Caminho do Este de Portugal, day 7.
Distance: 28.4km (175.5km).
Weather: Veiled and light clouds.
On the last day of our pilgrimage on the Caminho do Este de Portugal, we would go to Mértola. It makes for a good place to end our week long walk, as the Camino changes character after Mértola. From sleepy Santa Marta the walk will take us on a road, then through some dusty areas before we pass by some vineyards and entering a walk next to the Guadiana again. At the end, the castle above Mértola will greet us long before the town itself.
Fiery morning in Santa Marta.
Sheep at a lovely dawn, Santa Marta.
Sleepy eyed we all sit down for breakfast before heading out into the dark just before dawn, while Ulf will wait a little before he leaves for Mértola by means of public transportation. The sky is painted red when the sun begins its lightshow. The hamlet is quiet and appear to be at sleep, but the sheep are up.
Lovely light on the road out of Santa Marta.
The undulating terrain of the valley where the Rio Vascão run dry in the riverbed.
Entering the road, we walk through an alley of trees. Despite the hard surface, the walk is pleasant, exaggerated by the warm colors from the sky. And all quiet on the road in the beginning, we occupying the place the cars usually takes, but that changes when we begin a winding descent towards the bridge crossing over the Rio Vascão. Here trucks comes pounding by us. It is also easy to see why Gry struggled to find a better way yesterday, next to us is an undulating landscape of arid hills and valleys.
Walking into tiny Sedas.
There is definitely a change of scenery on the sky today, as we walk up towards tiny Sedas, clouds are stretching their pale veils across the sky. It might be welcome as it could mean a not so hot day. These small hamlets lying clustered within a dry, scarce and dusty landscape never ceases to fascinate me, and as usual it is all quiet when we pass through.
New waymarkers for this Camino is in place. A satisfied group, from left: Karsten, Jorun and Gry.
Next to the route yellow arrows are suddenly appearing, causing an exclamation from Gry. These signs were not there when she passed by a couple of years ago. And not on a paved road too, we find the waymarking on our dusty gravel track of a route.
The lovely dryness.
Sleeping dogs in Roncão de Meio.
We pass through another sleepy and dusty hamlet, before the route goes on a lovely and arid stretch. Vegetation is sparse and a major sneeze would probably set off a minor dust storm. The landscape around us is undulating with just a few signs of settlements. In our direction a sudden stretch is densely populated with trees, where does the irrigation come from? It is an alluring walk.
Roadwalk after Roncão de Meio.
Tree in an arid landscape.
In Roncão de Meio we find the first bar on the walk, so we let go of our backpacks and sit down for a coffee. Two dog pups sleeps propped up to a wall, and when we leave, another dog fancies walking together with us. It follows us for a while, running in front of us before coming back again. As we gets farther away from Roncão de Meio, it appears to turn back.
The way to Lombardos.
Lombardos.
From Roncão de Meio to Lombardos the greenery is appearing even more absent, but sudden lonesome trees appears at times. The Camino undulates through this landscape in a winding way before we enter Café António José in Lombardos. With the exception of the café in Roncão de Meio, this is the only place between Santa Marta and Mértola where you can get something to eat and drink. Occupying almost all the seating outside, we prepare our stomachs for the last walk on our Caminho do Este de Portugal.
Lunch at Café António José in Lombardos, group spreading out.
The group walking on the last day.
Quaint light, dusty arid scenery, scarsely populated and an undulating terrain has been the keywords for this day, almost lovely from beginning to end so far, and it gets better. It is dry alright, truly feeling like walking in a western movie. Only the cowboys and indians are missing. In fact, everybody else seems to be missing, it is only us walking here with no one around.
A lovely undulating and dry terrain.
Vineyards and river.
