Oh how I want to do another walk! This is from our last one, in Portugal.
Droplets on a Grape Vine, Near Alijó, Portugal, 5.13.25
Remembering …
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Category Archives: Portugal
Another Day, A New Country
We woke early this morning, in order to finish our packing, check out, and catch a cab to Porto Campanhã to catch our 8:13 train. It was an easy trip and we arrived in time to catch a bite before the train arrived.
We weren’t in a high speed train, nor was it quiet. We haven’t done many trains in Portugal, so maybe this is the norm, but I wouldn’t know. In any case, it got is to where we needed to go.
I was glad the trip to Vigo didn’t include a ton of stops like the others pictured below.
Despite being on a train I did take photos. I need them for this post, after all! They aren’t great, but I got what I could from a moving train.
Our final goal for today couldn’t be done via one train. I’m guessing it’s because of our move to a new country. So first we got into Vigo, Spain and exited our Portuguese train.
The train station wasn’t huge, and there was nowhere outside where we could quickly buy lunch, so it was a bag of chips and water for the time being.
Then back on to a train we went. This time it was a Spanish Renfe train, but it certainly wasn’t the fast sort, and the only food was in vending machines which we opted not to use. The trip was only something over two hours in any case, so we were fine. I was glad to have purchased seat reservations, as I saw some people have to move from the seat they opted to take when someone came along saying it was theirs.
More photos below from the train and then just outside of it:
We then arrived in our next city. Hello Santiago de Compostela!
We quickly got a cab to take us to our hotel. I had looked on the map and our hotel was a mere .8 miles away, but it included a climb and with our packs and bags it seemed wise to pay the 8€ or so to have someone drive us. I’m sure glad we did! I didn’t realize we’d be going down some of those crazy narrow streets, where pedestrians have to move out of the cab’s way or get run over, and there were a number of pedestrians!
We checked into the hotel — a nice large room. (I don’t remember ordering the room with two beds, but whatever … I never want to be “that” American who complains. Especially these days.)
After getting settled we left to find a bit more to eat. And then … WOW! We were nearing the cathedral and the number of people with packs on their backs and trekking poles rapidly increased. When we got to a center square there were a good number crashed out there. These are the people who have ended their pilgrimage to the Cathedral. Some go as far as five hundred miles, while it can be as short as around sixty. Not all do it for spiritual reasons, but I think many do. I’ve heard it can be quite an emotional journey, but having been on a one hundred miles backpacking trip I think many journeys can be pretty emotional. (I cried my way up Mt. Whitney, but I think that had to do with altitude sickness of some sort!)
I marveled at the buildings in the area, and I look forward to investigating more in the few days we have here.
We finally chose a place to eat and I know it will come as a shock to read that we ordered more than necessary: steamed mussels, a cheese board, and Padrón peppers, along with drinks. (Only when we went through the village of Padrón did it occur to me that that’s where the pepper got its name. We did see the plants growing there, too.)
After eating we met a couple who had done the Camino using a travel group like the type we use. They only had to carry their daypacks, and they stayed in nice accommodations. I think I’d prefer doing that for a Camino as well. As they said, being older we need those places where we can easily get up in the middle of the night! Then we walked back to our hotel.
Now that we are in Spain we have to readjust our eating habits even more: they don’t eat until 8:00 at the earliest! Knowing that, it seemed a good time for a bit of a siesta. Plus, of course, the start of today’s blog entry so when we get back later I’ll be able to post rather quickly. (I also blog when possible because I just might forget what we’ve done, sad but true.)
When we went back out it was still too early for dinner so we investigated the area more. It really is a fun spot. Very different than the Portugal places, as there aren’t nearly the vacant or run down places in this area. (My guess is we’d find that if we ventured outside the center here.) For the first time we donned our puffer jackets — they are quite thin and lightweight, but they are also warm, and it was getting chilly.
It’s ALE-HOP! Everywhere we go there seems to be this store. The cow is always there. Really.
Eventually we found a spot to eat and decided to sit at a table rather than the front area, where you sit on higher chairs and order tapas and various other things. It was just easier to order with a menu (in English), and we do like the lower chairs, although I suspect we pay more for that kind of seating. The food was super!
Then we began our walk back to our hotel. I find it hilarious that I knew which direction to go since Dan is usually Map Man. But, sure enough, I was right when I said which way I thought was correct! Hooray, me. Then we felt a few sprinkles and saw umbrellas. but not enough to stop us from taking in some views when the light was just beautiful on the cathedral and other walls.
Now we are back in our hotel, and we’ll have to set an alarm because we (foolishly?!) said we’d take the 8:00 breakfast here. (The room came with breakfast, therefore we eat it. We are brilliant that way.) I’m not sure why we took that time, when we eat dinner so late which means we get to bed that much later. Ah well! Live and learn. Or just live and wake up earlier than we might like.
For now … buenas noches!
Final Day in Porto
We opted to revisit the breakfast spot of Thursday. It was as good today as it was then. Major yum!
