Greg's Wanderings

Author: Greg H

  • Day 32 – Train to Lisbon

    Day 32 – Train to Lisbon

    Oct 12

    I’ve confirmed a key difference between a hostel and an alberge.  Beyond the fact that Alberges are exclusively for pilgrims, there is a code of etiquette that you just don’t find at larger hostels in cities. 

    In the Albergue, we’re on a common quest, having walked long hours.  Everyone goes to bed early and tries to be as quiet as possible in the common sleeping areas.  

    In my hostel last night, when I returned from dinner around 8:30, the light was out in my 8-person room and curtains were pulled across two of the lower bunks, likely indicating someone trying to sleep.  I crawled into my bunk, pulled the curtains and – with AirPods- listened to the radio broadcast of the Ducks game (sad).  

    About 10pm, the room lights were flicked on, the hostel host brought in two more guests who proceeded to talk, rustle about and turn the lights on and off for the next 30 minutes. This would have NEVER happened in an Alberge. 

    Today I take the train back to where my trip started in Lisbon. After being flumoxed by public transit ticketing on my first visit, I’ve decided to purchase a 48-hour all-access card that works on trains, metro, busses, trolleys and funiculars (not currently running due to a fatal accident last month).  The 48 hours works out perfectly for the time between when my train arrives on Lisbon today and when I can check into my near-airport hotel Tuesday afternoon.  

    The six-car train pulled into the station 15 minutes before departure.  Several hundred people with luggage quickly boarded and we pulled out exactly on time. The train is very comfortable with tons of legroom, wifi and power ports.  

    The overhead display shows the time, outside temperature and our speed – which has reached up to 218kmph (135mph).  

    I got into Lisbon and bought the 48-hour pass.  I now feel like I have the keys to the city.  

    I took two different Metro subways to reach my hostel, which is just 150 meters from the nearest station.  I dropped off my pack and walked a few blocks to the waterfront.  I’m sitting in the beer garden of the Museu da Cerveja (Beer Muesum) watching a Euro Cup soccer match on the big screen.  As soon as I finish my beer, I’m going to hop on the first tram that comes along and go explore the city.  

    Following my beer, I decided to just randomly hop on a ride and explore. I went to the nearest Metro station and hopped on a Azul Line train.  A few stops up, I recognized a name from my first days in Lisbon.  

    I hopped off thinking I would be in the neighborhood I stayed in last month. To my surprise, when I got to the surface, I was inside a very modern shopping mall.  I went outside the mall and realized my mistake.  I had been here before, but this was the shopping district I went to looking for the sporting goods store when I needed to replace my pocket knife.  

    By this time, my phone battery was getting low, so I shut it off and decided to find my way back to the hostel just by using the transit maps.  Two stops over on the Vermelha Line and five down the Verde and I emerged by the square in my neighborhood. 

    There was a craft fair going on in the square, so I wandered through the booths.  I then bought a t-shirt so I could launder all the entire collection I had been wearing.  

    Walking back to my hostel, I encountered a film crew shooting a scene in a shop just across the street.  I don’t know what is was for, but just judging by the amount of equipment and number a trucks, it was no small budget effort.  

    After getting a little charge on my phone, I headed out to dinner.  I’ve so emersed myself in the local cuisine that I’ve been really ready for something lighter with more vegetables.  I found a Vietnamese cafe and enjoyed a tasty meal.  

    Taken outside the Porto train station, you can do the construction boom. Look closely and you can see 10 construction cranes in the photo
    Ample leg room! Oh, I wish I had this much for the flight home!
    Simple, but tasty lunch at the train station. €3.80
    Map of the Lisbon Metro. My hostel is near where the green and blue lines converge in the Rossio neighborhood
    This dog is a doppelganger of Jessie’s dog, Buna
    Back at the square where my walking tour started last month
    A beer museum!
    Served in insulated inverted bottle-shaped glasses
  • Day 31 – Touring the Douro Valley

    Day 31 – Touring the Douro Valley

    Oct 11

    The hostel was very noisy last night.  Snoring, creaking beds and floor boards. Getting out of the top bunk was  not as  bad as I feared, but I have requested a lower bunk for tonight.  

