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Old monastery

Our last night in Porto. ♥️
Not ready to come home yet, but we’ll continue the vacation on the island.
Our out of office is still valid until the 10th. 😃

We’ve been enjoying the city. We’re taking our time exploring, and finding good restaurants to try. Also trying to cook more, so that we’re not paying for restaurants all the time!

We’ve avoided the funicular, and we’ve been using Uber and Bolt due to mom’s legs.

I haven’t decided which part I like better, the old city or the Gaia side. Probably Gaia, because that is where we find all the Port, and a lot of market stalls. Also great restaurants. We went to one today that was fabulous. I had salmon with smashed potatoes, mom had dourada fish, and dad had a steak. Pictures attached. This was some of the best food of the entire trip, and it only gets a 3.8 rating on Google! Ridiculous.

We also checked out the market yesterday and today, mom bought some nice cork clogs. We both found super cheap cork purses too.

What else, lots of Port tasting. Today we tried Quinta dos Corvos. Fabulous, can’t get it at home or bring it back. Oh well!

Well, plans have changed again. Ugh!
Had another visit to the doc. My big vein is not settling down, so I get to inject heparin for 30 days. 😬
And wear a super sexy full length compression stocking.
Doc said I can do the Camino, but I’m not comfortable with the idea of pushing this. So….Porto is next on the list of destinations. We’ll stay for at least a week, then probably come home early, and spend our time off exploring around the island.
Very disappointing, but we’re pretty good at rolling with the punches. The trail will be here when we’re ready again. And I’ll avoid whippy branches 2 weeks before our trip. 😉🤬

Well, it’s just a very bad varicose vein. I’ll call my doc in a bit, when she’s actually in the office, and get a bunch of info. I’ve got 10 days of blood thinners, and that might be all I need. We should be home by the end of September.

Boredboredbored. Waiting at the train station for our train to Sarria. All the trains have been delayed 15-20 mins. Hopefully we get our connection. And then we find out if the hostel will open the door for us at 10:30. We paid, but they are very picky about late arrivals. Might be sleeping on a bench at the station. 🤷😂
Tomorrow we flip back to grab a train to Porto. Because they don’t do cancelations or reroutes on your train tickets.
We’re fixing our sights on the reward of a gorgeous little apartment that Adrian Proctor found for us. 1 more sleep.

Now we’re still on the first train, and we won’t make it to the second train!! There’s probably a hotel still open at this station when we get in. 24 hour reception.

Today we took a guided tour of the city. Lots of great history. The beautiful pipe organ was played yesterday when we stopped in. Gorgeous sound.
This is the second oldest church of the 3 in the city.
Lots of weddings today, and a festival in the park.
We tried to get drinks and pintxos on the most famous street, but it was wall to wall people. We ducked into a taverna a little ways away.
The cobbled street is the oldest street, and is part of the Camino.
The goose game is an ancient game, similar to snakes and ladders. This one is set in a Camino theme.

We spent a looong day on the trail today. We walked through vineyards and grasslands. It was so hot today, and most of the hike was in direct sun. Didn’t take too many pictures either.

We found out as we were almost at the town of Los Arcos, that our albergue was another 7.2km down the road. Not going to happen after 20kms of walking! So, at 4:15 I left mom and dad on a park bench and walked the streets looking for a room. Maybe I could phrase that differently.

I went past 2 houses with no availability, they pointed me to the municipal albergue. I got there to see "completo", which is a sad reality at 4pm. They directed me around the corner to a little place…
It’s not great. 12 beds in a mixed dorm with 3 toilets to share amongst 3 full rooms :S
It was only 16€ a piece. We’re sharing with a bunch of Italian 20-somethings. Oh well, it’s a bed and it’s one night. We could not go on without a taxi, so this is our true peregrino experience. I see why people book in advance.

The photos are of the area, then a Roman bath that’s still very functional, the pilgrim’s oasis that was wonderful for a water and snack, and our lovely albergue. Right now there’s a symphony of barking dogs.

We did a longer walk today, about 15km. It did not feel like the signposts were correct today! After each sign, it seemed like we had done another 2kms, and yet it was only 1 or 1.5. We kept going. Our feet and bodies have kept up with the pace today. We saw a couple of local rest stops, including one outside of Lorca that was all by donation with a stand of water, figs, nuts, crackers, olives, and nectarines. So lovely! Apparently, there was a resident who set up this stand decades ago, then when she passed, her daughter continued. Now that her daughter is gone, the town continues to provide a beautiful little rest stop. Picture attached.

Now we are in Estella. It is a nice town, although it seems to be a little more depressed than the areas that we have seen previously. Likely due to it being a larger city. This city has about 14,000 residents.

We found an American diner here. American in decor only, as we had filete de carne and paella valenciana. Decent food, and the paella was great! I was unsure about ordering it with seafood, so I went for chicken instead. The next time I go for paella, it will be mixto. Lots of mussels and shrimp and squid.

We’re having showers in our private bathroom this afternoon. Soon we will do some laundry and then walk the town for some more refreshments.

By the way, I was up early enough today to watch the sunrise! The random stones are a section of the Roman road where the cart paths can be seen. The Plaza is a photo from our hotel window tonight. Not bad!

Very interesting Roman bridge restored in this village.

This alburgue is amazing. It has everything we need. Today we have met several friends from days gone by and several new ones as well.