Today we decided to follow the advice of the man who owns the Casa de Casal de Loivos. He had recommended a few things to do outside the touristy center of Porto, and I’m all for seeing more than just tourist spots, so off we went.
One place he recommended was a market in Matosinhos. We plugged that destination into our map and off we went.
We had some walking to do … about 5 1/2 miles I think, and we did a number of stairs. (By the time we got back to the hotel my watch suggested it was 10 flights, but our watches are often giving incorrect information so I’m not sure what we really did.) It was a good walk, though, and it was somewhat warm today. I just love seeing all the houses, and the tiles can be pretty amazing. I am only sharing a few, but I find them beautiful. We went through some less interesting city spots — more of a typical city and not the historic part, but I enjoy seeing more than just the tourist bits. We also went through an area I suspect is where the more well off live, at the top of a hill.
We’ve seen political signs posted, and, while I didn’t take photos, we’ve seen some people walking with flags that have a hammer and sickle on them. One sign said something about 50 years of corruption. Then, on this walk, we saw a Porto city truck removing some of the posters attached to poles. I took a photo of that one, as wondered what PSD=PS means. Maybe a reader knows?
Here are a ton of photos of the walk up to our market destination:
Now to be honest, I only plugged in Matosinhos first, so it was taking us to the city (is it a city? I don’t know!) center, but when we neared the area Dan put in the market and we then were directed to the correct place. The Mercados Municipais de Matosinhos is a fascinating place: there are a number of stands with fresh fish. I noticed that all the sellers were women and Dan suggested the men did the fishing and the women the selling. Upstairs were a lot of flower and vegetable stands and they really looked great!
If we had chosen to we could have perused all the fish stands and chosen a fish or two and then the restaurant there would cook it for us. We, being a bit timid about all of the instructions we were given by the very gregarious man at the restaurant, opted instead to just choose off their menu. We ordered a meal for two that included monk fish, shrimp, and rice that I think they might have called tomato rice. It was really delicious and made up for our so-so fish and rice meal in Lisbon for sure! We also enjoyed bread and olives because … well … bread and olives!
When we were finished with lunch we decided to start back to our hotel on foot. We looked up more of what was suggested to visit and while the city park and the Museum of Modern Art were too far out of the way unless we grabbed a car we thought we could do the walk he suggested that took us by the ocean. It took a while to get there …
… but eventually there was the water. In some ways the area reminded me of the Southern California cities we’ve been in. But then we’d run across a place that was definitely not one we’d find in our state.
We walked a good amount, until we reached a spot where the trolley car runs. The line was long, though, and the cost for the two of us was equal to or even more than a car, so we walked to a park across the street, Dan ordered a car, and we sat on a bench and relaxed a bit.
Soon the car arrived and took us close to, but not exactly to our hotel. I think he wanted to avoid a bit of traffic. So be it. We could add a few more steps to our day and survive.
We were back in the hotel a bit before 6:00PM (or 18:00 … you choose!). Shoes off, we sat for a bit, and I began writing about our day. Then it was off to see a sunset and, prior to that, finding a bit of dinner.
We headed up toward the upper bridge again, knowing our destination was the high spot on the other side of the river. As we walked we looked for a place that would serve food, but didn’t find anything — at this point they were serving drinks only from what we could tell. But of course that is what it would be: it wasn’t even 7:00, after all! So over the bridge we went.
There were some food trucks right after we got to the other side. The first had burgers, including chicken, which would have been fine, but there was a line so I walked over to another and it had hot dogs. Now I’m normally not a huge hot dog fan (although I do like a turkey dog now and then), but there was no line and the price was only 7€ and in a very touristy spot we could deal. Little funny aside: I saw the charge card reader so I pulled out a card at first. The person making our dogs said, “The card reader doesn’t work.” That’s the second time I’ve gotten that line, and I am not sure it’s really true, but we had cash so that’s what she got. The dogs were gigantic and messy, but they sufficed for dinner.
Then we took the little climb up the hill to where a lot of people we waiting for the sunset. Down below us was another crowd. It was pretty wild, really. I think we had to wait about an hour, but it was pretty, and we had a nice chat with a couple from Quebec while we all waited. The noise down below got pretty loud. I don’t know what was happening down there, but there was applause so I’m assuming someone was performing something. Who knows?!
I’ve neglected to mention the hen and stag parties earlier (I don’t know that that’s what they call them here) that we’ve seen. With the men, the groom is sometimes dressed in some crazy way. One we saw in Lisbon was dressed in baby clothes or some such crazy thing. The bride is usually wearing a veil of some sort. The guys with the groom are often in t shirts that match, some having their names on them. The young women with the bride are often in matching shirts as well, or at least wearing similar colors. The group we saw tonight were all in jeans, the bride had a pink shirt, and the others wore white. They were playing some sort of game, and later she threw a bouquet and they did a bit of dancing. We’ve seen this in both Lisbon and Porto (I don’t remember it in Coimbra) and it’s very fun to watch.
