Short Walk to Sao Joao Madeira ~ Strangers in a Strange Land

 Two star but wonderful views. Actually soft towels. Always soft sheets. Amazing wine for 75 cents a glass!  Always something to be thankful for.

Only 5 miles today but seriously both of us dealing with the strain of the constant walking on asphalt on seemingly endless suburban streets that are winding with no shoulder.  Not only physical strain on pounding hard surface but emotional strain.  What I mean is there is a wall between you and the street so there would be nowhere to bail if you had to.  Constant vigilance in traffic which is exhausting. The speed of the drivers here even on little back roads cannot be underestimated. Add the watchdogs that are behind every gate,  snarling and barking and chomping literally to get at you and giving you a heart attack as you walk by. As I've said before,  this is a very different Camino.

Another observation.  Walking in my home country,  the booze bottles as trash on the side of the road are alarming.  Here you see none of that.  A lot of the Portuguese roadside trash is empty cigarette packs. The weird thing about these is the graphic pictures on them of what comes of smoking.  Like a foot with rotting toes. Someone coughing up blood.  Someone laying in a hospital bed on oxygen with family all around. A cancerous lung. They are not cartoons.

Got into town and had a delicious salad of pineapple, shrimp and other veggies that we were so craving and hit the spot.  We saw some other people eating this and we just pointed at it and said we wanted the same. Hey it works.

Two star hotel,  clean,  adequate.  We will split the long stage into Porto since arriving on Saturday night will be nuts as far as accommodation according to booking websites.  We've run into this before in the big cities on the weekend. Can't seem to hit it right.  We are hoping to spend two nights in Porto.  12 miles tomorrow.  Possible alburgue stay in the interim.  We can do it.  I think.