Cobblestones, boardwalk and sand

 Busy day. First a big shout out to this hotel Pao de Açúcar, great DIY  breakfast included with lots of variety. The hotel  is actually full, it’s the weekend and most guests seem to be German or a French. Breakfast in a large room, and  we had to reserve a time. 

Today’s plan was to walk to Matosinhos  ( about 3 hours ) and  then we took the subway back to Porto. This worked out great. We started at the Cathedral and then walked along the ocean, past fishermen, a yacht race, surf lessons and what looked like a fish fry competition. Plenty of action.  The walk led out the Douro river to the Atlantic Ocean and then past beaches and mostly open cafes.

Easy to figure out subway coming back  and got off in Trinidade - a cool shopping area here in Porto. Visited my fave sporting goods shop -Decathalon  and bought a few things . I have a hiking pole, and Peter has new shoelaces. Hopefully we won’t kill each other with either!

Now thoughts on Porto. Love it ! Something entirely unexpected is the street music scene. Maybe people (including us ) have been shut away for too long. Anyhow, we’ve listened to a trained opera singer singing  at a small tapas restaurant, street choirs, and rock and rollers on the ocean front. Almost every street has someone busking. What is unusual I think is so much of the crowd is joining in to sing, giving the streets a nice sense of community. And such a lot of awesome, awesome talent. And obviously since they are busking, they welcome donations. 

We took a walk to Ribidairo with its riverfront patios and across the river which is famous for Port tasting. We had a 5 Port selection. Port is too heavy for me but it was a fun experience. 5 shots for 5 euro :) Gotta love that !

Checked a couple things off bucket list too today. I wanted to go to the ‘most beautiful bookstore in the world’ -Livraria Lello and it  met my expectations and then some. Old paneling,  stained glass, and a winding red staircase.It’s more of a place for photo ops than book browsing but still really worth it. 

Also went to Majestic Cafe where the word is JKRowlings  wrote some Harry Potter  material when she was an English teacher here. More Classic  old wood paneling and 5 euro expresso shots, but it had to be done.

 We also visited Sao Bento  train station, a UNESCO heritage site and  it contains awesome blue tiles. The architecture here is astounding !

https://www.portugalist.com/harry-potter-porto/

Sightseeing is done, so Camino begins in earnest tomorrow to Vila Do Conde. We’ll take subway to Matsohinos and then walk about 5 hours along the coast. Weather looks ok and we are more than ready.

Burn Camino to us !