Diary of Travels
on the Camino Portugues and Duoro River Valley
by Randy Renter, April 2006,
(email: randy@3renters.com)
Following is a diary of my April 2006 travels in Portugal and Spain. While walking the Camino Portugues, I consulted Doug Martin's similar diary and found it useful. This and my other notes are written in that same spirit. You can find photos and other information on 3Renters.com, then click the "2006 Apr" label. References below to "Brierley" are John Brierley, author of several Camino travel guides which are superb.
Day 1, Wednesday, March 29, 2006. Arrived at Porto airport around 3 pm and rode the AeroBus to the central city. If you have a TAP airline boarding pass the bus is free, otherwise about €3. The bus driver spoke some English and gave me directions to my hotel, Hotel Peninsular. I returned to this hotel two times and used it as a base. It's old and quaint with azulejos tile walls, an ancient elevator, and creaky floors. Johanna and other staff were so helpful every time. I stored stuff under their care while I traveled elsewhere.
Although it was cool, drizzling, and foggy, I walked around the city a bit, visited the river area (Ribeira), and tried to orient myself. I had an early dinner at a snack bar just around the corner from the hotel, and then slept long and well.
Day 2, Thursday, March 30. Toured Porto in the rain. A guy told me it had been raining for 6 weeks, but that was highly unusual even for this time of year. I visited the Cathedral and got my Pilgrim Credential stamped. I found the first yellow arrows outside the cathedral and followed them for a couple kilometers through the city. I passed the Pilgrim Office, though it was closed. I returned three later times and found it either closed or the sole staff member in a long conversation with others. I visited Ribeira again and several other tourist places. I especially enjoyed a Port wine bar, Vinologia, near the Ribeira. They offer several wine tasting packages. I tried 6 wines and a proprietor, Gustav, taught me everything about Port wine -- a very enjoyable time.
Day 3, Friday, March 31. Porto to Rates (38.1 km). A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino Portugues (John Brierley) recommends doing this stage in two days, however he also suggests the option of riding city bus # 71 the first 10 km, to Araujo to get out of the city and into the country as soon as possible. This still leaves 28 km for the first day -- quite a long day. (One note: because of street construction, you can't catch bus #71 at the location Brierley suggests. Figure out exactly where you can catch this bus on the prior day or you'll waste a couple frustrating hours that first walking day.)
At the time, I was so glad to be underway and thought the scenery was beautiful, even though I was largely walking on a busy, noisy road, often forced to walk in the roadway, dodging the traffic because there was no shoulder. I would later realize that every other day would be much, much more enjoyable.
I ate a late lunch at a cafe/pastelaria in Vilarinho (no English). I had a large piece of cold pizza which I attacked with such gusto that I broke a molar on an olive pit. (They never remove any olive pits, even for pizza!) What a way to start a pilgrimage.
The bridge over Rio Ave (Da Ponte D. Zameiro) was damaged and blocked off by a fence, however I managed to jump around the fence. It might be better to follow the N-306 road instead, however this route off the main road was very beautiful.
By the time I reached the Rates albergue, my feet hurt much worse than my broken tooth. I was the first and only pilgrim in Rates that night. You get the key for the albergue from the grocery store (no English) just past the albergue. This is also a good place to buy some food. There's at least one snack bar/restaurant about 1 km back in Rates. The albergue is large, with a large kitchen and many beds and showers. I believe this is the only albergue in Portugal other than Valenca, which I did not use.
Nuno, an albergue sponsor (founder I think) stopped by to visit me. He is a school teacher in a nearby town. He has walked the Camino Portugues and other Caminos multiple times and said he wants to give back something to the Camino and pilgrims. He said he learned his perfect English by listening to Pink Floyd and wanting to understand the meaning of their lyrics. I asked him if he knew a dentist, and in a flash he set up an appointment with a local dentist, Susana, for 9:30 p.m. (remember it's a Friday night!). She treated me like a king, patched up my broken molar with some resin, and sent me on my way.
Day 4, Saturday, April 1. Rates to Barcelos (16.4 km). Thankfully this was a short day, so I slept fairly late. No coffee or food until well down the road. It might have been possible to pick up a snack at the Rates grocery store, but I did not.
I ate lunch at Restaurant Pedra Furada in Rua Nova. They served a very tasty pilgrim lunch. The cook spoke great English and she came out to chat.
