Europe Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

The longest Camino day

4th October 20264th October 2026 funtime65

It’s when you forego the train, leaving outside your hotel window, that you really do trust in Him, on this the longest Camino day.

It is my cross to bear to carry my full backpack the full 25kms (or 6 hours), for the last leg, from Padron to Santiago de Compostella.

On the right track: But we’ll be walking

And be there in time for 4.30pm to catch the only Sunday bus to Porto for my red-eye flight back to Edinburgh the next morning.

American dad and lad Jim and Jamie are ahead of me, as they have been all week, before sunset.

But I am waiting in the Hotel Rosalía lobby on Big Brother Ed… he ain’t heady he’s my brother.

Despite spending last night, leading the belated celebrations for Aussie Allan’s 77th birthday, with his travelling companion Peter.

Pick your dish: Peter picked the Pedron peppers

At Pulperia Rial in the old centre, where I feast on the regional speciality pulpo, on a wooden plate obviously, and Rioja.

I carb up with Irish sisters Nuala and Maura but we bemoan the lack of Brennan’s bread.

The bread of life

The cat’s whiskers: Aussie Allan and Funtime Jimmy

We will meet again on the Way and because they’re Irish the talk comes round to food.

And they inform me that to tell the difference between Catholics and Protestants you ask where they keep their toasters.

Catholics leave theirs on the workplace while Protestants put theirs in the wardrobe.

Completely random but the kind of invaluable knowledge you take away from walking the Way with the world’s walkers.

All this talk of food has made me hungry.

The ways of the Way

Just a few steps to go: Santiago in the distance

We break bread again, obviously, with Aussies Allan and Peter who will probably end up in our excess luggage.

And learn too the ways of the Way when a local offers to buy half of Peter’s monster cheese and half baguette for €3.

Or at least we think that is what is happening because at this stage lifting the piano that is my backpack is making me hallucinate.

God though has shone on us and given us a gentle wind to blow us to Santiago de Compostella.

When it’s no racing cert

And most importantly with enough time to pick up our certificate.

For completing a 100km stretch of the Camino with Camino Ways.

Although after filling out a needless form on a computer we are faced with a snaking half a mile queue for our cert.

Instead we accept that if God knows that we walked his Way then that is enough.

The front doors of the cathedral aren’t accessible either and we are told too late that we needed to go through a side entrance.

But having embraced the Pilgrims Mass when I walked the last 100 of the Camino Frances.

And ducked out of the way of the Botafumeiro incense holder which is currently out of action I am not suffering FOMO.

Leaving behind the city of brotherly love

I will, alas, miss out on spending a night in Santiago and then Porto with Big Brother Ed.

As I have a bus to catch back to Porto this afternoon and then a flight the next morning to Edinburgh.

Now being brothers I’d never tell him this so you’re sworn to secrecy.

He has, in truth, set a way, a path, for me to follow from my earliest days, and still does.

Even if sometimes he leaves me behind, he is ultimately always there for me in the end.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Strictly Camino Dancing

3rd October 20263rd October 2026 funtime65

Stage 5: And I’ve got a spring in my step on the penultimate leg of my Camino Portugues… hence the Strictly Camino Dancing.

Martin and Natalia are entreating us like sirens.

On the 18kms trek of our 100+ Camino Ways pilgrimage through the woods between Calais de Reis and Padrón.

En route to Santiago de Compostella.

I have been reminded from home that Britain’s favourite pastime Strictly Come Dancing starts its elimination round tonight.

And in the absence of any competition I insist on our dancing duo to award me a 10 along with my obligatory Camino passport stamp.

Getting the band back together

Anybody there? On the lookout for my billet

The band is back together again, Aussies Allan and Peter and Indiana Julie and Chicago Nancy.

Julie alighting on my Red Rocks t-shirt at our A Casa Do Lantoneiro billet in Calais de Reis.

Apartments up from the Hotel Pousada Real where we had to go to check in before being rerouted to the block up Rua Real.

