Caldas de Reis

I can’t tell you what type of city Caldas de Reis is, yet. Upon walking into it initially, it looked anciently beautiful with a river crossing through it and a large hot water spring pool being the most prominent site.

That’s all I can say right now because although the walk was absolutely beautiful – and the terrain much friendlier than the past few days, by the time we drug our sorry, tired butts to our hotel rooms, Bethany and I were completely wiped out!

We gave ourselves many kudos for making it to our destination, went straight to our rooms – and crashed. This is quite apropos behavior because the whole country sort of shuts down in the afternoons (siesta time!) and will start to come alive about 8:00 tonight, and we will go find some dinner and wander around the square.

Both of us are so very thankful that the most difficult days were the initial ones. It turned out to be a good strategy. I no longer question my sanity.

Or, at least not so much.

Lots of company on the walk today. All ages and shapes and nationalities. Everyone seemed tired, but joyful.

The walk was very long but thankfully it had only moderate elevation changes and lots of flat, scenic terrain. It was a true blessing getting started early as by the time we got to our destination the sun was really beating down. Most of the day though, was shady with a cool breeze. Loved it.

We passed many small villages along the way and stopped often for refreshments and snacks. Absolutely no need to rush.

A quiet, peaceful, scenic day.