Lisbon to Porto March 15, 2026

 Lisbon to Porto

Vila Franca de Xira

March 15, 2026

This mornings breakfast was absolutely wonderful.  They had everything including the small sautéed mushrooms which I just love. They also had the small chocolate croissants which are a really close second in my books.  It made up for the fact that the hotel did not have a restaurant and we had to find stuff at the supermarket next door for supper.  

We were back out on the large board walk which follows up Tagus river for the majority to todays walk.  The board walk is dead easy to follow and is a really nice smooth walking surface,  however you are really exposed to the wind of which there was lots of today.  We are generally headed north along the river and the wind was straight out of the north west.  This meant one hand on your hat and the other holding your poles.  Even though it was pretty warm and would have been fine without a jacket but the wind made it so that you needed a jacket most of the time. 

At this one point we did leave the board walk and headed though this little village.  We stopped to read our maps and heard this high pitched whistle which was in short bursts.  Looking around on the other side of the road was a man calling his pigeons.  He would blow the whistle and the pigeons would circle around and land on the roof of the coop.  He would then shake their food container and guide the pigeon into the coop using a long whip like stick. More whistle blowing and more pigeons.  It was really fascinating. I had no idea as to how pigeon keepers looked after their flock. 

Later in the day we met up with an Australian lady who is walking the full Camino from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostella.  She was very nice but had very little idea of where she was going or how to get there.  So far she is the only other person we have seen who is doing a Camino.  The board walk is full of walkers, runners and cyclists but no pilgrimers. 

Today was a 20 kms walk which was really a great walk.  I must say that yesterday I was all in after the walk but today I felt just fine.  

Tomorrow is a really short day as it is only 13 kms however we do have to take a taxi to get to the hotel. 

Terry