You got that then… Big Brother Ed has been billeted half a mile up the road where we will wind down around ribs and wings.

Food for the soul: For my penultimate leg

Before heading back out on the Way.

Me reunited with the rucksack I had tried, with Eatrella Galicia on board, to waylay.

The Catino: And the obligatory cat picture

There are new members of our merry band of brothers and sisters today on the Way.

Irish Michelle and Maria, with whom we bla-bla-bla with, and naturally about blaa, the Waterford speciality roll.

Breaking bread at our last supper

Listen up: And I’ve bored this peregrino stiff

And because we are on a spiritual journey I make no apologies at torturing a biblical metaphor.

And we will return to our Aussie pals Allan and Peter for breaking bread at our last supper.

At our digs for the night, Hotel Rosalía in Padron.

Tomorrow, God willing, we will reach our destination Santiago de Compostella and pick up my companion Camino certificate.

The flower off Scotland: And a coffee break

To bookend my 2016 keepsake.

On track: Padron station outside my hotel room

It promises to be the longest day, 25kms and then on to Porto for a red-eye back to Edinburgh.

Now if only there was a train station near the Hotel Rosalía to save me the legwork.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Get outta town on the Camino… Adios Pontevedra

2nd October 20262nd October 2026 funtime65

Stage 4: And we get outta town on the Camino … Adios Pontevedra and we’re back in the country.

In truth, we’ve never really stopped walking, that’s Big Brother and me, as Pontevedra is known as the Pedestrian City.

Now because of my notorious sense of misdirection I double back on myself.

Around the big tree roundabout near our billet, the Galicia Palace, until I get on the main drag.

Shelling out

I am headed for the noted Church of the Pilgrim Virgin and its floor plan in the shape of a scallop shell in honour of the symbol of the Camino.

I bless myself with the holy water from the mollusc shaped fount.

And beseech Him for guidance for the last 60kms of our Camino Portugues from the Portuguese/Spanish border.

And I throw some on the floor for those on fire below.

They’re playing our tune: The Literary Circle in Modern Coffee outside Cafe Moderno

We break bread off the Praza da Peregrina and wrestle with barcodes to get our menu.

Before pointing out impatiently that the next table has a paper one, only to be told they are children and it’s colouring-in paper.

The only Way

Have boots, will travel: And I’m still holding up

I am now reunited with brother Ed after he had gone walkabout on our route in from O Porriño.

But I will not lose sight of him again, particularly as today’s leg is a 22km trek into Caldas de Reis.

And nor will I stop meeting new peregrinos pals and pussies, and greeting old ones.

Like American dad and lad Jim and Jamie and Aussies Alan and Peter.

It is the Camino and it is the only Way.

At a crossroads

The Way, the Truth and the Life: Of a pilgrim

Dutch Ria does her best to separate us when she flags up the beauty of the left fork in the road which some are taking.

Until an experienced peregrino asks how long extra that might take and smilingly she tells us three days.

Which would double our journey.

Who knows what the next, our last three days before we reach Santiago de Compostella.

But as the sign says God loves you.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Goaaaaaal… our Camino Portugues Arcade Game

30th September 202630th September 2026 funtime65

Day 3: And we’ll get there, it’s the day after the Spain game and this is our goaaaaal… our Camino Portugues Arcade Game.

The biblical deluge did arrive last night and gracias Dios it was when we were safely off the Way.

And in our billet at Hotel Azul in O Porriño in Spanish Galicia.

But anxious about our next leg, the 23km undulating and longest stretch yet, to hilltop Arcade.

A sports hack half my career and a football fan all my life I didn’t expect.

To be trudging through the puddles to find a bar for the game.

Or giving up on the mission to watch Lamine Yamal and the world champs beat Croatia 4-1.

Only there may have been an insight on how the locals view the national team in this graffito on the wall.

Now our own wee team Scotland, the last to beat Spain a whole two years ago, have found it uphill ever since.

