Porto – time to relax and recover while I stayed in Hamid and Isti’s wonderful apartment – with great conversations and wonderful Portuguese meals. The following photos show Hamid in his office (holding the Italian gold medal award for his company’s olive oil!) and then the view out of my window. The full moon in the photo means that I am halfway through my Camino – I started on the day of the new moon. The other photos give an impression of Porto – with the wonderful blue tiles adorning the facades of important buildings.I wanted to conserve every scrap of energy so,in fact, I left the apartment only to eat out with Hamid or to walk to Porto Cathedral (where I got the required stamp for my credenciale and met for coffee with Johanna (one of our pilgrim band before Porto – who was a day behind me).
In front of Porto Cathedral! Porto is the halfway point of the Portuguese Camino. And together with Johanna (When you have walked several days on the Camino with someone and then meet up with them again you are just incredibly happy to see them!)
Hamid, bless his heart, drove me to the outskirts of Porto in the afternoon so I could have an early start the next morning. Somehow the road petered out and on trying to find it again we found ourself on the motorway to Poa Varzim – the last Porto metro stop and definitely further than intended. Somehow it all seemed to be part of the Camino plan – by now it was late and Hamid needed dinner before driving all the way home – so we stopped at an authentic Portuguese restaurant (packed with locals) and I had fresh sardines for the first time ever – fantastic!
Fatijah's Camino Portugués 2016 