Camino Santiago Portuguese, 9: After-pix And After-thoughts

So we are four days off the Camino now, sitting in the aire de camping-cars in Leon, trying to beat the heat, finishing the Camino blogposts, and watching countless Caminantes amble through the city, which is on the more popular Frances route of the Camino. Hundreds of them. We are pleased to have done what we have done of the Camino Santiago. It is not without its defects, but they are well known, even the Portuguese version, and we would do it again. Of course, we were very lucky on the timing, the weather, the accommodations, our own health, planning, gear, and so on. For three days now, Vicki has been talking about doing the Frances Camino, or more. The whole enchilada, as it were. I maintain, somewhat uncharacteristically, that you don't have to drink the whole bottle to know it's a VSOP or a Grand Cru. If we were to do it again, maybe we'd do it earlier in the year, from Porto, the coastal Portuguese route up to where it merges with the central route. FWIW. Vicki will have more to say on these matters and on the practical aspects of the Camino on our website.

Few Caminantes do the whole pilgrim costume, in our experience, but most
everyone dangles the scallop shells--Coquilles St. Jacques-- off their back-packs;
here are our scaled-down versions, scaled- down in view of our backa-packa
concern with weight

My completed credencial; two stamps a day, plus Lisbon

My compostela; notice it's in Latin; with this I get half time
off in Purgatory, plus a free drink at the Vatican City Hard
Rock Cafe; so the guy said

The real reward: stickers, magnets, pins, book-marks, and
patches for our back-packs; certainly more than we've acquired
for any of our previous treks (all purchased, of course)