Like today’s 12km climb on my Camino Ways odyssey.

Thankfully Hotel Azul have served us, that’s me and Big Brother Ed, the breakfast of champions.

The first supper: To set me up for the day

You see, the beauty, of course, in a longer leg on the Camino is more time to take in the beauty.

Although I could certainly do with longer legs for those steep inclines.

And the bigger distance affords more chance to spend time with fellow peregrinos.

Where’s the little donkey? At the bottom of As Chivas

Like American brother and sister Mark and Mary who bookend this stretch down from our farmhouse billet As Chivas

With Mark offering to adopt the name Joseph temporarily for this money shot coastal picture over the valley.

Mark billing me as Jesus on account of my ‘Jesus is my Home Boy’ T-shirt.

The thing is though as a James Joseph I offer to double job.

It’s a family affair

I am walking 11 years after my first Camino.

This time with my big brother, the third of the Three Wise Men, the other brother is back in England.

Caminos have always been familial affairs and Ed and I break bread with American dad and lad Jim and Jamie… well, it is St James’s Way.

Sheltering from the morning’s delayed showers in a path side cafe.

Where naturally we get another stamp for our Camino passports which will qualify us for a certificate.

When we get to the end of our 100-mile trek to Santiago di Compostella.

Peregrinos, or pilgrims, will be lucky if their walk is in gentle breeze as opposed to blistering sun or pelting rain.

Carmen and the Hunchback of Rotterdam

God is watering his garden today but we are prepared with foldaway waterproofs.

While Dutch Nonda is covered too with a poncho covering both her and her rucksack.

The Hunchback of Rotterdam Filipino Carmen calls her… she’ll cut herself one of these days, she’s so sharp.

And despite rolling her ankle on an early leg Carmen is off now at a fair lick.

We’ll see her again, God willing, like we have Mark and Mary.

That’s the Camino for you.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

El Niño Camino the rain in Spain… but I won’t complain

29th September 202629th September 2026 funtime65

Day 2: Starts with a splash. El Niño Camino the rain in Spain… but I won’t complain.

Because I’ve said my decade of the rosary, just as Mum would do in the driveway at the start of our annual pilgrimage to Ireland.

And the predicted storms have stayed away which is just as well as we trek through the woods.

Jimmy the conkerer

The only threat from the skies is from the conkers and acorns being blown off the trees and round my head.

Our walk to the woods from Tui has been, in truth, seamless bar for a left turn (isn’t there always?).

Where a kind driver interrupts his journey.

To point us back in the right direction.

We could, of course, have trusted in our other senses.

With the skirl of the pipes a familiar sound to Scottish type people like us.

Galicians being, of course, fellow Gaels, and fond of a rendition of Amazing Grace.

For a token of appreciation for which you’ll also get a stamp for your Camino passport.

Food for thought

We picked up another earlier on, and randomly a banana.

And by now, and still early on, I have a front page filled.

From our first night billet, the local pharmacy, and the second stop, 18kms that way, in O Porriño.

We take shelter from the first droplets of rain in Tapas y Vinos to refuel.

The Way, The Truth and the Life: The Big Je has your back

And for my walking companion, Big Brother Ed, to shake his head in appreciation.

At two doorsteps of a beefy ham sandwich and two Americanos for under €12.

We are, unexpectedly, further along the way than we’d imagined… on the apron off Azur Hotel in O Porriño.

Candles in the wind and rain

I feel compelled to thank Him for keeping us dry and safe.

And say a prayer at the first church in town, it looks like there’s one on every corner.

And light a candle and pray for all the requests I’ve been given ahead of my 100 mile Camino Portugues to Santiago with CaminoWays.

The candle stand is clearly well thumbed and suggests a 20c donation.

I fluff my pockets and find a 10c but there’s no cutting corners in the House of God.

And the candle only comes on when I put in a 20c which puts the Church in profit.

And me with another sin to walk off en route to Santiago.