The trail was beautiful and quiet. Barcelos is a neat medieval town with a wall and plenty of interesting buildings, restaurants, and sidewalk cafes. I stayed at the Residencial Arantes right on the main plaza. I ate dinner at Dom Antonio which was good. My room at Arantes faced the front and I heard street cleaning equipment and revelers all night long. Also the proprietor family used the lobby right outside my door to watch loud TV until late. A room in the back might have been a quieter and better choice.
Day 5, Sunday, April 2. Barcelos to Ponte De Lima (33.6 km). This was the longest walking day. I left Barcelos in the dark at 6:30 a.m. The first open place for coffee and food was in Cafe da Portela, almost 10 km down the road, and it was very, very good.
The trail was varied and absolutely beautiful! Water was everywhere because of the recent rains, though it didn't affect me much except to dodge mud and puddles. The last 5 km were painful and grumpy.
While walking down a quiet country lane, a guy approached me on his motorbike. When he got close to me, he slammed on his brake, parked the motorbike, hopped off, removed his helmet, and came right over to me. He was about my age, and wanted to talk to a pilgrim -- in Portugues of course. He knew no English, but we "talked" for 15 minutes about walking, weather, Santiago, Texas, farming, and of course George Bush! I chuckled about this the rest of the way to Ponte De Lima.
As a reward for the long day I decided to have a down day in Ponte De Lima to rest and do laundry. I stayed at the modern Hotel Imperio de Minho which was modern and comfortable. It's right on the side of the river and near a beautiful park along the river's edge and near many restaurants, etc. However I think I would give the Pensoa Sao Joao, just a bit down the street, a try next time. It has much more character. In any case, my sore feet really enjoyed the hot bath!
Ponte De Lima is quite a tourist town with a long, medieval bridge and many old buildings and sights. It was holding a giant market. During the days, vendors occupied the entire width of the river beach and parkway for many hundred meters, selling shoes, fish, onions, bras, cows -- everything you can imagine. They pack it all up each evening.
I ate at Encanada which was a bit pretentious for my taste. I tried Lampreia (eel) which seems to be a seasonal delicacy -- several restaurants displayed hand-lettered signs saying 'Ha Lampreia'. It was black with an inky black sauce and I tasted it for the next 3 days.
Day 6, Monday, April 3. Resting in Ponte De Lima.
Day 7, Tuesday, April 4. Ponte De Lima to Rubiaes (17.1 km). It was another wonderful and beautiful day with a 400 meter elevation gain over a mountain pass. (My notes say 'best day yet'.) The path was submerged just after Ponte De Lima and I had to walk on a wall in one place. Near Quinta Sabadao I tried and failed to detour around a swampy pasture and got my feet soaked. The bridge at Opcao was gone but replaced with some temporary steel bridge parts, which also have collapsed but were passable on foot.
For lunch I had a sandwich at a cafe in Revolta (no English, but friendly).
Rubiaes is in a tiny village with only a simple snack bar down the road to the left. I stayed at Pensao S. Roque where I was the only guest. The owner, Silvia Castro, here knows no English but is very helpful. The only option for dinner is for Silvia to call a restaurant a few kilometers away. They sent a car to fetch me and also returned me to the Pensao. I ate bacalhau, dried salted cod, re-hydrated and fried. I was the only customer at the restaurant.
By nightfall it had turned cold and rained hard overnight. Like everywhere else so far, there was no heat available at the Pensao.
Day 8, Wednesday, April 5. Rubiaes to Tui, Spain (21.1 km) The sky drizzled half the day. I lost the trail in Valenca city -- the yellow arrows just stopped. I guess if I had just continued straight on the busy city street I would have ended up in the right place. It certainly caused some confusion though. I detoured through the Fortaleza (walled fort) at Valenca just before crossing the river into Spain. The fort was crowded with zillions of tourists shopping for silverware, belts, and stuffed dollies and not very interesting. The Roman milario was gone or moved. Leaving the fort, I tried to take the "shortcut" Brierley suggests, but got tangled up and had to backtrack all the way to the entrance. I think there's a lapse in this section of Brierley's book, especially the map of the fort. In any case, the medieval city in Tui is at least as interesting -- don't waste time in Valenca.
