Day 9, Porto - (almost) Matasinhos

9,41km, 13 969 steps

The blisters are healing and compeeds coming off.

Porto didn't really grow into me. On the first evening I visited a shala (yoga place) and ended up wandering around on the beach before heading back to the central Porto. I sat on the beach watching how the sun set in the Atlantic ocean. It was beautiful.

I was sad having to leave a friend behind. Pretty much everyone I met during the first week was now at least a week away from me. Of course there was the older German gentleman, but my skills in German are so rusty that every sentence I said was a lot of work. And I'm not funny in German. Or smart. My skills are not developed enough to get those clever jokes out.

Other thing that bothered me in Porto was the amount of people and noice all around me. After a week in those silent, tiny villages I was unprepared for a city like this. I missed sitting outside, drinking my coffee and suddenly someone familiar showing up. All those pleasant surprises were now gone. There was no one familiar showing up in our hostel dorm room and my dear friend was now so many days behind me.

So no, Porto didn't feel like home. And otherwise than in Lisbon, there was no one talking to me (wether I want it or not). When I was sitting alone, having my dinner I felt a bit lonely and lost. Porto didn't just happen the way Lisbon did.

Pretty it is, that I admit. But other than that I don't give her.

This morning we had breakfast with the German guy. After the breakfast I went downstairs to toilet and when I got back he had disappeared. Like completely disappeared. He wasn't in the breakfast room anymore. He wasn't outside waiting for me. He wasn't anywhere to be found. No one in the staff saw him leaving either.

So I have no idea where he went.

I sat there and waited for half an hour for him to show up and then left feeling a bit confused.

I walked to the cathedral, got a new stamp for my passport and started walking. I climbed down the stairs and narrow streets to the river and started walking.

I kept a good pace for an hour before having a break. My goal for the day was to take it easy and make only 5,3km to Foz do Douro so I took my time with the coffee and tried to enjoy the day.

After the coffee I continued walking and after a while I realized that if I wanted to stay in the hostel I had planned, I'd have to walk back... And here - as much as everywhere else in life, going forward is always better than going back.

After a quick googling I found a surfcamp hostel like 50m from my yoga place and decided to stay there. The next morning would be so much easier for me if I could just leave my backpack, go for yoga, come back for breakfast, check out after and then continue my walk towards Santiago.

So I'm here. In the same place where I yesterday watched the sunset. I dream of doing that again tonight as I'll have plenty of time to sleep.

#CaminodeSantiago #CaminoPortugueseCosta #CaminoPortuguese #Camino #pilgrimwithadragontattoo