We arrived in Porto on September 3rd and I was not going to post until we started our walk on September 6th, but it’s been interesting so far. With 4 flights and hours of layovers, we arrived in Porto about 24 hours after leaving Phoenix. With little to no sleep, sitting for 24 hours (viewer discretion advised) I developed a hemorrhoid the size of Baltimore but we finally made it to our private apartment in Porto city center. After a short nap, I decided it was time for a shower, and while I’m in there, I might as well wash the clothes I have been wearing for the past 24 hours. Needless to say, I was in there for a good 30 minutes or so. I stepped out toweled off, got dressed, and then the apartment phone started to ring. I answered it to a hysterical man speaking to me in some foreign language I did not understand, so I did the reasonable thing and hung up. The phone immediately started to ring again and this time Tina answered it. He now was speaking good English and explained that he was the owner of a gift shop directly below us and that we were flooding his business! He wanted to come up to see if there was a problem. I was leery to let someone in so I headed down stairs to take a look. As I headed down, water was dripping on me from a ceiling light fixture in the hallway, so I knew this must be serious. As I arrived at his shop he had buckets everywhere catching the water. Long story short, he had a plumber come up  and they’re still trying to find the issue. After talking with him there was another water leak from an A/C condensation pipe that dripped right down in front of his store. I found the problem and fixed it for him. He told me he has been asking the building owner for the past 2 years to have this fixed and was very grateful for the assistance. We are now friends.

Next day….September 4th

Today we walked around like most tourists do sampling food, drinking wine and seeing the sights. We visited Sé do Porto, a 12th century cathedral that is simply magnificent. Upon leaving we were walking down a ramp through a courtyard when I missed a step and took a pretty good fall. Scraped up my arm and elbow, and bruised my hip and ego. This cathedral is a pretty big tourist trap so my fall was witnessed by many. Embarrassing is putting it lightly so I just got out of there as fast as I could.

Looks like a good beginning to a fun filled journey. We start the Camino tomorrow.

Enjoy the pics