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Published: September 4th 2016
Leziria Parque Hotel
We leave at 0825 in the morningAugust 26 Friday - Karen's Alternative Blog
From the Leziria Parque Hotel we follow the busy road and GPS to the train station - not the way Harlan and Jo had come the night before. At the train station, we buy a train ticket for me to Azambuja. They wave good-by and start off for their day of adventures. My big feat is getting off at the right station. It should be a no-brainer as it is the end of the line for this particular train run.
We will be lodged in Hotel Ouro, right on the Camino according to both Brierley and Follow the Camino. A short train ride and I have arrived at my destination. The room is ready although my arrival time is very early. It has taken barely an hour and 80 cents to journey to the charming village of Azambuja. The desk clerk is lovely. The room is that of an older facility; much larger than the boutique hotel rooms of today.
The bags arrive early. It now is the issue of trying to figure out how the bath plumbing operates. The big, old tub is waiting, but without any water. Finally I
Vilafranca de Xira train station azulejos
The entire station's walls are covered by scenic tile trod downstairs and ask the clerk directions on how to proceed. She tries to pantomime how to turn on the tub water, but quickly gives up. Just try and do this task yourself, especially for someone who has never used this particular bath setup before. She is going off duty but rushes up and demonstrates how it operates. She is so sensitive. She wants to know if she can enter the bathroom and then asks if it is alright to put the papers she has in her hand down on the bed!
Later I descend to ask for some more hangers and the changing of the guard has occurred and Miss Grouch has arrived. A young man enters and they have a conversation in Portuguese. I gather by her facial expressions and general demeanor that I am asking for the impossible. He keeps smiling at me and nodding his head. He then says, in broken English, he will try to find some for me but it might take a few minutes. He disappears and then returns in 15 minutes, seeming to be surprised that I am still in the lobby. I decide that it is so hot outside that
if I can rig up something on the balcony the clothes will dry quickly. I am half way up the stairs when he asks for my room number. In a few minutes a cleaning lady comes with three plastic hangers; now I have a total of six that rattle around in this huge built in wood closet!
Harlan arrives, absolutely drenched. Clothes are washed out, including the beloved Tilley hat. We put them out on the balcony. They are dry before we go to bed.
After Harlan had cleaned up we walked into the small village to the pharmacy that 'the nice clerk' has told me about. It is a very neat store with a beauty clinician showing some beauty products and also a young girl drawing blood, with a prick stick, for a lady. There are tickets to take to see one of two pharmacists. What a lucky draw. The older man instantly starts asking questions. He believes the huge welts that are enlarging and turning an angry red on my arm are an allergic reaction to bug bites. He asks what I have been putting on the sites, shakes his head 'no,' that is not the
First example of the trail today
0935 our path leaving the train station. correct thing to use and then proceeds to tell me when to use those remedies. Next he looks at my list of meds I have had in the last 2 weeks and announces my immune system is low. Next he suggests an allergy medicine for the reaction on the arms and a topical cream. He says I must drink copious amounts of water and not walk mid-day. He marks dosage on the box of cream and also finds a lip gloss with sun block for me. A memory of black, sun-burned lips, on the Camino Frances, that were so painful, just crossed my mind.
At the end of the consultation I ask if I might query him on something we have observed. "Why is it so difficult to receive change in Portugal?" He sighs and replies, "In Portugal we make nothing--not even our own coins! We have the sun, the lovely beaches and the tourists. We should do everything to make the tourist happy!! They are our economic future!!! But no, they would rather you not enter the museum if you do not have the exact money! If you are an government employee you are not at all accountable.
Second example of the trail today
At 1005 it changes from asphalt to earthen Now, if I do not give good customer service I am fired!" At the end of the conversation he goes with us, out to the middle of the street and points out the building that is the local albergue where we think our Japanese friend is staying.
We meet Ayaka at the train station, which, unfortunately, is not manned and the ticket machine seems to be offering tickets for trains heading for Lisbon only.
We have juice and a coffee with Ayaka at the small pastry bar in the mercado. Harlan gives her an authentic Pilgrim's shell from Santiago. She in turn gives each of us a gift from Japan.
Back for dinner to our hotel which is really a glorified truck stop. The dining room is not open but the coffee shop is and the same hustling young man who finally tracked down hangers for me is the only wait service and he is running. He tries to explain the menu items. Jo is the smart, less adventuresome one who orders an omelet that comes with a salad. I have a most delicious stew like dish made with lamb, dry French bread that draws up the
succulent gravy, and with potatoes that have cooked in the gravy. Harlan also has the popular, local soup that features a green, much like kale. We first encountered this flavorful soup in NW Spain.
The waiter packs some rolls for us tomorrow. They have been the best rolls of the trip this far.
As for the adventures of Jo and Harlan on the Camino, Harlan will now relate.
We viewed the many beautiful azuelos at the train station before making our way over the tracks to join the Camino path. We have several photos showing the various countryside along the path. Contrary to Brierley's description of getting to our hotel Leziria Parque from the Camino, one must take the highway overpass marked 'do not go this way,' cross over the tracks and turn back.
Continuing on the other side of the tracks we had an easy walk on paved and unpaved roads along fields before we crossed back over the tracks at the station at Carregado where I had searched for Karen the day before to no avail.
The Camino now turns and goes along a canal bank past a combined cycle electric power plant
Third example of the trail today
At 1122 looking one way along route with cooling towers and smoke stacks. We walk past fields of sunflowers and harvested tomatoes. Large semi-trucks are hauling tomatoes from the fields to a processing plant on the river. The ones along the road are inviting but we not reluctant to pick one up.
At a rest stop in a cafe in Vila Nova da Rainha we have a cold drink and a snack. Upon leaving town along a residential street we pass some nice homes and a cactus that resembles a bunny's head. We pass what appears to be rice fields before the next 6 kilometers along the smelly sewage treatment ponds. At one point we see a stork flying high above. Finally we can see our hotel Ouro, beyond a weedy path. Our reception was curt and officious, unlike our prior two nights. It is really just a truck stop. Not recommended! This I am sure was the -1 star of our guaranteed 2 & 3 star accommodations.
But we sleep well and have our rolls from last night to quench early hunger pangs of the coming day.
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