    I have an all-day tour today, so I packed everything up, abandoned my backpack in the 8-person sleeping room and left a note for the desk clerk. Hope it all works out.  

    I left the hostel around 6 this morning.  Being near the train station, there were ample cafes open for an early breakfast.  I’m so glad to be back in Portugal where a hearty breakfast can be had for €4.50.  

    I then walked through the dark, empty streets of Porto towards my tour pickup point next to the cathedral. 

    Our 30-person minibus uncludes wifi and charging ports.  Our guide, Maria, explains that the Douro Valley was one of the first designated vinticultural regions in the world, first recognized in the 1750’s and designated as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2013.  

    Maria was very informative and on the drive to our first stop, we learned about the major industries of the  Porto region: shoe manufacturing, cork, tourism and construction. We also learned that there is currently a housing shortage in Portugal mainly being driven by immigration from Brazil and the US. 

    Our first stop was in the  city of Aramante.  A beautiful town with a river through its center and a church and bridge both restored by a monk who was later sainted. 

    We then went through the Vino Verde wine region.  Being between the ocean and the mountains and with a predominantly granite-based soil, it produces lighter wines. 

    We then went through the mountains in a tunnel nearly 6km long (3.5 miles) to emerge on the dry side of the mountains. With a mix of granite & shale-based soil and hotter, drier climate, grape vines have to work harder to produce fruit and the result are much bolder wines – perfect for Port.  

    Port is made by taking table wine and adding stronger  alcohol (grapa or moonshine).  This was done to stabilize wine for shipment to England when wars wars with France cut off the wine supply for the Brits.  

    The Douro Valley has 250,000 acres of vineyards and it’s almost all in steep, terraced slopes that can only be picked by hand.  

    We visited a small winery for a tour and tasting, then went to lunch – near a viewpoint.  We sat at one long table for 30.  To my left, a couple from Boston.  Across from them, two young women from Syria.  Across from me a couple from Chicago who just moved to Lisbon.  On my right, two young women from Manchester, UK.  

    Lunch was a creamed vegetable soup, cod cooked in cream sauce and cold vegetable medley.  But the best part was the conversation. 

    On the way out, I saw a guy when the  exact same pair of shoes.  I stopped to talk with him and learned he was from Sacramento and was leaving from Porto on his Camino tomorrow. 

    Wine harvest used to be an all hands on deck effort with  neighboring villages helping. These days, harvest relies on migrants from India, Nepal, Bangladesh & Morocco. 

    Our final stop for the day was in the  town of Pinhao, which served as the shipping port for moving the barrels of port down the Douro on boats until a railroad was built in the late 1800’s.  Now replicas of those boats are used to give tourists a river’s eye view of the valley.  

    Our way back to Porto started on N222 – “route 66 of Portugal.” Butto me, it reminded me of driving through the Columbia River gorge with a narrower river and much narrower road. 

    Reflection pond in Amarande
    Plaques show flood levels of four events over the past century
    I marvel at the effort needed to construct all these terraces
    The bridge in the background was used to film the final scene in the most recent Fast & Furious movie
    Our tasting room
    View over the valley from 2000 foot vantage point
    Small chapel at the vantage point
    I learned that cork is responsible for 5% of Portugal’s GDP. Besides wine stoppers, it’s used like leather hat clothing and accessories and in building materials
    Kayakers on the Douri
    Winery homes perched above the terraces
    Example of the tourist boat fleet
    Final view of the terraced valley
  • Day 30 – Travel Day

    Day 30 – Travel Day

    Oct 10

    I’ve reached the apex of my trip and now start heading back to my starting point in Lisbon.  

    Today could set up to be the most boring of my trip.  I’m starting this morning from my alberge in Finnesterre – which I need to vacate by 10 am.  I then have a 2.5 hour bus ride to Santiago at 11:45, followed by a 3 hour layover before a second 3+ hour bus to Porto. 

    The alberge was comfortable and quiet last night and I got a great night’s sleep after a dinner of paelle, Padron peppers and wine. 

