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!























































































































































































































































