I guess technically we didn't have mountains today, but they were some nice rolling hills. Galicia would remind most people of the Appalachian Mountains. Because we're so close to the coast most of the high points are around a thousand fee. But when you're coming from the seashore it's a bit of a climb.
We're still seeing our friends from last week along the way, but the number of day hikers has increased dramatically. What many people do is take a small bag to walk during the day and have their suitcases moved from hotel to hotel on the way. There are five star motels in some of the towns. For example, yesterday we passed one of the famous Parador motels in Pontevedra. These hotels are considered some of the best in Europe but it seems very un-camino like to stay there. If you saw the movie "The Way" you remember a scene where Martin Sheen pays for all of his Camino friends to stay in the Parador in Leon.
We are appreciating the small for things like having a hot shower and not being in a room of snoring pilgrims every night. We were able to book a two-person room in a hostel and caught a break for tonight.
Our destination for today was an very important town in early European history. The 2nd century Greek philosopher Ptolemy referred to this town several times in his writings. Theologically, the bishop from here organized the Council of Toledo in 397 AD to uphold the Nicene Creed.
Today it is a small but still a nice town of 8,000. The big attraction for the Romans and the Greeks and I guess the pilgrims is the hot springs in this town. You can dip you feet into a hot fountain in the Town Square, but most of historic Hot Springs are taken over by luxury motels.
The main Church in town is quite unusual. It's dedicated to St Thomas Becket. Kind of strange to have an English man on the main altar of a Spanish church. The church was originally built around 1080, was destroyed by the Moors, and then rebuilt in the 1800's completely new as the Church of St Thomas Becket.
Beautiful scenery along the walk today but not many the sites other than the beautiful woods. It was very nice today to have the majority of the hike under trails along the rivers. We had a little walking along a major highway for Just 2 km. We're looking forward to some more dirt paths tomorrow.
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| Pontevedra bridge - leaving town in the morning |
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| water front in Pontevedra |
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| Bridge at the hot springs Hotel |
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| Caldas de Reis - City Hall and hot spring Hotel |
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| Church of St Thomas Becket. |
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| river park in Caldas de Reis - huge sycamore tree |
