Day 1: Porto

Walking the Camino

We took the high speed rail to Porto on Tuesday. Porto is more elegant than Lisbon (much of Lisbon was flattened in a devastating earthquake in 1755) and, somehow, even more hilly. It sits in a river gorge, with houses and buildings built up and all around the slopes. Very pretty.

We walked the city, ate some bifanas (juicy little pork sandwiches, sooo good!), and toured the local cathedral that represents the starting point of our journey. We picked up our Camino passports there and our first stamp. (The idea is to get the passport stamped along the way to document and in a way, prove we made the journey. Only then can we get our certificate in Santiago de Compostela, the end point of the walk.)

We stayed in a hostel in a shared room. This was us trying the true hostel approach to walking the Camino, which is its purest form. Sorry, too old for that. We'll be booking a private room in hostels or guesthouses from now on. Sleep matters.

We managed to escape the crowds up an old alley, where we found a lovely little restaurant to end our lovely little day. Tomorrow we start the walk.