Camino Portuguese I, Porto to Esposende

After completing the Camino Portuguese we started on the Camino Primitivo but we both caught a really nasty virus in one of the Spanish Albergues. We went to hospital twice. It took us three weeks to recover.
---
Camino Portuguese I, Matsinhos to Esposende
April 25, 2024
We were woken at midnight in Porto by loud explosions. Was it the Russians coming? No, not yet anyway. Hitherto unbeknown to us, April 25th is the aniversary of the 1974 Portuguese revolution, "Freedom Day". This is a big deal, the 50th anniversary, and we weren't even aware there had been a revolution in Portugal in 1974.
We took an Uber to Matosinhos to bypass the first 10 km or so of walking through Porto suburbia that cost only €6.
After crossing the bridge we walked along miles of boardwalk parallel to the ocean.
We arrived at Vila do Conde at 13:30 and stopped in the central park to eat lunch but only Patsy had any food so Ken and I went to see whether the supermarket was open but it wasn't. We returned to the park and found Patsy had a basket of strawberries, gifted to her by a Romanian pilgrim.
We continued to the next town, Póvoa de Varzim, and went to the Pingo Doce supermarket that was open. We bought a bunch of food to carry the 1.5 km to the apartment I'd booked.
This apartment, rated 9.6 on Booking, was a fabulous 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment, "Pé No Mar" with a spacious modern kitchen overlooking the ocean. It only cost €120 and the host even left us a basket of "welcome gifts", wine, orange juice, cookies, and spring water. There was also an espresso machine with an effectively limitless supply of coffee.
April 26, 2024
We managed to tear ourselves away from Pé No Mar at 8:15 but not before I had booked three more nights there for the end of our Portuguese trip.
We walked for a while chatting to a German woman, escaping her domestic responsibilities for two weeks, then a German couple, a couple from the Czech Republic, and lastly a young Indonesian girl living in Australia. Although it's multinational, there are a lot of German and British pilgrims. We've yet to meet a pilgrim from the USA.
Before crossing the bridge over the Rio Cóvado to Esposende we stopped at Pastelaria Clarinhas for coffees and their signature, eponymous pastry. This is a crisp patry shell with a sweet pumpkin filling. It was different, but good albeit a little too sweet.
It started to rain just after we crossed the bridge so we donned our raincoats and unfurled our umbrellas. We detoured slightly to go to the Supermercado Froiz then picked up some pastries at Marbela for dessert.
Patsy and I ate bacalhau, salted cod, for dinner.

[@joebow-tv9hg]

Glad you're back!

[@laurenbouchie2394]

What a beautiful town that was! I know its not your normal scenery but I really enjoyed it Glad to hear your over the nasty virus. What a bummer that was!