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Old the border for 720 years

28th September 2026 funtime65

And while the rest of the world has been trying to keep each other out here’s where they decided to old the border for 720 years.

We have, of course, the 1297 Treaty of Alcañicas to thank for the Portuguese-Spanish border, weas if we need to tell you that.

But we reckoned that milestone needed marking.

Which is why you see me stood here on the Valença International Bridge or Friendship Bridge.

Taking my first steps from Portuguese Valença over to Spanish Tui on my Portugués Camino.

Which conveniently for us, that’ll be me and Big Brother Ed, is 116kms to Santiago de Compostella.

Long enough to qualify for another Camino passport to go with my Frances Way one from 11 years ago.

A day in Portugal’s fortress town

Now, seeing we’ll only be in Portugal overnight we’d best have a look around.

Where we find a horde of Spaniards from just over the Minho trawling along Rua de Mousinho de Albuquerque for cheaper linen.

For all that the two countries have been at peace for 620 years.

There is a visible reminder that the Portuguese protect themselves ably.

And visitors will want to scale the Valença Fortress for the best views to Galicia.

While we’re advised that O Faz Figuras is best for traditional Minho dishes like bacalhau cod.

CaminoWays do the heavy lifting

We’re staying at the A Torre Do Xudes hotel in Tui.

Our first billet on our CaminoWays odyssey to Santiago de Compostella.

Where the bones of St James the Greater are venerated in the Cathedral.

Which is why pilgrims, or peregrinos, have been walking there for hundreds of years from all over Europe.

To earn grace and penitence and get time off Purgatory, the holding bay for Heaven.

Now back then in the Middle Ages, Michael O’Leary was just a twinkle in a great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather’s eye.

So you would have to leave from your own doorstep and walk across land and sea to get here.

While I saved myself the guts of a few weeks extra walking by taking a two-hour 50 minutes Ryanair flight from Edinburgh to Porto.

And while many peregrinos still carry their full backpacks and stay in hostels, or albergued, along the way.

CaminoWays do the heavy lifting for you, taxiing you to your first stop in TUI from Porto or Santiago.

Putting you up in your hotel and transporting your luggage to your next stay, all in your package.

The Way of James

Now the Way of St James will always mean something unique to everyone who travels it.

And for this James it is following in the footsteps of James the Elder.

James Gerard Murty, who would have been 100 but is gone 18 years now.

And although he will have found his way to Heaven, with only limited time in the Purgatory holding bay.

He continues to guide my path, and no doubt will lead me back on track when I undoubtedly go off course this week.

So come this Way with us and…

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Countries, Culture, Deals, Europe

Apocalypse then… Bayeux’s oui cousin

24th September 2026 funtime65

And if you want to get away from the tapestry rabble in London then just slip away to Angers for Apocalypse then… Bayeux’s oui cousin.

The Tapestry of the Apocalypse has less of a cut-through, of course, than Bayeux but it is bigger news.

At 103 metres, the longest in the world and 30 metres further than William of Normandy’s story.

Sew 14th Century

So let’s start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start… with sew, a needle pulling thread.

And the ambitious Duke of Anjou, brother of the King of France, Charles V, in the 14th century.

With apologists for the duke playing that age-old trick of setting his story in history, that of St John’s last book of the Bible.

To talk about his own political times.

With, naturellement, all those characters that still fascinate us today and make up the tapestry of the lives we amplify.

Dragons, angels, demons, fortified towns, mysterious women and knights.

And, of course, this being Normandy, the English don’t get a pass.

With references to the English enemy, this being the middle of the Hundred Years’ War.

A real curtain-raiser

Now Bibliophiles among you and certainly those with the stomach for St John’s Apocalypse will certainly point out.

That the story is incomplete.

But it has had quite the journey, like us.

Bequeathed to Angers Cathedral, it was then transformed into covers.

And it was used to protect orange trees or curtain linings.

Prepping for the Apocalypse

Now our Angers amis promise us the Apocalypse interpretation route as if you were there.

