As you know, we changed our plans once we finished the Camino so now we had to fast forward our tour through Portugal...
We left Santiago by train on our way down to Porto, Portugal. We had a bit of a break in Rodendela (or something like that...) and so we spent the hour writing some post cards to friends and family reflecting on our hike as well as our next couple of adventures. Then the train came, destination Porto, and we thought we had everything with us until the train started moving and I felt that I was missing something....
I couldnīt believe it, I had forgotten my walking stick on the train platform... I know this sounds silly but this is the stick I bought in St Jean Pied de Port 764 km before Santiago. I carried that damn stick the whole way and had these visions of hanging it on the wall or just placing it somewhere and having all of these fond memories. But I forgot it... Now, for those of you that donīt know much about the Camino, the idea is once you get to Finnisterre you throw your walking stick over the edge. Well, I had already decided that there was no frigging way I was throwing it over the edge after walking all that way with it. It had a nice little shell carved and wood burned into it near the handle... So I guess you could say leaving it at Rodendela was my version of tossing it away... oh well, cést la vie!!
We got into Porto late that night and what a beautiful city. We stayed in a pension and the room was beautiful! We went out to eat dinner around 10:30 and then walked around the town. The architecture was amazing! If there werenīt tiles all over the walls there were these wonderful blue murals all over the stone walls, it was a very pretty city.
The next day we bought some pastries and snacks for the train ride down to Lisbon and then walked across the city to the other train station so we could catch the train out to Sintra (a supposedly beautiful little area outside of Lisbon along the Atlantic ocean). It turned out that Sintra was a very quaint, pretty little village but 24 hours was enough there. But, that was long enough to become accomplices in first degree murder -- ok, maybe not first degree murder because there was no premeditation, but definitely manslaughter...
Jill and I woke up fairly early so we could experience these little cheese pastries that were world reknowned by this family living in Sintra. As we were walking to the little bakery, where the original family were still continuing the family business, this little dog attached itself to us. He would walk ahead of us until he was about 20 feet ahead, then stop, turn around to see that we were still walking with him, wait till we got near him and then take off again. Well, this continued for a good 10 minutes. We were laughing because if anyone looked at us they would think "oh there is this nice couple out for a stroll walking their dog". Anyways, the bakery was shut so we decided to walk around some more until the little shop opened at 9. In the meantime our little dog was still hanging around. We decided to walk across the street into this little park where there were little trails through gardens of nice colourful plants, flowers, tree covered tranquility, you get the picture... Well, all of a sudden we hear this screeching of tires and what happened was our little friend didnīt realize we had crossed the street. So when he did, he turned and bolted across the street almost getting hit by a local commuter on the way to work. We started laughing because they probably thought that it was our dog! So, anyways, the little guyīs ok and all three of us were walking in the park. Jill is in the lead and the dog would bolt up in front of us. We were trying to get rid of him by this point so we decided to turn along a different path to try and lose him... no luck. Then, all of a sudden he comes bolting by us again and then all hell broke loose! There was this little coop where there were ducks, geese, and chickens that were being kept in the park and they were making crazy noises because the dog was around. Then, it just so happens that there were a half dozen roosters outside of the cage and it didnīt take too long until our little buddy realized this. The chase began and there were roosters running and flying all over the place. It was actually quite funny because our quiet, relaxing little walk turned into a whirl wind of chaos and feathers! The dog was going nuts, chasing them this way and that until he focused on one specific rooster and then it was personal. Jilly and I were laughing hysterically by this point watching all of this confusion and mayhem until our little friend actually caught up with one unfortunate rooster and well, you can imagine the rest of it... But in the meantime my wife went from a ball of giggles to a deer in headlights. She couldnīt move because she was frozen in fear for the little rooster. I was trying to move her along before the park warden or police came and gave us trouble for having "our dog" in there disturbing the protected wildlife. When she finally got moving again I looked back once and there was our little friend having a "chicken dinner". Hence, the manslaughter, if it wasnīt for us the rooster population in Sintra would still be one higher than when we left! Oops.
Then we headed back to Lisbon so we could catch a ferry to the other train station in order to catch the train down to Lagos (but not before I was offered both hash and marijuana in the total of the 30 minutes I happened to be in Lisbon). And, supposedly it was the good Morrocan kind, so I didnīt know if this is what was yet to come!?!
As Cousin Pooly said, Lagos was great! What a fantastic little town. There was a great old part of the city encased in the old city walls with lots of shopping, great food and a theatre with English speaking movies! We had such a great first day that we decided to stay for another (not to mention the cute little woman we met at the train station where she solicited us to stay at her place!). We then took a mini-day trip out to Sagres (the most westerly point of Europe) and had a great time walking on the pier and out to the fortress! It was a very windy but gorgeous, hot day so the waves were crashing against the cliff walls.
Now, to get out of Portugal so we could continue our tour down to Morroco, well that was an adventure in itself! We woke up ready to walk down to the bus station and get a bus to Sevilla and then catch either a bus or train down to Algeciras so we could catch the ferry over to Tangiers. Saturday was All Saints Day, a national holiday and there would be no buses or trains out of Portugal to Spain until Monday morning (the day we needed to be in Marrakesh so we could embark on our 5 day trek into the Sahara desert)... Needless to say, we were caught in quite a pickle! Basically it was a classic tale out of Planes, Trains and Automobiles! Well, to make a long story short, after two rental cars and a road trip to Marbella, after realizing the Avis was closed all day Sunday in Algeciras, so we could drop off the rental car, we had a great couple of hours with Ben and Sylvia because they drove us back to Algeciras so that we could catch the ferry over to Tangiers and then take the overnight train to Marrakesh!
Everything worked out in the end and the next installment will be Jilly filling you in on what happened in the North of Africa!
Sorry about the length but I couldnīt stop my fingers!
Take care and keep the comments coming!
Bow.