When I arrived at the location of the albergue in Tui, 5 other pilgrims were waiting to enter. Their home was Lisbon and they had arrived by train. The photo of the Tui albergue in Brierley's book must be a different place -- it is definitely not the front door of the albergue. This caused us all considerable confusion, thinking we were at the wrong place. Also the place was not yet open at 5 pm. We called the phone number on the door -- no answer. We visited the police station and they told us somebody would come right down. After another hour we went back to the police station and they told us it only opened at 6:30. Finally around 6:45 a guy arrived and unlocked the door for us and then spent over an hour checking the six of us in.
The medieval town at Tui was beautiful and interesting. There was an old cathedral and museum and collection of restaurants and sidewalk cafes not far away. What a delightful place.
Day 9, Thursday, April 6. Tui to Rodondela (30.7 km) This was a long day and it drizzled all day. Much of it was through forest and countryside. Barely out of Tui, the footbridge at Ponte da Veiga (where Saint Telmo died) was displaced and underwater and the stream was about 2 feet deep and 10 feet wide. Fortunately there was a large rock about 2 inches underwater in the middle of the stream. I was able to gathering some tree limbs to span the distance between the shore and the rock, and then the rock and the other shore. After about an hour, I balanced across on the limbs getting only one foot wet. (I found out later that my Lisbon friends had simply waded across.)
I was glad to find that they know what a bocadillo (sandwich) is in this part of Spain. This is a traveler's mainstay meal and usually very tasty. Throughout Portugal, even just across the border, they have no idea what it is. The Spanish and Portuguese don't talk to each other very much!
It became apparent that the Spanish way marks are drastically different from Portugal. Portugal uses yellow arrows, often on the electric poles, but also on curbs, rocks, walls, etc. It's not uncommon to see a half dozen of them while standing in one spot. They mark not only when the direction changes, but also when the direction is straight ahead, giving assurance that you are on the right road. In Spain, they use an attractive 6-inch ceramic tile with a yellow image of a scallop shell on a blue background, often on a dedicated concrete post about 3 feet high, or embedded in the concrete of a wall or building. They mostly just mark when the route changes direction, so you might travel hundreds (maybe even thousands) of meters without seeing a way-mark. This caused me considerable anxiety, wondering if I was on the right path, wondering if I had missed a direction change.
There was a 3 km slog through Porrino's main industrial highway. But even that wasn't too bad -- it had a good sidewalk or a shoulder wide enough to walk and I made good time. The industry here is marble -- mining, cutting, storing, and delivering marble. You can easily see the mines on the nearby mountainsides and occasionally hear explosions.
The albergue in Redondela was in an old city tower in the central city. The facility is also used for civic meetings and functions and as a small museum and library for the town. It has been refurnished with nice plumbing and beautiful granite counters, tiles and floor covering. I thought I was going to be the only pilgrim there so I had to find a way to eat dinner before they locked the doors around 7 p.m. -- hard to do in Spain! The old town was quaint -- I wished I could have spent some more time there.
Day 10, Friday, April 7. Rodondela to Pontevedra (18.2 km) Another day of gorgeous forest and small towns. Since it would be a short day, I had a slow start, having coffee and croissant before leaving Rodondela town. The pretty town of Arcade is about 7.5 km down the road. It has a long, old bridge, some interesting statues nearby, and plenty of restaurants. From the bridge I decided to return to the central town for lunch. It was still before noon and they weren't serving lunch yet so I waited with a glass of wine. I could hear the cook in the kitchen clanging her implements and singing beautifully and loudly. Over an hour later she finally brought a huge plate of roasted pork, potatoes, and tortilla (sort of an egg omelet), and some more wine. By the time I finished, I was feeling really great, but moving pretty slowly.
Just outside Arcade, the way is especially beautiful. There's a very old, high, stone bridge (Ponte Nova) and then a Roman stone road ascending a steep hill.
The Pontevedra albergue is on the right about 1.5 km before you reach Pontevedra city center, on an industrial street. (There's a commercial pilgrim hotel on the left that Brierley does not recommend. The albergue is a new building and very nice. It has coin operated laundry machines. Like many albergues the lights in all the rooms are triggered by a motion detector, so if the detector doesn't "see" something move, it turns out the light. These are on a very short fuse here and were quite annoying. It was impossible to take a shower or use the restroom with the lights on.
The building is used for civic functions and there were quite a few local folks meeting in the lobby and other rooms. They lock the place at 8:30 p.m. and there's a tall stone and steel wall around the grounds perimeter, with an electric gate. It looks like it would be impossible to re-enter the albergue after 8:30, even if you have a friend inside to open the door. I ate at the commercial hostel (no English) where they reluctantly served me at 7:30 -- some excellent roasted rabbit and white bean soup.