Or L’Apocalypse comme si vous y étiez, which d’accord we know you know it as.

Through six rooms and seven centuries, meet the creators of the tapestry, consider the secrets of its making and message.

And go back in time to the Middle Ages.

With videos, games, sound and touch devices.

Costumes to try on and even Playmobil diaporamas (no, we’ll have to learn that too).

All the world to us

The tapestry is housed in the 14-tower medieval fortress of Château des Ducs d’Anjou (Castle of the Dukes of Anjou),

All impressive enough but even more as UNESCO has included it among the pantheon of great documents of history.

The Memory of the World Register which boasts.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, the Appeal of 18 June 1940 of General de Gaulle and films of the Lumière brothers among others.

Now our Medieval forefathers and mothers didn’t have the advantage of high-speed, not their fault.

And we dare say Leonardo Da Vinci was working on it.

But we do and our go-to site Omio flag up £9 tickets from Paris.

America, Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Passport for Pocohontas on the John Smith Trail

21st September 202621st September 2026 funtime65

And as I train on for the Camino next week I’m leaving stamps on my passport for Pocohontas on the John Smith Trail for a next trek.

Pocohontas, as we don’t have to tell you, is twice blessed in the sacred Rotunda in the US Capitol in Washington DC.

We’re concentrating here on the stone relief sculpture above the doorway.

Titled The Preservation of Captain Smith by Pocahontas by Antonio Capellano.

Captain Smith and Pocohontas which you’ll know from your Disney are inextricably linked.

At home with Pocahontas

As they are on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.

The 3,000-mile trek through five states and the District of Colombia.

For Pocohontas fans Machicomoco State Park along the York river and Gloucester County Visitor Center are your touch points.

With Werowocomoco, where Pocohontas grew up, alas closed off for just now from us.

While the The National Park Service works through with Virginia’s First Nations how to shape the site.

With Werowocomoco holding truths about Native American societies in the Chesapeake stretching back thousands of years.

A tale of two Johns

The John Smith Trail is the authentic way through pre-American history.

In much the same way as the 216-mile John Muir Trail is in California.

You may be more familiar with the Father of the National Parks’ 134-mile coast to coast trek in his native Scotland.

Big hand: For John Muir in his native Dunbar

Now whichever trek you set out on remember to take your passport with you.

Yes, of course, that document that will let you through the security gate but also trail passports.

Where you collect stamps as a memento of your odyssey.

Stamp your authority

I’ll be on my second Camino passport but a Portuguese Way one to go with my Camino Frances.

While I also have a Via Francigena from my journeys in Italy.

All of which reminds me that I have to update my Big passport for next year and get my Irish one too, like the Daughterie.

The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail has 43 unique stamps,

And like all trails the first journey always has a first step.

Countries, Deals, Europe

Ten years of the real House of Dragons

18th September 2026 funtime65

Consigned as I am to live in ‘Winterfell’, and as a dracophile, I clearly want to mark ten years of the real House of Dragons.

No, not Daenerys Targaryen, who as my own Queen of Dragons reliably informs me is also to be feared.

But the real House of Dragons as those keen-eyed among you will have noted is Postojna Cave in Slovenia.

Which is, of course, one of the world’s best-known karst caves.

Where we only got to watch the development of the olm in real time.

From the first eggs, embryos and larvae hatching to their transformation into playful little baby olms.

Aw, they do grow up so fast

This year, ‘the baby dragons’ from the 2016 olm brood are turning ten.

And our Postojna pals are giving us an insight into how they live today and the interesting developmental stage
they are about to enter…

And whether dragon adolescence is anything like ours.

The very first olm was discovered right enough, in Postojna, in 1797.

The shy olms had, in truth, probably been around for 14 million years ago moving from the surface into the permanent darkness of subterranean waters.

Now instead of vision, which is unnecessary in darkness, the olm has developed a range of highly specialised senses.

