Half way – and the search for the fish cookies

Day 10:  Rubiaes, Portugal to Tui, Spain

After yesterday’s drenching, we are now consulting the weather apps every few minutes to best strategize when to miss the deluge that is expected. 

We decide to wait till 9 am and head out the door and the sky’s open up right then.  We laugh that we have planned our leaving perfectly.  We make it to the breakfast cafe across the valley and decide to stop, regroup and have breakfast.  Siri is watching fellow pilgrims go by and comments no one looks very happy this morning.

We finally put on our poncho and other rain gear and join the fray.  Fortunately, it is beautiful countryside as we walk old Roman roads and the rain gods decide to mainly bless us with light rain and mist. 

We stop at the top of a small hill and catch up with our Irish friends for another coffee and tea break.  We notice this time we seem to have interrupted the normal morning routine (at least this Saturday) at the cafe.  A group of 5-10 men are at the bar drinking a glass of wine to start their morning.  We comment that this might make our day go easier if we adopted this local custom.

We finally make it to the walled city of Valença, the last city in Portugal before we cross the river Minho.  We catch up with other friends we have met along the way as we visit churches and the battlements. It seems like a fun city to spend more time.

Our final destination is Tui, a medieval city on a hill with impressive towers next to the church.  We walk along the water and ascend the steep stairs into this fortress on the Spain/Portugal border.

We are excited to see if we can find almond flavored fish shaped cookies that are homemade by the cloistered nuns of Tui.  Our friends from the UK gave us more details than in the guidebook, complete with photos and how to order.  

We begin what feels like secret treasure hunt.  We find our first clue – the convent.  The second clue is the blue door – and it is open (!).  We walk into the room and to the right is a window with a lazy susan ‘barrel’ that shows the cookies – our third and final clue. 

But how do you order?  There is a bell to the side and we are about to ring it, when a local gentleman comes in to order his own 3 dozen cookies and gladly shows us how it is done.

Ring the bell. Wait for the sisters to come down on the other side of the screen. They turn the barrel to reveal a slight screen (like a confessional) and ask you your order.  We ask for one dozen fish cookies.  The lazy susan turns around and comes back with a white box.  We take the box and leave our 10 Euros. 

We go back to our albergue and have a nice cup of tea and tasty fish shaped almond flavored cookies.

Yum.