Agueda 25.5k 15.8 Miles

 People's yards with ducks,  chickens and sheep. John didn't like it when I said,  'coming to a dinner plate near you. '

 A much appreciated fonte. The water felt so good on the aching dogs!

 Tile depiction at the fonte. The woman with the 12 stars around her head mentioned in the bible.

The typical tiled houses all along the way. 

 A small pilgrim friendly chapel. Notice the scallop shell. Symbol of pilgrimage.

 The Quinta de Grimpa. I think you can stay at these very stately properties with advance notice.

The town of Agueda

The American ladies we met yesterday, Ronnie and Lucia, were shadowing us all day.  We met up with them at a café where a very sad looking  but very kind woman asked if we'd like a ham and cheese sandwich.  Yes! Since pastries weren't sounding all that good right now.  Watching the interaction between  people, seems like facial expressions are denoting lots of drama with tsk tsking and all sorts of seriousness.  Maybe the reason for so many soap operas on local tv?

Agueda looks like a cute town but the alburgue was on the other end so as tired as we always are, we didn't get to explore. We stopped at a grocery 300 meters from there where we met Gonzalo, a 30 year old very informative young Portuguese man who was very proud of his Roman heritage.  As a matter of fact he wanted us to know that the Portuguese word for love is Amor. And spelled backwards?  Roma! We said goodbye saw him ride off on his bicycle and our American friends who had stopped at the store 15 minutes after us said they also saw him there and got the very same lecture. 

All the pilgrims we have been meeting seem to be gathered here.  John and I got the last private room.  It's a nice place right on the river with a great kitchen where we were able to secure appropriate wine glasses for once. John went back out to get the makings for a giant salad. There's an option to get a taxi to a nice restaurant on the river, taxi fare included.  Not feeling like going out, we ordered takeout of the typical soup with a grilled chicken that comes with fries and rice and ate in the attractive dining, living room. Carbo loading. 

We paid 44€ and the beds were like sleeping on army cots and we fought mosquitoes all night. The staff was great and the included breakfast was top notch so once again,  the good with the bad. 

We met Lynn from the UK, another woman traveling alone who we saw the night before with Pierre,  a Frenchman who speaks no English.  Lynn speaks no french.  She laughed that he doesn't care and just rambles on and when he comes to a place like he's asking something,  she just says, "I don't understand a word you're saying. " and he just continues on! I found this so funny but so honest.  Such is the Camino.