And we’re off. Last night, both George and I were wide awake at 3am. Not good since we had no plans of leaving that early. We both finally fell asleep and woke up at 8am. Oh my, that’s not going to be a good start!

We high tailed it out of our apartment and headed down the street to hail a taxi. Lucky for us, it was pretty quick. Being we already walked the route from the church to Lisbon, there was no reason to recreate that section. We were dumped off near the Parque Das Nacoes, close to the airport. We found a Cafe and had some coffee, fruit, croissants and fresh squeezed orange juice. All carbs and sugar which was perfect for our morning meal. Close to 10:30am, The Baraga’s we’re like high speed turtles looking for the Camino.

We followed our map and within 5-10 minutes, we found our first Pilgrims. All the way from Lithuania, the brothers were walking to Santiago. It just so happened we both started the same day and would be hanging with them throughout the day.

Our trail followed much of the river front which was home of the largest skyscraper in Lisbon. There was a Skateboard Park, Boardwalk, and plenty to see. They also hosted the 1998 Expo here, which brought people from all over the world. And to think, we were told that The Camino from Lisbon to Porto is boring. I beg to differ! It is steeped in history and cosmo, along with plenty of bird watching.

We meandered off the trail, literally and made our way over a bridge that spanned an estuary. It happened to be the wrong way but there’s more ways to get to Santiago than following the Camino. Once my compass was recalibrated, I was able to get us back on track. We crossed over many light rail tracks, by way of a pedestrian bridge and made our way to Sacavem. We briefly were on city streets with tons of roundabouts before making our way to an exposed dirt trail that followed a good flowing creek.

At this point, we were exposed, The temperature was soaring into the high 80’s and George was hot! We had several miles to cover with not much shade. Our water bottles were lacking, and no real substance to get us through. We found a shaded table with concrete benches that we rested on and commiserated with a fellow pilgrim named Rudy. He’s from Germany and is walking his 7-8th Camino. Talk about a wealth of knowledge. We need to stick close to this Pilgrim. George shared his one and only Power Bar with me and we continued to Granja. This was our only hope for a meal and possibly, a beer!

Granja lived up to our expectations as all the Pilgrims and more were eating, drinking and resting. The best part, it was in the shade. I first grabbed the biggest bottle of water I could find, then two beers and lunch. As we were eating, the German and his friends booked a room in a Hostel up the road. That sounded like a good plan being they were sold-out the night before. I was quite surprised as this is what I considered “off-season.” Evidently it is, for certain sections of The Camino, but not for Portugal. It’s still nice and warm, well, actually hit and many Pilgrims like this type of weather!

I called the Hostel and booked a private room with our own bathroom for $45. That’s a good deal and now we will have our own place to sleep for the night. A Blue approved room for sure. We finished our egg, cheese and ham omelette with pickled vegetables and French fries. The food here is so different than the States. We ate till we didn’t need to eat anything else, then walked off towards our evening destination.

The afternoon was still fairly toasty and we ran into a few others along the way. The trail was a mixture of dirt, cobblestones and some asphalt, but for the most part is was quite rural. Towards the end of the day, we passed a Shepard with his flock grazing along the trail. They definitely knew his voice because when he moved, they followed. I love watching how the sheep respond to their guide, their one and only Shepard.

With less than a couple of miles to go, we headed through an industrial area with many abandoned buildings. There was graffiti everywhere on the old concrete buildings, but yet a great trail that led to a park and future million dollar apartments and penthouses. I’m sure there must be some plan to demolish these old relics but for now, they are prime for artists to paint on.

We finally arrived to our digs for the night, Alfa10 Hostel. We saw the German and his friend, met another couple of gals from the States and made it to our private room. This is not the normal on The Camino, but for today, we will take advantage of it.

After showering and doing laundry in the sink, we were ready for dinner. We headed across the street and ate to our hearts content. I cannot get over the amount of food I can order for a song and a dance. I had grilled fish with vegetables, soup and bread. George had soup and salad, and we consumed beer. After dinner, George ordered a cafe con leche and I had brandy. Our final bill was $22. I could get used to this place!

For our first day on The Camino, I think we did quite well. The miles will come, the heat will dissipate and our body’s will adjust. George did great and was quite the trooper, even at the end of the day. We met some new friends and we learned many lessons. We definitely need to have some emergency rations on hand, and maybe a second bottle of water. Our umbrella’s worked marvelously in shading us from the blaring sun, and cooling our body core by a good ten degrees. George was a skeptic but now, a believer!

Sleeping in a private room is grand until the random pilgrims came barging in at 10pm. Not sure why that happened, especially being our door was locked. Somehow someway, their key opened our door. Hmm, fun times in the Hostel! Hopefully that won’t happen anymore tonight. George is fast asleep and I’m ready to do the same. Boa Noite and have a good night or day, whatever it may be.