Porto 2nd post

Hello, everyone.

More about our first day in Porto...

We wandered the streets a little, found a bus stop and collected schedule information for our departure, and were fortunate enough to walk into the Carmelite church just as daily Mass was beginning. (We stayed for Mass, of course!) That was a pleasant surprise.

We've just about figured out the local meal schedule, finally, though they want to do breakfast about an hour too late for us! Lunch is a big meal in Portugal and they eat it around 2 pm. Dinner falls somewhere around 8:30 PM and lasts for a while. But the food is good. We ate with a family last night, the next door neighbor of the Albergue in Grijo, and the home made vegetable soup (squash and stuff pureed) and home made bread were great. Also the lady made fried fish and "Russian salad", a dish of cooked vegetables at room temperature with a bit of dressing.

Today we discovered a free music concert in the Porto square. DH got us near the front of the thousands attending, but since we'd been up since 5 am and it looked like the headline act wasn't going to get going until maybe 11pm, we worked our way out of the press of the crowd and headed back to our apartment.

We made it to Oporto

Hello, everyone.

Today we walked from the pleasant village of Grijo into Porto. We discovered the best preserved piece of Roman road we've ever seen. It still had the broad capstone and everything! Not bad for 1800 year old road surface.

For now--spousal unit wants to wander the city now that we're here--just a little picture of the view from our window at Se House.

Yes, we're practically under the ancient cathedral. It's a lovely little studio apartment.

Grijo, and a sunny day

Hello, everyone.

We left Sao Joao bright and early in a clear, hot-day's dawn. We saw an interesting little chapel on the way out.

This was before we got to the top of the long uphill climb through town and discovered what the route marks are apparently aimed at: the widest smooth sidewalk in Portugal.

We walked up and down, even on some original Roman road surface, and ended up in the Albergue de la parochial de San Salvador de Grijo. It was a short 18-20 km walk and didn't get toasty hot until I was washing our socks out. By the way, does anyone know how to get adhesive tape glue out of socks? The tape glue just melts through the tape fabric while we walk.

And with that question I think I'll close this and take a nap.

Sao Joao

Hello, everyone.

We stayed in Albergeria a Velha last night, where we were unable to use the internet. (I think I mentioned already that internet in Portugal is like a new bride's cooking: sometimes it works and sometimes it just doesn't.) To shorten the tale, we had a short walk yesterday. Since it was so short, we walked to the far side of the city before settling in for the night. The hotel mentioned in the guide book is the true No Tell Motel of the city. When we asked for help finding it, the third person we talked to said, "for sleeping?" (Heh.) But for all it was impossible to locate and had no reasonable access to a cafe, we had a nice bathroom and the sheets were clean and it was quiet. Even if we did picnic in the room on a princely feast of tuna on crackers, hard-core eggs, Pringles and peanuts.

Today we had a harder walk, about 18 miles, and now we're in the delightful Residential Solar on the very face of the downtown pedestrian plaza. Beautiful tiled bathroom, plenty of hot water, wood floors, ironwork night stands and vanity. Also wrought iron bedspread.

We had bifana (Portuguese meat sandwiches) for lunch. They're great.

Church of St. Michael in Oliveira del Azemeis

Mealhada and a short day

Hello, everyone.

Today we are in a lovely alberge in Mealhada. It's the budget side of Residenciao Celeste and the patio is supplied with tables and chairs and fruit trees and a nearby kitchen full of wine glasses. And yesterday we picked up a bottle of wine, and some sardines to go with our cracker pack. (The crackers we didn't eat with sardine spread in the forest yesterday, that is!)

Perhaps you wonder why so much sardine type food. The reason is that it is full of protein and fat for energy and some salt for electrolyte replacement. It is also easy to find in Portugal.

And for today's picture, a look at low tech pilgrim's laundry:

I used my bottle of All liquid. It rinsed easily.

This is the decorative end of a suckling pig.

A   welcoming thing happened today, to. We were walking into Mealhada, near the end of our 18 km, and a gentleman named Mr. Simoes hailed us from the driveway of his Port production building. He showed us his barrels (He ages the port for years) and gave us apples and bottles of cold drinking water. A true friend of the pilgrims! Thank you Mr. Simoes!

A glass of wine and a bowl of fruit just arrived at my elbow . Thanks, DH! I do believe I'm through typing for today.

Columbia, briefly (updated to COIMBRA. Sorry about that autocorrect!)

Hello, everyone.

We didn't have success signing in to WiFi in Coimbra, so there was no post. 

We walked another 30 km day yesterday, almost. We didn't get lost so that's something. 

This was the view from the overlook before crossing the bridge into the center of Coimbra. This is one of the great university cities of the world. We had a lovely dinner, sorry we didn't bring the kindle with us to post a picture en route. I had codfish balls, lovely crisp fried corvettes of Bavaria and potato and seasonings. DH had grilled pork. The restaurant served really superb French fries alongside, a good creamy vegetable soup (not tomato based), and dessert. 

Today we had a shorter 20 km walk to Mealhada. We left late because it was raining cats and dogs. The rain pretty much ended at 7:30 and we got rolling. First off, we got lost again! But we made it in about 3:30 PM and are now relaxing with other pilgrims.

A small programming note:

We expect to hit Porto in two or three days, depending on how we break the days up. WiFi is often promised but somewhat hit or miss so we may miss a day from time to time.

Found WiFi!

Hello, everyone.

Last night we stayed at a very pleasant hostel in Alviazere--Pinheiro's. This was after a grueling 35 km walk. (We got lost in the morning, so got to walk an extra 5 km.)

Our host was very kind and hospitable. He gave us really cool wax seals for his stamp on our credentials.

Today we are in Rabacal, a small town twenty miles (thirty km) north of last night.

The weather was wonderful today.

This is our dorm for tonight.