Stage 26: Porto - Vila Do Conte, 33 kms, Sunny, Windy, 21

That's What I'm Talking About! 

The best day of the Portuguese Caminho from my perspective! A wonderful walk along the Duoro River early this morning before heading northward along the Altantic coast. I actually have a sunrise photo today. I quite like this one.

I'm going to bounce around a little, but first last night. Yesterday we had a special late lunch that I'll cover later, but for now it's important to understand that we didn't need dinner last night. Around 8:30 we went out to have a pastry, but ended up at small bistro where we enjoyed soup and in my case a beautifully toasted sandwich. Of course a nice glass of white port was involved!

 We sat beside a very friendly couple from Brittany, France who snapped this photo, and we visited with them through the entire meal. Fun to speak a little French with them helps to keep it fresh.

After our meal, our host brought us out a very special red port from behind the counter and poured yet again. Very nice flavours! He has a limited supply of this 20 year aged port! We were pretty tickled!

He was quite the character and a real delight. We all agreed that we had been fortunate to find this little place just down the street from our hostel. 

So this morning we were up fairly early and on the road by 7:00. The all night club survivors were still in the streets and they'd made a lot of noise along our street for the second night in a row...all night. A weekend. I wish them very thick heads tomorrow when they return to work!!

We found our way through the fog and down to the river then headed for the sea. It was quite stunning as we wandered along. 

As we walked we began to see other peregrinos and to connect. Lots of Germans and Canadians. No surprise there. It's Sunday so there were plenty of fishermen out as well. 

Then we were out to the lighthouse where we met up with a retired history professor who told us about   this area and how it had been occupied by the British during the war with Napolean and how the British wealthy posted in Portugal resided along the seashore in the various villas during the hot summers. Many of the places unchanged today.

He told us that there is a fortress established every 25 kms along the coast.

We walked for a couple of hours about 12 kms to the place where Annemarie and I had enjoyed a special seafood meal on our refresh walk while in Porto some 9 days ago...seems like months ago! We stopped for a brief coffee, but here is what it was like yesterday when the four of us took the metro out for a late lunch through the afternoon.

The smells were wonderful!

The hosts busy but entertaining. Neil was directing traffic:)

And as you can see, the food was a delight!

Enjoyed with a crisp white vinho of course!

We were all stuffed at the end, but knew we would be walking a long way today. Also we expected to just have a light meal later in the day, which we did, albeit with lots of port and vinho! 

Flash forward again to today, and we were then into new territory. A beautiful faro.

An excellent board walk along the seafront. 

Small churches beautifully situated.

So much effort has been put into building this long boardwalk...very appreciated.

Beaches run for many kilometres. Almost like the Oregon coast.

So many more peregrinos. Most begin in Porto and we saw many today as it's just 10 stages to Santiago, and there will be more and more as we move further north. Almost like a series of small streams forming a river as we near Tui which is about 100 kms from Santiago and the last place to join if one wants a Compostela.

Our lunch stop today...lovely little beach side village.

And the dunas were a nice ecosystem. The boardwalk protects the area from all the walkers. Very fragile. 

Home for tonight, a city celebrating its 500 year anniversary. Amazing!

So I'll get this posted so that David and Carol's mom can read this with their Sunday morning coffee:-)

I want to go have a walk around this town. Apparently there is an aqueduct and a few other sights. We will make the decision to walk the coastal route from here or walk inland to find the historic way. Of course, more scenery on the coast, but exposed if the weather changes and the winds blow and blow here. Interior route is better protected from the elements and of course has considerably more history and all the roads. A difficult decision. Stay tuned!

We were told that this pig is deceased...no kidding Sherlock!

Bom Caminho!