When we were finished up top we went back over the bridge and down a few narrow streets to make our way back to the hotel.
Then I did a bit more packing, so tomorrow all I have to worry about are toiletries. We’ll have a bit of early rising, but once we get on the train we can relax a bit. Well, trains actually. I’ll explain about that tomorrow!
Meanwhile we are hearing a lot of cheering and horns … I think a game must have been played and I’m guessing maybe Portugal won, but I don’t know for sure.
Now off to bed with me.
Ciao!
Day Two in Porto
Before leaving the hotel Dan did a bit of laundry. Yes, we do laundry in our hotel bathroom. Somewhere I read that it was “frowned upon” by hotels, but there isn’t any sign saying we can’t and our clothing dries rather quickly. (Mine even faster than Dan’s since nearly everything I brought is merino wool.)
Then we decided to head to a market that we visited last time. I’m sure it’s a bit touristy, but it’s fun, and we actually do see people buying vegetables and they look to be locals. Rather than have breakfast inside the market building we got something right across the street and YES, it was actually an “experience”! Hah … breaking our own rule about not patronizing things that include that word. Go figure!
Then into the market building we went. Mercado de Bolhão is really nice. Very clean, too. And it’s great fun to walk around, aisle by aisle, which is what we did. Oh, and we bought a cup ‘o fruit.
At one end there were some ceramics and I actually purchased a dish. We so rarely buy anything on trips, but I liked it, and as Dan suggested, if I can get it back home in my luggage, go for it! (His luggage is completely packed.)
Eventually it was time to do our little “market experience”. It’s so very different than the states: you can purchase a glass of wine (for a very small price — my glass was probably 3.50€ — and you can walk around with that glass. We did just that, until we found what we’d want to snack on, which for us was a small amount of sashimi. We sat on some steps and relaxed a bit.
Then it was more walking in the market, and we opted to pick up two tapas each. And, just because it really must be done, we each also had a pastel de nata.
Leaving the market, I suggested we go to a church I’d read about. It’s actually two churches with a very small house (a “hidden house”) between the two. First we had to find our way there. (And I thought of Brandon when I saw the cocktail club so I had to take a photo!)
We opted, for a fee, to see Igreja do Carmo, because it included the small house as well. Sadly they didn’t allow photos in the house, but in the church it was fine. (Sounds backwards to me, but what do I know?) The house is in ill repair and I can’t imagine it’s going to last long if they don’t do some restoration, but it is quite interesting to see. I read that it was three feet wide, but I think that’s not quite true. Even the front seems wider than that. Perhaps eight feet. Inside it might get as wide as twelve feet. The first story has a bedroom and small study, the second looks to be like a small living room, and the third is a tiny kitchen and eating area. Pretty wild! We couldn’t go up to the next floor, so I don’t have a clue what it was. We continued through the church, but did not go up on the roof. I knew I couldn’t, and Dan didn’t seem interested. There was a hospital associated with the church, and I had to take a photo of the birthing chairs!
From there we decided we needed to sit and rest a bit, so we stopped at a little place and ordered a couple of the 0.0% beers and some sort of French fry thing. The “thing” ended up being fries with an egg and some (mostly unchewable) ham. It was … okay. The server also placed a wooden plate on the table with olives and a basket of bread. One thing we learned early on: you have to pay for that if you eat it, but if you don’t touch it they can’t charge you. Eventually we asked another server to take it away. I think a lot of tourists get caught by this little issue, but it’s just the way things are in some countries here. A lot of the time we actually want the olives and bread, but not this time.
From there we walked more. Saw the famous Livraria Lello bookstore. The line was long, and we simply weren’t interested in standing there waiting to get in. (And yes, it costs something to enter. The minimum is 10€, and you can pay as much as 50€ if you want to get into the “Gemma room”.) I’m going to bet a few book lovers would gasp at our skipping this place, but we simply can’t do it all.
We continued our walk, and eventually got to a spot Dan had talked about from last trip. I couldn’t remember it at all … until we got there.
Moving on, we reached a spot that I remembered that had an amazing view.
Then it was time to make our way back to the hotel. A bit of rest was called for. And perhaps a potato chip or more. I actually fell asleep for a short bit so I guess I needed that. Eventually it was time to get to dinner.
Ah, dinner! I’ve been using The Fork to find places, and they give the average price, but I guess we aren’t average because every time it’s more than I expected. Tonight was the same. The food was very good, but I am learning that servings are far too large for me. I ate so much that, if you hid my face, wrinkles, and gray hair, people might think I’m pregnant! Sigh. But in any case, it really was yummy, typical Portuguese food. (I had what they call “duck rice”.)
After dinner we walked over the same bridge we walked over yesterday, but this time we were on the lower level. I shot a few photos (of course!), including this boat with a pool at the top. Now I’m not interesting in pools (or beaches or anything for swimming to be honest), but if I were, that might be rather fun!