After ascending a little and walking above a rugged and beautiful terrain with a dry riverbed at the bottom, we arrive at an interesting piece of the route. If you follow the Camino laid out by Pilgrim-John, you would not find yourself here. Instead you would be on a road further west, going around this part. That is probably where the waymarks has gone too, they are no longer with us. However, in the German guidebook, this is where the Camino goes. And it asks you to break some rules.
El Camino se hace Caminando.
Mértola appearing in view above Guadiana.
Descending, the route enters a vineyard from above. And this is the case. This is private property, you are not actually allowed to walk here. We made one deal, we all had to be in it together if we were to do this. Going through the vineyards next to a small river we come to the farm buildings. Last time, the buildings was empty and deserted, but now there are people working here. We walk quickly past it and find ourselves back at the shores of the Guadiana river again. At the end of the gravel track there is a gate. No one is there and as the stone fence next to it is not that tall, we all can get easy across it. Be aware, if you are to follow in our footsteps, you do so at your own risk.
Ponte de Mértola with the castle looming above.
Castelo de Mértola.
Waymarks appears again after the gate, coming down from a road to our left. Next follows a nice walk alongside the river. On the wall of a ruined building we can read El Camino se hace Caminando, the path is made by walking. Which might be a reference or homage to Antonio Machado. Caminante no hay camino (walker, there is no path).
Jesus statue in the Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Anunciação church.
Then in the distance we can see Mértola. A white town with a grey-brown castle above it. Mértola lies next to the Guadiana, but it is no longer a border river here. The Caminho leaves the river again before the final leg of the walk, but as it ascends it provides some great views of both river and Mértola. After a while, the gravel road exits into a road, which we follow all the rest of the way. At the entrance to the town, we cross over the white arched Ponte de Mértola, castle towering above.
Inside Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Anunciação.
Finishing line picture of the group. Gry, Laila, Karsten, Jorun, Tarjei.
Our section pilgrimage ends at the Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Anunciação. This is a beautiful church that was actually originally built as a mosque in the 12th century, which is not hard to believe when we see the adornments and the interior of the church. The ceiling of the church is vaulted and is supported by pillars of Islamic architecture. We take the mandatory finishing picture of the group and then we walk to our accommodation, the Hospedaria Rita.
View from the walls of Mértola.
Torre do Relógio, an old historic clock tower.
Mértola is such a beautiful town and arriving quite early we have good time to explore it. However, we first meet up with Ulf for a drink. As always, Ulf is in a wonderful mood, despite having missed out on almost half of the walk. Gotta give him credit for that.
Overlooking Torre do Rio ou da Couraça and the Guadiana.
Before dinner, Karsten and I go out to take a look at the town. We follow the city walls with good views of the river and towards where we came from. It is a beautiful atmospheric light on the sky. Embedded in the walls we find the Torre do Relógio, an old historic clock tower. Leaving the safety of the walls we go down to the Guadiana to take a look at another tower, Torre do Rio ou da Couraça, which is the ruins of an old watchtower that guarded the river mouth.
Torre do Rio ou da Couraça.
For dinner we go to Restaurante Tamuje, a nice and atmospheric place. The food is very good, but it is the selection of wine that draws our attention. Asking for some local wines, there is one name that strikes us as familiar. Herdade da Bombeira. That name we have seen before and then it dawns upon us. We saw the signpost pointing towards that vineyard when arriving at the last stretch of road into Mértola. When the waiter, upon request, shows us the location of the vinery, it is no mistake. The wine comes from the very vineyards that we passed through. We promptly rename it to trespassing-wine, vinho tinto de invasões.
Karsten on the city walls.
Mértola in the evening.
In the evening, we go out to a local bar for a little bit of celebration. This was the last day on this part of the pilgrimage. It has been a great week of being a pilgrim on the Caminho do Este de Portugal. Tomorrow we will have some time to see more of Mértola, before we head back to Faro and fly back home again, but that is for tomorrow. Today was another wonderful day being a pilgrim.
Group posing in the evening, Gry, Laila, Jorun, Karsten and Ulf.
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