With any adventure, there are always kinks. George and I were off from Sacramento Airport. All was good. We used the self-serve ticket line, then it said, “you must see an agent.” Hmm, that’s new and exciting. Maybe they want to upgrade us for free?!? That’d be nice. Somehow, we did not have seats assigned so she found us two seats together. With our brief inconvenience, we head upstairs and go through the gauntlet of TSA Personnel. Did they tell them to have no personality and never crack a smile? Oh my. It was like going to Penitentiary without wearing Prison Blues!

Once we negotiated that, we were seated, waiting for the Boarding Call. That’s when it happened. Over the loud speaker we here, “Sorry but we had to send your Flight Attendant home today for reasons unknown. There will be a delay until we can find another to fill her spot. Typically this wouldn’t be a huge deal, but our second flight from DC was quite tight. Luckily, Bri had already come to the airport and was assigned to another flight. She was reassigned to our plane. So with the short delay of only 45 minutes, we had 20 minutes to make our connecting flight. Oh joy!

We landed in DC, and ran to our boarding gate. It was tight, but we made it. Then we sat back and enjoyed the flight to Toronto. Once in Canada, we have plenty of time to eat and drink. By 11pm, and some 18 hours later, we were on our final leg!

The ride from Canada to Lisbon was with Air Canada. What a great crew they had. Drinks and pretzels, then dinner and wine. Followed by a great movie, a personal sized pillow and blanket, I was ready for a Red-Eye to Lisbon. I made it through the first flick and by the second, I was barely keeping my eyes opened. All snuggled up in Coach, I slept for a whopping 2-3 hours.

George and I landed in Lisbon, Portugal at 11am Monday morning, cleared Customs and walked the four plus miles to our Hotel. It was actually the best thing we could come up with after being trapped in a plane for 24 plus hours! Walking felt wonderful. Now that’s me writing this, not George. But I think he’d agree with the idea. After nearly three hours, a couple of breaks, we arrived at our Air B&B. It was perfectly situated in Alfama, a lovely barrio with tons of Cafes, Bars and Restaurants.

We offloaded and found a place to eat and drink. Alfama overlooks the water, and is such a great location. There are Cruise Ships that drop off thousands of tourists daily, and this means lots of things to do. George and I found a swanky little patio that overlooked the water, and had our first Portuguese Beer.

We walked the town, found one of the oldest and important Cathedral’s in all of Portugal. Honestly, we had no idea that this was the case until we started reading about the history of St. Vicente Cathedral.

The original Monastery of São Vicente de Fora was founded around 1147 by the first Portuguese King, Alfonso Henriques for the Augustinian Order. Built in Romanesque style outside the city walls, it was one of the most important monastic foundations in mediaeval Portugal. It is dedicated to Saint Vincent of Saragossa, patron saint of Lisbon, whose relics were brought from the Algarve to Lisbon in the 12th century.

The present building dates from the rule of King Philip II of Spain over Portugal from 1580. The monastery church was thought to have been principally designed by the Italian-born architect, Filipe Terzio and constructed between 1582 and 1629 with other buildings added up until the 18th Century. It also happens to be the starting point of The Portuguese Way to Santiago.

As we left this Cathedral, Tui, the Tour Guide spotted us. He introduced himself and proceeded to take George and I on a two-hour tour of all things Lisboa. We heard of the historical events that were significant to Portugal becoming a country. Between the Moorish and the Spaniards, there was much fighting that occurred before Portugal became its own. Such a brilliant story of a people who knew that they were Christians and kept to their roots.

Tui took us to Alfama, Home of Fado Singers and Music. We walked in the narrow streets were cars cannot drive. The Locals must walk to their homes and nearby shops and restaurants, which keeps them in great shape. Not an overweight Portugues anywhere. We tried a Tart Cherry Liquor named Ginja that is poured into edible Chocolate Cups. They have been making it for over 100 years!

Tui commandeered the finest Fado Restaurant in Alfama, reserved us the best table and we proceeded to have an exquisite dinner! It was a seven course meal with olives, creamy local cheese, bread along with garlic clams, rice dish with squid and shrimp, flat-iron steak on a rock salt stone, along with Cappuccino and Almond Tart. Afterwards, we found a taxi who took us to the wrong barrio. With the help of Google Maps, we made our way home, collapsed and slept till the next day.

Welcome to Portugal! It is going to be an entertaining journey with much to see, plenty to eat and drink, and lots of exploring. On Day two of Lisbon, we walked close to 8 miles, ate and drank some more, purchased new hiking poles and a few last minute items. Ends up, we have already hiked a large portion of the first leg of the Camino by mere fact that we walked from the Airport to our Apartment. So we knocked off a few more miles today, without our packs, and plan to officially start tomorrow on Wednesday.

We have met a few Pilgrims yesterday and today. Mary from Pennsylvania, just finished her Camino from Porto to Santiago and gave us plenty of tips. She was giddy with excitement. The biggest takeaway I received from her was never be concerned with the time, leave your watch at home (which we did), don’t worry about the miles as they will come, but just enjoy each moment as you journey north. Great words of wisdom from a fellow pilgrim.

We have one last night of rest before we put on our packs and walk. Hopefully we have left our burdens at home, leaving ourselves to be only concerned with the mandatory single step ahead. No worries of where we will be from one day to the next. No reservations booked but only a path that will most definitely lead us to peace and harmony in the days that follow. Until we reach our starting point, we will rest and enjoy our time together in our private room in the quaint quintessential barrio of Alfama. I look forward to posting the wonderful and incredible adventure of The Baraga’s. Until then, Adeus (Goodbye in Portuguese).