Sao João da Madeira to Porto (22.80 miles/36.71 km)

Started out the day by meeting my German Camino friend, Paul, at my hotel this morning at about 7:30. He flew in to Lisbon yesterday and then took the train from the Vila Nova de Gaia to Sao João da Madeira this morning. I haven’t seen him since we departed three years ago after we partially trekked the Camino Via de la Plata together. Paul got there just at the right time after I had breakfast at the hotel and we started off on the Camino immediately.

Today was a completely different day than it has been since I started back in Lisbon. It was strange because I felt something that I haven’t felt since I started, and that was being a little chilled. The weather was cool all day long, and it made a huge difference in my energy level. There was actually a layer off fog in the distance since the Camino is closer to the coast as it nears Porto.

It was a long day with the usual ups and downs, and steep hills. Having Paul there made the distance and time go by faster as we had a lot to catch up on, and lots of stories to tell. It was good to have a Camino friend today.

Much of the Camino today was through residential neighborhoods and numerous small villages. We got to Vila Nova de Gaia, which is the sister city for Porto on the other side of the Douro River, about 4:00. From Vila Nova to the bridge crossing to Porto the Camino was on a very busy main thoroughfare through the commercial business district. Once we reached the Douro River and the bridge crossing into Porto I saw what everyone had been raving about. It was a spectacular view of the bridge, river, and city on the other side!

A light rail street car runs across the bridge and there are two pedestrian paths on both sides of the bridge, but one was under construction, so pedestrians in both directions had to cross on one narrow side. It was very crowded with a solid stream of people and Paul walked in front of me to clear the way or it would have been difficult with the Wheelie.

When we crossed over to Porto, about 5:30, we went to the Porto Cathedral just on the other side of the bridge. Paul got his Camino passport and I had mine stamped.

We the went to the beautiful train station and saw all the excellent art tile work on the walls and facade. Some of the metal work inside was built in the similar style as the design of the bridge, which was designed by Eiffel, the designer of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Porto is such a popular tourist town, obvious with the thousands of tourists walking the street, that lodging is hard to find and very expensive. Thankfully, Paul knows his way around and found us a wonderful newer two bedroom apartment for about €66 ($73), split two ways. Because there is so much traffic, and so many people walking the narrow and steep sidewalks, we took an Uber to the apartment. It was probably less than two miles but took almost forty-five minutes to get there on those narrow bumper to bumper crowded streets. It was well worth the almost €8 to get us there.

We didn’t get to the apartment until almost 7:00. I took my shower and washed my clothes in an actual wash machine here. After such a long day and then finishing my usual Camino chores it’s almost too late to go out to eat, so I’ll nibble on some of my snacks instead.

Tomorrow we will start on the more popular stretches of the Camino Portuguese. There are two ways to go, the coastal route or the inland route. Both ways meet near the Spanish border. The coastal route is more attractive for me, but is very crowded along the coast and lodging is harder to find and more expensive. The inland route is less crowded and lodging is easier to find. I’ll sleep on it and will decide in the morning, but the coastal route might be calling me?

Best wishes to all,

Ted

Please excuse the typos, spelling, grammar, etc., as I am typing this on my phone, and I am probably pretty tired.

If you would like to see the Alzheimer’s Association website, see our team page, and donated, please go to:

act.alz.org/goto/tedstrek

Sunset from our apartment balcony tonight

Heading out in the morning and seeing the cool of the fog bank in the distance

This is a communal neighborhood washing area where all these local women were washing clothes by hand. Still like in the old days!

Stopping for a break with the cemetery in the background. Note my Walk to End Alzheimer’s cap!

This was a long and steep climb on what we think is an old Roman road. It was tough going. The photo does not depict how steep it really was.

The next challenge, a very step, rocky, step-down stretch

This was tough. Very slow going!

That was very tricky and nerve racking!

Entering Vila Nova de Gaia

Wow! Porto on the other side.

Looking downriver to the west

Looking upriver to the East

Look at the background view

Did you notice the Walk to End Alzheimer’s hat!

Walking across the bridge

The Porto Cathedral

Paul and I at the Cathedral

The Porto Cathedral

The beautiful tile work at the train station

Tile and metal work at the train station

Our apartment on the 4th floor

Living room

Kitchen

Bedroom

Bath

Elevation for the day. Lots of ups and downs again.

My trek today. Map only shows 20 miles, but the two miles at the start of the day was not recorded

Trek today. Notice the two miles from Sao João da Madeira was not recorded

Trek today