We walked back to our hotel via the Ribeira. It is an incredibly active, noisy, touristy, but rather fun spot. Too much for my ears, though! I’m not sure if this video will work well, but here it is:
Then it was into our hotel. I saw the person at the reception desk that checked us in and had to wave. I did the same last night. Her name is Patricia, so I feel (call my crazy) a connection. But she was the one to point out that we share the same name so there’s that. Still, as I told Dan, she’s probably thinking, “There’s the crazy old lady waving again!” Heh.
But now … time to say goodnight. One more full day in Porto and then we move on to not only another city, but another country.
Goodnight!
First Full Day in Porto
We began quite lazily since we have no bags to pack and we don’t have a walk scheduled. Of course that doesn’t mean we didn’t walk, and in Porto it does mean you will most likely have a climb! After showers we got ready and first had to go downstairs to tell them our room is quite cold (the heater doesn’t appear to be working) and the toilet won’t stop flushing! At home we just jiggle the handle, but here there is no handle to jiggle so I guess someone will have to come up and fix that.
Then it was nearing breakfast time. At home I’d never think of eating breakfast, but … wellllll … vacations are just different! We wanted somewhere close so I did a search on coffee and saw that Coaque – Artisan Chocolate was the closest place. Now you might wonder about the chocolate thing. I sure did! Honestly, I think they’d be smart to change the name: yes, there is a lot of chocolate, but they also serve breakfast, and I think lunch also. We ate very well.
After our meal we made our way to Gaia, via the Luis I Bridge. If you know me, you know heights give me the Willies, but I do manage to cross bridges without too much fear.
Photos are from our walk to the bridge and on the bridge:
We had a 1:30 date with Caves Ferreira to do a tour, so we went in that general direction. It brought back memories of our first visit to Porto, when Meghan and Jameson were also here. That time we didn’t do a tour but we did have an amazing time at Graham’s, as we had dinner reservations there. This time I did try for a Graham’s tour, but nothing was available. I guess those have to be scheduled well in advance. So we walked to Ferreira’s just to make sure we knew where we were going, and then went to have a snack and a beer. The zero alcohol kind … we’d get enough port anyway!
The tour was enjoyable and I did actually learn some things. I liked the tasting (you can see the photo of what we tried below), but I have to be honest and say I really don’t have a discerning palate like some do. You could buy me cheap stuff and I’m not sure I’d know the difference, sad but true.
After our tasting we walked through a place that reminded us of Lisbon’s Time Out Market but without the crowds (and not nearly as large), and then up to something called WOW, which we later learned meant “world of wine” and there were various “experiences”. Now call us sarcastic, or maybe skeptical, or perhaps both, but when we see that there’s a wine experience, and a chocolate experience, and a cheese experience, um, well, we just aren’t interested in experiencing any of them. Not there, anyway. Those seem more like big tourist traps to us. What we’d thought was there was some art … somewhere we’d read something that gave us that impression. But nope, just a modern looking place that I think is supposed to make money and appears to have very few people buying into it.
Photos here are after the tasting up until leaving WOW:
We quickly left and went back down the stairs and had to decide if we would take a ferry across the Douro, go uphill to the bridge, or take a gondola ride to the bridge. Again, yours truly is incredibly squeamish about heights, but there is something about being in an enclosed gondola that causes me not to be fearful. I can’t explain it, but there you go. So we opted for the gondola (yes, I know: tourist trap stuff!): the views were fun, but it sure went quickly.
We had planned on going right back to our hotel, although first we would grab a snack to bring with us, but then we looked up and decided to go up a small hill to see a building that was calling our name. It was windy at the top but, again, there were spectacular views. It was well worth the small climb.
Finally it was time to head back. Over the bridge we went, past the big church, and then down some of the wonderful narrow alleyways of Porto. (And saw the biggest Ficus elastica ever.) We bought our snack supplies as well.
Then we went up to our third floor room and shoes came off, chip bag was opened, and it was relaxation time.
I had made reservations for a nearby place that had good reviews and had an opening for 7:30. We are learning that reservations are a very good idea in a city that is so popular with tourists. When it was time we walked all of two minutes to Tá-Berna Wine & Tapas Bar. We really enjoyed the food, and our server was fun to watch as she was in charge of the entire upstairs (well, okay, it wasn’t a huge upstairs, but she sure moved quickly), and was just very friendly. After we ate our dessert of these little balls of yumminess I told her I loved mine and she smiled and said she makes them herself! Then, going downstairs to pay, she was there to take the payment and take a photo of us (on one of those instant cameras) to put on the wall. She had me put our names on it as well. What fun!
It hadn’t fully appeared but I quickly took a photo. And I think that being on that wall makes us famous. Or something. (Hmmm … maybe we should get a free drink?)
After paying we went back to our hotel and up to our room after I had a 20€ bill changed into some coins so we have tip money for housekeeping. Yes, tips are done in Porto, although one doesn’t leave nearly as much here as in the states, from all I’ve read.
