Lots of things to do today. First, I had to go pick up my rental bike, on a part of the city that seemed to be mostly residential. On the way I noticed some pretty steep streets, and the total lack of bicycles, bike lanes, or bike racks. Obviously the topography is a bit challenging for cyclists, which to me means that drivers are not used to sharing the road with us two-wheelers.
This was my first encounter with an e-bike, and the first thing that came to mind is that they are big and heavy. Operation seems to be pretty straightforward, and the best piece of advice I got is "Don't torture the bike. Use the gears to your best advantage so the motor doesn't have to work too hard and the battery doesn't drain too fast". One thing is for sure, if the battery goes dead there is no way I can bike this panzer bike on human power alone. The takeover of the machines!
I biked ten minutes down the hill down to Avenida Boa Vista, which is the umbilical cord of the city, and where our lodgings are located. It was too early to check in, but I had to park the bike to take the metro to the airport, to be there in time to welcome Chrissy and Raimundo who were flying in from Frankfurt. The airport was packed with European tourists, a reminder that today segunda-feiria (or "second day", which in Portugal means Monday because the week starts on Sunday) is the start of the summer vacation. Eventually my two fellow peregrinos came through the arrival hall, and we had a happy reunion after not coming together for nearly two years. A metro ride brought us back home, where we met our hostess, Margarida, who checked us into the most spectacular 6th-floor penthouse. I was very lucky when I booked the apartment six months ago, and we will start the Camino in style.
Next step was for us to go get lunch, at the small café across the street. Chrissy and Raimundo went for cod fish croquettes served with a black-eyed pea salad, and I went for the trademark Porto dish, a Francesinha (which translates to Little French Woman), which is a sandwich made with layers of toasted bread and assorted hot meats such as pork roast, steak, wet-cured ham, linguiça, or chipolata over which sliced cheese is melted by the ladling of a near-boiling tomato-and-beer sauce called molho de francesinha. Basically a very sophisticated torta ahogada that will satisfy the biggest appetite.
I left Chrissy and Raimundo to their own devices, and for the second time that day I went back to the airport to go receive Tita. Timing was perfect, and less than 10 minutes after I had arrived she walked through the arrivals hall. I am so glad to see her, another of my beloved Goddaughters, who is jumping out of her skin to partake of this adventure. Back near the house we had to stop at the café, where they were closing but the cook kindly agreed to cook a Francesinha for this starving girl (they are so nice here), and just as we were crossing the street we bumped unto Chrissy and Raimond, and just like that the peregrinos came together!
Tita had to get to bed
to try to recover from jet lag, but the other peregrinos chose
to go for an evening walk and ended in the Mercado de Bom Sucesso,
a refurbished old market that now is the center of jet set dining in Porto,
where you can get a very nice dinner and listen to live entertainment. Nice,
but when we came back I was just ready to hit the sack.
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