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We travelled by bus from Santiago to Porto - an easy. 4 hour trip into a lovely old city. The weather still wasn’t marvellous but undaunted we walked as much as I was able to and enjoyed a day trip to the Douro River wine region. The port tasting was the highlight with a new cocktail - white port and tonic - very refreshing over ice.
We found a Portuguese restaurant close to the hotel and had 2 great meals there - every restaurant seemed to have a tv with the Euro cup soccer on every evening.
After 2 days we braved the train system again and caught a train to Lisbon - what a beautiful city. We stayed in the old city in an amazing hotel on a cobbled laneway. The staff recommended local restaurants off the tourist track - I said I wanted to eat somewhere cool - meaning air conditioned as it had finally heated up. The staff member thought I meant hip and happening and we had the best tapas meal ever at a wine bar. Too cool for school! We also watched Portugal beat Slovenia live - on TV -the atmosphere was electric and the city was buzzing the next day.
We also managed to not find the lift to the castle so I trudged up to a truly medieval castle on a hill with views forever. We had a drink on a terrace over looking the river and then found the lift down! Seems to be our thing.
I seem to be improving a bit every day and get around with my trusty walking pole - slowly and carefully.