Now I do believe it’s time to sleep. Last night I slept pretty well once I took a Benadryl. I had had a reaction to something and with itchy eyes, ears, and throat I decided a pill might help with that and perhaps I’d even sleep better. Sure enough, that worked! (Today I saw that there was some sort of stuff floating in the air, similar, if not the same, to the cottonwoods in the US. I suspect that’s what I was reacting to, but who knows?!
But you don’t really need to know all of that. I’m rambling. And I should say goodnight! So … GOODNIGHT!
Walking Done … But Not Really
We woke, did some packing, and went to have breakfast. It’s the first place where all guests sat at the same table. A day or so ago we saw a young woman with a t-shirt that said “California 1991” so we asked if she was from California and she said no, she was from Scotland and bought the t-shirt at a store there. We asked where in Scotland and she said near Inverness and so we mentioned the Great Glen Way walk we took. Then she got more specific with her home because she knew we would have passed right through it: she (and her travel companion) are in Drumnadrochit! We talked about where we ate and of course they knew the places. Small world.
After breakfast we finished our packing, and took our bags up for the bag pick-up, had another cup of coffee, and enjoyed the view one last time.
I took a quick photo of our lodging, and then we walked in the village a bit, just to check it out.
Then it was time to do the descent back to Pinhão. Plus a few climbs just to make it more fun, I guess. The way we went, using the app, was certainly not the fastest way down, but I think the plan was for us to be able to really see more views and a couple of the wineries as well. It was a pleasant walk.
On our way down, very close to Pinhåo, a dog seemed to want to guide us. It was pretty funny … if we stopped he’d wait. Eventually he did go his own way. (Later on we were sitting with Patrizia, Rudy, Peter, and Judith — the latter being people we’d seen but only actually met while sitting together. They, too, were from Switzerland. Turns out the dog also did the same for Peter and Judith! Funny.)
And then the walk ended. But as I titled this entry, “not really” … because of course we will walk every day in every city!
When we reached Pinhão we went to the train station.
We were told our luggage would be at “the house in front of the train station.” Curiously, we saw no house. Before worrying much about that we went inside the station to talk to the man selling tickets. Why? Because the strike is still on, of course! (Because of the strike we did have the insurance of bus tickets which, funnily enough, were more expensive than the train.) He said yes, the train was running. So far. Kind of shrugged and said something about the strike. Earlier, because of the potential of no train, we had opted to get a ride (with Patrizia and Rudy) to Régua because that’s where the bus would depart, so we did plan on doing that in any case. At that point we did see Patrizia and Rudy and they, too, were wondering about luggage. Shortly after that, though, our luggage transport guy drove by and while driving told us not to worry or some such thing. Turns out HE had the luggage in his taxi and he would be the one to drive us to Régua. Okay then.
So off we went. He drove pretty crazily, but we are still alive so whatever.
Getting to the train station in Régua, we sat with the other four new found friends, had some beer, and just enjoyed on another’s company. It was a lovely time.
Then … ta-da!!! … the train showed up. A noisy old thing, but it was a train and it got us to the Campanhã station in Porto. We then jumped on another train to get us to Sao Bento, a really beautiful train station …
… and opted to get ourselves to our hotel without taking a taxi. Not a problem, really, but it was downhill so I’m pretty sure we’ll take a car back to the train station when we leave this city!
Our hotel is fairly new and quite nice.
Below is us a fairly busy street so I’ll be interested to see how the noise is tonight. We have a nice view of some buildings across the street, though.
After we got settled in we went down for our free “welcome port” which was nice …
… and then we went in search of dinner. The first place Dan read about had quite the line, so that was a no. Then we went to an area we ate at the last time we were here but nothing seemed to have room. (Later we could hear music blasting from that street, so we were rather glad not to be there.) Finally I opened up The Fork (like Open Table) and I just searched for restaurants near us and we found a place. It was nice, and we were the only ones eating inside for quite a while. I was surprised so many were eating outside, as it was quite chilly.
We are now back in our room, and I will quickly try to upload photos because I’m rather tired. I think finishing our walking holiday just sort of zapped me. Tomorrow, though, I’m sure my energy will be back, and we are looking forward to more time in Porto.
Ciao!
The Last of the Longer Days
… and only one day to go. This really has flown by!
I’ll add all the technical info later, as well as add some photos and videos if possible, since some didn’t load. Photos are loading slowly because I somehow hit the raw option. I’ll fix the photos when I get home … and probably add the other info then as well. I don’t want to spend time on this right now!
Today began with packing our bags as much as possible (saving teeth brushing for after our meal) that are to be transported to our next and final location. We went down to have breakfast (I’m so uncreative I have the same thing every day, it seems!) and pick up our bagged lunches. I suspect the hotel is having difficult getting certain supplies because the fruit we requested turned into a juice box! We both just left those in the room when we checked out.
We had looked out the window a number of times and it appeared to be raining, so rain jackets were donned and we started on our way. The first part of the journey was backtracking from the day we arrived in Alijo. I’ve noticed, though, that when I do a route in an opposite direction I frequently see new things, so I have no complaints about that. I’m sorry I didn’t get great photos of the village, but I can’t manage to take photos of it all, I guess!
