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| Looking over to Spain from Valença. July 25, 2015 Gordon: Today is the feast day of St. James, the patron saint of Spain. We are intentionally two days ride from Santiago, to allow the crowds to clear so we can get a place to stay when we arrive there. Tonight we are staying in the Portuguese town of Valença, famous throughout northwestern Spain for ... towels and sheets. I presume that prices are cheaper than in Spain, because the Spanish come by the hundreds to stock up on household items. Many shops offered towels by the kilo, and it was shocking to see how burdened some of the successful shoppers were. Where you could see past the piles of linen, Valença is actually quite a striking historic town. The town centre is built inside two adjacent fortresses, which were designed to discourage Spanish visitors during an earlier century. The Portuguese fortresses are matched by one on the Spanish side of the river, in the town of Tui, that we will pass through tomorrow morning. Although the Portuguese are happy to have Spanish shoppers over for the day, the relationship between the two nationalities is still not as warm as might be expected. Portugal long felt politically threatened by its larger neighbour, and there still appear to be some issues. |
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