Beautiful Walk to Vila do Conde

 Rest spot

Fishing village 

 Miles and miles of beautiful boardwalk 

We continue to walk along the Atlantic on the unofficial coastal route.  Way markers are here but not as prevalent as we have been used to.  It's nice walking but also hot. Dehydration is a constant threat. Saw Dutch girl Sabrina, who we met last night in town. We've come across a handful of other pilgrims.  So far this Camino remains more solitary for John and I but we think with the stages getting naturally shorter,  we'll probably be meeting more pilgrims but we are really enjoying the experience the way WE are doing it. Taking our time. 

I let the tank get a little empty and by the time we stopped at a café by the ocean,  we were both famished.  I got daring again and ordered the "special hamburger ". Which was a regular hamburger smothered in a sauce like the Francesinha I had in Porto.  It was really good.  Accompanied by chips. (Fries)

John had. ....you guessed it!  Chicken!  All very good washed down with a couple of beers.  

Kinda tough to get going after that.  I just wanted to lay on the beach and take a nap. 

Made it to Vila do Conde and checked into our pension Hospidaria Venceslau. For 35€ we got an air conditioned room,  nice  private bathroom and flat screen TV!  Most TVs we have seen are the old box type on a shelf on the wall.  Not that it matters but this was very nice. 

I felt exhausted and a little dehydrated  and we were just going to go to the restaurant attached to the place but John wanted to find. .....you guessed it,  a good grilled chicken place. All I wanted was a soup and salad which is easy to find and good! Thanks to TripAdvisor and Google maps there was a great charcuterie not far so we got up the energy and set out for it.

We arrived and it was clear that it was take out. ..and very popular with the locals.  Good sign. We stood in line with everyone and had to figure out what to order.  Salada mixto, one whole grilled chicken  (I volunteered to help John eat it as if he needed any), sopa do legumes (bean soup), and a bottle of vinho Verde Tinto. 

All was handed over in a sack and we brought it back to the room realizing we had no utensils with which to eat.  Do you think that stopped us? It was the best soup we ever drank right from the cup, the best salad we've ever eaten with our hands and the best damned grilled chicken we have ever devoured.  So glad for the privacy of our own room! "Eat your chicken,  eat your pork and beans,  I eat more chicken any man ever seen " Jim Morrison 'Back Door Man'