Month: November 2024

Dot’s Diary: Porto

We spent 7 days in Porto.
Had a lovely breakfast on our first day, but it was the first hotel that doesn’t have a Cappuccino machine!!
Left the hotel and started walking, Porto is not on seven hills like Lisbon but there’s still several and we walked up most of them.  Porto is lovely outdoor patios everywhere and cheap beer and wine.  We had wine and calamari in one of the patios and after a well deserved Siesta we checked out some of our neighborhood and had some nachos at the hard Rock café which is right out our front door.
On our second morning we met John’s Spanish Camino friend Margaret and her son Killian for breakfast at our hotel as it was on the way to the start of their Portuguese Camino. It is a small world.
We took a hop on bus for 48 hours, great deal includes a night tour and a river cruise and we got to use it on the third day till noon.  Great way to see the city. We rode the bus on both routes to check it all out had lunch at a bakery/diner waiting for the blue bus, great hamburgers! and super Bock beer.  Took the blue bus then went back for a Siesta.  Went to a local Bistro for soup and spaghetti and meatballs absolutely amazing meatballs. I had a delightful asparagus soup.  Did the river cruise and spent the day shopping around the river, had great appies and beer and sangria with v-shaped chips.
Went back for another Siesta and a bottle of wine and then took the night light tour.  Saturday was pouring rain so stayed around our hotel went out for an Indian lunch right out our door then another nap!!! No dinner as we  were too full from lunch!!! The next day, Sunday, we were picked up by Louis our chauffeur for a day trip of wine tasting, lunch and a river cruise on the Douro river and valley.  Probably one of the highlights of our trip.
Our Portuguese guide with a Scottish accent was so fun and the lunch was amazing!! More on that on tomorrow’s diary post.
Porto is a busy place. Porto’s river front is amazing. 

Dot’s Diary: Santiago

Had a delightful surprise when we got to our hotel.  It was around 11:30 pm and it was like a condo so we were just given a code to get in the front door and then find our room and then a code for that door as well.  Very much like Crete.
It was a lovely large room, very antique looking.  It even had a kettle for tea and coffee. This made us very happy and comfortable as with the weird bus train ride we were a little apprehensive.  Had a nice cup of tea and off to bed.
No breakfast with this flat but walked around went past the cathedral with line ups blocks long.  Walked down to the park and took pictures with the two old ladies, long story about these two sisters.  Had lunch at a little cafe, craving soup they had the most delicious Galician cabbage soup.  Went to mass that night hoping to see the incense burner sway but they didn’t do it, but John has a picture from last year.  Went out to a little café that John and Gerry went to last year for spaghetti Bolognese, seems to be very popular here.
The next morning was pouring rain but by the time we got up and went for cappuccino at the little Bistro below the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out.  Did a hop on bus that took us on a tour around old town.  Very interesting. Did a bunch of souvenir shopping and then had a lovely dinner of calamari and pizza.
The next day we had to kill five hours after we checked out so took our time having cappuccinos and tapas, then walked down towards the bus station, stopped and had lunch, breakfast at a little Bistro.  Great wine and spaghetti Bolognese (have a bit of a theme going on here).
Then walked to the bus depot and wasted another two hours.
Bus was supposed to leave at 4:45 but didn’t take off till 5:30. Absolutely great scenery, mountainous, forested and green.  Beautiful little villages nestled amongst the forest.  Great highways with tons of tolls booths.  Finally made it to Porto, around 8:30 and found the Grand Hotel of Paris. The hotel was really fun, old time grandeur with bell hop etc.  The rooms are large and you need a key to unlock your room.  Kinda brothel looking.  Dropped off our luggage and went out for a glass of wine!!!

Dot’s Diary: Leon

We walked down to the river in Leon and crossed the bridge where John walked to head off to Santiago, a trip that took us five hours by train took him 10 days!!!

