Camino Portuguese - The City Of Porto

After flying from Midland, TX to Dallas I had a bit over an hour to catch my connecting flight to London. I needed all of it because the terminal for the hop across the ocean was in the terminal at the far end of the airport. Thanks to the Sky Link train I made it with no problems. I remember when they first combined the two fields and the quickest way to get between terminals was to run out of one terminal and hail a taxi to run you to the other one. Of course, that was well before the TSA.

Once we got off the ground it was an 8 ½ hour plane ride to London. In London, I had a 5-hour layover before catching my flight to Porto, Portugal. That was a bit over 2 hours and it was 10:30 PM local time when I arrived. After clearing customs, a nice young taxi driver named Luis agreed to haul me and my pack to the hotel that I had already booked. With Portuguese music blasting and Luis singing along, we headed off. Luis spoke no English and I only know about four words of Portuguese, but he did know a little bit of Spanish and I am adequate in it, so we got on alright.

As we zoomed along, weaving in and out of traffic, Luis told me that he wanted to come to Texas someday to see ranches and cowboys. I guess I wasn’t cowboy enough looking to qualify. His speed and driving didn’t worry me much, but the grinding I heard every time he slammed on his brakes to avoid a collision did. It sounded like he should have replaced his brake pads a couple of years ago. But he got me to the hotel in one piece. Who knows maybe he will actually make it to Texas one day. Stranger things have happened. This Texan managed to find his way to Porto.

After grabbing a few hours of sleep and several cups of coffee, I set off to explore the old city. Porto is one of the oldest cities in Europe and the home of Port wine. In addition to seeing the sights, I had two goals today. I needed to get my pilgrim credentials from the cathedral that would identify me as a pilgrim and allow me to use the pilgrim hostels along the trail if I chose to. At the end of my Camino in Santiago de Compostela, Spain it will be checked, along with the stamps I acquire along the way, to verify I actually made the pilgrimage. I will then be awarded my second certificate from the church for my journey.

The second thing I needed to do today was find a place where I could buy a couple of hiking poles. Since I had no checked baggage, I couldn’t bring mine along from the States because they are considered dangerous weapons by the TSA. I have a bum ankle that I messed up while hiking on the Appalachian Trail and the hiking poles help to keep me from rolling it again. They also help while climbing and descending inclines. I used to poo-poo them but they are a permanent part of my gear now.

Over here there is a chain of outdoor stores called Decathlon. They are in the cities of Spain also. Kind of like a very small, stripped-down REI or Academy. Of course, without the guns, knives, archery equipment, etc. I found the one here and grabbed a couple of cheap poles since I already have a couple of sets of good ones at home.

It is a bit after 6 pm here so I am going to find some dinner at one of the street-side cafes. I will probably have to take one for the team and have a glass of Porto’s famous Port wine too. There is a 6 hour time difference between here and Texas so it is noon there right now. Tomorrow, I hit the trail.

To see the photos I shot today, go to YouTube. Here is a link to today's photos in video form:

https://youtu.be/3pChFxiB0-I?si=VgdtKzSZehEju0ii

So for now I wish everyone a good evening or Boa Noite from Porte, Portugal.