    While waiting for my bus, a man was wearing an Oregon Ducks t-shirt passed me.  I stopped him and asked if he was from Oregon.  He laughed and said he was from Australia.  His son’s girlfriend had given the shirt to him and he had no idea what the Duck image represented – until he started meeting people from Oregon. “And they are all the nicest people.”

    Our massive, double decker bus was more than 15 minutes late arriving and by the time they off-boarded and then got all the backpacks and people on, we were over 30 minutes behind schedule.  All the through-passengers to Santiago were put the upper level, which gave us a nice view.  

    The bus was so large and the streets so narrow that we had to drive down to the commercial fishing docks to have enough room to negotiate a Y-turn.  Those sitting in the front row up top got a straight down look into the water as the driver pulled forward as possible. 

    The second leg of the trip was surreal heading down the highway at 120kph.  What had taken me two weeks to walk passed by in a couple of hours + stop times in Vigo and Braga.  

    I arrived at my hostel after dark and for the first time in 30 days, I was assigned an upper bunk.  That’s what I get for getting here late!  Hopefully tomorrow I can switch to a lower bunk when others move on.  

    Finisterre this morning. The hill in the background was what I climbed yesterday
    Same spot looking the other way
    View of the city from the fishermen’s wharf.
  • Day 29 – on to Finisterre

    Day 29 – on to Finisterre

    Oct 9

    I slept poorly last night.  Chalk that up to consuming caffeinated beverages too late in the day.  This eating meals much later is hard to adjust to.

    After my four-night stint in a hotel room with a private bath, it’s time to get back to communal living.  

    I repacked my belongings and walked down the road to the intermodal station.  A beautiful new complex designed to move lots of people into and out of the city by train & bus.  

    I arrived early and enjoyed a tarte de almande (almond cake) and a coffee in one of the two cafeterias in the complex.  The platform for my bus to Finisterre has just been posted, so I’ll relinquish my seat and power port.  

    Our comfortable motor coach pulled out of the station at 10:01.  As we went over the first hill, I realized the illusion of just hanging out in the historic quarter of a city. Santiago is a bustling city.  

    We headed out of the city and through various towns and villages. We took some corners that you had to feel were included in the calculations for how long the buses could be.  Any longer and they would have not been able to negotiate.  

    While most of riders were pilgrims like me, the bus also serves as a commuter bus with locals hopping on and off every few kilometers.  

    I first spotted the coast near Muros and the last 30 minutes of the ride followed the coastline first to Cee and then along the peninsula that includes Finisterre.  

    The bus pulled into Finisterre and right across the street was a place called the Hippy Bar.  I ventured in just as two German ladies at the adjacent table had a beautiful, huge salad delivered.  I’ve been starved for vegetables, so that’s what I ordered.  

    When I finished lunch, there were still about 15 minutes to kill before the alberge opened at 2.  I decided to go get in line so as to improve my chances of not getting an upper bunk.  

    I was the fifth person to arrive.  We started introducing ourselves and I learned that one woman was from the Czech Republic, one guy was from The Netherlands and the other two young women were from Seattle and Portland!

    This is a nice alberge with bunks for 32.  I’m in a pod of 4 bunks and currently only the bottom four beds are occupied.  

    Maddie, the girl from Seattle, stopped by and said she was going to hike out to the lighthouse and asked if I wanted to come along.  We took a trail along the Atlantic side of the peninsula and it ended up going to the top of a 740 foot hill.   From the top, we could see the lighthouse below another few hundred meters.  

    We went down the hill to the lighthouse, had a drink, took photos at the 0.00 kilometer Camino marker and then I threw my stone into the sea.  

    Fishing boats near Cee
    Our bus pulling away
    I have been craving vegetables. This salad helped.
    At its narrowest point, the peninsula is only a couple hundred meters across. See the water beyond the hill.
    Lighthouse from the summit of the hill
    Mile marker 0.00
    Lighthouse up close
    Shirley’s stone before I tossed it off the cliff
    I think somebody was done with their boots
    Statue in the local chapel. Mary and Jesus looking out for the fishermen