Walked all over and came across a massive flea market, looked like a K Mart liquidation sale. Did about five kms. and then decided it was Siesta time
Got to love this culture lol.
Woke up went out and bought some chocolates and had another sangria before settling on pizza at the same restaurant as last night.  The night life is unbelievable, everyone and their dogs are out walking makes me thing of the song: grab the old ladies and babies and everyone goes…..
Even in cool rainy weather it never stops. The last day in Leon we had to kill four hours till our train, left the hotel around noon, then killed time walking around, finally walked down this out of the way alley and found a little store that actually had a hat I liked and cheap too.  Met two pilgrims in there that commented on John’s Blue Jay hat. It turns out they were from Duncan – about 10 km from our home in Mill Bay BC. Go figure eh!!!  Finally it was time to go to the train station, got on the train and travelled for three hours. The train stopped and suddenly were the only ones on the train. The conductor comes in yelling at us in Spanish apparently everyone was ordered off the train but since it was in Spanish no comprende… anyway we managed to figure out the train was over and everyone was being hustled onto buses.  No idea where we were going but there were a few other English speaking people in the same boat…erm train… so we followed them.  Took an hour bus ride in the dark in a winding twisting road thru the mountains to another town where we disembarked and were ushered to another train which then proceeded to Santiago and arrived on time!
Leon

Dot’s Diary: Burgos

After our Siesta on Tuesday afternoon we were going to go out for a nice dinner but it was raining very hard so we decided to eat at the restaurant in the hotel. It was a three course dinner including a bottle of wine for 18 euros each. I had a seafood noodle dish with 5 large prawns, muscles squid etc that would have been more than a meal for me but that was just the Appy. Anyways finished the bottle of wine (of course you did) and headed for bed.

Took a 10:30 bus to Leon and arrived at two. Have a very lovely hotel in the middle of old town. Three different cities and three totally different atmospheres. Unfortunately they still don’t serve food until 8 o’clock so we’re sitting in a bar waiting for the kitchen to open.

Burgos. Birthplace of El Cid.

Dot’s Diary: Pamplona

Forgot to mention that on the last day in Barcelona we took the hop on bus up to the top of the mountain and rode the cable car down wheeeeee!!! It landed right on the beach area and then we walked along the causeway forever, stopped for beer and tapas and watched the American Cup trials. John was thrilled to see that as he is or was an avid sailor. We also stopped for lunch at a bistro on the beach. Took the train the next day for Pamplona.

Oh what a unique place Pamplona is. Our hotel was right down in the old town just steps from everything. So far the hotel is the nicest room we’ve had. A large room which is unusual for Europe but a large bathroom as well. Great bar in the lobby with tapas and beer and wine of course. Everywhere is tapas and pastries unfortunately I have come down with a cold and I just don’t have an appetite. That was very sad as I want to try them all.

We retraced John’s path thru town and saw his Albergie where he stayed when doing the Camino Santiago and had a another wine where he ate. We followed the Camino clam shells on his path. Took pictures at the gates where he went thru. It’s so medieval and so social at the same time. There was a market going on so went there instead of our usual jewelry stalls there was cheese stalls almost all goat cheese!! Tried them all and bought some home to have with our wine. The next day we toured a bull ring, had our pictures taken running with the bulls and had a great lunch at the famous restaurant called Café Iruna, which was frequented by Ernest Hemmingway!

Left the next morning by train for Burgos, which is another 16th century town with wide streets and squares surrounded by outdoor tapas bars and restaurants and the most elaborate churches I’ve ever seen. We retraced John’s steps thru the town to the bars he ate at and the hotel he took there so he could get caught up on his sleep.

The best things about the towns here is that every night the people come out around 8pm and visit and eat. The whole place is hopping, most restaurants kitchens don’t even open till 7 or 8 for dinner. This is our last night here so we will go down for a nice dinner by the river. Weather has been lovely, sunny and warm most days. Our hotel is just minutes from the bus depot as tomorrow we take a bus to Leon. We also took a little bus around town and up the mountain the views were awesome and we were his only passengers so he gave us a little extra history lesson.

Burgos Cathedral and Dot with some churros.

Fantastic.