O Porto: A Different Country, sunny, 22

PORTUGAL!!

A very early morning, a long day of buses, an act of kindness. That about sums up the day. We were last in Portugal 4 years ago after the Wild Rooster Bike Ride in Holland. We loved it then, and I expect we will love it even more as we get deeper involved with this county, it's people, it's food and its drink. 

Our day started with the first bus out of Fisterra in the cold blowing wind. It had stormed all night and we were forced to scrounge dinner from the vending machine in our lobby plus what munchies we had in our packs. It was just like in Rodome with the kids on Bastile Day in 2000. We found beer and chips in the machine to go with our meagre supply of cheese and nuts. Dessert was a small Toblerone. It was enough, and we were thankful for that. It was raining outside so hard. A fitful night as the storm raged and then the bus. Annemarie scrounged up a couple of croissants while we waited for the bus. We dozed off and on into Santiago, and as was our plan we didn't even look at the city on the way in. Just passing through. The fun will happen in about three weeks when we walk in on the Portugese.

We were told by the ticket lady that we couldn't buy a ticket all the way to Porto. That we'd have to purchase two more tickets in Braga. Of course this would mean more time wasted and delays, but it's Camino, so whatever. I was chatting to a lovely young lady from Prague about stuff when we found that she'd paid more for her ticket to Braga. We figured it was the seniors rate...benefits! We were then joined by two women who were waiting for the same bus and they were going direct to Porto. What? They showed us their ticket. Anyway on the bus we again dozed and looked out the window. At some point I decided to ask the driver about the ticket goof up. He told me to step outside and he asked if we were peregrinos. I replied in the affirmative and he said, "just get back on the bus, talk to no one and get off in Porto". I thanked him for his kindness, after he refused my money, boarded the bus and didn't say a word...a tough task. So I put on some Floyd and drifted to Porto. What a nice gift...the driver had changed so I never had a chance to shake his hand at the end of the trip. Good experience. 

Paul, I visited with a nice fellow about your Dad's age who lives downstream from Shannon. Interesting fellow who retired from working oil fields all over. We talked about Ireland and where you were from. He purchased a bike in southern France and brought it to Portugal to ride. A strange progression, but who really cares. He seemed happy.

Annemarie has done her usual magic and found us a nice apartment on the third floor (all those stairs) in central Porto complete with a full kitchen for €65 per night. A place to settle again for two nights. This is the view from our private terrace.

This us enjoying the view from our terrace.

Finally some food! We will go out shortly for a meal. There is a great grocery store around the corner with stacks of sardines and salted cod.

The guy that runs this and other places in town gave us a great orientation. Tomorrow we plan to walk our hoofies off as we check out what looks to be an excellent old city. Everything we've heard suggests this will be a good experience. Hard to go wrong with port and good vino around!

Saúde!