Let the Camino begin!

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After arriving in beautiful Porto, Jenny and I have a day to explore the city before setting off northwards to Santiago. There is much to see in Porto. We begin in the train station where the walls are covered with over 20,000 tiles depicting historic scenes of the region. Across the road is the cathedral located on the hill and overlooking the River Douro. It is a Romanesque fortress church built of granite, like many buildings in the area. Inside are the medieval gold leaf reardos and altars. After exploring the cathedral we head downhill towards the river to see the bridges. One of these is built by Mr Eiffel, before he built the Eiffel Tower and indeed it does bear some resemblance to the French structure! I was not looking forward to the steep climb back up the hill, but Jenny spotted the funicular so it was a most enjoyable little ride to the top again. At that point the rain began, but we fortunately spotted a very good little restaurant where we ensconced ourselves under the shelter and right next to the heater! The restaurant was serving a mixed plate of toasts with sardines, tuna, and jamon. We accompanied this with a glass of Sangria! Then back to the Hotel Teatro to prepare for tomorrow! Then at 8pm we ventured out again to find the Abidare restaurant where we shared a whole sea bass with sautéed vegetables and roast potatoes! Delicious!

Sunday, 7th April. Day One of our Camino begins. Our cases are collected by a van and we are driven to the starting point. The taxi driver points us in the direction of the trail, takes our photo and drives off! We are on our own to find our way to Arcos, 18km north. However, the trail is clearly marked with the famous blue and yellow markers depicting the scallop shell, so we have no trouble. The first five kilometres go well, but the weather forecast is for rain and sure enough in the late morning the rain begins, light spitting at first and by lunchtime it has set in!

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Photos

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The main train station of Porto.

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Beautiful scenes in ceramic tile.

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Detail of another scene.

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Romanesque fortress style cathedral

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Medieval crucifix

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Let the Camino begin!

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The scallop shell - symbol of the Camino.

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The cobbled streets are quite hard to walk on!

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Walking through bush land. Many eucalypts to be seen!

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The rain has set in and this street is awash!

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Nearly at today's destination! Quinta Sao Miguel de Arcos.

Comments

[BillnCris]

Wow!
Thanks for the link — though those cobble-stones make my feet feel tender — especially when they are swimming in rainwater (tried to rain here again today without much success. Lovely photos

[Patricia]

So good to be in touch Photos give a sense of your experience xxx