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• June 24th, 2014
• Porto: Yes! Porto Hostel (€19 for a dorm)
• Weather: Cool breeze, rainy, 22 degrees

The mozzies had a feast on me and I only slept for about 2 hours because of the constant buzzing. The four of us had decided to have breakfast together at 6:30am with the cake given to us by the lovely family, so from 5am onwards I was lying awake waiting for the time to pass and swatting madly at mosquitos.

The breakfast cake was delicious and terrific fuel for the short walk into Porto. I had booked a hostel in Porto (no albergue options) and heard that the hostel offered a free walking tour at 10:30, so I walked the 16km with no breaks hoping to arrive in time to check in and have a shower before joining the tour.

On the way to Porto

Porto

Porto

Porto

I arrived in good time to the Yes! Porto Hostel at 10am (€19 for a dorm), checked in, had a shower (nice of them to let me have a shower even though it was too early to go to the room) and just as I was asking where to meet the walking tour, the man at reception got a call saying the walking tour had been cancelled. And then Joanna walked in, so we went on our own walking tour of Porto. It’s my 3rd time now to visit this beautiful city and I would still love to come back again.

Inside Igreja do Carmo, Porto

Almas Chapel, Rua de Santa Catarina

Mosaic on Almas Chapel, Rua de Santa Catarina

Porto

Porto

Porto

 It was a holiday (the day after the Sao Joao festival) so most places were closed but we still managed to have a delicious lunch at Cafe Majestic, a 1920s Art Nouveau cafe. Then of course we crossed back over the river (the way we had come in the morning to get to Porto), and did the mandatory Port tasting. It was raining quite heavy by this time so we took shelter in the first port place we came along, at Offley. We tasted a white, ruby and tawny port and it warmed us up perfectly 🙂

Joanna tasting port at Offley

Port tasting

Boats on the river Duoro

Sketching Porto and the river Duoro

The river Duoro

Porto

Porto

We crossed back over the bridge and went to the Cathedral to have our pilgrim passport stamped. The tiles in the Cathedral are beautiful.

Porto Cathedral

The cloister of Porto Cathedral

Porto Cathedral

A mosaic inside Porto Cathedral

A mosaic inside Porto Cathedral

Porto Cathedral

St James in Porto Cathedral

Tired from the lack of sleep the previous night, we headed back to the hostel to check into our room and have an afternoon nap before meeting up with Paulo and Gigi for dinner.

Porto

It might be the last dinner the four of us have together as everyone is on different time schedules with flights out of Santiago (I don’t have anything booked so can take as little/long as I like), and it was a nice dinner in a local restaurant near the hostel.

There’s a camino saying that goes, “You meet, you share, you part.”

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