Lisbon to Porto March 14 2026

Lisbon to Porto 

Santa Iria de Azoia

March 14 2026

Today was our first walking day and it was supposed to be 17.7 kms however my Garmin recorded 21.04 kms.  I am not sure of how it got so far off.

We started the morning with the mandatory hotel lobby picture.  From there we were walking through Lisbon which meant lots of ups and down.  We passed the Unicorn Factory on the way to the route.  It wasn't until about kms 7 before we got to the actual Camino route.  It was quite a nice route along the river.  It was a big wide pedestrian route which followed the river. It was along the site of the 1998 Lisbon World Fair.  Now it has been redeveloped into upscale condos, parks, interesting street sculptures, and restaurants.  

At 12 kms mark we started walking up this board walk.  It was really quite the piece of infrastructure as it was easily 15 feet wide and snaked along the coast with lots of bridges.  There were a quite a few people out walking and riding bicycles.  Towards the end it looked like rain as the clouds were closing in but it held off.  Rain is forecast for over night with a nice day tomorrow. 

My lack to training was really showing as we made our way into the hotel.  I was totally all in.  

Terry 

 

Lisbon to Porto March 13

Lisbon to  Porto 

Lisbon 

March 13, 2026

Today was the last day in our Airbnb and the day which Judy headed home.  Judy was off to catch her plane quite early and everyone was up early to see her off.  We lounged around and cleaned up the Airbnb and headed off.  Karen and Judy took a Uber over to the hotel with all of the luggage and Ken and I walked over.  It was only about 2 kms so it wasn't far however you cannot go any where in Lisbon with out climbing a hill and we had more than one on the way to the hotel.  

We are staying at the Fenicius Charme hotel which is quite a nice little hotel just a couple of kilometers north of the Lisbon Cathedral.  At the hotel we collected our Camino passports and luggage tags and headed down to the Lisbon Cathedral to get our passports stamped.  While we are not going to get all the way to Santiago it is still fun to collect the stamps along the way.  After our tour of the cathedral Karen and Barb headed off shopping and Ken and I headed off down some back allies looking for a place to have lunch.  

Our first stop was a brew pub which offered 12 different beers.  The sign was cool but the beer wasn't up to snuff.  As we wandered the streets on the way back to the hotel we encountered a lot of stairs and a lot of very interesting little neighborhoods.  Some had some great wall art painted on the sides of buildings, along with a lot of very interesting peoples.  Take the picture of the dancing raven for example and in the lower right corner there is a workman sleeping in his wheelbarrow.  We stopped and had a cherry liquor in a chocolate cup from a street vendor.  We had lunch in a small café where I had the chicken couscous. It was great.  

Tomorrow morning we are off on the first day of our trek.  Our time in Lisbon has been a lot of fun but I am really excited to get going.   

Terry 

 

Lisbon to Porto March 12

Lisbon to Porto 

Lisbon

March 12, 2026

Another spectacular day in Lisbon.  I absolutely am stunned by the marvelous weather we are having.  Today was a beautiful sunny 20 C day with out any wind.

No one here got up early today. It was well after 8:00 Am before people were up and making coffee. It was kind of chilly in the condo this morning but it warmed up quickly as the sun was shining on the front of the condo.   By 10:00 we were ready to head out for brunch.  Judy, Ken and I headed off to this little place the Tuk-tuk driver had recommended to us yesterday.  The scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with orange juice and coffee for 5 Euros was a deal.   

After brunch Ken Judy and I head off on a walk which carried us down to the water front. We walked along the waterfront which is a huge pedestrian way.  There were a lot of people out enjoying the nice sunny day.  We wandered around and finally found a great little bar where we had a drink. In the bar Ken met some people who were working in Kenya and knew some of the people he knew from when he was in Kenya.  Small world.   

There were a lot stairs back to our apartment but we made it.  Lisbon is a really hilly place.

Tomorrow we check out of our apartment and head off to the first hotel on the Camino trip.  Surprising how quickly our time in Lisbon has flown by.

Terry 

 

Lisbon to Porto

Lisbon to Porto

Lisbon

March 11, 2026

 

Yesterday was the big travel day from Kelowna to Lisbon.  The flight from Kelowna was delayed by 15 minutes which was ok as I had a 2 hr layover in Toronto. In Toronto I found out there was a further delay on the Toronto to Lisbon leg of 90 minutes however by time we were loaded it was really a 2 hour delay.  There were a lot of really aggravated folks in the waiting area as they had further connections beyond Lisbon.   I had sent a note to the Airbnb host I would be late so I was ok.

After a short taxi ride down to the Airbnb I was checked in and moments later Ken and Judy arrived.  It wasn't until almost 8:00 PM when Barb and Karen showed up.   So everyone was here and checked in,  

I was able to sleep in this morning and got 11:15 hours of sleep so I felt great this morning.  My travel sim I had purchased from Amazon would not work which was disappointing as I have used this brand of sim several times.  As we will have to call taxi's several times on this trip I had to get my phone working.  So finding a sim was job one.  

By 12:00 everyone was up and rolling so we headed downtown where a phone shop was.  I wound up purchasing a sim with 100 G of data and 1000 minutes of phone service for 13 euros.  Job one complete.

Next up was lunch and we found a great little sidewalk café where we enjoyed a great brunch.  Barb and Karen headed off on a walk and Ken Judy and myself got in a Tuk-tuk for a city tour.  

There are hundreds of electric Tuk-tuks driving around and every corner has a dozen or more of them.  The Tuk-tuk we choose gave us a great tour of the city and took us past the major city sites, before dropping us back at our Airbnb.  One of the sites on the tour was the Cathedral of Santiago which is the start of the Portuguese Camino.  Compared to some of the other cathedrals it is quite small and very plain in side.  It is all the greyish sand stone and with very little decoration,   

The weather here today was exceptional with highs of close to 20C and no wind.  I sure hope that this is the weather we are going to have for the next couple of weeks.

What a great day in Lisbon.

Terry