Stage 1: Lisbon to Verdelha de Baixo 32.4km

Breakfast was included in the Pensão San João so we wandered up to the cathedral and collared a guy walking his kid to nursery to take a photo of us.

Liz: "I hope he didn't get all the drunks in the doorway in the shot"

Then back down to the restaurant behind the hostel for breakfast and then down through the narrow streets of old Lisbon following the yellow arrows at the base of the corners of buildings… or as Liz put it, just at dog-pissing height. The arrows led us through the Alfama and Graça districts to the Fado Museum. After that it was less touristy and the tiles became more cracked, the facades more crumbly, the cobbles less even and the pavements narrower. Until we reached the expo site, where everything was much newer and shinier. We stopped for an orange juice (it was 10k after all) and contemplated the Torre Vasco de Gama and the 17km long bridge just beyond.

A bit of a contrast to old Lisbon

Before long we were away from buildings and walking up a (rather smelly) river valley with planes going overhead every five minutes low enough to see people waving (okay, I might be exaggerating a little). It was hot. Which was not really a surprise, hot? In Portugal in August? Really? But it wasn’t suffocating, there was a breeze and we were heading for lunch. The guide book said that there was a place for lunch in a village called Granja a few hundred metres from the camino. so when we passed the small narrow bridge we crossed it and went to find food. The shady terrace was full, the inside less so. We made the usual internationally recognised signs for “we’d like to eat” and “can we sit here?” and the young waitress reeled off a list of what was on offer. I heard the word Bife so I plumped for that. We wanted cold white wine but there was none in the fridge so cold draught sangria had to do. It was so hot that we had to restrain ourselves from downing it in one. Beef and chips (and rice… chips and rice on the same plate, there’s something not quite right there) and salad and an hour’s rest and we were ready to brave the heat again.

So I guess we go that way then?

We walked through cornfields and bamboo, I picked up a nice little piece which was to be my stick for the camino. It got hotter, and we stopped in the shade of a bar for a cool drink. Only six more kilometres, but they got harder as the heat persisted and our pace slowed a bit. Accommodation was a kilometre’s detour from the camino in Verdelha de Baixo. It was the Restaurant Afaia, which also had rooms. We stumbled in and maybe we scared the barmaid because she just handed over the keys and didn’t bother with passports or registration or names… Shower and rest, then down for dinner where surprisingly, the restaurant was almost full. Then we realised Benfica were playing and 99% of the patrons were men. It was only 7:30, we’re used to Spanish dining, which is rather later. We had a plate of calamares and rice, a bit of white wine and watched the men watching Benfica. Afterwards we fell into bed and were asleep pretty much as soon as our heads hit the pillows.

Some of this bamboo stuff might make a good walking stick