Dan checked in with the navigation app, making sure he had the correct day loaded up. And of course he did.
We began with a fair amount of uphill, so we could look down on Alijo.
Reaching a level spot we ambled along and I heard a cuckoo. I just love those birds.
I’ve neglected to write about the gorse. We were told long pants were a good idea — that the plant can really do a number on one’s legs. Since I never wear shorts that wasn’t even an issue, but when I saw the thing (which I believe we’ve seen every day and few days it was everywhere) I could understand the long pants suggestion!
Since it was raining quite a bit yesterday we had a lot of mud encounters. (Later on another couple on the walk passed us and the woman said, “I hate mud!” I understand completely.)
I couldn’t seen to stop taking photos, despite the mud — the Douro region of Portugal is just amazing! Occasionally we could hear workers in the field. Not wanting to be intrusive I only took a photo with them in the distance. I’m not sure if you can see them or not. Sometime during this portion of the walk our jackets came off and cameras came out I was so glad, because there were a few flowers I really wanted to capture. (I didn’t get them all on the iPhone, though, and those are the only photos I can share until I get home.
Then it was lunch time. Please excuse that left side … yes, that’s my finger! Oops.
While eating Patrizia and Rudy walked by … well, first they stopped and we chatted for a while. I really enjoy the couple: they are easy to chat with. (And I believe we will be seated for dinner with them.)
More photos …
The signs for the Camino were seen frequently and we have to occasionally check to make sure we are still on the same route as those who are doing that walk.
More photos …
Through the village of Vilarinho de Cotas (if my gps info is correct) with some uphill. I have to say I’m really quite comfortable with uphill climbs, and I rather enjoy them sometimes.
And then the last leg to our lodging, which included a good bit of uphill and amazing views and one photo of someone who has started a fire (did I write about this already? I think so!) which we assume has something to do with making lunch, but we don’t know for sure. In some of these photos you can see the Douro … we are nearly back where we started this journey! (There should be more photos below … sorry they aren’t appearing. They’ll have to wait until we get home, I think.)
Finally we arrived in the town of our lodging, Casal de Loivos. Prior to reaching Casa Casal de Loivos we went out to an amazing viewpoint (clearly popular as cars drove up and people would get out to catch the view and take a photo). It’s a fabulous view, and we could see Pinhão below, our starting point for this walk.
Then we arrived at the Casa and wow! The nicest place we’ve had with Portugal Green Walks so quite the wonderful way to end our journey.
Following showers and a bit of down time we went to get our “welcome drinks” and immediately saw Patrizia and Rudy there. We spend a good amount of time outside chatting and enjoying each other’s company. I’m so glad to have met them. Initially the Casa owner had said we’d be sharing a table with them, but Patrizia said they brought a little cook stove and would make a dinner in their room. So we had a private dinner while the rest of the lodgers were upstairs for their dinner. With my bad ear I was pretty much okay with this, though it felt sort of strange.
Tomorrow is a very short walk day and ends as we began, in Pinhao. Then it’s on to other adventures!
Ciao!
Day Four of Walking
The morning began with computer stuff (still on my Wordle streak), and then off to breakfast we went. We also picked up our lunch bags. It’s always interesting to see what a place will give you … some things are a surprise until we unwrap them at lunchtime! Today was a chicken sandwich. By that I mean chicken between two pieces of bread without any condiments. This happened with our last two days as well, although then it was ham and cheese with no condiments. We also had a salad, with packets of olive oil and wine vinegar today, so I took some of the dressed salad, including cucumber, and put those in to the sandwich. Then there was a nice piece of cake which maybe was spice cake. And, finally, an apple. Which is sitting in my hotel room as I type.
Then it was time to do our circular walk. We went out and quickly decided that we should put on our rain jackets. It was just misty enough …
From there we left the village and (don’t be shocked!) went past a lot of vineyards. Looking back you could see Alijo.
And of course not just vineyards, but olive trees, a house with lovely flowers, and then we saw some beautiful lupine.
Then it was time to do downhill, knowing full well what that meant. (I didn’t think walking and taking this video would be wise, so I told Dan I’d catch up after filming.)
We could hear workers, and although I didn’t take a photo, saw bags hanging on poles which I assume held their lunches. I looked back again to see Alijo still in view.
Some vineyards had clover growing between each row. The sky continued to look ominous, but so far we were staying dry.
We reached a cobblestone road continuing upwards, and I was glad for no rain since those can be more slippery when wet.
And then … poppies. I do believe they were California poppies, in fact.
At one point we heard someone call out … it was our Swiss friends, Patrizia (sp?) and Rudy! They would, of course, pass us as we are slower between being slow hikers and taking photos. It was fun to see them on the trail, though.
We entered the village of São Mamede de Ribatua after 4.97 miles. First was the statue garden …
and then more poppies … of the papaver sort this time. (More common to see these here.)
