Bom Dia Portugal !

In Portugal after traveling through Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. Santiago is a great medieval city full of plazas, churches, fountains, cobbled stone streets worthy of a pilgrimage. This is the believed burial site of the apostle St. James after the rediscovery of his remains in the 9th century. The pilgrimage to this city and its Catherdal has been occuring since the 12th century and now, there are plenty of pilgrims who usually end their long walk or bike ride by just sitting on the plaza and simply staring at the cathedral. The pilgrims usually carry a wooden walking stick, and have a scallop shell attached or a red cross stitched on their bag.

Chalk Portugal up as another country I love. This country still has a bit of a rough edge to make it pleasant. The people are friendly and the pace of life is even more laid back and unhurried than Spain. I went to the great fishing town of Viana Do Castelo with it´s white washed low buildings and historic plaza. The town is also famous for it´s traditional customes and dancing. The hostel here turned out to be an abandoned (now musuem)hospital ship from the 1960´s and 70´s. Nothing like getting a good nights rest in the infirmary. I also went to the city of Bragga which is famous for it´s churches, particular the Bon Jesus which you have to ascend up a few hundred steps. The city has a great square except for the obnoxious oval McDonalds sitting in the middle.

Like Canadians are to Americans, Kiwis (New Zealanders) to Australians, Dutch to Germans, the Portugese make a clear distinction that they are not Spanish. It´s funny whenever I ask something in Spanish, the locals always answer back in Portuguese.

I´m particularly fond of the ¨Arroz de Pato¨ or Duck Rice here. Oven baked hard and crunchy on the surface, the rice inside is moist and full of flavor infused with the pine nuts and, duck and bacon meat and fat. I gobbled the first few spoonfulls like a man on deathrow. Absolutely delicious. If only I had some plum sauce and chilli...it would be paradise on a plate.

I´m in Porto now which is the second largest city in Portugal and famous for what else, Port. The Douro River runs through the city and on one side it´s covered with wineries like Graham´s, Taylor´s, Calem and Sandeman. All offering tours in their oak barrel storerooms.

I prefer the other side where the Riberia barrio is. Wonderfully gritty and run down, it reminds me of Napoli with it´s atmosphere and over-hanging laundry. In the Riberia, buildings and twisting cobbled-stoned lanes tightly cramp together onto a cliff by the river front. Fado music blares from one window while from another, a mother shouts at her children playing footbul on the street. Dogs bark, pigeons fly by, and families sit by their front doors to chat. On one corner of the Se (Catherdral), shady guys are dealing drugs and hocking stolen goods while a few corners down, women are washing potatoes or hauling buckets of water from a public fountain. Some teens are diving into the Douro River from the Ponte de Dom Luis bridge as the sun lazily turns it´s back on the city.... Ciao from Portugal.