Lisbon to Fatima to Porto

After a big birthday this year, and maybe because of it, I’m in Portugal to walk 200 miles from Porto to Santiago de Compestella on the Camino and on to Finesterre. 

Delta took us from Minnesota to New York and on to Lisbon. Though I’d been to Lisbon for a short weekend in 2005 I didn’t recognize anything. All I could remember was our car had been broken into. Lisbon is a huge city on the water, which we first saw and smelled thru an ancient archway . We walked along the cobbled streets, toured the main cathedral, enjoyed a trolley car ride to the fortress for amazing views, and after wandering the shops took an outside elevator for dinner to watch the sunset. We ran into a couple from Canada we’d met in the elevator after dinner after dinner, who regaled us with stories of their five weeks in Portugal. That ended our first day in this country  

Fatima was our destination on day 2. Its economy was formerly agricultural but now it’s tourism thanks to sightings of the Angel of Peace and the Blessed Virgin Mary over 100 years ago by three children. When asked what to do with contributions to the area the Angel of Peace said to build a chapel. There are 2 huge basilicas and many church’s. Services run throughout the day, as is religious music and church bells. People of all religions were crawling on their knees to worship.  

On Day 3 we first boarded a tuck-tuk for the bus station but the driver let us off at an un-mannned taxi stand because he couldn’t get on the highway. No probleml though in getting the noon bus to Porto, our starting place of the Camino in 2 days. Porto has a more positive feel than Lisbon, maybe because we were entertained by a patriotic Porto taxi driver. We walked down steep steps to the river, walked across the lower portion of the picturesque bridge, saw a fado show, took a gondola back to the bridge in time for a non-existent sunset from an old fortress, walked across the top part of the now lighted bridge and returned to our hotel.