We walked the beautiful Portuguese coastal Camino de Santiago northward from Porto, making stops at beaches, fishing villages and the lovely town of Viana do Castelo. Then we took a small boat across the estuary marking the Spanish border and continued on foot along the Atlantic shore to the large and bustling seaport of Vigo. We spent a night along the way at the stunning Parador de Baiona, a converted old seafront palace in the beautiful coastal town of Baiona.

The walk ended in historic Pontevedra, whose green energy and urban planning strategies have made it one of Europe’s most livable and sustainable cities: much of the city center is car-free. And it’s beautiful too: its medieval core, whose extent is second only to that of Santiago de Compostela, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The group continued on to Santiago de Compostela to experience the Pilgrim Mass at the Cathedral.