October 20, 2023
Another day in a beautiful old city, with numerous walkable neighborhoods. Today we continued with our unusual approach to travel. We stay in a more or less normal neighborhood and then establish the neighborhood markets, cafeterias, laundries, and everything related to normal life, avoiding ( if possible) the heavy touristy areas.
Today’s destination was the Douro river, both up and downriver from us. We started out heading downhill towards downtown ( baixo Porto) and stopped at a cute little cafeteria which appeared to have 3 generations of one family working it. The waiter appeared to be about 65 and his brother and other relatives behind the counter. He showed us a menu with a breakfast combo that contained coffee, orange juice, croissant, and Portuguese egg pastery ( pastéis de nata). This was very filling and we were well prepared for the day.
We headed down through the construction of the subway, which seems impossible in a city this dense, hilly and crowded, but they are doing it. Then on down a curving cobblestone road below the Cathedral. We were on the same route that we started the Camino, but we didn’t have to walk 20 miles today 🙂 There we found the 1881 tram, Route No1.
As we boarded the tram, the rain began and became heavy. We were lucky to time our trip to avoid the rain. The tram creaked and groaned along the tracks at about 15 miles per hour. We saw pilgrims walking the same way we had started and wondered how they would do with the worsening weather. Eventually we came to the mouth of the river, where we got off and walked to the seashore until stopped by barriers due to the heavy crashing waves.
We walked around and eventually ran to catch the tram for the trip back to town. We decided to walk along the river until we got near the Caminha train station and then walk back by the interesting neighborhoods along the way. We came to a cafe called Donau, and it looked interesting. We had a second coffee and chatted with the barista who seemed very punk or avant garde. He put up with us. He was playing Motown but did not know what that was.
Eventually we made it back to our apartment for a short rest before heading out to lunch. We targeted at local cafeteria near our apartment with highly rated lunches and inexpensive.
While we were inside a heavy shower hit, but by the time we got out again the sun was shining. It seems like this alternating pattern of sun and showers is a part of normal life here in Porto.