We continued our walk in the village until we reached an overlook where you could see a reservoir.
Close to the overview we sat and ate our lunch while a sad dog gazed at us, hoping, I’m sure, for a treat. Poor doggie … we were hungry!
Sometimes you see one place in near ruins right next to a home that has been fixed up. It’s not as easy to see in this picture, but the left part of this is what appears to be an abandoned place.
Continuing through the town …
and then it was time for the big climb. Up, up, up … for .99 miles. Gotta love that it’s .99 and not 1 mile, eh? One fun thing about a climb is seeing how far above a village you get. So of course I had to take some photos to prove I was making progress on the climb.
We reached the top and then it was smooth sailing for a good amount of the walk.
That being said (okay, written) it looked like maybe rain was falling elsewhere, and the sky still had that ominous look.
Sometimes we come across the sign for the Camino (I’m not sure which one), but when we’d see a sign like the one in this photo it means “don’t go this way!”
Now we aren’t actually on the Camino, but we often share the same paths. So far I think the only people we’ve seen on our walks have been people doing the same walk.
Shortly after the last shot you see above the rain began. We quickly packed up our cameras and pulled out our rain jackets (we had removed them partway through the walk). And that was the end of even iPhone photos. It was more rain than we’d had before, and by the time we got back to our hotel our pants were even quite wet. (We just didn’t put on rain pants because we were so close to the hotel.)
After getting things hung up in the shower to dry, we went downstairs for a little drink and snack. First we wanted to get dinner reservations, and ended up talking to two couples from Arizona who are a day behind us on the walk. They had stopped in about the middle of their walk today to do wine tasting. I’m not sure I’d be able to do that! But then they have vineyards so I suspect they are used to doing tastings. When we tried to get a reservation for 7:30 (the first time available for dinner here) we were told it would have to be 8:00. Ah well … I don’t sleep at all well even with a 7:30 dinner, but so be it!
We ordered our drinks and some chips. Alas, no chips, but she brought out something else for us. Guess that’ll do. Then we spent a lot of time discussing how we were going to get to our destination once this walk ends completely because — ta-da! — the train very well might not be running still. The strike continues through our move day, and at the train site I could see which trains were definitely running (very few) which didn’t include ours. However there was also a note that said there might be more that are running on the fourteenth, which is when we travel. To be on the safe side we bought bus tickets again. It’s somewhat inexpensive insurance and I think it’s better safe than sorry.
Now I’ll be brief: we had dinner, I ate too much, and I’m tired!
Boa noite!
Another Day, A New Village
Distance: 16.4 km | 10.2 miles
Elevation: +626 m | -569 m
Altitude: 238 m to 696 m
Climb: 2053 feet
We had to be packed and ready to go by 9:00 today: our driver was to pick us up then and drop us off at “the big tree” where we begin our walk of the day. The provided mileage implied this would be our longest walk.
But first, breakfast and collecting our lunches … and wouldn’t you know our driver was actually early?!
Starting at the big tree, we went past a shrine and down a cobblestone street, eventually ending up on a dirt road.
For a while it was mostly downhill which means … you know, right? Uphill is coming.
As always the walk is a jumble in my mind now, but I can tell you it was beautiful.
But about the not so beautiful: people leave toilet paper right on the side of the path. Now it’s true we have to create our own outdoor bathrooms, but a little attention to clean up would be nice. (And no, there are no bathrooms provided on these walks unless you opt to go into a town and eat somewhere. I’ve learned to deal, but mostly I have the ability to wait until we arrive at our next lodging!)
But back to the walk …
The first village was Sabrosa and some suggest it was where Magellan was born. Before quite reaching the center of the village we saw what I now learned is the communal laundry tank. Then it was up to the village itself.
We were walking between two stone walls much of the time. I love the wall gardens you see on them. The plant life is really fascinating. The views over those walls are spectacular.
We saw some baby grapes.
Eventually after a painful downhill (reminder to self: tighten your laces!) we reached a road, went over a bridge, and went back up the other side. I knew it was coming, of course, because of the steep downhill.
Eventually we sat down to eat lunch, right below a winery (closed due to it being Sunday).
Then more climbing. It sort of felt like it wouldn’t ever end.
But with painful climbs come beautiful panoramas.
A few more photos …
And when we reached the village of Favaios I knew we were getting closer to our final destination! By that time my feet were tired. Really tired.
From there I guess I ran out of steam with the iPhone because here are the next photos I took!
Yes, we reached our final destination! We arrived in the village of Alijó, and we are staying at Pousada Barão de Forrester.
After getting out our chargers and attempting to log in to the WiFi here (hmm. Maybe not?!) we showered and then went down to have a relaxing drink and dinner.
Now I’m beat and the pillow is calling my name.
Day Two — Miles To Do!
