Portugal

We are starting our cycling trip today. The description of our day is as follows:
DESCRIPTION
You'll follow the Douro River as you leavePorto, following the seafront to the former fishing village of Foz. You'll then pass a
lighthouse and couple of fortresses before reaching the town of Matosinhos, which
claims to have the "world's best fish". Pass the fish market, and Leixoes port and cruise terminal, to reach the municipal market
Alternate between cycle paths, tarmac roads and wooden boardwalks as you stay close to the Atlantic Ocean, passing
several beaches. There are some industrial sections, especially around the Petrogal plant near Matosinhos but these are soon counterbalanced by nature reserves and scenes of local fishermen at work. Continue
on to the attractive town of Vila do Conde. The ancient town, dating back to the year of
953, is famous for its Roman Aqueduct and the Santa Clara Monastery, and it was also
the main centre for Portuguese lace and has the Bobbin Lace Museum. It's also centered
around an ancient shipyard and is full of historical and architectural interest. The Camino greeting between pilgrims.s is Buen (Spain) or Bom (Portugese) Camino

We were given our paniers, bike locks, water bottles, hotel vouchers, our Camino shells to I dicaye we are pilgrims and our pilgrim passports to gather stamps from the hotels, restaurants and various stops last night at our meeting. We adjusted our bike seat heights a bit last night. This morning we got our luggage to reception for the pick up and transfer. We had a big breakfast again and made sandwiches and got some fruit for our lunches. We got ready to go and brought our panniers to the underground garage to place on the bikes. Unfortunately Andrew misplaced his lock key so one of the hotel employees cut his lock and he will get another tomorrow or next day. We Were ready to start and rain shower 1 began!!!
It subsided within 10 minutes and we had decided to ride out o to the breakwater in front of our hotel to start our ride with a photo and Porto in the distance. It was a cloudy day. We began our ride out of the city. My helmet microphone wasn't connecting but we later discovered that Anthony was pressing the wrong button so we got me back up and chatting through the helmet Bluetooth.
We followed the bike paths and in the city we had bike traffic lights where we had the green bike or red to stop at pedestrian crossings. We had a total of approximately 5 or 6 rain showers so we would get our hoods up under our helmets. We had a cafe and bathroom breaks, a ride over a draw bridge, a lunch stop at the beach, followed by a good rain shower, a little gift shop stop hosted by a woman and her husband who have walked the Camino and recognized a need for souvenirs and stamps and a WC stop for pilgrims. We bought a magnet and a Camino notebook and def. used the WC. We had stops to take jackets on and off, quick checks for route and ensuring we were going the right way. We have the Macs Adventure daily maps all set up to help us navigate our daily cycle right from hotel to hotel. It's great.
The unfortunate thing is that our bike seats are extremely hard and narrow. They are uncomfortable, especially on the many cobblestones roads😦😲 We are going to see if the company has gel seats because tomorrow we have a 50 km ride and we can't imagine how awfulness going to feel. We will be doubling up on cycle shorts or rigging jackets up to sit on because it's that hard!!
We saw the site of a plane that went down on the beach close to Vila do Conde, a few fun pirate and other vignettes in the photos. As we rode across the bridge I to the town of Vila do Conde we had a wedding g procession driving towards us with the bride and groom and everyone waving and honking their horns. The big building ahead of us was originally a convent, then became a prison and is now a hotel!! We got into the area of our hotel and locals were so friendly and helpful pointing us in the right direction even when we hadn't asked...they could see we were searching.
We got our bikes stored, got showered, stretched and went to walk and see the town. We came across a.matket and sampled the chocolate cup filled with a shot of Jin ginjah ( cherry liquor). We walked to the river and took some photos then walked to a restaurant that had great ratings and reviews for their tapas. We arrived and there was a 30th birthday party going g on, but the owner invited us in to sit in a different area. We tried a variety of tapas ( fresh vegetable salad, cod croquets, garlic shrimp, a fired chorizo sausage, and jalapeno-bacon croquet). It was all so delicious. The owners were a young couple that were just so friendly, helpful and they ended our evening by giving us a shot of their homemade liquor with honey. It was really strong!! We had her sign our Camino passports because she doesn't have her stamp yet. She asked us to sign their comment board which we were so happy to add our complimrnts to. We said our thank yous and goodbyesand walked back to our hotel. We have been so grateful for evenings out at restaurants with amazing food and welcoming , friendly owners.Read more