El Camino Portuguese
My hotel was nor far from the cathedral and as I picked up El Camino again in Rua do Flores, I passed the museu and Igreja da Misericordia, a building that my late start to the days walking the day before had prevented me from viewing but yesterday was a Monday and the museum may have been closed.
And another building I would have visited had I had the time, the Torre dos Clerigos, a slender 75 metres high tower wth 225 steps to the top, and perhaps after a long walk, would I have had the energy to climb it? I will never know.
I walked on past one of the university faculties and the Cadeia da Relacao, the imposing former remand prison.
Straight away I was looking for new way signs. Those yellow arrows were still there painted on all sorts of objects but in this particular municipality, there were way markers embedded in the pavement but not as numerous and often as might be expected.
Pilgrims have to keep a sharp eye out for signs and contradictory signs. Several routes are way marked out of Porto such as the Coastal, Litoral and Central routes plus several options and some that link the main paths. Not to mention keeping en eye out for traffic plus completing claims such as road signs, shop signs, stickers advertising music gigs, alberques and hotels.
Not to mention all the different bodies who put up markers and some'entreprising' individuals who put up arrows to get unwary pilgrims to make a detour past their restaurant, cafe, hotel or souvenir shop.
At Padrao da Lagua the Litoral route breaks off from the Central route and there are two scallops with two yellow arrows pointing in contrary directions so the pilgrim must be aware of which route he is taking otherwise he may end up following the wrong set of arrows.
And just as you get used to looking for one style of marker, you cross one of those invisible municipal borders and the style of arrow changes yet again. This time to a plate screwed into a wooden post firmly cemented into the ground.
And finally I made it to my lodgings for the night in a brasiliera quinta built in 1886 and extended in 1912 as originally part of a working farm but with a large house attached all set around a courtyard. The animals have long gone except for a few chickens but you can tell from the dressed stonework that this wasn't some farm built by the farm owner with his own hands from whatever he could find.
A view of one side of the courtyard...
...part of the main house...
...some of the functional farm parts of the courtyard...
...my room had a distinct old feel to it with period furniture...
...and the bedroom... and in-between I half expected the bathroom to be in keeping with the old style but it had been upgraded to as good as standard as found in any modern hotel.
The soup starter and some chefs appetisers.
My main course of octopus as an alternative to every menu's steak, salmon and cod.
I was the only guest of four that had ordered an evening meal but despite that, it was still an opportunity to enjoy the environs.
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