The time has flown by. We left Finisterre to collect our left luggage in Santiago en route to Vigo. I liked what I saw of Vigo but as we were there only 24 hour’s. While we were there I encouraged Sheila and Finn to climb up to ‘El Castro’, a tanquil park built on a hill in the centre of the city.
We took a bus to Porto having booked an Airbnb apartment for a 7 day stay. What a surprise Porto is. We arrived in the build-up to the annual festival of Sao Jao on 24 June, which happens to be my birthday It is the biggest annual festival in Porto and the city is literally packed with tourists. I don’t recall seeing more tourists in one place and that counts visits to Prague and London.
The weather has been kind to us. We have spent time walking around the city. It’s very hilly and yesterday we hired bikes for the day and were able to get about and see a bit more.
The food here is good and we’ve sampled Portos’ speciality grilled sardines. I’ve got to say its good having an apartment that allows us to cook for ourselves. Eating out is nice but I get bored with it day after day, week after week.
We are excited and a tad nervous about tonight’s party. The fireworks start at midnight over the iconic Ponte Luiz 1 (D. Luiz 1 bridge). After the firework display there is a massive street party. No-one goes to bed. The advice I was given was “if you don’t like tbe crowds, stay away from the riverside until 3am when it starts to thin-out a little.
Finn leaves us on 25th after two weeks to fly home. He received notification that he passed the first year of his Uni course. That’s a relief for us all. Now he has to organise himself jumping through all the necessary hoops to confirm his second year study in Amsterdam.
We have today booked accommodation in Geres for 6 days. Geres is in the Peneda-Geres National Park north east of Braga. It is Portugals only national park. The country has a number of natural parks but just the one National Park. We intend to do some easy hiking. By easy, I mean, low mileage.
Wandering Boomers 