Food for thought

It has an excellent sense of smell, taste and hearing, and can detect vibrations in the water.

And sense weak electric fields produced by other animals and orient itself using the Earth’s magnetic field.

And therefore locate its prey, such as small crustaceans, snails, worms and insects.

Its survival strategy in an environment where food is very scarce includes an extremely slow
metabolism, a low heart rate, and minimal movement.

And doesn’t that sound the life?

This one’s got legs

Slithering about: The olms are on the move

And there’s more…

The olm can live for more than 100 years and can reproduce even at an advanced age.

And because of its slow metabolism it can survive for several years without food, maybe not like a human adolescent then.

While here’s where it gets even more interesting.

They can regenerate damaged limbs and organs, blood vessels, the heart and even parts of
the brain.

And how do we know? Well, here’s where little Viktor comes in, handy,

Still of the night: And we’re in their world

Viktor like most kids likes a scrap and hurt and lost part of his leg in a fight with two other olms.

But like the Monty Python knight, he shook it off as a flesh wound.

Because he knew that within just a year he would have grown back a fully functional limb.

Now if you think all of this is dragon on a bit and you want to see Viktor for yourself.

We found round-trip flights for random dates in October to Ljubljna from under £200 with EasyJet because unlike dragons, we can’t fly for ourselves.

Countries, Deals, Europe, Skiing

Ski TV… and La Plagne’s plans

9th September 2026 funtime65

And we just had to mark Ski TV… and La Plagne’s plans.

The winding up of the iconic BBC Ski Sunday show resonates particularly with Gen X.

Those like us, born in the Sixties and who were first drawn.

To those Incredible Snowmen Franz Klammer and Ingemar Stenmark, as they flew down the Alps in the Olympics.

And who we got to see every Sabbath for ourselves when David Vine brought it to our screens in 1978.

Now the British state broadcaster, in their own wisdom, have decided to pull our weekly diet of snow sports.

Leaving us to wait for the Winter Olympics in 2030 for our fix.

Looking up

And it’s our good fortune that we’re in safe hands skiing in La Plagne.

Now, of course, we’ll be blessed with getting to see the world’s best practitioners of the slopes.

In the blue-ribband events at the Olympics.

But in a throwback to our younger days the French Alpine resort is also bringing back a favorite of TV viewers on the continent.

And one which we regret that we didn’t see over on this island.

Where the only snow on our peaks is the northern forgotten bit of this island.

Probably just as well judging by Britain’s record in its companion show Jeux sans frontières .

Or in time-honored British tradition, translated into English, as It’s A Knockout.

Let these Games begin

Well, we will be treated to a new iteration of Interneige, born in 1965, a great year, and held in 1966 in La Plagne.

And but yes, we’ll want you to watch this space to see what they’ve got in store.

And if we’ll see a revival of events such as…

The Hare and the Tortoise, or the Hare and the Tortoise, The Grasshopper and the Ant.

And then there’s The Frog Who Wanted to Be as Big as the Ox.

Which we don’t have to tell you is The Frog that wishes to be as big as The Ox.

Throughout the seasons, there were numerous events, all culminating in Les slaloms parallèles pour le Fil rouge.

Hats off to La Plagne

And interspersing it all is that ubiquitous Plagne red bobble-hat which celebrates its 60th birthday this winter.

Born in a black and white TV age In 1966, La Plagne needed a simple logo that viewers could instantly recognise.

The Red Hat is getting a makeover for 2026.

It will change hats, acquire different expressions and become animated as part of La Plagne’s new visual identity.

Make a plan for La Plagne

La Plagne is a 150-minute drive from three main airports, Geneva, Grenoble, and Lyon.

Either hire a car from the airport, book one of the transfer companies or take the bus.

Alternatively let the train take the strain.

Eurostar Snow train offers rail service from London St Pancras International to the Aime-la-Plagne (with a change at Lille).

Trains depart London St Pancras International on Saturdays and return to London on Sundays.