathedral and the bridge, then i went to Regua. I almost had a car accident. Some guy didn't saw me when i was overrunning him. At least he was nice enough to say he was sorry and apologise. I can't tell that from a lot more people these days. But i managed to get to Lamego. Today i am walking in this town. I want to see the cathedral, but i am also curious about this town. It was a very important Portuguese town some years ago. I am following one of the Santiago routes in the opposite direction of the usual way. Amarante and Lamego are in that route, and also my home town, Guimarães. That's one of the reasons i choose this route. The other is that i believe it was the original route taken to to reach Santiago de Compostela but, of course, i can't prove that. It's just feels right to me like that.

Lamego is frozen in the Portuguese late 70's. The people also look like all have reached their best at those days. The problems are those of a Portugal coming out of the closet and starting to deliver people the basic commodities of modern living. But it really was an important town, they have a cathedral, a castle, a Jesuit's college that still prepares a lot of the top theologists in Portugal, regardless of the little demand for that profession, and a permanent army detachment.

It felt like coming back 30 years, very weird...