Think I'm done.

Done with walking that is. Had a couple of hard days in a row (cold rain, well-meaning locals misdirecting me way out of my path) and after 7 or so weeks of slugging around with a backpack, decided to bus it down here to Porto and go from there using the wonderful cheap and easy public transport of Europe.

Part of it is that I'm simply tired, both in head and body. But a bigger reason I think is that as I near Lisbon (or Fatima...I'm going to both places), the walking is becoming increasingly tiresome with the ratio of heavy traffic roads outweighing the quieter country paths. And here, as in Spain, the traffic moves very fast, there are little or no shoulders to walk on and it just seems foolhardy to continue like this. Plus, it's annoying. And actually, there was a stretch yesterday that was so ridiculously dangerous that it pissed me off.



So, in the alburgue last night at Rates, after talking to other pilgrims who were making their way towards Santiago (and here they are), I decided to end my walking tour there. They had told me that the walking was sucky from Porto on up, and that I may as well just take the train or the bus.

So there we are.

So, I found a little pension here (little is the operative word!) in the amazing city of Porto, with the ocean in the background, and I'll spend a day or two here, enjoying the sites and figuring out my next move.




This pension, Pension Duas Nacoes - right in the heart of the city , is a mere 14 euros for a single room...yay. And even tho it's REALLY small, it's very clean and relatively quiet.




I still have three weeks here to float around and I'm working on a couple of extra options to fill that time without burning through my last cent on hotels and pensions; there are few alburgues here in Portugal..but you know what they do have? The Bombeiros Volunteer Fire Departments where you can stay for free. I stayed in one the other night...got to sleep in a dorm room above all the firetrucks. My little friend Hank would've been all a flutter in that place.





Anyway - so there's a quick update. Over the next couple of days I should have a plan worked out and I'll fill you in. Lots of love to everyone.