“Travel is not a reward for working, it’s education for living.” – Anthony Bourdain
Oh Lordy, I haven’t even started walking yet and I’m already tired.
I made it to Lisbon this morning about 8am local time. I met some lovely Pilgrims on my flight from JFK. (Confession: I’m a jerk, I was so tired from the overnight flight I’ve already forgotten their names – but they were delightful nonetheless). They are former military and from Tampa. They walked the Frances Camino in 2019. They are going to start their hike in Porto. The great thing about meeting them was, we were able to navigate the metro together during the morning rush hour. The Camino is easy – just follow the arrows but getting to your hostel in a big city from the airport after a long flight takes extra brainpower and I was glad I didn’t have to do it alone.
I couldn’t check into my hostel until 3pm but they were awesome about it. They let me leave my bag for free and then they invited me join in on the free walking tour they offer. It was supposed to be 2-2.5 hours…well 4 hours later we were still walking. My legs are already tired and I haven’t even begun the 400-mile trek. Lots of cobblestone. Wowza!
Bia, our tour guide was fantastic! She is from Brazil but has lived in Portugal for five years. And let me tell you, she knows her stuff. She had tons of stories and a plethora of historical facts to share. I loved it! Plus, we stopped for coffee and then for the Portuguese traditional custard tarts, Pasteis de Nata. Yum! Here is a recipe if you want to try and make them.
If you are ever in Lisbon and need a guide, contact Bia. She even gave me her email to add to the post. biagomes@gmail.com.
After our tour was complete, I still had some time to kill before I could check in so I popped over to the Lisbon Cathedral to pick up my Pilgrim Passport/Credential…including the first stamp from the Church. We need these booklets to be able to stay in Pilgrim accommodation and get the certificate at the end of the hike.
At 3pm I was ready to check in to the Yes! Lisbon Hostel and take a shower. And a nap but I had more important business to take care of so that wasn’t going to happen.
People are very curious about the sleeping arrangements on the Camino so I made a little video about the place I’m staying in tonight. It’s a fantastic little joint with a great location and Pedro, the owner, runs a wonderful operation. He even gave me a bottom bunk so he is a Saint in my book. What a guy. 🙏❤️
The last errands of the day were to get an eSIM card for my phone and dinner.
Stephen’s genius nephew, Brendan, gave me a tip for iPhones when traveling abroad. Visit a local phone store (I chose Vodafone), buy an eSIM (located under Cellular service on your iPhine) and add it to your phone so you can keep your original number but use the data from the local card to operate it. I was paying an extra $100/month to use my phone overseas and now it’s only $25. Brilliant hack. Pass it on.
I ate an early dinner…well early for Europe…at 6pm. Bia gave us a tip about the restaurants in our area. The best food in our particular area is not Portuguese but the ethnic foods. So I had Vegan Tofu and Veggie ramen and it was delicious! I’m not Vegan or Vegetarian but it sounded good and tasted even better.
That pretty much sums up the first day of getting acclimated and a little business accomplished. Tomorrow is the big day…if I can get out of bed. I’ll start walking the Portuguese Camino! I’ve already been informed that due to construction in Lisbon the route has been altered so fingers crossed I actually make it out of town. Ha!
Apologies for any and all typos. I’m so tired my brain has stopped functioning.
Goodnight and much love from Lisbon! 🇵🇹
Scenes from today’s walk.