Day 11, Saturday, April 8. Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis (23.1 km). Pontevedra town, about 1.5 km from the albergue, is a very attractive town with many old buildings, restaurants, medieval streets and plazas. I wished I had found time to visit it on the previous afternoon. It was quite a bit larger than I imagined and I had a little trouble finding way marks.
Again the trail was stunningly beautiful and the weather perfect. The trail after Iglesia Santa Maria de Alba was especially gorgeous, but wet ... with water flowing on the trail like a creek. Fortunately there were large rocks and I made several detours.
Since it was Saturday, I noticed many city-farmers working in their gardens or small acreage, planting, cleaning up, cultivating, etc. It must also be common for city people to own or lease acreage in the country and spend their spare time there. There were many cars pulling tiny trailers carrying gardening implements, etc.
At Briallos, they have recently changed the routing of the Camino to promote an albergue there. Brierley mentions a provisional pilgrim hostel in an old school house in very poor condition. I didn't even walk the new way-marked route to pass the hostel, but stayed on the road there. It's completely possible that they've improved the albergue drastically, but I chose to push on to Caldas.
Caldas de Reis was great fun. There's a river flowing through town, a Roman bridge, lots of old pedestrian streets, restaurants, and sidewalk cafes. I could have stayed several days there. Just after you cross the bridge into town, the Hotel Davila is on the left. It has some hot springs after which the town is named. There's a public hot spring in front of the hotel that I used to soak my tired feet -- very nice.
There's no albergue in Caldas and I stayed at Hotel Lotus which was great. You register and pick up the key at a nice cafe across the street. It was a pretty noisy (Saturday) night with loud revelers on the street late and early, but I slept well.
I ate dinner at the rustic and atmospheric Taberna O'Muino. Brierley writes that the proprietor "... is wont to wipe the sweat from his face and the wine glasses with the self-same napkin, but if you've made it this far you should survive and even enjoy the experience." I had some pulpo (octopus), mussels, and scallops. I found that Pimentos Padron is a seasonal dish and not available in the spring, so I bought some seeds at a hardware store to try growing at home.
Day 12, Sunday, April 9. Caldas de Reis to Padron (19.2 km). This morning I met a couple dozen pilgrims from El Ferrol, Spain, none of whom spoke English. They were walking fast, with very light packs and I found that they only walk on Sundays, riding a bus to wherever they stopped on the prior Sunday. I was also passed by a man and his son, well dressed, and riding two beautiful horses. They had started in Porto only a couple days prior and planned to make it to Santiago this day. The pilgrim population was growing here!
This was another perfect day, walking through beautiful countryside. The land here is steeped in signs of Santiago -- scallop motif on buildings, bridges, roofs, fountains, many cruceiros, statues, and tiny chapels in the middle of nowhere. This was Palm Sunday and I passed a very old parish church just as their mass was ending -- families were walking home, each person carrying a palm branch.
Padron is the place where Saint James' disciples tied their ship to unload his body. The town is named after the stone to which they supposedly tied their ship -- it was actually a small, flat-topped Roman altar. The original is in the church, but a replica is on the river's side near the bridge and the albergue.
Padron is also the location where Saint James supposedly preached his first message. There's a quiet and beautiful park and some monuments on the hill high above the albergue that are very much worth visiting. I actually went there the next morning, but it would have made more sense to do it on this afternoon or evening.
Padron was holding a big festival with carnival rides, games of chance and skill, huge tents serving pulpo, and grilled sausages and pork ribs. I had the best pulpo of my trip here. I returned later in the evening with my Lisbon friends and had a taste of everything else -- yum!
The albergue is in an updated medieval building. I think it opened at 5:30. My Lisbon friends and I checked in and got settled. A couple bikers moved in, and then about 30-40 Spanish "scouts" (about 20-year-old males and females) arrived. They brought propane powered cookers, huge cookware, etc., and cooked a big, odorful meal in the tiny kitchen -- lots of cabbage. The cramped restrooms were immediately out of toilet paper.
Day 13, Monday, April 10. Padron to Santiago (23.9 km). I visited the quiet and beautiful Santiaguino del Monte, which is supposed to be the place where Santiago preached his first message in Iberia. I also visited the Padron church, which was closed the day before, and saw the original Padron (the stone to which Santiago's disciples tied their ship) and some interesting paintings, etc.