According to the booklet:
Distance 13.1 km | 8.1 miles
Elevation: +400 m | -405 m
Altitude: 584 m to 788 m
Climb: 1,315 ft
Breakfast at Quinta Manhãs D’Ouro wasn’t available until 8:30. It appears breakfasts might be later on this trip. Since we have no luggage transfer today we didn’t have to rush to get things packed, and we could sit around for a bit. (I’ve managed to play my Wordle game every day so my streak continues. The other games aren’t always getting played, but I do like keeping the streak going. News you can use … or maybe not.)
I realized (too late!) that I forgot to take a room photo when we arrived. Honestly, it’s nothing worth seeing, but I still like to do these so when I go back through our trips I can remember the places. This Quinta is nothing fancy, the room is small, and quite basic. (And the tile floor in the bathroom is mighty slippery after a shower!) But it’s a very quiet location, and those running it are friendly.
But oh the view!
Breakfast, dinner, and, if we opt for them, drinks, are on the main floor.
So after breakfast we got ourselves ready, including our rain coats because, surprise, surprise, it was raining. I opted to leave my rain pants at the Quinta though, since my weather app said the rain would subside and it wasn’t going to reappear until much later.
Our app with instructions for the walk said it was to start back in the village just below us, so off we went.
We tried to find the start point (where the pillory is … hmmm … not finding it!). We went one way. We went another. Pillory? What pillory?!
We finally just opted to start walking since the app will show us where we are in comparison to where we should be. But, well, um, wouldn’t you know we ended up right back by where we are staying!? We could have started from there, and would have if only we’d started the app sooner. Ah well. Reaching “our” place, though, the rain had increased enough that I decided to go back to our room (up a steep hill, mind you) to get my rain pants.
In case you don’t know, this is the rule: if you don’t bring it, you will need it, and if you do bring it, you won’t. Better to choose the latter, I believe. (And no, I never did use them!)
Getting back down the hill the rain had diminished so much we just walked on without wearing the rain pants. Initially we were on the same route we took when we passed the Quinta yesterday, but the we went up a dirt road. There was a good uphill. Not killer, but definitely uphill. We still had some rain at times, and also heard thunder.
We had some lovely views, and there was a flower I don’t think I’ve seen before (anyone? Maybe an allium of some sort?).
More views. A cemetery. A town (Vilarinho de São Romão). The rain had stopped when we neared that town.
Until we decided to stop for lunch! Go figure. This is one of our lunch bags, provided by Green Walks. We hand the bags to someone at wherever we are staying, and they hand them back full of our lunch. Handy, right? So we ate our sandwiches in the rain, and saved the rest for later because we didn’t want to continue to sit there with the rain coming down.
After lunch was another uphill walk, but then a huge downhill. I’m never jazzed about downhills. I know that means an uphill is in my future! We got to the village of Fermentões, and took some time to eat what look like pancakes at this spot with water and a bucket … perhaps a laundry spot? In any case, the pancakes were sweet and a nice thing to enjoy before another big climb.
On the climb we saw sheep, flowers, great views (eventually), and the ever-present broom (bright yellow flowers) that in our neck of the woods is considered an evil invasive species. It is ALL over the mountainsides here and I wonder what people here think of it. It’s really quite lovely, but it does seem to take over everything. Other flowers I’ve seen are lavender, some other yellow plant that I suspect is related to a pea plant (?), lupine (so far all yellow), your typical yellow daisy like flowers, and either heath or heather (I’ve never figured out the difference between those two). We’ve seen pine trees, eucalyptus trees, fruit trees, what we suspect might be nut trees (I was pretty sure I saw chestnut). There are berry plants of some sort (no blossoms or berries at this point), and obviously a ton of grapevines.
But I ramble … here have some photos!
We didn’t follow the app completely — it would have taken us back to the village below where we are staying and having seen it twice now we figured we could skip it, so back to our lodging we went. As we were getting quite close a car drove by and a man said, “Camino!” to us. Yes, there are signs that designate a Camino walks here. We’ve barely seen any walkers at all, though. Our Swiss friends from yesterday were nowhere to be seen. I’m guessing they are just too fast for us.
Getting back to our Quinta we came upstairs to get things taken care of, but eventually went downstairs to enjoy the remainder of a bottle of tinto vinho we bought yesterday. It was lovely to just relax and enjoy the view out the windows — one side showed puffy white clouds and sun and the other very dark clouds. We are learning that weather here is pretty crazy!
Next up was dinner, and it was very good. And relaxing. And I didn’t take a single photo so just trust me: we had a duck rice main after a dinner roll, sausage, olive appetizer. There was also salad, and a chocolate crepe for dessert, along with a decaf espresso. All very fine.
And I am all very tired!
Tomorrow we have our breakfast at 8:30 but our driver arrives at 9:00 to transport us to our starting spot so we will have to eat quickly, I suppose. I’m not sure if he is also the one who transports our luggage as that wasn’t mentioned in our booklet. So we will learn about that in the morning. I think tomorrow’s walk is an easier one, but it’s a long one. But again, we’ll know when we know.
Goodnight for now!