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Porto, Portugal – travel day

Day 1

Our first official sign of the camino…
…right outside our first lodging – the Poet’s Inn
Along the “River of Gold” Rio Douro and the picturesque 1886 Ponte de Dom Luís I in the background

Porto Cathedral – our beginning point for our Camino

It has been a full day of travel with smooth transitions the whole way.  Porto is the 2nd largest city in Portugal and is seen as the gritty sibling of the more refined capital Lisbon.  We flew in over the mostly red tiles roofs and spiderweb of narrow streets. We found out the hilly part of the city as we walked up and hundreds of steps. 

We arrived on the 50th anniversary of the “Carnation Revolution” where Portugal threw off a 40+ year reign of dictator Salazar on a bloodless coup and now have moved to a democracy.  Many people were wearing red carnations to celebrate Freedom Day. 

The red carnation to celebrate Freedom Day
Some of the many steps this evening – check out the Azulejos tiles on almost every building
The view from the bridge back to the old Town and main tourist area
Two buildings down from us, we came upon this, as we ate dinner next to Main Square. Roughly translates to “Graffiti is not dead” – from the looks of many buildings, I would say that is true.

We have already met a few other pilgrims, easy to spot with larger backpacks and hiking poles.  Met two Germans on the light rail from the airport and then at our place tonight we met Dan from Bend, Oregon. 

Tomorrow we go take a walking tour and explore Port wines – and then we start walking. 

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sirianddavid

Siri and David live in Redmond, Washington, and enjoy living, traveling, and learning about different cultures.

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