The way was another perfect day, walking through beautiful forests, countryside, and villages. I had originally wished to stay at an albergue in Teo and make a side trip to Castro Lupario (the site of the ancient castle of Queen Lupa who authorized Santiago's disciples to bury his body in Iberia). However my impatience won out and I decided to go on to Santiago, even though I had already dallied in Padron.
I found a quiet and pretty spot on the trail just past Teo and ate some meat, cheese, bread roll, and fruit that I had bought on Saturday. The trail begins to feel pretty developed and suburban not too far out of Teo. It climbs a big wooded hill with a huge array of electrical transformers and distribution gear near the top. It was cold and very windy here. Developers are cutting the trees, I suppose to prepare for lots of houses and apartments. I must say it would be a great place to live -- beautiful and with quite a view of the city below. After descending the hill, the way-marks mostly stopped so you have to navigate by street names and asking directions. I met a very nice English-speaking medical doctor who was walking home from her job at a big hospital there. She guided me in the direction of the cathedral and old town and we talked like old friends.
There are several albergues in Santiago. I didn't actually visit any of them, though I think they were all a couple kilometers from the cathedral. I was looking forward to the comfort of a hotel with a close-in location, however the first 3 or 4 I tried (mentioned in Brierley's book) were full. (This was the first time I had any trouble at all with lodging, in fact in many places I was the only guest.) I went to the Tourist Office and their selections were either some distance outside the old town or expensive. (They seemed to be using a public website like hotels.com for their search and just weren't very helpful.) Outside the Tourist Office, a (somewhat) English-speaking guy asked me if I was looking for a hotel and took me to his offering. It was Hotel Santa Cruz, shown on a map in Brierley's book though I couldn't find any information in his text. It was obviously old and run-down, but my feet were sore and I took it for two nights. It turned out to be really awful -- smoky, stuffy, stale air, windows that wouldn't close, noisy alleyway below, noisy, saggy bed, etc.
I visited the cathedral several times -- I enjoyed hanging out there exploring every part multiple times. I visited the Pilgrim Office and got my Compestela document (suitable for framing!). The staff person told me that at the noon pilgrim mass the next day, the priest would mention that a pilgrim from America had arrived, starting in Porto -- that's me!
Day 14, Tuesday, April 11. Santiago de Compestela. I continued visiting many pilgrim & tourist attractions, as well as the pilgrim mass. There were many, many other pilgrims in the city, most arriving on the French Way, although I would meet some traveling the Camino Ingles from El Ferrol and the Camino del Norte along the northern Spanish coast.
I tried out many restaurants, snack bars, grocery stores, etc., in my couple days in Santiago, but I never did come close to satisfying a craving for some vegetables. The closest I came was lettuce salad.
I scoped out the bus station and schedule to Finesterre and found another (plush) hotel for my return after Finesterre.
Day 15, Wednesday, April 12. Santiago to Finesterre by bus. I got up early and walked to the bus station, very glad to vacate Hotel Santa Cruz. The bus station has a great cafe where I had my fix of coffee and pastry. I also got a bocadillo for the road. The bus ride to Finesterre was beautiful, of course. A part of me wished to be walking.
I originally planned to walk to Finesterre but pooped out. I was thinking of the 3 long days of walking with few or no eating establishments. I knew I could carry enough food, but wasn't sure I was up to the challenge. Also I became concerned about traveling around the 5-day Easter holiday, which is considered on par with Christmas here. I elected to visit Finesterre, but by bus, and try to make it back to Porto for the weekend. I don't regret this choice, but I do hope to walk the Camino Finesterre some day.
I had made a reservation at Hotel Finisterre (worried about the pre-Easter holiday crowd), although there were few other guests. (I understand Finisterre is a very popular ocean and beach town in the summer time.) The Hotel was great and the owner spoke good English.
At a nearby cafe, I met Wytze de Back who had ridden his bicycle from the Netherlands to Santiago. If I recall correctly, he had ridden well over 1000 kilometers, sometimes through ice and snow. He was earning money for 100 Philippine children's education. He was on a day-trip (by bus) to Finisterre before riding his bike home again. We had a great time touring the peninsula together. I relied on Brierley's Finisterre guide book for tour information and the mythology of the area. We visited the lighthouse, of course, and San Guillermo's hermitage. This is the ruins of a small pre-Christian stone building and compound with a hollowed out stone "bed" where infertile couples would try to bring about the miracle of conception. From here one can see the sun rise over Monte Pindo, far across the bay that separates the Finisterre peninsula from the mainland. I also tried to find Ara Solis from Brierley's description, but was never sure I found it, even after 3 separate extensive tries.
