Camino de Santiago (2022)
Inhalt/Content
Stage 9: Ponte Sampaio – Pontevedra
Breakfast at the hotel was again served by the annoyed lady who still insisted on only speaking Galician. She asked us if we needed milk. I tried to explain to her in Spanish that this wasn’t the case, only for her to put a jug of milk on the table for us shortly afterward. The breakfast was served in the form of a large buffet, although apart from us there was still only one man there. Nonetheless, it was quite tasty. On the far left were two large pump cans. Coffee was written on one side and water on the other (in Spanish, after all!). When I wanted to make myself some tea after my morning coffee, only about 50ml of cold water with some lint in it came out. Seeing this, the lady rolled her eyes repeatedly before coming over to me and telling me (finally in Spanish this time!) that she had said the pot was broken. She then grabbed my cup with the tea bag and shortly afterward brought my tea to the breakfast table with another eye roll. Other people would probably have been very upset at this point. Maybe that’s the magic of the Camino, but at this point, I found it rather amusing how this woman is let loose on unsuspecting tourists.
After all, saying goodbye in this way was not particularly difficult for us and so we set off on our shortest stage. Around noon we reached our destination, Pontevedra, which was just 12 km away. The alternative would be to walk 10km further to the only accommodation that could be reached from here in half a day and which was a municipal albergue that we didn’t even know was open. So Kevin and I decided to stay in Pontevedra instead and use the afternoon for some sightseeing. Just before the city center, we found a small organic shop that also served food and drinks and decided to have lunch there. Today there was even a delicious dessert made from fresh organic strawberries. While we were just making our first bites, Li waved to us again from the shop entrance. He also planned to stay in Pontevedra to see the city. In the meantime, Li had become a constant on our Camino and we asked ourselves every morning where we would meet him today.
We found accommodation right on Plaza Alfonso de Fonseca with a pretty fountain. We used our free time to do the laundry before we set off to explore the city. Kevin fortified himself with a Spanish lemonade called Kas Limón, which he was very enthusiastic about, and we went to a stationery shop to buy a small folder in which we can then transport our Compostelas when we get them in Santiago. We actually wanted to visit the dome of the local pilgrim church, but it was siesta again and the church was closed. Instead, we paid a visit to the Pontevedra Museum and the associated Museum of Modern Art. Both museums weren’t exactly earth-shattering, but at least entry was free and we were able to learn a little about the region. When we walked through the city again in the evening, the pilgrimage church was open and we were able to climb the dome. Unfortunately, we didn’t have our pilgrim’s passports with us at the time because they were in the accommodation. So the pastor gave us a picture of the Virgin Mary instead, and he stamped it on the back. It was actually a very nice gesture and a cool keepsake at the same time.
Finally, we chose something special for dinner. There was a cheese restaurant in Pontevedra and the name said it all: mainly cheese was served. There were countless types of cheese that harmonized differently with each other. I ordered a blue cheese salad, while Kevin indulged in an absolute perversion: he was given a large round plate of ham with melted cheese and fat floating on it. Yes, it was good cheese, but Kevin almost brought that portion to his knees and after that, he probably couldn’t see any cheese for a while.
