Saturday morning found Mandy and Karma rising early, taking their packs out of the room to organize things so they didn’t disturb the other 2 hikers still asleep. I kissed them goodbye wishing them Bom Caminoh.

I stayed at the hostel until mid morning when I attempted to get an Uber. For some reason I couldn’t connect. Fortunately the kind gentleman in the bakery next door offered to call a taxi for me. Within 5 minutes one appeared.

It was a longer drive to the train station than I expected but it was a regional one that was easy to figure out with only 2 tracks. The train I had booked arrived only a few minutes late. I easily found the correct coach, boarded and found my assigned seat. I was glad to have pre-booked it as the train was full.

It felt like I was back in Italy, taking all the trains with my grandson’s trip, but not as much fun alone. I spent the 2 1/2 hour journey looking out the window so I could at least get glimpses of the countryside I was missing by not walking. Hills began to appear so I knew the kids would enjoy the coming terrain variety. Towns and fields, passing trains, beautiful scenery.

I reached the Porto train stain and it was crazy! Busy and large and a mite confusing. Mostly I followed the crowd until I found the exit where it was equally crazy. Too hard to figure out an Uber spot so I opted for another taxi.

Though the line was long it didn’t take much time before I was on my way. What a ride! The driver zipped around, sped around and just kept going. It was a longer ride to the Airbnb I booked than I expected. How he found it I don’t know as it’s on a tiny, obscure road that you can only partly drive up to.

I got out thinking I’d need to contact the host but luckily he popped out of a nearby apartment. Unfortunately he speaks not a word of English. But he let me in to the apartment and showed me around, handing me the keys.

This is the first place in all that I’ve rented where there wasn’t a booklet of some sort explaining things about the rental. Mostly I’ve figured things out. I was just happy to have a place to rest and hopefully heal enough when Mandy and Karma reach Porto in 10 days of walking.