Our Walk Along the Camino Portuguese

Beginning the Camino Portuguese On the Way of St. James We headed out of our hostel around 7:45 AM into a foggy morning socked with a light mist. The narrow cobblestone streets lined with their colourful, tiled buildings seemed to disappear up into the clouds. A few blocks from the hostel we found a cozy cafe, Fabrica, where we stopped for strong, hot coffees and croissants still warm from the oven. We also purchased two apple walnut squares for the trail, which turned out to be a good idea, since there were some longer stretches later in the day with few cafes.  In this cafe, like everywhere else we have visited so far in Lisbon, English was fluently spoken. After our delightful breakfast, we made our way down to the Se Cathedral, along the narrow white cobblestone sidewalks which had become extremely slippery in the rain. Once past the cathedral, the Camino took us through Alfama, the Arab quarter of Lisbon. The cobblestone streets were very narrow and beautiful and...

Castles and Cathedrals  Exploring Lisbon Portugal As we headed to bed last night, jet-lagged and too tired to stay awake any longer, this beautiful city was just coming alive.   As the sun set and the cool evening was punctuated by the lights of the city, the sounds of Fado music poured in through our windows.   Although we spent the night drifting in and out of sleep, unused to the sounds inside the hostel and those in the street below, we nonetheless enjoyed a refreshing sleep. This morning, after slowly making our way downstairs for a communal breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice and yogurt, we headed out for a second day of exploring Lisbon.     We made a long list of places we wanted to visit last night when we studied the guidebook, so when we headed out, we were full of enthusiasm and determination.   However, we were almost immediately waylaid by the delicious smells coming from the bakery down the street.   We stopped for our f...