Barb and Alan

We have watched many Portuguese Camino Central videos and a couple of common themes that are talked about are the cobbles being rough to walk on and the non existent shoulder along the cobbled roads. We can attest that what they say is very true!

We left our hotel around 7:00 am this morning and meandered through Porto carefully following the yellow arrows and checking my app multiple times to make sure we were on the correct route. It’s a little confusing at times because there are different routes you can take. We are on the Central Route.

Porto and its suburbs seemed to go on forever! We spent almost all of our time either on sidewalks or cobbled roads, and it wasn’t until after about 10 miles of walking where we finally felt like we were in a more rural area.

Rural, however, did not necessarily mean a lack of cars. Without a shoulder or sidewalk, we had to be alert to the cars coming our way. Alan said the drivers seem to think they are formula one racers, and our food tour guide had told us yesterday she felt being a good driver in Portugal was optional.😂 Thankfully, the cobbles are so loud we could hear the cars before we could see them.

We stopped at a couple of little bakery/cafes on our way today. The people were so kind and patient with my sad attempts at Portuguese while ordering.

We are staying in Mosteiro tonight at Casa dos Caminhos and there are two other pilgrims here tonight:

First, there is Len, a young actor who left his home in Hamburg at 3:00 am flew to Porto, then went immediately to the cathedral in Porto and then walked here. He is exhausted! His pack is SO big and it’s his first time doing a Camino. He is beyond excited to be here! He brought a tent and he’s pitching it in the yard. ⛺️

Then Helen, from Taiwan, who has gifted this journey to herself for her 65th birthday. She will turn 65 the day she walks into Santiago.🙂

We enjoyed a nice dinner together and now it’s time to get some sleep. Tomorrow, we walk to Arcos…a smidge less than today.Les mer