In any case this extension to Finestere was very much worthwhile, and a great change of scenery and place. I ate dinner at a restaurant across the street from the hotel and owned by the hotel. The food and especially the service were disappointing and no English or patience for my bad Spanish.
Day 16, Thursday, April 13. Finesterre to Santiago by bus. My bus left late in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to revisit the lighthouse, Monte Facho, the beaches, restaurants, etc. What fun!
A couple days before, I had reserved a room at Hostal La Salle in Santiago. It is just outside the old city walls on a quiet residential street, on the way to the bus station. It's fairly large, with many rooms and a coin operated laundry, which I used well. After dark, I walked back into the central city for dinner. I visited the cathedral square and walked a few old streets again. It was especially beautiful on this cool, clear night.
Day 17, Friday, April 14. Santiago to Porto by bus. I took an early bus back to Porto where I had a reservation at the Peninsular Hotel again. It was a good thing, as they and all nearby hotels were completely full through the Easter holiday. They told me that Portuguese prefer to stay at home with family for Easter, but the city was full of Spanish visitors who prefer to party.
Day 18, Saturday, April 15. Porto. I revisited all my favorite places from two weeks ago plus a river boat ride and the Port lodges at Vila Nova de Gaia, on the opposite side of the Rio Douro via the Eiffel bridge.
I returned to Vinologia to visit my new friend Gustav and learn some more about Port wine. While I was hanging out there, some friends from Calgary who I had told about Vinologia arrived and I stayed even longer.
Day 19, Sunday, April 16. Porto to Pinhao by train. What a great ride -- the train track hugs the hillside on the river's edge through tiny villages. Vineyards cover every visible piece of land.
I stayed at Residencial Douro right across the main street from the train station. I got an upstairs room in the front with a large balcony and drop-dead views of the river, hillsides, and vineyards, as well as up and down the only road through town. I must have taken 500 photos just from that balcony. I ate two great home-cooked meals in the uncrowded hotel restaurant, even on Easter Sunday.
I came to learn that there really aren't many places to stay in all these towns up and down the river -- Pinhao is a fine choice! River boats tie up at Pinhao and there are several good snack bars and restaurants, and even a Port wine tasting kiosk at the riverside.
Day 20, Monday, April 17. Pinhao. I rode the train up-river to the end of the line and back just to see the awesome scenery. It was truly awesome. I learned to ride in the unoccupied last rail car on the way back and was able to open the window and take another 500 photos.
The rest of the day I just walked around town, sampling the snack bars, restaurants, grocery stores, and hung out on my fantastic balcony.
Day 21, Tuesday, April 18. Pinhao to Lamego by train and bus. In the morning I walked to a winery and B&B about 2 km down-river from Pinhao. I had walked there the prior day and learned that they only do a tour at 11 a.m. The owner led the excellent tour but I had to leave before they offered a tasting.
I rode the train to Peso da Regua, and then a bus to Lamego. Unlike Pinhao, Regua is fairly large and industrial and not so tourist friendly, though there is one hotel there. The bus driver was strictly business, in Portuguese that is. For some reason he let me out before the bus station and left me totally confused. (He must have known I was a troublemaker.)
I eventually got oriented and took a room at Albergaria Solar dos Pachecos, which was very modern and comfortable. I did all the tourist stuff, including ascending and descending the 700 zig-zagging steps to Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Remedios (a church)
Day 22. Wednesday, April 19. Lamego to Porto by bus and train. I had time to take a long walk out of Lamego to a little chapel in a tiny hamlet, Balsemao, that was partly built as early as the 7th century. It's regarded as an extraordinary example of Visigoth architecture! The walk through the countryside was beautiful and the church was interesting too. I caught a ride back to town in a beat-up Fiat with two women who had been eating a lot of onions and cabbage and spoke no English.
When I finally reached Porto, I checked in again with my friends at the Peninsular Hotel, reclaimed the "stuff" they were holding for me, and packed my bags for my early morning flight to London, Chicago, and then Dallas.